Mitt Romney and Mormonism in 2008
Is Mormonism an Issue?
Mormons are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints which was founded by their Prophet Joseph Smith back in 1830. A central text of the LDS (as they are often called) is the Book of Mormon, a collection of supposedly ancient texts written by the descendants of Israelites who had settled in North America.
For most of their history Mormons have been incredibly controversial, for many reasons. Their rejection of all other Christian denominations as untrue and abominations (according to Joseph Smith's First Vision), many of their strange beliefs about God and Jesus and most of all their polygamy. Many times relations between the Mormons and non-Mormons in the early years became exceedingly violent, such as when Joseph Smith was murdered by an angry mob while in prison in Carthage, Illinois, the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the Utah War.
With Mitt Romney running a strong campaign for the Presidency in 2008, Mormonism has once again been brought into the spotlight. While polygamy has been removed from Mormonism since 1904, the faith has never achieved a true mainstream status and Romney's presidential race has many people wondering just what Mormonism is and if a Mormon will make an effective President.
Interestingly enough Romney's own father could have been the first major Mormon presidential candidate. In 1967 he was the forerunner for the Presidential nomination after serving as president of General Motors and being a popular governor of Michigan. Then he made a statement about feeling he was "brainwashed" in Vietnam and he was all but dropped from the Presidential race.
George Romney's presidential bid was marked by controversy not for his religion but his birthplace. Like many Mormons of the time, George Romney's grandparents fled the United States to Mexico when polygamy was disavowed. George Romney was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1907, although his family returned to the United States in 1910 as the Mexican Revolution was breaking out. Because of his Mexican birth, many wondered if George Romney was truly a "natural born citizen" as the Constitution requires US presidents to be.
Mitt Romney is now following in his father's footsteps. While his citizenship is unquestioned, his religion is. Many are questioning some of the more unusual aspects of Mormon theology (most particularly its view that God was born a man on a planet orbiting the star Kolob and that likewise Mormons can themselves become exalted as Gods of their own planets) and the Mormon view of history (such as the Garden of Eden being in Missouri and the idea that Native Americans are descended from the Israelites).
Also questioned is the role of the Prophet in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Unusual among religions in the United States is that the President of their church (the current President is Gordon B. Hinckley) is not only their head but also a Prophet of God, who can make official revelations from God; these revelations hold even more authority than already revealed scriptures such as the Bible, the Book of Mormon, etc.
The most outspoken comment on Mitt Romney's faith has come from the Reverend Al Sharpton, who in May of 2007 said, "s for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that. That's a temporary situation." Most have criticized his comments; Mitt Romney himself called the comments "bigoted."
Many feel that Mitt Romney's Mormonism is a non-issue. Mitt Romney has repeatedly stated that he is a person of faith, and it does not matter which faith he belongs to as long as he has faith. For some, though, the religion of Mormonism remains an issue in the Mitt Romney campaign and wonder if a Mormon would truly make an effective President.
Published by Allen Butler
Allen Butler is a freelance writer and tutor living in Austin, TX. View profile
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Post a CommentCheck the web archive for THE MORMON ALLIANCE Case Reports.
Strangely, in a year of two, major LDS presidential candidates, the official website of THE MORMON ALLIANCE has vanished -- but its case reports archives may still be located on the net.
The reports very completely detail and reference such ongoing atrocities as the virtual orthodoxy of the ritual, sexual molestation of Mormon children (yep -- in the "Donny and Marie / Mitt Romney LDS Church") by local church leaders.
As an Oklahoman, I have researched one of these reports in particular: CASE REPORTS OF THE MORMON ALLIANCE, Volume 1, Part 2: "Oklahoma Nightmare." It details how 14-year Oklahoma congressman Ernest J. Istook -- a Mormon convert Bishop and attorney -- successfully ran interference against parental efforts to bring Surrey Hills, Oklahoma LDS congregation leaders to account for the molestation of perhaps 60 of their children.
Accountability was never achieved. However, the parents of the injured children were harrassed, threatened, and some run out of the state in fear for their lives. They document that their old pew-mate, Congressman Istook, told them, "I have no responsibility to you or your children as I see it; my sole responsibility is to protect the public image and treasury of the Mormon Church."
Istook also funded widespread development of modern rail transit systems in Utah -- first, "to make Salt Lake look cosmopolitan to the world during the 2002 Winter Olympics," and, then to extend the powerful urban redevelopment demonstrated by the starter systems with the addition of 60, daily, fast commuter trains linking Salt Lake and Ogden, to the north, to Hill AFB, a USAF Air Logistics Center -- now the only ALC in the nation with "oil-crisis-proof-workforce-mobility."
This was done even as Istook talked down rail development elsewhere -- even funding the destruction of Oklahoma City's historic Union Station rail center to make way for a four mile highway relocation.
Find out how then-Arizona-governor Janet Napolitano overcame the resistance of Mormon-Republican-conservative legislators in her LDS-stronghold state to build a new electric rail transit line from Phoenix to Tempe. (She visited 93-year-old Mormon church president Gordon B. Hinckley in September, 2004. In December, 2004, Ernest J. Istook, by then Transportation Subcommittee chair of House Appropriations, appeared in Phoenix with $587 million for the project -- which now, interestingly, extends to Mesa where it reportedly makes a full circle around the Mormon Regional Temple....)
Read about the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 9-11-57 (1857).
Find out what the term "Spoiling the Gentiles" means to Mormon leaders. (If you're not a Mormon, you're a "gentile....")
Be certain: You do not want a Mormon President. Don't be ignorant. The evidence is plentiful -- and the issue is powerfully urgent.
This scientific discovery is leading to the Collapse of Mormonism Globally. Watch this and share!
http://www.cross.tv/25052
Amazing! Someone being objective! =) Nicely written.
yes that would be a change some one in the white house not to lie.One other thing that would be nice is media not to lie or mislead like all these post on mitt being mormon. they could care less that he is mormon.The real reason all this mormon stuff is comming up is to move the christian vote and who ever else to hopefully get a a elect that will be eazy to beat in the primary.There is no elect like that ,but there are a few that are conservative only in name not in action and thoes are the ones they hope for.Please read through all this crap and know it is a smear for a reason. there are no accidents, it is all thought out no matter what party you stand for.