Anti-Mormons Attacks Must Stop, FR is Better Than That (Vanity)

December 12 2007 | jveritas

[jveritas]

Dear FRiends

It really pains me to see some of those vicious anti-Mormons attacks we see on Free Republic disguised under the “freedom of speech. Attacking people based on their Mormon faith is really disgusting and it is an insult to this great forum. People who do not like Governor Mitt Romney based on his positions are free to express their opinion as such, but people who attack him because he is a Mormom should be ashamed of themselves and must not be allowed to do so.

I greatly hope that Free Republic members and moderators will get together and help in stopping this anti-Mormon vitriol, this great Free Republic must not be tainted by these shameless acts.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

fallingwater,

you wrote... “We are used to being hated. I don’t hate you for hating us though. I just think you are misguided.”

Newsflash: just because someone disagrees with you does not
mean they hate you.

ampu

[AppyPappy]

I always wondered about that. Wasn’t there a change to the BoM over this? They changed a line from “white” to “fair” or something.

[Mr. Lucky]

Do you know that the missouri Synod is a branch of the Lutheran Church?

Actually, there is no Lutheran Church. There are various denominations with the word "Lutheran" in their name. The Missouri Synod can be gracious about this, however, in that it is the one true faith, but these anti-Missouri Synod attacks must stop, FR is better than that.

[Old Mountain man]

Says the guy that is afraid to name his own denomination for fear of seeing its doctrines selectively smeared over many threads on FR.

[P-Marlowe]

You asking political candidates to be a spokesman for a church? That is exactly what they become in the eyes of everyone, when they march down that road. That is a can of worms the candidates regardless of religious belief, should not be opened.

It has been an issue in just about every presidential election I can remember. Kennedy's catholicism was questioned. Nixon's Quaker religion was questioned. Jimmy Carter's Born Again Religion was really what put him over the top in defeating Ford. Reagan's failure to go to church regularly was used against him to try to defeat the Religious Right's support for him. Clinton subtley used his big Bible to try to regain lost support and he used Billy Graham and Anthony Campolo to help prop up his image. It was a big deal that GWB was a Born Again Christian and the MSM blistered him on some of his fundamentalist views and practices.

So Romney's Mormonism is fair game. We don't suddenly stop taking that into consideration simply because Romney's religion has a very questionable history and some very weird doctrines and practices. That history and those doctrines are relevant.

Romney would undoubtedly that his Mormonism is the most important thing in his life. Shouldn't we all be educated about what it is that they actually believe?

[Loud Mime]

I heard a story about some dude that tried to fit in, but was from another world. The government went after him and his followers. He died, but rose from the dead and ascended into the heavens.

It was the movie “ET”

[wita]

On the one hand I must be consistent with other Mormons, on the other hand I am completely mystified what my response has to do with a world wide church of god moment, when my response to Ingtar was directly off the Official LDS Church web site addressing a false premise he/she was attempting to promote.

Excuse my density but I really don’t get it.

[DOGEY]

This is a political forum. Share your theological issues elsewhere. I want to read everyone’s conservative political views, not just certain Christian views.

[tacticalogic]

Correct, tacticalogic. In discussions of the religious faith of various candidates, it is fair to discuss those beliefs or behaviors that might affect a candidate’s ability to carry out his role as president.

So far as I know, while the Mormon church has officially announced that blacks are now welcome in their church, I do not believe that they have renounced the teaching of their early leaders that black skin is a result of God’s curse on blacks. (PM, has that been renounced?)

Are there any candidates you are aware of that have expressed beliefs or exhibited behaviours that indicate they subscribe to past (but not current) Mormon church doctrine?

[ßuddaßudd]

Please dont judas me
Treat me as you like to be treated
Please dont blacklist me
Leave me as youd wish to find me
Dont analyze me, sacrifice me
Please dont judas me.

Who remembers this one?

[tacticalogic]

It would appear that the "official" response is to simply pretend that it was never the "official" policy of the LDS Church in the first place.

Since it was never the "official" policy of the Church they can get away without apologizing for it or condemning the teachings that led to it.

Pretty slick, huh?

Are you attributing this "slick" behavior to anyone in particular by virture of them belonging to the Mormon faith?

[Brad from Tennessee]

Nazareth

[P-Marlowe]

Are there any candidates you are aware of that have expressed beliefs or exhibited behaviours that indicate they subscribe to past (but not current) Mormon church doctrine?

Is David Duke running?

[muawiyah]

The greater part of the old Armstrong Church (called World Wide Church of God) went conventional several years back. I've noticed that virtually all of my Mormon friends and associates over the years have done pretty much the same thing and just ignore the part of Mormonism that's not consistent with their earlier Christian upbringing ~ there are, after all, a gazillion converts out there.

Pentecostalism is suffering the same sort of "conventionalism" ~ a survey last year revealed about 40% of them don't believe in speaking in tongues ~ and that used to be the hallmark!

Converts can bring strength to any religious body. They can also tote in the customs of their former church. That's how Santa Claus showed up in Scandinavia ~ and then in Northern Europe and America. The Christmas Tree is yet another phenomenon of a similar nature, and it's too late for the purists to eradicate it.

[tacticalogic]

Is David Duke running?

Not that I'm aware of. If not, what is the point of your comment?

[LexBaird]

There remains a very committed portion of the FR membership that discusses, debates, and often disagrees... on matters of theology and practice.... A huge "most" of it quite within the bounds of dignity and civil conversation... Are you suggesting those contributors should not discuss the matters of their deepest convictions here??

I would suggest promptly moving any such discussions to the Religion Forum, where they belong. The General/News forum is not an appropriate venue for doctrinal disputes.

There are too many here trying to use such doctrinal disputes as political attacks.

[Old Professer]

Ashamedly, I am on here each day; I have yet to read an anti-mormon piece that I would characterize as vitriolic - please post some examples.

[muawiyah]

Unfortunately, if you try pulling the "negative" out of the God-head, you end up with antinomianalism ~ which is a well known and ancient Christian heresy. It's practioners/believers used to gather in front of the cathedral and dare God to strike them dead as they took off their clothing and engaged in all sorts of things.

That was to prove that "God Forgives".

That's one of the reasons I added "fields" to my logical base for this subthread ~ They are neither good, nor evil, just basic laws of the universe expressed everywhere in equal measure. God rides above that. We live in it.

Dualism isn't needed to discuss the situation ~ the discovery of the outline of the laws of physics serves to explain the linkages.

[P-Marlowe]

Are you attributing this "slick" behavior to anyone in particular by virture of them belonging to the Mormon faith?

It is not a "behavioral" issue, it is a "public relations tactic."

The decisions regarding the "official" response to uncomfortable historical or doctrinal questions usually come from unnamed people in Salt Lake City.

Pretending that it was never the "official" policy of the LDS Church to deny the priesthood to blacks, or that it was never the "official" doctrine of the church to assert that Blacks were cursed with the mark of Cain because they were not as valiant in the premortal existence as those who were fortunate enough to be born "white and delightsome", is functionally the public relations equivalent of saying "I did not have sex with that woman".

That, IMHO, is pretty slick PR. Better hope nobody calls them on it, or Romney could be in for some uncomfortable questions when he is running against Hillary (I will do ANYTHING to get elected) Clinton.

[muawiyah]

Just used the word "antinomianism". It has a synonymn ~ "antinomianlism".

That is precisely the anti-thesis of the idea the Methodists are trying to get across with their expression "fall from grace".

I believe its an effort on the part of the early Weslyans to avoid Dualism, and given their contact with refugee French Camisards (similar to Quakers but not exactly the same in that period), it might even have been an effort to avoid coming up with yet another non-trinitarian Christian denomination.

I think he trinitarians won over there in the Methodist milieu although I'm not exactly certain about some of the "Free Methodist Church" elements. 50 years ago some of them got into speaking in tongues and that flipped a lot of their members over on their heads.