This whole thread saddens me. I've seen people in this thread equate Mormonism to radical Islam. I hear comparisions to cults and scientology. Patently wrong, false and stated for the simple act of religion bashing at the expense of Mormons.
Mormons are among the MOST patriotic groups of people. Their hymnals include all our national songs INCLUDING the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The United States really has a great internal friend in the LDS Church.
Mormons typically vote conservative values. Pro-life, lower taxes, smaller government, self sufficiency, and so on.
Mormons are the single largest supporting group of the Boy Scouts of America. Last I heard their support for the BSA was greater then all other groups...combined.
Mormon contribution to charity comes over and above any tithes that they contribute to the church. The Mormon church has entire farms and canneries devoted and dedicated to only supplying food and supplies to those in need, mormon and non-mormon. In cases of disaster they are among the first to arrive, along with the US Military and the Red Cross. Mormons never ask or take credit.
The LDS church is one of the great supporters of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people even though the Jewish people have not asked and oft times cast stones back at the Mormons. Mormons still stand and will continue to stand with the Jewish nation.
The preferred recruit for the FBI, CIA, NSA, and Secret Service is a return Mormon missionary. By preferred I mean if you have two candidates with the same qualifications the Mormon missionary will be chosen over the other. Not because of religious preference, but because of past experiences in character proven time and again.
Not one single church position is a paid position. Deacon, Priest, Bishop, President, heck even the Janitor working at a particular building is unpaid. They donate their time to the church, on top of any tithing or offerings they have already given.
There is no real reason for it yet there are those of other religions bash and persecute (yes it is persecution) the Mormons at every opportunity they get. Most of the time there is no reference to this, just things heard on the street. When there is reference it comes from already established anti-mormon literature and not from stated Mormon doctorine. In other words the persecuters know not of which they speak.
Of course I know that the anti-mormons will again raise their head and flame for the sake of flaming. Remember though I am not talking about church doctorine. I am just stating what I have found about Mormons in general removing all the Christian - non-Christian nonsence.
Well, LDS hymnals include hymns to a mother-god as well, written by its first prophet's wife based upon a poem by her originally entitled "My Father in Heaven" (stanza reads: "In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare. Truth is reason: truth eternal tells me I've a mother there.")
So besides being the MOST patriotic groups of people, I suppose that also makes them the MOST polytheistic group of people as well, eh? Some early Mormons considered Eliza Snow to be a "prophetess",[11] and Latter-day Saint President Wilford Woodruff believed that Snow had obtained this understanding though her own revelation.[citation needed] Later, however, LDS President Joseph F. Smith (a nephew of Joseph Smith, Jr.) explained his own belief that "God revealed that principle that we have a mother as well as a father in heaven to Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith revealed it to Eliza Snow Smith, his wife; and Eliza Snow was inspired, being a poet, to put it into verse."[12]
True
Mormons are the single largest supporting group of the Boy Scouts of America. Last I heard their support for the BSA was greater then all other groups...combined.
Yes, also true. But just as the Mormon missionary is the preferred recruit for the agencies you mentioned, the non-Mormon Boy Scott who meets at a LDS stake-house is the preferred recruit for the Mormon church.
So Boy Scout-turned-LDS is not what someone who is truly evangelical applauds.
Let's set aside your condescending tone and just address the content of this. You say there "no real reason" why someone might oppose the spread of the Mormon gospel or why someone might oppose their church being "bumped off" as being representative of Christ's latter-day church?
You assume most is from "anti-Mormon literature." Please explain the following Mormon Scripture to readers here (especially the bold-faced portion). This is from the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:18-19:
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)--and which I should join. 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." 20 He again forbade me to join with any of them
How does all of this related to Milt Romney? If you go to http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6180, you'll see a message by one of Milt's uncles, Marion G. Romney, who was a high-ranking LDS official. Of course, Marion G. Romney cites Joseph 2:17 in this talk. I would assume Milt Romney also embraces Joseph 2:17-19.