They Shoot Mormons, Don't They? Religious Bigotry, alive and well today

Saundra Duffy

[colorcountry]

There just aren’t many churches out there that:

Make you wear regulation underwear.

Make you wear white shirts at church.

Don’t allow weddings to be a celebration.

Dress up like the Pillsbury Doughboy and repeat silly rituals in secret.

Control your diet.

Ask you intensely personal questions.

Demand at least 10% of your income.

Control what you consider entertainment.

Control what you read.

Control who you associate with.

Bury you in Masonic regalia.

Determine your “worthiness.”

Christian churches just don’t do these things. The bottom line is Mormonism wishes it was a competitor to other Christian churches, it’s not.

[Boston Blackie]

I responded to your statement: It's pretty hard for me to accept anti-Catholic bias existed in Massachusetts given the huge Irish and Italian populations.

That bias lasted until the Irish catholics gained a majority in Boston. They were able to control police and firefighter jobs etc, and they dominated those jobs for decades.The Italians came after the Irish and suffered just as badly.

I'm not defending the Kennedy family. Jack Kennedy was not denied anything. His father's stock market manipulation's and ties to organized crime provided enough wealth to buy anything his family wanted/needed.

[Fiji Hill]

There was another man running for President who faced the same dilemma – John F. Kennedy – only he was the target of anti-CATHOLIC bigotry. In his 1960 speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, JFK said the following: “. . .I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end…”

By the way, if you listen to the audio version of JFK’s speech, you will hear the hurt and frustration in his voice and the unfair treatment surely must have caused many a sleepless night.

During the 1960 presidential campaign, the Republicans never raised the religious issue, which would have been unthinkable to the party's standard bearer Richard Nixon, himself a Quaker. In fact, some observers accused Kennedy of cynically raising the issue himself so as to fire up his Catholic supporters.

In October, 1960, one such critic, Representative William E. Miller (R-NY) charged the Kennedy campaign with deliberately "keeping the religious issue alive and inflamed" so as to win Catholic votes. Miller added that "I speak as a Catholic and out of a sense of outrage."

By the way, Miller would go on to chair the Republican National Committee for three years beginning in 1961, run for vice president in 1964, and would become familiar to television viewers in the 1980's as a spokesman for American Express. His daughter, Stephanie Miller, is a lefty moonbat radio talk show host.

[cookcounty]

"“Sunday after Sunday, preachers, evangelists, reverends and ministers from all Christian denominations pound the pulpit with anti-Mormon rhetoric.”

I've been going to evangelical churches for 50 yeats and I have never heard anybody "pounding the pulpit with anti-Mormon rhetoric." I do remember, maybe 40-45 years ago someone leading a Sunday School class about comparative "World Religions" stating that Mormonism is a most closely related to ancient Greek religion with a veneer of Christian language and which subcribes to a Judeo-Christian morality.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I wouldn’t vote for Obama because of his curious religious upbringing.

I’m not voting against him because of those teachings... I’m voting against him because he doesn’t have PROPER teachings. His wishy-washy history when it comes to his faith leaves me wondering what he is hiding.

Do you believe that EVERY vote counts, and that by not voting for Obama, I am helping to keep the WH out of the hands of the Democrats? Isn’t THAT the goal?

[wintertime]

Kennedy may have grown up with privilege, but he was never accepted in the higher reaches of Boston society - the world of old Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the old WASP families like the Cabots, the Lodges, the Peabodys, etc.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Joseph Kennedy earned his money running alcohol during prohibition. Is it any wonder this family was not accepted?

Would you be welcoming to a drug dealing family moving into your neighborhood?

Seems to me that the rejection or acceptance of the Kennedy family had little to do with religion.

[wintertime]

I didn’t bother to read the anti-Mormon tracts distributed by the Baptists. But, I did note the local denomination’s stamp on the back.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Why would a faith use Smith and say he was persecuted?

When I think of the strong men of the Bible, they had strength of conviction, powerful reasoning skills, leadership abilities, and a spirit of guidance. They stumbled, but carried on. Some reached their goals, others did not. But all of them were looking to God to guide them. And if they failed, they didn’t blame Him. It is a give-and-take relationship. And we are blessed by their examples.

Painting Smith into a hole where the entire state was out to get him, makes him look impotent. I wouldn’t follow such a weak person. Why others do is beyond me. Were they so lost that they couldn’t see the danger?

[Paulus Invictus]

Or visit any Christian bookstore to find many anti-Mormon books of all kinds.

[Tax-chick]

:-).

Thanks. I was enjoying the visual of the one-legged man on the campaign trail!

[Paulus Invictus]

Try the Berean (sp) Baptists. They are dedicated to destroying Mormonism and not much else. The show up and distribute flyers etc. at virtually every Mormon conference or event.

[sauropod]

Romney is an empty suit. He proved it last night.

[JRochelle]

Another myth.

[padre35]

I agree, for myself Romeny is a candidate for the Presidency not a “Mormom Presidential Candidate”.

I will say this, the article’s writer may be well meaning, however it also will drive people to make political decisions based solely on Denominational Preferences, and that is counter productive for Mr. Romney’s candidacy.

My opinion of course, I could be wrong.

[JRochelle]

I’ve never heard of them.

There are lots of kooks out there. They certianly are not mainstream.

[the808bass]

It’s a sick game and unfortunately, IMHO, the religious right has fallen into the trap.

Methinks you may have fallen in as well, in a bit of a different way.

[Delphinium]

I probably won't vote for Romney, amd neither will my closest Mormon friends.

It's not about his religion, its about how he was not true to his religion, the constitution, or the Republican platforn while pandering for liberal votes in Massechusetts.

Don't get dislike for Romney, and dislike for the Mormon doctrine mixed up.

If he is elected in the primary, I will vote, even campaign for him. Much different than Rudy.

[P-Marlowe]

I didn’t bother to read the anti-Mormon tracts distributed by the Baptists. But, I did note the local denomination’s stamp on the back.

Then how did you know it was "viscious"?

[colorcountry]

Even Mormons call it the “Mormon Tabernacle Choir.”

Apostle Bruce R. McConkie published a definitive Doctrinal dissertation for Mormons call....”MORMON Doctrine.”

Mormons have not cared in the past if you called them Mormons. In fact, when I was a child someone asked me if I was Christian. I puffed out my little chest and proudly proclaimed, “NO I am not, I am Mormon.”

Saundra you haven’t been in the Church long enough to be familiar with the pride Mormons had in being a “peculiar” people, you should look up those referrences. Come on now Saundra, we know you are a recent convert, but you simply must get up to speed with Mormonism before you post embarrassing one-side opinion posts like this one.

[JRochelle]

Ditto what you said.

Rudy is the only one so far who hasn’t a chance in h*ll of getting my vote.