Republican Romney cried (with relief) when he learned Blacks could be priests

Monsters and Critics ^ | Dec 16, 2007

[Petronski]

Has Willard ever said the prior LDS position on blacks was wrong?

[donna]

I seem to recall - it’s a historical fact - that Christians sat in the pews singing spiritual hymns while Native Americans were slaughtered - not to mention the church going folk who had slaves. Get over yourself already!

Is that the official Mormon view of Christians?

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Romney is an ass. He is also very disingenuous. I can’t vote for this person.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Pips, not pimps

[TheDon]

The split between the Northern and Southern Baptist organizations was over slavery and education of slaves, and by the 18th century, about 40 percent of Southern Baptist preachers in South Carolina owned slaves. At the time of the split, the Southern Baptist group used the curse of Cain as justification of the practice. In fact, most 19th and early 20th century Southern Baptist congregations in the southern United States taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites.

The doctrine was used to support a ban on ordaining blacks to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in the U.S. and Europe. The Coptic, Ethiopian, Orthodox, Thomasite and the Catholic church did not recognize these interpretations and did not participate in the religious movement to support them. Certain Catholic Diocese in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer sacraments to, or accept confessions from white parishioners. This policy was not based on a Curse of Cain teaching, but was justified by any possible perceptions of having slaves rule over their masters. (Dictionary of African-American Slavery)

Baptists and other denominations including Pentecostals officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, though all races were accepted to worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. In fact, it wasn't until 1995, that the Southern Baptist Convention officially renounced its "racist roots." Nearly all Protestant groups in America had supported the notion that black slavery, oppression, and African colonization was the result of God's curse on people with black skin or of African descent through Cain or through the curse of Ham, and some churches practiced racial segregation as late as the 1990s, including Pentecostalism. Today, however, official acceptance and practice of the doctrine among Protestant ogranizations is limited almost exclusively to churches connected to white supremacy, such as the Aryan World Church and the New Christian Crusade Church.

[Beagle8U]

What is a “Pip”?

[SoConPubbie]

You’ve raised a valid point.

Killing is worse than denying positions of leadership.

[SoConPubbie]

I seem to recall - it’s a historical fact - that Christians sat in the pews singing spiritual hymns while Native Americans were slaughtered - not to mention the church going folk who had slaves. Get over yourself already!

And the Mormons were just as guilty of this type of behavior.

Proof

[matthew fuller]

I thought that’s what you meant! ;)

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Are you kidding? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_Knight_&_the_Pips

All you needed to know and everything you never wanted to know.

[Darkwolf377]

This is the kind of thing that’s going to sink Romney’s ship. It is so blatantly intended to appease, rather than lead.

[incredulous joe]

So is former Utah Jazz guard Thurl Bailey.

[bpjam]

I’m not asking anybody to ‘get over themselves’ here. But if you’re next post is ‘we need to get rid of all these Mormons because they are wackos’, I’m going to have to object.

Theological differences exist. Not all of us agree with any particular religion which is evidenced by the fact that we are made up of different religions and various denominations even of Christianity which is the primary faith.

A theological discussion about the candidates doesn’t exact help us here. Its as bad as that stupid YouTube video with the guy holding up the Bible and saying ‘Do you believe every word in this book?’ Its a set up. Anybody who thinks they are going to be able to stand up and publicly defend every single word in their religion is either a theological scholar or delusional.

There are black marks in the history all virtually all religions (I don’t know them all so i’m leaving some room for doubt). How we deal with our black marks probably says more about us. Or maybe it says that the faithful aren’t necessarily at fault for the faults of the leaders of their faiths and those leaders aren’t always right.

Since nobody can honestly say that Romney is going to ban black people from the government if he is elected, lets keep this to the issues and public policy and the integrity and personal character of the candidates.

[ansel12]

“Many Mormons cried that day. It was a great day for the LDS Church. “

---

It must have been difficult for them, having to wait until 1978 for God to finally flip flop on the race thing.

[SpringheelJack]

Host Tim Russert asked if “it was wrong for your faith to exclude them for as long as it did.” “I told you exactly where I stand,” Romney said. “My view is that there’s no discrimination in the eyes of God. And I could not have been more pleased than to see the change that occurred.”

One thing that worries me is how stiff and defensive Romney gets whenever he's asked a question that his prepared response doesn't really cover. Especially on subjects of religion; I'm thinking of his shaky "I believe in the Bible" when asked for a followup on his answer during the YouTube debate.

Whether it's what he thinks or not, the impression I get is that while he approved of the change when it occurred, he wasn't exactly disapproving of the exclusion of blacks when it was the policy either. "God must have a reason for it," or something, was his rationale.

He could have done himself better if he'd said "It was wrong, Tim, I believed that in my bones, and I'd prayed for some time that God would reveal to the church leadership this basic truth." What he actually said undercut his message a little.

He needs to work on this, because in the event of his nomination stuff like this is going to hurt.

[JRochelle]

He hasn’t and he won’t.

[L.N. Smithee]

A theological discussion about the candidates doesn’t exact help us here. Its as bad as that stupid YouTube video with the guy holding up the Bible and saying ‘Do you believe every word in this book?’ Its a set up. Anybody who thinks they are going to be able to stand up and publicly defend every single word in their religion is either a theological scholar or delusional...

...There are black marks in the history all virtually all religions (I don’t know them all so i’m leaving some room for doubt). How we deal with our black marks probably says more about us. Or maybe it says that the faithful aren’t necessarily at fault for the faults of the leaders of their faiths and those leaders aren’t always right.

Amen, brother (or sister, whichever you are). If you are determined to leave or defame a church, religion, or belief system, you WILL find a reason, because all beliefs are practiced by imperfect people.

[JRochelle]

Well that was wrong!

Plain and simple, wrong!

Would that Willard would wise up and say that too!

[bpjam]

Well, I know I’m imperfect.

And that’s exactly what my rabbi keeps telling people in my family.....

[Zakeet]

For what it is worth, the question of Mormonism's history of racial prejudice was abundantly discussed today on the following threads:

Mitt wept when church ended discrimination

Mormonism, Romney and Race

The Mormon Church has an appalling, indefensible history of bigotry as abundantly documented here:

Mormon Racism

The Curse of Cain? Racism in the Mormon Church

And as you can see on the prior threads, LDS members have no response other than to say, "We stopped in 1978."

Without question, the liberal MSM is going to have a field day on this issue if Mitt gains the GOP nomination.