Posted on 01/08/2008 4:09:13 PM PST by tantiboh
Mitt Romney is facing an unexpected challenge in Iowa from rival Mike Huckabee, who has enjoyed a groundswell of support from religious voters, particularly evangelical Christians wary of the clean-cut former Massachusetts governor because of his Mormon religion.
The common worry among evangelicals is that if Romney were to capture the White House, his presidency would give legitimacy to a religion they believe is a cult. Since the LDS church places heavy emphasis on proselytizing -- there are 53,000 LDS missionaries worldwide -- many mainstream Christians are afraid that Mormon recruiting efforts would increase and that LDS membership rolls would swell.
...
THE ONLY PROBLEM with those fears is that they don't add up. Evangelicals may be surprised to learn that the growth of church membership in Massachusetts slowed substantially during Romney's tenure as governor. In fact, one could make the absurdly simplistic argument that Romney was bad for Mormonism.
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ONE WAY TO GAUGE what might happen under a President Romney would be to look at what happened during the period of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Held in Salt Lake City, they were dubbed the "Mormon Olympics."
...
Despite all the increased attention, worldwide the Church grew only slightly, and in fact in the year leading up to the games the total number of congregations fell. Overall, from 2000 to 2004, there was a 10.9 percent increase in memberships and a 3.6 percent increase in congregations.
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The LDS church is likely to continue its current modest-but-impressive growth whether or not Romney wins the White House. Perhaps the only real worry for evangelicals is that, if elected, the former Massachusetts governor will demonstrate to Americans that Mormons don't have horns.
Carrie Sheffield, a member of the LDS Church, is a writer living in Washington, D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Tanty, you talk about a mere cycle--a mere "season"...Mormon missionaries & the LDS publishing houses malign Christians every day (except Sundays) decade after decade!!!
You can't on the one hand...
...tithe doorknockers & your publishing houses into blasting ALL "Christian sects" as "apostates" with "corrupt professors" & creeds that are an alleged "abomination in His sight"...
...& then duck in feigned surprise when someone deflects these Mormon shots right backatcha!
You, Tanty, have been on an LDS mission. You personally know how many times during your two-year stint you & your partner mentioned the word "apostasy" (to describe Christians) & its doctrinal accompaniment, the restoration. You know how many times you gave somebody a Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi "church of the devil" "abominable...whore church" & all to describe the non-Mormon church.
Now multiply your personal experience by...
...over a 1 million (# of accumulative missionaries LDS have sent out) +...
...millions more condemnations in books published (number of Pearl of Great Prices & Book of Mormons translated & delivered world-wide) +...
...millions more pages consisting of other LDS piss-pour TOTALITARIAN descriptions of the Christian church courtesy of LDS apostle Bruce McConkie, LDS Curricula, LDS-HQ published Journal of Discourses, LDS online sources, etc, etc. etc. ("totalitarian" = describing the Christian church as if description = all of the "Christian sects," not just a portion of them)
Your obviously familiar with it. So, why, pray tell, are you so offended by Romney's religion?
You new 'round these parts?
Nope.
What a dumb article.
Why? Is it wrong?
That he is a Mormon high priest, though is likely more of a difference maker, to those who have studied the subject.
The vacillation of Romney’s positions are similar to the vacillations of LDS’ apparent doctrines and prophetic statements, over the decades. And once people hear about the clandestine nature of the high priesthood, it gets to be another story -- but not just for evangelicals.
The biggest difference maker for evangelicals is that they (we) have someone who more closely and consistently shares the principles and positions we would conserve. (Those happen to be very consistent with the ideals of the original Republicans and original Americans, too.)
I'm not offended. Where would you get that idea? Certainly not from anything I've posted on this thread.
I will be gone for most of the rest of the evening. Have a nice discussion.
I love freepers....DON’T VOTE FOR A MORMAN, I BELIEVE THAT MORMANISM IS A CULT!!!!!let’s see, should I vote for Hillary.......should I vote for a black muslim......YES, anything but a Morman!!!!....sad
Hi gf
Thanks for the lovely PING
:)
My 74 year old mother, who is an Episcopalian, Country Club, Republican, won’t and she freely admits it is because of his religion.
Go figure this one...the housekeeper we had while growing up was Mormon.
She trusted a Mormon with her children but won’t trust one to lead the country.
Sorry but in an article that has nothing to do with Romney’s religion and never even mentions it, it is most definitely non-mormons that bring it up first.
In an article that mentions his religion it is always the fluffy bunny nice nice club that fires the first shot.
Okay this thread made a liar out of me. Someone went to the B word before the bunnies even showed up.
That’s all well and good, but it has nothing to do with the original article. Why do you find the original article dumb?
It’s comparatively tame now. You should have seen it last summer! Whew, what knock-down, drag-out fights we had back then. Every article that even had a whiff of Romney was hijacked within 30 threads by anti-Mormons screaming “Cultists!” “Non-Christians!” “Mormon Conspiracy!” etc. The anti-Mormons on FR have settled down considerably since then.
You didn’t answer where you got that bogus data (but I don’t expect you to have the real source). There are members of every religion that quit, no doubt, even yours, whatever it is. After all, you quit too.
~”After all, you quit too.”~
Well, sort of; but that’s a long story, and for her to tell.
You can’t “sorta quit.” It has to be a full quit or not. I’d rather not hear her long story, but will admit she’s apparently from a long line of good Mormon stock. One wonders how they must feel up in “Mormon Heaven” about her anti-Mormon screeds? Wasn’t Christ’s second most important commandment to love our neighbors like ourselves? Where’s the love?
Look, I’m with you. Without pointing the finger at CC (who, among anti-Mormons is rather unique in that she has some very good reasons for having left the Church, and for whom I’m happy that she has found peace), it’s my contention that Christian religious bigots of all sorts, including most anti-Mormons, by their intolerance and sometimes even persecution, are not following the example that Christ gave us. If they are not striving to follow the example of Christ, it therefore places their own claim to being Christians in doubt.
Whether or not these people like it or admit it, Mormons are Christians too. By their actions, these people bring shame to the name of Christ.
(And yes, for the reader, I consider being called a cultist and a non-Christian to be persecution; fortunately, it’s not quite as severe as, say, an extermination order, but it’s quite contrary to Christian behavior nonetheless.)
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