An Ugly Attack on Mormons

article.nationalreview.com ^ | December 3, 2008 | Jonah Goldberg

[Publius804]

An Ugly Attack on Mormons

The easiest targets for an organized campaign against religious freedom of conscience.

By Jonah Goldberg

Did you catch the political ad in which two Jews ring the doorbell of a nice working-class family? They barge in and rifle through the wife’s purse and then the man’s wallet for any cash. Cackling, they smash the daughter’s piggy bank and pinch every penny. “We need it for the Wall Street bailout!” they exclaim.

No? Maybe you saw the one with the two swarthy Muslims who knock on the door of a nice Jewish family and then blow themselves up?

No? Well, then surely you saw the TV ad in which two smarmy Mormon missionaries knock on the door of an attractive lesbian couple. “Hi, we’re from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!” says the blond one with a toothy smile. “We’re here to take away your rights.” The Mormon zealots yank the couple’s wedding rings from their fingers and then tear up their marriage license.

As the thugs leave, one says to the other, “That was too easy.” His smirking comrade replies, “Yeah, what should we ban next?” The voice-over implores viewers: “Say no to a church taking over your government.”

Obviously, the first two ads are fictional because no one would dare run such anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim attacks.

The third ad, however, was real. It was broadcast throughout California on Election Day as part of the effort to rally opposition to Proposition 8, the initiative that successfully repealed the right to same-sex marriage in the state.

What was the reaction to the ad? Widespread condemnation? Scorn? Rebuke? Tepid criticism?

Nope.

The Los Angeles Times, a principled opponent of Proposition 8, ran an editorial lamenting that the “hard-hitting commercial” was too little, too late.

[Elsie]

If you believe calling Mormons ugly names helps you in your Christian walk, then best of luck to you.

HMmmm...

It seemed to work out for Joseph Smith.

Oh; wait - he got himself killed.

Forget what I just typed.

[broncobilly]

Mormons do not call other Christians non-Cristians if the do not believe in the D&C. Understand the difference?

[Elsie]

If you believe calling Mormons ugly names helps you in your Christian walk, then best of luck to you.

HMmmm...

It seemed to work out for Jesus...

---

 

Matthew 15:16
   "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.

Matthew 23

 

 1.  Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
 2.  "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.
 3.  So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
 4.  They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
 5.  "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries  wide and the tassels on their garments long;
 6.  they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
 7.  they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.'
 8.  "But you are not to be called `Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.
 9.  And do not call anyone on earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
 10.  Nor are you to be called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
 11.  The greatest among you will be your servant.
 12.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
 13.  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 
 14.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 
 15.   "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. 
 16.  "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
 17.  You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
 18.  You also say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.'
 19.  You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
 20.  Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
 21.  And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
 22.  And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
 23.  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
 24.  You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
 25.  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
 26.  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
 27.  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
 28.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
 29.  "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
 30.  And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
 31.  So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
 32.  Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
 33.  "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
 34.  Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
 35.  And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
 36.  I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
 37.  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
 38.  Look, your house is left to you desolate.
 39.  For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

Mark 7:26-27
 26.  The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
 27.  "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 

 

---

Oh; wait - he got himself killed.

Forget what I just typed.

[Cathy]

Classic.

[Jibaholic]

You are correct. I commend you for making an excellent point. However, we both agree that the Gospel of John makes clear the divinity of Christ. Arianism and other faiths that reject the divinity of Christ are heretical. That includes Mormonism.

[netmilsmom]

>>And the Catholic Church is not “bashing” Mormonism by saying so, is it?<<

Well, I’m not seeing the Vatican sending any Bishops to the Mormons to tell them so. When we get around to that, we can talk about “bashing”.

[broncobilly]

Mormons do not interpret those versus the way you do. Those verses, according to Mormon thought, are not interpreted to mean Mormons vs. all others. If you knew anything very much about Mormonism you would know that.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

****I would much rather have my grandchildren being raised around people who adhere to other religions that maintain decent standards — provided they aren’t badmouthing my religion ***

You should have seen some of the hollering and verbal jousting going on the school buses years ago between the LDS and the RLDS kids! (”Were right!” “No, WE are right!”)
Others just sat back and watched them go at it!

[netmilsmom]

No, this is the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell. [See Calvin]

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Catholics say that at the beginning of the Rosary.

[colorcountry]

Well, I’m not seeing the Vatican sending any Bishops to the Mormons to tell them so. When we get around to that, we can talk about “bashing”.

But the Mormons send plenty of Elders around to tell you about the invalidity of your baptism, so I guess by your formula it is the Mormons who are guilty of "bashing."

For now I will leave this discussion with you. I've diverted the thread enough.

[Arguendo]

I agree that going after the Mormons for Prop 8 is ridiculous. If the gay lobby had any guts it would go after the Catholic Church and the black churches, both of which probably had at least as much to do with its passage as the Mormons did, but they go after the Mormons because Mormons are a much weaker and easier to target minority group.

Kind of ironic that a minority group (gays) that likes to consider itself persecuted would focus its attacks on another minority group, but hey...

[Elsie]

Actually, the Nicene Creed does say you “must believe.”

It says unless you believe it you cannot be saved, but will perish everlatingly.

 

Oh??

 

It appears you are mistaken:

 

 

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God,
light from light
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father,
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation,
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
He suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into Heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father:
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son.]*
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins,
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

[netmilsmom]

>>Then we could discuss the clearly bigoted ad, rather than argue about the perceived shortcomings of the victim<<

The voice of reason has entered the thread. Thank you, my FRiend!

[Elsie]

I provided the sin, God provided the grace that brought me back to Him.

You sound an awful lot like me!

[SJackson]

The origional add was false and it was not ONLY mormons who voted for Prop 8 but many Christians and non Christians who knew homo marriage was just wrong.

That's true, but the ad singles out Mormons as an organization devoted to depriving Americans of their rights, in fact a Church bent on taking over the government. Envious of the Jewish takeover of the banking system and media I suppose. Any station running that ad should be presumed to be comfortable running overt antisemitic or racist ads as well. When the opportunity arises, of course.

[DieHard the Hunter]

“Interesting”. I wonder what Joseph Smith’s lodge had to say about this.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***”How many divisions does San Francisco have?” ***

If an AIDS infected homo attacks you and you have to shoot him can you be arrested for biological causing warefare because he bled out in the street?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[Elsie]

“It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation.

To WHICH do 'these' refer?

[Badeye]

Its not just here at FR.

[Arguendo]

I think we ought to leave it to God to decide who is/isn't "Christian" and focus instead on working out our own Salvation with trembling and fear.

Okay, it might be a little strong to say that Mormons cannot be Christians, but I have no trouble calling Mormonism a heresy. Yes, we should be primarily concerned with our own salvation, but throughout history--going back to Biblical times--Christians have also had to guard against heresies in the church.

Nonetheless, despite my theological disagreements, I strongly respect many Mormons (who are as a group very hard working and responsible) and supported one for President in the primaries.