Posted on 11/30/2009 6:01:03 PM PST by delacoert
I’ll just leave this here…
Before a defense of any kind of religious discrimination, one ought to make all of the necessary disclaimers: of course I oppose government-sponsored discrimination, and I certainly would not support the kind of absurd treatment described by Steven Reinhart in his piece featured below. That being said, there is a legitimate case to be made for judging any candidate for office by his religious convictions.
In late 2007, Mitt Romney made his somewhat-famous speech on religion, where he spoke the following words:
“Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.”
Similarly, Romney has stated: “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it…my faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs.”
If freedom requires religion, if his Mormon faith sustains his life and he will be true to those practices, then I’m at an utter loss as to why we should ignore Romney’s religious beliefs when evaluating his fitness for the White House.
We ask plenty of questions of any Evangelical Christian candidate: what do his beliefs about the nature of God, the nature of the cosmos, and the meaning of man’s life mean for his potential tenure in office? But for whatever reason, these questions are looked at as unnecessarily piercing and prejudiced when asked of a member of a minority faith.
When Sarah Palin gave her fumbling answer about Israel’s settlements, several commentators jumped on her faith, wondering whether she subscribed to the bizarre but potent sect of modern Christianity that believes in the imminence of the End Times. Will anyone ask Mitt Romney about the oddities of the dogma of the Mormon Church? There are plenty of Mormon doctrines that may strike people as a bit odd — and rightly so. It is established in the church that the devout can reach the upper echelons of heaven and eventually become gods themselves, able to create their own universes and govern them as they see fit (all while supervised by the One True God). Why is it that when I bring this up to Romney fans, I am dismissed as a bigot?
As an atheist, I both understand and accept that in a predominantly Christian society, my thoughts on religion are necessarily going to open me up to questions. If I were to ever run for office (don’t count on that, by the way), I would not expect my supporters would try to ward off any questions about my atheism with the victim-card of discrimination. One’s philosophy of religion contributes profoundly to his worldview and thus is a completely valid criterion by which to partially evaluate a candidate’s fitness for office.
I view all religions as equally bizarre and irrational. But mainstream Christianity is often adopted as a cultural guise, meant for purposes of assimilation with the majority. Probe most self-described Christians and you’ll find plenty of deviation from standard dogma. Devotion to Mormonism, which is completely outside of the American mainstream, requires a certain level of commitment. To what extent will Romney’s faith influence his decision-making? I ask that question of devoted Evangelicals and judge them accordingly, and I will do the same of a Mormon. And I am not going to apologize for that.
MORMONs will now call you a bigot.
And Un-American
And not a Conservative.
Would you PLEASE make up your mind!!!
Would it help you comprehend better if I used the word "members" instead of "people"?
Nope; it was a PERSONAGE - NOT the LORD.
Agreed, and if your faith is strong, then Mormonism poses no threat to it. But Islam is far more powerful than Mormonism and it seeks both souls and bodies; it is our ancient enemy.
No; it isn't.
It's a FACT - one that the LDS publishing house prints thousands of times a year:
Or fail to present it.
And you presume to know my heart, to judge my 'markings,' and my faith. You can go straight to hell then!
Or old age.
THEN what will be your fate?
...then let them come.
No; because PROFESSORS are PEOPLE; too!
(Like Soylent Green.)
Only God knows my dhimmi friend.
And if it's weak; MORMONism is a DIRE threat to your SALVATION!
...until then.
“We believe good Christians are deceived and astray, not evil and damned for eternity.”
___________
Not according to Smith and your own scripture.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2397313/posts?page=312#312
And you even claim to have BEEN one!!
Surely you’d know!
- - - - - - - -
I am beginning to think Resty was NEVER Presbyterian.
Wow. So every student of a teacher who declares the same principles taught in his class becomes a profesor?
And when someone talks about "professors" in the 1830s, he's really talking about the teacher, the student and, well, ANYONE really. Because, after all, EVERYONE believes and avows SOMETHING.
We're ALL professors now!
Sorry to break it to you, but that statement is false: "...all the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels." - Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. , The Elders Journal, v. 1, no. 4, p. 60
You might want to mention this part from The Elders Journal too:
Question 3rd. Will every body be damned, but Mormons? Answer. Yes, and a great portion of them unless they repent work righteousness.Sounds pretty insideous, doesn't it?
These quotes must be understood in light of the Mormon belief about hell and damnation, which differ significantly from most of Christianity.
I'll leave it to you to look it up, if you're interested in getting your facts straight.
Reformed Egyptian from 540 BC using the Greek transliteration "Christ" 540 years before He was born and even before it was present in the greek to begin with.
Wow, almost like it was prophetic or something, huh?
My, the fluff is thick here. Smith went beyond just 'wrong', lets be honest. He wrote in 1 Ne. 14: 10:" And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth."
Yes, that's in the BofM. What's your point?
Are you still unable to differentiate between a CHURCH and the MEMBERS of that church?
This has been fun, but I gotta go now. I'll try and drop in again tomorrow. :-)
You’re suggesting that there’s no Christological difference between the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, or the Coptic Church? That there’s no difference between the Chalcedonian and Monophysitic interpretations? That Gnostic Christianity’s belief is not significantly different then say, the Lutheran concept of sola fide? That there aren’t different versions of the Gospel which include different histories, different concepts of salvation? Please.
...you’re just such an intellectual aren’t you?
Like I said, break open a dictionary - you still remember how to use one don't you? Never heard the phrase "profession of faith", you profess that faith, you become a professor of that faith.
Sounds pretty insideous, doesn't it?
What part of without one exception, do you find difficult to understand? The simple fact is smith did condemn members and not just the pastors/priests/ministers.
These quotes must be understood in light of the Mormon belief about hell and damnation, which differ significantly from most of Christianity.
Oh indeed I am aware friend. So what exactly is the "portion" for the devil and his angels? Why it is that outer darkness thing isn't it, not one of the three realms. So ALL the priests and ALL the followers are condemned to this same location.
You might want to mention this part from The Elders Journal too:
Question 3rd. Will every body be damned, but Mormons? Answer. Yes, and a great portion of them unless they repent work righteousness.
Yes, it just confirms what smith stated in my quote, I will be damned unless a mormon and assigned to the same punishement - by smith's own words.
Wow, almost like it was prophetic or something, huh?
More like made up, just another nail in the spuriousness of the bom.
Yes, that's in the BofM. What's your point?
Are you still unable to differentiate between a CHURCH and the MEMBERS of that church?
Poor reading comprehension must be a requirement to be a mormon. What part of whoso belongeth do you fail to recognize as refering to members. Certainly this is not a condemnation of a building. If I say you belongeth to the mormon church, does that mean you are a member or a piece of property.
NAH....it was Smith's desire for money and fame talkin'!
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