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.
YOU don't?
You poor, ignorant, decieved and astray ANTI!
Don't you KNOW that a faithful MORMON will be BAPTISED for YOU some time in the future; so that YOU will be able to grab hold of the lifeline that Joseph Smith tosses out to YOU?
--MormonDupe(It might even be ME!)
PRESBYTERIAN??
Dang!
She ain't even OLD-TIMEY!!
So are THESE:
Are YOU unable to understand that it's the MEMBERS who make the 'church' either good or bad?
No; their words do NOT mean the same thing as OUR words.
They Humpty Dumptyfy them.
HMMMmmm...
They all DISbelieve the Trinity, they're all supposedly saved b/c they believe The Book of MORMON! How can that be? Is that what Joseph Smith taught? I thought there was unity among the MORMONS?
How does one EXPLAIN all of the splits and sects and Fundamental units of MORMONism?
WHY do the SLC ones FAIL to follow SCRIPTURE (D&C 132) yet will EXCOMMUNICATE it's MEMBERS if they do?
Yup.
That's WHY they are Christians - trying to BE more Christlike.
MORMONs, OTOH...
"Your Bible has had precious things removed from it.
I'll improve it."
Joseph Smith
Until he was about thirty years old, Shaw identified himself as an Atheist.
In the 1890s, Shaw renounced Atheism. He began identifying himself as a mystic.
Some people believe Shaw was strongly influenced by Hinduism.
Throughout the rest of his life, Shaw espoused a belief system that Sloan called "an idiosyncratic version of Henri Bergson's creative evolution."
His self-described mystic beliefs focused on the evolution of humanity and other organisms, driven by a mysterious "life force."
Shaw wrote explicitly about his beliefs, such as in "The New Theology" a 1907, and these beliefs also also espoused through his fictional plays.
It's the son, ONLY if the FIRST PERSONAGE was telling the truth.
"Listen to him" was the command; and the SECOND PERSONAGE said....
CRICKETS
Bah!
PIKERS!!
We 'americans' kill about a MILLION every year - almost enough for a WTC EVERY DAY by Choice®!
Abortion will DESTROY this Nation - not ISLAM!
And we have a MORMON who advocatges ABORTION who wants to be PRESIDENT.
It is one thing to cream ones opponent ideas and actions but the extreme is like in “Rule for Radicals” when one has such hatred toward another human being they will pound away at them because they want to annihilated to the point of damning them to hell!
Resty; it looks like mind-reading for THEE but not for WE is ok with you.
Is it time for our yearly Temple Recommend review again?
--MormonDupe(I hope I pass again)
Maybe she meant VARNISHED.
Or not...
If someone points out a different understanding they are to be also vanished from the kingdom.
If a MORMON has a 'different understanding' of D&C 132 from what the official line is from Headquarters at SLC; they get VANISHED from the rolls by excommunication.
Yeah yeah yeah... Joseph Smith CLEARLY said the he LEARNED that PRESBYTERIANism was untrue; but THAT cannot be found anywhere either.
We have PROOF that MORMONism is false - but who is listening?
But you DID say:
No, you never addressed my points, not to my satisfaction anyway....
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