it figures you have no clue of that message but what the heck does one expect of one suffering from OCD!
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.
Something YOU won't do!
I'll bet PRESBYTERIANs read these threads and have seen the fact that JS thought they believed UNTRUE things, and yet YOU will NOT tell them what they so DRASTICALLY need to know!!!
Shame on you; and you claim to be a loving MORMON?
I guess it's EASIER to be BAPTISED for them after they die; than to TALK to them while they still live.
But...
Was he SPEAKING as a PROPHET?
If the first; we'd see a very VOCAL Veep.
If the second; Sarah had best have a food taster.
And FR is a really GOOD place to get FACTS about MORMONism as well as ROMNEYism.
LOOK!
Over there!
Got it backwards again!
When ya come to a fork in the road...
Uh...
We've already HAD this conversation last month.
Dang!
Now I am doing it!
For one, I can tell you that I have no problem with Glenn Beck’s Mormonism since he doesn’t have a little platoon of whiners at FR. The mittiac is trying to play PC games to eliminate opposition using his mormonism as a tool. Disgusting aspect of the man actually ... and of course those playing this game for him are just as disgusting and duplicitous. BTW, have you met rameumpton?
No, I've never met Rameumptum. Or Riplakish or Ramah for that matter either.
Interesting ... you spelled Rame’s screen name the way he spelled it, rather than the way I wrote it. Committee?
LOL...
Indeed...
I smell retread.
It’s the son, ONLY if the FIRST PERSONAGE was telling the truth.
__________________________________________________
Also Joey Smith claimed that his mormon gods were heavily into polygamy...
With the polyandry thingy, the son may not have been the son of that personage...
how would the personage know if the son was his child or the child of one of the other trillions of mormon gods ???
No DNA thingy back in 1805-1844..
Maybe thats why the kid didnt say anything...
Not even “OK Dad”
Sigh.
Am I required to misspell it like you did? It’s a word from the Book of Mormon, I suggest you look it up.
Rameumptom
Please note that this is an LDS OWNED source...
You’ve just invalidated your game of accusations. I can find no Rameumptum with a U on Free Republic. If I am who you think I am, and spelling it like you say I am, why is there no record?
Rumplestiltskins ???
Yeppers I’ve heard of him ...
Is that story in the bom ???
Spinning (a mormon thingy)
straw (lots of those guys in mormon logic)
into
gold (the desire for is a foundation of mormonism)
Yeah, he IS in the bom ...
:)
I answered your question, will you please answer mine. Do you think it a double standard to support Glenn Beck but not Mormon politicians?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.