Posted on 02/15/2011 12:07:41 PM PST by Colofornian
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Amid the prospect of presidential runs by Jon Huntsman Jr. and Mitt Romney, reporters are bombarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with calls about the potential candidates and their Mormon faith.
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The novelty of two high-profile Mormons possibly competing for the nations highest office guarantees the 14 million-member faith a place in the national spotlight. But experts are divided about whether that would help or hurt the church and how much of a factor Mormonism would be in either potential campaign.
In the long run, it would be good for the church, said David Campbell, a political scientist at the University Notre Dame and a Mormon.
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Romneys first run at the White House did not change attitudes toward Mormons, either among those who liked him or didnt, Campbell said. Attitudes about Mormonism were fixed.
John Green, an expert in religion and politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, agreed.
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Mormonism continues to be among the least popular religions in America, Green said, and white evangelical Protestantsa force in the GOPview the faiths doctrines with suspicion and its missionaries as competitors for converts.
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Kelly Patterson, a Brigham Young University political scientist, is more optimistic about his church and possible Mormon candidates.
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Politicians such as Romney can be very adaptive, he said...
(Excerpt) Read more at religionnews.com ...
From the excerpted article: Mormonism continues to be among the least popular religions in America, Green said, and white evangelical Protestantsa force in the GOPview the faiths doctrines with suspicion...
(Well, of course. Polytheism masquerading as monotheism...Mormons upstaging God as wannabe-gods...etc.)
Can’t hurt their reputation any more then Harry Reid is.
Mormonism is as big a fraud as Willard is.
Sadly, there are enough people in our country who do not understand that Mormonism is not a Christian sect. They think of Mormonism like another flavor of Christianity, like Methodist or Presbyterian.
Did Obama’s candidacy help or hurt Black Liberation Theology?
Ah, political understatement-for-the-decade candidate. "Adaptive..."
Let's see: Mitt said a while back that he became pro-abortion when his mom ran for senate. He continued to be pro-abortion when he took on Teddy for senate.
He wrote a letter-to-the-editor of a Utah newspaper in 2001 that he didn't consider himself to be "pro-choice" -- but then when he campaigned for Bay State guv, it was to be as pro-abort as possible, even contacting a pro-abort voters' guide to make sure he was referenced as such.
He claimed to have a pro-life "conversion" in late 2004 over how embryos were treated; yet was claiming in a late May 2005 press conference that he wouldn't be addressing the "status quo" pro-abortion environment of the Bay State.
He then pushed his Bay State boondoggle of enforced "healthcare" upon citizens, allowing a Planned Parenthood rep to remain as a permanent overseer of it. [BTW, Romney did veto certain portions of that legislation; he COULD HAVE vetoed the Planned Parenthood rep, too...but guess what, Romney went to Planned Parenthood open parties back in 1992 and his wife gave Planned Parenthood a check that year, too)
And, of course, by the time Mitt was campaigning for POTUS, he was supposedly "pro-life"...except that he told Chris Wallace in an August 2007 FOX interview that he NEVER considered himself "pro-choice."
Five months later, Mitt was being interviewed by Katie Couric, where he said he didn't see anything wrong with "parents" (his word) either giving up their embryos for adoption OR "research." (Hey, Mitt, didn't ya know that "research" is just a euphemism for destroy? And if they are already parents -- and if these embryos can be adopted -- like through the Snowflake program...what DOES that make them?)
IB4PDSPAM
I would assume they would hurt it.
Romney’s a terrible fraud, so that’s a big blow.
Not sure about Huntsman, other than he’s Obama’s buddy, which I assume makes him a RINO scumbag.
More exposure of the craziness of the LDS is a good thing for all...
It at least exposed his pastor (Wright) for what it was.
Hence, these campaigns only serve to expose the innards of what's taught.
Like the fact that Mitt Romney was a 30 yo member of a church when they STILL didn't allow blacks to become Lds priests. (Huntsman had just turned 18)
Also...all...start doing research on Parley P. Pratt. His name will rise to the surface more often in 2011 than it did in 2007-2008. Why? Not only was he an early Mormon "apostle" who made many occultic statements about communicating with the dead, but both Huntsman AND Romney are direct descendents from him!
Here's Huntsman's genealogy: The Ancestors of Jon Huntsman
(Pratt had about a dozen wives...so you can imagine he left a lot of clan..."missionary" Pratt was murdered in 1857 in Arkansas trying to escape with the wife of an irate husband -- who didn't take Pratt's e-haremny.com leanings back then...yes, the woman was separated from her husband...but...well, you all can read about that in Jon Krakauer's book, UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN)
Mormonism has about the same relationship to Christianity as Islam has to Christianity.
Christianity doesn’t have extra books.
I believe it will help in the long run. The MSM may go on the attack like many obsessed anti-Mormons already do but people eventually see the truth. They will wonder why, if all that what the anti’s and MSM say is so obviously true, would anyone be a Mormon?
They will then, if they hadn’t already, do a little investigating of their own and find out that all is not as it is portrayed by those in opposition.
Therefore I predict. In the long run, it will help.
P.S. Most of the Mormons I know aren’t too thrilled with Reid either. He is somewhat of an anomaly.
If Romney or that other guy gets the nomination (they won’t), the media will mock Romney or the other guy mercilessly.
Mitt, Magic Underwear, Romney.
There’s an old South Park where they describe the Mormon religion. They rip it to shreds. Parker and Stone make a pretty effective case that people who believe in Mormonism are less than intelligent.
Polygamy is not as bad as gay marriage though.
...dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb
LOL IB4PDSPAM
Look up. It is a hoot...
And the Jewish Bible doesnt have extra books either.
Mormonism is Christianity what Christianity is to Judaism.
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