Religion may hinder Romney in '08

Chicago Sun Times ^

[SDGOP]

Prominent, respectable Evangelical Christians have told me, not for quotation, that millions of their co-religionists cannot and will not vote for Romney for president solely because he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If Romney is nominated and their abstention results in the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton, that's just too bad. The evangelicals are adamant, saying there is no way Romney can win them over.

[WalterSkinner]

A.Romney will not be the nominee--with or without the Mormon label.

B. Even if Hillary is their nominee--she will lose

So this discussion goes in the same pile as all the Rudy speculation...

[TexanToTheCore]

I wouldn't vote for him in the primaries anyway, 'cause he's from Massachusetts and we do not need a Northeasterner running on our ticket. They are uniformly out of the mainstream.

[ohioWfan]

I didn't say that Mormons don't believe that Jesus was a good man, or even a prophet (those are beautiful paintings, btw).

But they don't believe that He is God..........and that is what makes one "Christian" in the true sense of the word........and in believing Jesus' own words that He and the Father are One.

I actually believe that many individual Mormons may indeed be Christian, but it is not in accordance with the doctrine of the Church, which opposes Scriptural Christian theology.

Some of the nicest people on earth, but if they believe the Church's theology, not Christian.

[JRochelle]

That joke just makes me cringe.

Romney really needs to lose it. Its not funny.

[Suzy Quzy]

Could someone tell me why his Mormonism would be a problem?

[spikeytx86]

Actually when it comes to his health bill it originally would said that you either purchase insurance or you pay a $10,000 bond to the county hospital district that accrues interest and would be applied to your hospital bill in the event of admittance. It was his personal responsibility clause because under federal law in which he can not change requires hospitals to treat anyone regardless of ability to pay. This would make it so that you either buy insurance or you pay for your expenses, no more hand outs. But the democratic legislator changed that. He also is vetoing the employer fine but it will likely be overturned.

The bill was created with the help of the Heritage Foundation and in it's original version was actually quite good. The bill also deregulates insurance in the state by doing away with several mandates and with the help of insurance companies creating a website called the Connector where people can shop around and buy there insurance. Basically like most things the democrats took a good bill crapped on it and then passed it. I can provide info from the Heritage Foundation on the bill if you would like.

[T. P. Pole]

While that statement is true of the average Mormon, the LDS Church position on abortion is pretty weak. It leaves the decision of whether to have an abortion or not to the counsel of the LDS bishop.

From the LDS web page:
Question:
What is the Church's position on abortion?

Answer:
In 1973, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement regarding abortion, which is still applicable today: "The Church opposes abortion and counsels its members not to submit to or perform an abortion except in the rare cases where, in the opinion of competent medical counsel, the life or good health of the mother is seriously endangered or where the pregnancy was caused by rape and produces serious emotional trauma in the mother. Even then it should be done only after counseling with the local presiding priesthood authority and after receiving divine confirmation through prayer."

[JRochelle]

"Heck, I am a Catholic, and some of the things I have heard "Christians" say about Catholics in my presence was, umm...pretty revealing."

That can be said of all religions. There are people in every religion who diss people of other religions.

Human nature.

[JRochelle]

Romneys' stand on the issues will be his downfall.

Not his religion.
But his supporters will claim its his religion. A mormon who would get my vote is Orrin Hatch.

Romney? NEVER!

[DLfromthedesert]

That unfortunately is one of the reasons Matt Salmon lost to El Napo for governor of AZ 4 years ago.

[maine-iac7]

I didn't say that Mormons don't believe that Jesus was a good man, or even a prophet (but they are )"not Christian."

???

So just because they believe that Jesus is the Christ, and the name of the church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and their hymns are replete with Jesus as the Christ - and the Redeemer, etc etc - they aren't Christians?

Interesting rationale - too convulted for me to argue

[JRochelle]

"Though I would use that as a backup excuse."


LOL. I see you have all your bases covered. :)

[AnalogReigns]

Ummm, the Constitutional "no religous test" standard applies limits to the GOVERNMENT, not to the people. This was written to avoid a religious majority in Congress keeping out duly elected officials they disagree with religiously.

We as the people can vote or not vote for anyone on the ballot, for whatever reasons we please... that's what freedom is all about.

I for one could not vote for a member of a religious cult, no matter how nice they are. I know a fair amount about Mormonism, it is not a Christian denomination, rather it is a heretical cult, which came out of Christianity. It has a different canon of scriptures, different definition of God, a different definition of Jesus Christ, different understanding of history, etc., etc.--not to mention its historical roots in polygamy (yes I know, banned since 1880). Of course they have the right to believe anything they want without harassment--but I also have the right to use my best judgment in who to vote for...

[big'ol_freeper]

Thanks. That pretty much corroborates what I said. Pretty weak.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I'm in it. Deal with it.

[AnalogReigns]

You can go through a table of essential beliefs...with Methodists, Pentacostals, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, etc. .. finding all the essentials they have in common.... and the LDS will apply different definitions to each of those beliefs.

The fact that the LDS have a different canon of scripture--books fully authoritative (and more-so) than the bible. You can surely claim that all the rest of Christians are wrong, and the LDS is right, however, the great majority of Christians today, differ with Mormons on essential beliefs. That is why the great majority of Christians do not consider the LDS legitimatly Christian. Any traditional theologian (the liberals don't count) within any of the above Christian denominations will agree with that assesment.

Doesn't mean LDS folk aren't usually fine upstanding moral people (as are a lot of Jewish people, Hindus, Buddists, (and even (gasp)lots of Moslems, along with a lot of other religions...), it just means that--given the historical and majority understanding of the word, Mormans are not properly identified as Christians.

[AnalogReigns]

so let's see....artwork of Jesus proves the orthodoxy of a group?

[ohioWfan]

Jesus, Himself, claimed that He and His Father were one. He alone is divine.

That is what Scripture says, but not what the Mormon Church doctrine says.

I am not here to argue, but to share that Jesus Christ is God's Son, One with Him, uniquely divine, sinless, and our Savior and Redeemer. We will not be like Him, but we will be with Him in Glory if He is our Lord and Savior.

Hopefully you will accept what I've said in the spirit in which it was given, and that will be the end of it.

But to the point of the thread, as I said before, I would not vote for Romney in a primary because of his politics, but would vote for him against ANY Rat in the general election.........even though he won't get the nomination, IMO.

[Donald Meaker]

Aside from the fact that it was started by a convicted fraud?

[Donald Meaker]

I submit the religion issue is pushed by left wingers to divide the Republicans.