Religion may hinder Romney in '08

A Mormon President?
David M. Bresnahan

David M. Bresnahan has over 30 years of experience in journalism, public relations, and broadcasting. He has authored several books, hosted talk radio programs, owned a radio station, on-line newspapers, and other businesses. He maintains a web site at www.Bresnahan.org where more information can be found about his work.

David M. Bresnahan
May 4, 2006
Day after day some newspaper somewhere decides to run the same old tired story about unannounced Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, declaring that a Mormon could never be elected president because the evangelical Christians would never support him.
The first thing to remember is that some reporters have nothing original to report, so they regurgitate the same story many others have already written. It's easy to pick on the Mormons, so why not jump on the band wagon?
Any reporter in any city or town can simply start making phone calls to ministers and within a very short time it will be easy to find one or more who will be happy to bash the Mormons. All that reporter has to do is jot down a few of the more critical comments and bingo, another negative story is born.
There's just one problem. The vast majority of Americans do not believe such reports for one simple reason - they are not true and we all know it.
Mormons are everywhere, and most people have encountered them enough to know the claims that Mormons are not Christian and are actually quite evil cannot possibly be true. But it is no surprise that some rival church leaders complain about a church that actively proselytes new members, which is a threat to the offering plates of the churches who lose members as a result.
I was a young reporter for a daily paper in Massachusetts, and I was also a gymnastics coach back in 1980. I was very impressed by the behavior of some teenage boys attending a summer gymnastics camp where I was a coach. They were good, clean-cut kids with good morals even when they were far from the influence of parents - unlike most of the other teens at the camp.
I liked what I saw, and although I was not yet married I wanted to know more about their Mormon beliefs. I knew one day I would have a family, and I knew I would need help if I ever expected to have kids who were better than I was as a teen. I wanted my future kids to be like these two boys who were so impressive because they had strong values.
Take a look around. There are Mormons everywhere. Actually, they are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those who claim they are not Christians apparently missed the name of the church.
Perhaps that is because the press frequently ignores the official name and uses the term "Mormon" as if that is the actual name when it is not. They should read the Associated Press Stylebook which says: "...the official name is preferred in first reference in a story dealing primarily with church activities."
Latter-day Saints are impressive people. Every denomination has good and bad members. Latter-day Saints are no exception, but the vast majority can be seen living what they believe - Christian values.
Many LDS teens get up before the sun and gather in groups to study the scriptures together. It's called early morning seminary. Those same kids in recent studies were found to be doing a better job of living the clean values taught by their church leaders and parents than kids of other faiths.
For several months in 2005 newspaper headlines proclaimed: "Mormon Teens Cope Best," because of a report in the National Study of Youth and Religion. The groundbreaking study of 3,370 teenagers about religion conducted at UNC-Chapel Hill found that of all the religious groups surveyed, Latter-day Saint teens did the best at avoiding risky behaviors, doing well in school, and having a positive attitude.
A 2002-2003 National Study of Youth and Religion report showed that only 3 percent of LDS teens watch all or mostly R-rated movies compared to other religions who were all at 22 percent or higher.
The interesting thing about LDS kids is that their behavior is not based on fear or compulsion of any kind. These kids are good because they want to be good. When you observe the behavior of any kids you can learn a great deal about their parents.
LDS families live their religion. They not only go to church on Sunday, they set aside one night a week as "Family Home Evening." They sing, have a brief lesson that is often given by one of the kids, play games, eat junk food, and pray.
LDS families send their kids to church one night during the week, not for religious services, but instead they send their boys to Boy Scouts and their girls to "Young Women." The LDS Church sees those activities as tools for shaping the values of their future leaders.
Mormons pray a lot. They pray each and every day individually, as married couples, and with their families. Their children learn to kneel by their bed and say their prayers, saying a prayer that comes from their heart because they use their own words rather than something memorized.
The adult men team up with a teenage boy as a partner and visit other members of the local congregation once a month or more. "Home Teaching" is one of the ways the LDS Church stays in close contact with each member and offers more than just preaching to help people live a better life.
When a family is having trouble there is help through the church welfare program. Mormons give countless service hours to produce foods at church-owned farms, orchards, dairies, canneries, and more. They believe in offering a hand up, not a hand out when people have financial challenges.
They also offer humanitarian relief to people in the U.S. and throughout the world, regardless of faith. They donate millions each year for disaster relief and other forms of assistance.
No one is paid. Not a dime goes to the local church leaders, teachers, organists, or minister known as a bishop. All the members have an opportunity to volunteer to serve one another. Members are able to serve as missionaries, and they do so at their own expense and without pay.
We've all seen the young men in white shirts and ties. There's over 50,000 of them serving all over the world for two years out of their lives. They sacrifice time at school, sports, and growing careers in order to spend two years serving others. There are also young women and older retired couples who serve also. They serve in many capacities such as welfare services, teaching, providing medical services, disaster relief, and genealogical research - all without getting paid.
They all have a big smile and a healthy glow about them. Why? Are they brain-washed? Hardly. They are living their religion and it makes them happy, so happy they want to share their feelings with others so they can be happy too. It brings them a sense of peace in a world of turmoil.
Do they believe in Jesus Christ? Are they Christians? They certainly seem to be living as Christ taught. They not only go to church, they actually go out into the world and live what they are taught in church. They read and study from the Bible, and they also study The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
Their message as they knock on door after door is that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. They claim to represent Jesus Christ and say that they want to bring people to Christ.
I am always amused when someone criticizes Mormons for not believing the same doctrine as their particular church group. In other words, they look down on Mormons because they believe something different. Latter-day Saints believe all people have the right to worship as they please, and only ask the same opportunity for themselves.
Mormons believe they have their own free agency, and their church does not preach politics. Members are encouraged to get involved in a good cause and to participate in politics at all levels. The majority of Latter-day Saints are conservative Republicans, but there are many who are Democrats as well.
Those teenage Mormon gymnasts I met back in 1980 did not preach to me. Their example was all that was needed to get me interested enough to investigate their church. Like millions of others, I became a Mormon and after all these years I have no regrets. I now have a wonderful wife and four great kids. Church is not just a place we go on Sunday, it is the way we live our lives every day.
I have known Mitt Romney personally. We do not always agree on every issue, but I can honestly say that he is a very good, moral, honest man who is also the best qualified candidate I have seen for president. He has a track record as governor that should be used to evaluate his potential as president, and his Mormon beliefs and values have made him a better governor. The same will be true if he becomes president.
The next time a news reporter questions whether a Mormon can be elected president, take a look at it for what it is. A lazy reporter needed a story about Romney and could not come up with anything new other than to rehash the same tired story so many others have already done. The evangelical pastors that reporters quote in such stories are quick to exaggerate. In reality the typical evangelical Christian is not much different than a Mormon.
They both want the best for their families, and they both do their best to live according to the beliefs of their religion. Some of their doctrines are different, but their values are not. As more and more people focus on values instead of doctrines they will recognize that having a Mormon as president is just what this country needs.

excuse BS.

Romney is Romney's worst enemy.

Stupid is as stupid does.

It seems we only have RINOs as front runners for the short term.

You need to ask yourself whether you'd rather have yourself characterized by your enemy or your friend. You pastor is quite likely an ambitious, disgruntled malcontent who couldn't "cut it" in the Mormon hierarchy and decided to go on to where he could be the Big Kahuna on his own terms...

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

When and where was Joseph Smith "convicted of frsud?

Perhaps you have a problem with the fact that Christianity itslef was "started" by One who was comdemned as a "convicted blasphemer" by those who "killed" Him and His Apostles...

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

Joseph Smith Jr was convicted of fraud, something having to do with using a "jewel" to look for treasure.

-In the early 1820's Smith was pronounced an imposter by a Pennsylvania court after pretending to have developed sufficient clairvoyant powers to find buried Spanish treasure. In exchange for money, he had sold his clairvoyant services to a treasure hunter and was subsequently unable to provide the promised service, namely to locate the Spanish treasure. After refusing to return the fee paid by the treasure hunter, he was hauled into court, declared a fraud and ordered to refund the money.

That's the point: There was NOTHING happening in "church history" in the spring of 1825. While post-hoc accounts and apologetics say that Smith spent that time farming, reading the Bible, and being mentored by God and angels, the actual historical documentation says that he was being hauled into court for running his "peep-stoning" scam.

As I've noted many times, the earliest documented accounts from anyone outside the Smith family which reported any claims about heavenly visions and golden plates originated around the summer of 1827---more than a year AFTER Smith's embarrassing "glass-looking" court hearing of March 1826. In that hearing, Smith admitted that his "peep-stoning" practice was all a fraud, and he promised the judge that he would give it up and do honest work. The judge let Smith off based on that promise.

Smith then eloped with Emma Hale against her father's wishes. When they returned after being married, Isaac Hale begrudgingly let them live in an old cabin on his property. But then just a few months later, Smith began spinning his yarn about getting the golden plates from an angel, and claiming that he could translate them via the same "peep-stoning" malarkey THAT HE HAD ALREADY ADMITTED WAS A FRAUD.

"The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret was the same manner as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, while the book of plates were at the same time hid in the woods."---Isaac Hale affidavit, May 1834.
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon430.htm

On March 20, 1826, Joseph Smith Jr. appeared in civil court in Bainbridge, New York. He was accused of being a "disorderly person or an imposter." This meant perpetrating fraud. Relatives of a farmer by the name of Josiah Stoal (sometimes spelled Stowell) claimed that Smith was paid money after convincing the elderly Josiah that he could find buried money, salt mines, and other things of value by divination.

http://www.algonet.se/~daba/lds/timeline.htm

Confucius say: "Better to obtain information from horse's mouth than horse'ass."

You "scholarship" is pathetic, sloppy, and dishonest and you cleasrly have an ax to grind.

Why else would you waste so much time digging up lies and garbage? I doubt that you are worried about my eternal salvation, but if you are, don't be. Rather, worry about your own and the fact that you have borne false witness on four posts here.

Perhaps if you repent you will be allowed back into the Church and even have your priesthood and temple blessings restored. Your rants here are a poor way to go about it, though.

Reply if you wish, but you now have been warned by one having authority to do so. I have nothing further to say to you on this matter...

I have never been a member of the LDS church.

I am not a Christian.
I have limited time to devote to this, hence my lack of scholarship.

The conviction of JS Jr. for fraud is a matter of public record. I have no concern for your soul, and I commend you for caring about it.

It is my belief that any revealed religion finds the revealed texts inadequate, and hence by further revelation,or by interpretation, have to modify the meaning of the revealed text to adapt to changing circumstances. Accordingly, a Mussleman, Christion, Mormon, Jew can all be virtuous, or not virtuous, irrespective of the "revealed texts" from which they derive their authoritative teaching.

I prefer to pursue virtue directly. You are welcome to your path.