Posted on 07/03/2010 12:29:01 PM PDT by Colofornian
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney and his strategists expected his Mormon faith to fade as an issue for fundamentalist Christians during his first presidential campaign. This time around, should he choose to run again, they have doubts.
...But even as the national Republican establishment warms to Romney as never before, the former candidate and his closest aides now believe a group of voters will always be off-limits because of his religion.
SNIP
In Iowa, three-fifths of caucus-goers considered themselves “born-again or evangelical Christian,’’ according to a survey, taken for a media consortium as voters entered the caucuses.
SNIP
More than one-third of caucus-goers said a candidate’s religion matters a “great deal,’’ and Huckabee won more than 56 percent of their votes.
SNIP
Religious scholars have long debated the extent to which Mormonism is compatible with traditional Christian teachings...
“The question is whether a particular church-going Christian is willing to set those differences aside as irrelevant to holding the office of president, or take them quite seriously as heretical and cultish,’’ said James F. Gimpel, a University of Maryland political scientist who informally advised George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign. “There are a great many evangelical Christians who would have a hard time justifying a vote for Romney under any circumstances.’’
SNIP
...In his best-selling book “No Apology,’’ published this spring, Romney mentioned his Mormon roots only in passing, and the two page section on “Belief and Purpose’’ strives for a common language that is secular and civic rather than theological.
SNIP
“I think for most Americans they’re not terribly concerned about someone’s religious beliefs, unless of course it relates to their love of the country or something like that,’’ Romney said in the interview...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Well, read post #11. Then tell what you object to there -- and why.
Just saying we don't like his politics will not make sense to them.
INDEED!
Uh...
It would 'mean' something that he was NOT able to do LAST time; and it won't be McCain that his problem NEXT time!!
I agree with you. There is something distasteful about mormons being embarressed to be mormons, and claiming to be mainstream Christians.
It's similar to how he and his BFF Meg Whitman think that they are conservative republicans, when really they are leftist RINOs.
It's all a charade, a weird strange mirage, they are phoney, and I wonder if what propels these kooks is those Mormon prophecies, something about that Mormons will govern the world in the end of days.
OR something.
Y.A.W.N.
It is NOT Mormonism! It is PHONYism.
Mitt would be a blank President who happened to be a MORMON-disguised-as-a-CHRISTIAN.
And UTAH went WHAT percentage for Mitt?
He will be rejected because he is a flipping liberal.
“I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.”
17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”
20 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to my mother,
Joseph Smith continues: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses, 18:172).President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses, 10:127).James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p.196).
“So you’d vote for a Muslim if he were conservative enough for you?”
Yes
Yep. He’s a RINO.
By the way, why are so many Mormon politicians so liberal??
...still trying to figure that one out....
Oops.
Forgot about my tagline: that explains it all!!!!
The only “sticky issue” for the Boston Globe is the fact that Romney is a republican. A super RINO, but a republican nonetheless. Right, Globe??
And you are right up there with the most idiot posts Ive read in ten years
I could not vote for a Mormon or a Muslim or a scientoligist or Christian scientist ... Our nation is founded on Jewish/Christian values...not cults or the religion of peace with a sword..
Elsie hits the rewind button. 'tis October '07. Provo, Utah. The BYU faithful are all there. All students. All faculty. To hear Romney? Nope. Harry Reid.
Reid proceeds to tell them all that he's a Democrat because he's a Mormon.
And you know. For one of the first few public and religious times in his life, Harry Reid was right. Why?
Because if you don't like the current "social issue" stance that currently seems to be "favorable" to the Mormon god, why just wait a few years. It'll change. If you were on the "black sheep" side of the fence today, that's OK. He'll change his mind tomorrow.
Book of Mormon: People would be surprised to know it's vehemently against polygamy. That didn't stop the Mormon god from imposing it upon the West, leaving scars and offshoot cults for generations to come. But then it was gone again. Except an Lds apostle of our generation said it would return when Jesus does. And that polygamy is actually supposedly practiced "today" on the other side of the veil.
Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price: These two Mormon "scriptures" make racist statements about skin color, and skin color changing (among Native Americans), and equated "white" with "delightsome". But on some of these things (black as some sort of curse), the Mormon god changed his mind yet once again (1978).
The (then) 'Living Prophet', Brigham Young: Taught Adam was God for over 25 years -- from the tabernacle pulpit. Taught that blood atonement was needed -- that Jesus' blood was too anemic for some sins. Therefore your blood needed to be shed for those sins. Mormons swear up & down (and I've seen about a dozen general authority statements saying this) -- that the Mormon god will NEVER lead the Mormon "living prophet" astray. Well, I guess that means Young was right, then. But then he dies. And the Mormon god apparently changed his mind about those things.
Well, Romney represents all this in a microcosm. A schizophrenic politician on social issues who represents his schizophrenic social-issue god. That's not my God. And people should stop pretending that it is -- while slandering my God in this manner. It's shameful.
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