How NOT to Investigate Mitt Romney’s Mormon Ties

Religion Dispatches.org ^ | May 2, 2012 | Joanna Brooks

[Colofornian]

Earlier this week, Mother Jones' Tim Murphy tried to connect the dots between Mitt Romney and Cleon Skousen, the ultra-conservative, anti-Communist LDS political theorist made famous by Glenn Beck. Murphy dug out an August 2007 radio interview Romney did with a Rush Limbaugh-esque political talk jock in Iowa, who, after goading Romney on his faith, turned the subject to Skousen.

Romney gamely played along. He told radio host Jan Mickelson that he once took a class from Skousen at Brigham Young University, admitted that had not read much of Skousen, and agreed that Skousen's The Making of America might be "worth reading." Murphy zeroes in the exchange in an effort to tie Romney to the conservative fringe.

Back in 2008, progressives grumbled when conservatives made controversy of Michelle Obama's Princeton senior thesis on race. But Romney didn't even have to write a thesis on or with Skousen to get a write-up in the progressive press. He just sat through one of his classes back in the day at BYU...

SNIP

One well-worn option is to use his Mormonism to make Romney look fringe by connecting him to figures like Skousen. Call it the Jon Krakauer approach: focus on extreme political thought, or Mexican polygamy, or nineteenth-century history...

[Graybeard58]

I've read the Old Testament...Dozens & dozens of times, God was provoked by His people..

So too have I and the rest of your # 13 could not have been stated more succinctly and accurately.

I was frightened when it first became apparent that Romney was going to be the "R" nominee. After prayerful consideration I concluded that while it matters for us in the short term, for eternity I have my God and Savior and nothing, nothing can separate me from that.

God has a plan, Romney or Obama may be somewhere in that plan but the prospect no longer frightens me, it is His plan and even though we don't know what it is, He is Sovereign, the Great I Am and I trust Him with all my being.

Some may see this as a "defeatist" attitude, it is realism to me.

A Pastor friend of mine told me that in the Greek version where Jesus says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you", that the word "never" is repeated 4 times. That's emphasis"!

[fml]

With all due respect, why is religion an issue in electing a president. I know the talking points and don't buy it.

With Obama and the talk he is Muslim, that makes him a liar, I get it. But not with Romney. How is religious bigoty a conservative.

[Graybeard58]

Leaving to spend the summer at my cabin in the woods(literally) and will continue this sabbatical.

And presumably in the mountains (Mountain Mary). Isn't that astute of me? Have fun, wish I were there. I'm confined to the flat lands of Illinois.

[Cronos]

Romney’s a RINO — for me it’s clear, whether he is Mormon or Evangelical or Baptist or Presbyterian or Catholic, he’s still a scumbag RINO. If we had a conservative Mormon, I’d have more to think about, but Mitt is so obviously scum that I don’t care what his religion is...

[jimt]

Typical of your THREE MINUTE'S HATE approach, you post a bunch of innuendo and smear from wacko sites that have little or no regard for the truth.

Shameful - and un-Christian.

[fml]

Then why jump on the Morman bashing bandwagon?

[The Great RJ]

I have far more concern about Obama’s Muslim upbringing and 20 years of listening to Rev. Wright’s racist theology than I do about Romney’s Mormonism.

[backwoods-engineer]

but I'd rather see all us FReepers stick together.

You might be able to get 50% to go for a particularly conservative candidate. Who did you have in mind?

[muawiyah]

At the moment were on the “Let one thousand flowers bloom” phase; then the purges; then we select one leader.(/s)

[muawiyah]

Romney isn’t the lesser of two evils. Evil is evil under all conditions.

[Cronos]

I’m thinking of one — Cain.

[Cronos]

I didn’t jump on it here in this thread.

[fml]

Right That's doesn't say much I know -- choose between a Moslem and a Mormon. But in this event, if we choose the Moslem, that means the end of the US.

[Cronos]

touche.

[Jabba the Nutt]

I’d be really worried, if Romney were linked to that Mormon nutcase and very powerful man, Harry Reid.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Harry Reid is pretty good evidence that conspiracy theories about Mormons are pretty worthless. The Mormons I’ve known personally are hard core Republicans, and as much as Hatch may not be ideal, the truth is that he’s generally been a pretty reliable moderate/conservative Republican during his time in Congress — one of Reagan’s biggest allies. It’s time for him to be replaced by a better option, but we shouldn’t lose perspective and consider him anything like Reid.

[greyfoxx39]

Harry Reid is pretty good evidence that conspiracy theories about Mormons are pretty worthless.

This reply was made back in January by P. Marlowe:

Temple recommend question #7

7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

The shunning requirement clearly prohibits Romney from associating with ex-Mormons and all Christians who do not believe that Mormonism is Christian. And with Romney being a pro-abortion Mormon and most practicing Catholics and Evangelical Christians recognizing that Mormonism is a false religion, I would think that he will appoint either pro-Abortion Mormons (like Harry Reid) to judicial offices or he will appoint only Mormons, agnostics, atheists, lapsed Catholics and Unitarian type non-Catholics to the Judiciary.

Does anyone know whether or not Romney appointed any Conservative Bible-Believing Protestant or Practicing Catholic judges while he was governor of Massachusetts?

Or is that just a Rhetorical question?

Link

Temple recommend question #7

7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

[Colofornian]

I have far more concern about Obama’s Muslim upbringing and 20 years of listening to Rev. Wright’s racist theology than I do about Romney’s Mormonism.

Well, look out! The self-appointed FREEPER "bigot patrol" might accuse you of "bigotry" because of your Muslim/Rev. Wright Obama references here...

On second thought, I don't think they've deviated a single time from their open pattern of religious hypocrisy on that...so I think you're "safe."

[Elsie]

Yeah, they were pro-slavery back then.

BACK THEN?

MITT was in his THIRTIES when LDS, Inc. backed off of it's BLACK stance!

(Although much of it is STILL 'scripture'!)

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"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.

The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings.

This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the 'servant of servants', and they will be, until that curse is removed."

Brigham Young-President and second 'Prophet' of the Mormon Church, 1844-1877- Extract from Journal of Discourses.

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Here are two examples from their 'other testament', the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 5: 21 'And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.'

Alma 3: 6 'And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.'

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August 27, 1954 in an address at Brigham Young University (BYU), Mormon Elder, Mark E Peterson, in speaking to a convention of teachers of religion at the college level, said:

"The discussion on civil rights, especially over the last 20 years, has drawn some very sharp lines. It has blinded the thinking of some of our own people, I believe. They have allowed their political affiliations to color their thinking to some extent.I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after."

"He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage."

"That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, 'First we pity, then endure, then embrace'...."

(Rosa Parks would have probably told Petersen under which wheel of the bus he should go sit.)

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1967, (then) Mormon President Ezra Taft Benson said,

"The Communist program for revolution in America has been in progress for many years and is far advanced. First of all, we must not place the blame upon Negroes. They are merely the unfortunate group that has been selected by professional Communist agitators to be used as the primary source of cannon fodder."

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We are told that on June 8, 1978, it was 'revealed' to the then president, Spencer Kimball, that people of color could now gain entry into the priesthood.

According to the church, Kimball spent many long hours petitioning God, begging him to give worthy black people the priesthood. God finally relented.

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Sometime before the 'revelation' came to chief 'Prophet' Spencer Kimball in June 1978, General Authority, Bruce R McConkie had said:

"The Blacks are denied the Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty.

The Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from, but this inequality is not of man's origin, it is the Lord's doings."

(Mormon Doctrine, pp. 526-527).

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When Mormon 'Apostle' Mark E Petersen spoke on 'Race Problems- As they affect the Church' at the BYU campus in 1954, the following was also said:

"...if the negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."

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When Mormon 'Prophet' and second President of the Church, Brigham Young, spoke in 1863 the following was also said:

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so."

(Journal of Discourses, Vo. 10, p. 110)

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Yeah; Native Americans are althroughout the Book of MORMON; too.

 

“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.... For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised.... The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.

At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl-sixteen-sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents—on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather.... These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness.

One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.

 

(Improvement Era, December 1960, pp.922-23). (p. 209)

 

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[Elsie]

I know the talking points and don't buy it.

Goody for you!