Free Republic

A social-conservative group is using Mitt Romney’s Mormon beliefs and his record as Massachusetts governor to urge GOP convention delegates to “Dump Romney.” A memo being circulated by the “Dump Romney” group argues that, given the weak U.S. economy, Romney ought to be leading Democratic incumbent Barack Obama in the polls, instead of trailing by as many as nine points, as the most recent Fox News poll has the race right now. The group says Republican convention delegates are not bound by convention rules to vote for Romney, and that first-ballot abstentions could lead to the selection of a stronger...

Often, when Mormons are presented with statements from their leaders that could cause some difficulty for them, many will respond by saying something like "Oh, that's just his opinion. Its not the official view of the Mormon Church." Often, when Mormons talk about official doctrines of the Church they usually mean the Standard Works: The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrines and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Although many Mormons do not view other LDS writings as official Scripture (for example, The Seer or The Journal of Discourses), it should be remembered that many of these writings consist of the...

MITT ROMNEY may be as close to a walking, talking dollar sign as presidential politics has ever witnessed. If money were made flesh, it would apparently have fair skin, flawless hair and an off-key tropism toward patriotic anthems. I say that only partly because of all of those awkward asides of his, the ones that keep reminding voters, who need no further reminding, that he’s loaded. And I’m not really focused on just how loaded he is. With a personal net worth in the vicinity of $225 million, Romney is no Warren Buffett, no Bill Gates. There have been more...

(Reuters) - A confident Mitt Romney solidified his lead in Florida polls and ridiculed Republican rival Newt Gingrich on Monday, calling his opponent's attacks "sad" and "painfully revealing" the day before the state's crucial presidential primary. Romney's self-assuredness was on full display during a campaign tour that felt at times like a victory lap, with the front-runner telling a crowd of 2,000 in Dunedin, Florida: "With a turnout like this I got a feeling we might win tomorrow." "There's no question that politics ain't bean bags, and we have made sure that our message is out loud and clear," Romney...

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Does Mitt Romney’s Mormonism matter in South Carolina, a state with a large evangelical population? The consensus seems to be that it’s not a particularly big factor. Tony Perkins, President of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said Thursday after the debate that he had not heard a lot about it since coming to South Carolina. But two of the first people The Daily Caller spoke to at an event at Tommy’s Hamhouse in Greenville, where both Romney and Newt Gingrich made appearances Saturday morning, brought it up, and not as a positive. For Chuck Hofstra, Romney’s religion...

As the South Carolina primary nears, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has mounted a hard-nosed campaign to try to best front-runner Mitt Romney. In faceoffs in Iowa and New Hampshire, Gingrich finished in the back of the pack and is doing what he can to ensure Saturday's primary won't be his third poor showing, CNN reported. During the weekend, two conservative politicians in South Carolina -- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and U.S. Rep. Tim Scott -- predicted that if Romney wins the state's primary, he will have effectively locked down the GOP nomination. The former House speaker has prepared every...

For a hundred and fifty years the question has been repeatedly asked worldwide, "Are Mormons Christian?" We have struggled through the semantic tangles to answer that with an unqualified "yes." In his heart every Mormon knows that this question is much like asking, "Is Hamlet Shakespearian?" It might be said, "After all, Hamlet is a manifestation of Shakespeare. In fact, Hamlet is Shakespeare." Precisely. And so, the Mormon knows that Mormonism is the most vital twentieth century manifestation of Christ. Unlike Hamlet, it is alive. If it is less than that it is nothing. Here the plan is to reverse the question...

With Mitt Romney as a top GOP contender as presidential primaries begin, Americans may start asking tweaked versions of age-old Mormon missionary questions: What do you know about Mormon views on government? Would you like to know more about how they may affect a potential president? Americans will find such Mormon teachings often are a bit distinct, including: • Mormons teach that America is a land of promise with a divine role to protect freedom. • Their scriptures say it is unjust "to mingle religious influence with civil government." So the church does not tell members how to vote...

Sacred underwear, baptizing holocaust victims, gods of their own planets. When some of America’s most celebrated pundits and public intellectuals talk about Mormons, these are the images that are summoned. Ironically in this “Mormon Moment”—signaled by a hit Broadway musical, polygamous housewives on TLC, and of course two Mormon presidential candidates—Mormons, long considered quintessential “outsiders” to mainstream American culture, today find themselves at the center of the American zeitgeist. Yet it is the Mormons’ supposed theological weirdness that is the centripetal attraction. As Joanna Brooks has noted in these pages, the New York Times recently featured Harold Bloom’s musings on...

... Mormon presidential candidates ... unprecedented media exposure and celebrating the 75th anniversary of the church welfare program ... the bright spotlight on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ... [oh, and did I mention] presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. ... "The Book of Mormon" Broadway musical ... the "I'm a Mormon" campaign ... [oh, and did I mention] news of the church's 75th anniversary of the welfare program and service outreach.

Missing Mass,  & Spiritual Communion   We are obliged to attend Mass each Sunday and every other Holy Day of Obligation. Sometimes, though, we just can't be there. One's own sickness or the obligations to care for a sick person 1, having given birth within the past 6 weeks, dangerous weather (and other safety hazards), not being able to find a way there -- life happens. There is no guilt in missing Mass if the circumstances are out of one's control (mortal sin always requires not only grave matter and knowledge, but consent of the will).  The rule of thumb...

Missing Mass,  & Spiritual Communion   We are obliged to attend Mass each Sunday and every other Holy Day of Obligation. Sometimes, though, we just can't be there. One's own sickness or the obligations to care for a sick person 1, having given birth within the past 6 weeks, dangerous weather (and other safety hazards), not being able to find a way there -- life happens. There is no guilt in missing Mass if the circumstances are out of one's control (mortal sin always requires not only grave matter and knowledge, but consent of the will).  The rule of thumb...

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION Do you feel too busy to make time for our Lord? An Act of Spiritual Communion can help! No matter what your day is like, Jesus can help make it better, or at least more bearable, if you ask him for His help and guidance in prayers such as this one, composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century:My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually...

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. Ephesians 3:16-18Any individual, family, company, government, church or ministry can spend more than they can afford. Their means to pay can be overcome by their ability to generate income. In earthly economies it...

Without much to work with, journalists have changed the subject to targeting his potential opponents - by using, the GOP candidates' religion against them.   Despite the fact that 75 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians and 93 percent profess a belief in God, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, ABC, CBS and NBC deem the Republican candidates' religion as very newsworthy. That's a complete turnaround from their 2008 treatment of the Democratic primary candidates.   From Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, 2011, network stories mentioned the GOP primary candidates' faith more than seven times...

A reader asks: How would explain to a critic of the Catholic Church CCC460, which quotes Athanasius about “becoming God” I understand that it means “participation in the divine nature” but how would explain the strong language used? Poetic vs. technical theology? I’d go with poetic emphasis. Obviously we are not Mormons and don’t believe we are transformed into a God (a fact Athanasius knew very well). Nor do we believe that God the Father was once human and then graduated to godhood. Nor are we polytheists who believe the persons of the Trinity are three gods. Athanasius’ point was...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich ... (Title only. See below.)

Similarities between Joseph Smith and Muhammad: The followers of Muhammad and Joseph Smith both killed innocent "infidel" on the same date of 9/11. On September 11, 1857, Mormon militia massacred about 140 men, women and children under the authority of Brigham Young. However 17 very young children were spared and adopted into Mormon families. They were in fact sold to the highest Mormon family bidder and resold and traded many times afterwords. This event is called "The Mountain Meadows" massacre. Mormon leaders engaged in a deliberate rewriting of history to deny they were behind the murders. On September 11, 2001...

Just as Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was getting off the ground I was hired by the campaign as a kind of junior speechwriter/copy man. On my first day, they gave me a cubicle, a power shake and a black lawn jockey filled with multi-vitamins. The memo on my desk instructed me to write three very different speeches on immigration. It made clear that the candidate was open to everything from “fast-track citizenship to all immigrants with at least three limbs” to “caging these animals next to the highway and encouraging drivers to pull over and pummel them with tire irons.”...

THIS fall, we behold omens that will darken a year hence in the final phase of President Obama’s campaign for a second term. His likely opponent, the Mormon Mitt Romney, will be a pioneer figure whatever the outcome, since no previous member of that very American church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has ever secured a major-party nomination. Even should Mr. Obama triumph, a crucial precedent will have been established. Mr. Romney, earnest and staid, who is deep within the labyrinthine Mormon hierarchy, is directly descended from an early follower of the founding prophet Joseph Smith, whose...