I was glad to see this post at Digby’s site;
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/mitts-mammonism-mormonism-and-mayanism.html
IMO the ramifications of Romney being a Mormon have not been analyzed enough. I believe it’s because people want to stay away from the ‘cult’ issue, and progressives have a tendency to go over board to avoid be accused of intolerance. Certainly LDS has many cult-like attributes, which are usually dismissed as not much different than catholicism or evangelical Protestants. But there is no putting aside that LDS is a very strange variation of Christianity. And Romney is/was a BISHOP in that church! So even if you equalize LDS cult like attributes with other mainstream churches, there is no getting past the fact that many Americans would be reluctant to elect a bishop of any church to POTUS. Yet why would Romney get a pass on that? Certainly at the least, the role of a bishop in LDS should be scrutinized. And there is no denying that LDS takes a more personal interest in it’s members than most churches do, up to, and beyond what clothes they are allowed to wear (which is pretty freaky all by itself).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_(Latter_Day_Saints)
Romney’s situation is constantly compared to Kennedy’s, yet they are completely different. Unlike Romney, Kennedy never was in the hierarchy of the Catholic church, he was only a member of a congregation. Romney deserves to be asked some point blank questions about his situation in LDS. He certainly served on disciplinary boards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary_council
He almost certainly excommunicated people. LDS is a church that does not allow dissent. It is very authoritarian. In my opinion it is ridiculous to believe that a Romney administration would not be influenced by LDS leaders. What other church HAS IT’S OWN STATE?
Another dismissive explanation I have heard is that LDS would be so aware of what a Mormon POTUS would mean to them that they would never threaten that with interference. But think about that, if it is so important, then it is worth protecting. What would happen if the administration started doing badly? What would happen in the last year of a second term? All these questions should be wondered about.
In my honest opinion, he is a religious wacko who wears magic pants. Why not talk about it?
nalbar
I agree that Romney’s mormonism is the REAL big issue in the 2012 presidential election. Romney’s attitude throughout the entire republican primaries thus far has been exactly the sort of behavior you would expect from a LDS Bishop or other high ranking member of the church. The Romney camapign has been structured on message similar to that the church uses in its traditional missionary campaigns. The message to those being recruited is always rigidly standard and never changes. Consider Romney’s singular obsession with criticism of President Obama and no other topic from the outset of his campaign for the Republican nomination.
If Romney wins the Republican nomination then WHITE SOUTHERNERS will determine who (Obama or Romney) will be the next president. Southern “Hard Shell” Baptists vehemently oppose mormonism as a “non-Christian” sect. This enmity between the Southern Baptists and the Mormons extends back to the early days of the founding of the Mormon religion. The modern-day Southern Evangelicals likewise oppose mormonism and would also oppose former Bishop Romney’s bid for the presidency.
A Romney candidacy would force Southern white Christians to choose between their secular hate in the form of racism versus their religious hatred and intolerance of mormonism. IMO the hatred against Mormonism and Romney among white Southern Christians will outweigh their racialist attitudes and hatred of President Obama, and I believe that with such a matchup in the general election they will choose to re-elect Barack Obama. Simply put for white Southern Christians it comes down to this, they view Barack Obama with disrespect simply because he is a Negro.
From their perspective Barack Obama will always be subject to their worst racial jokes and bigoted slurs. Romney on the other hand as a former Bishop in the Mormon LDS church is viewed as being extremely dangerous who would aggresively use the office of the American Presidency to expand an explosive spread of Mormonism across the United States. Whereas the Southern Christians view Mormonism as the church of the real “anti-Christ”, their opposition is bound to take on the urgency of all out,unrestricted “Spiritual Warfare”. On this basis there can be little compromise.
I’m not so sure about this. Yes, evangelicals tend to think of Mormons as belonging to a cult. But being a liberal Christian is almost just as bad to them. It will be a lesser of two evils thing and Romney will benefit simply by professing to be pro-life and against gay marriage. Obama represents the ‘Great Other’ and Fox News and the conservative media will highlight that as the election gets closer.
I never even thought to look at Romney’s campaign through the prism of what morman’s do door to door. Thank you.
I wonder about who would win in a ‘race vs. Heretic’ contest. I think most evangelicals get on board, for three reasons;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_and_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints
Let’s face it, the modern republican party is pure Dixie. Evangelical republicans will find kindred spirits in Mormons.
3) subservience of women in the church. Evangelicals will LOVE this. Women folk make babies and cook. McCain and Kerry were at a disadvantage because their wives had more money, and McCain even sheltered his money through his wife. No such nonsense with Romney, his wife is his property.
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You’re take is excellent, i.e. Southern Christians will find themselves painted into a corner if Romney wins the GOP nomination- “Who do I distrust/hate more? Romney or Obama”
But slight quibble:
But he’s not a Negro in the sense of a Jesse Jackson; Obama’s mother was caucasian. Obama is a “light skinned” black, and he doesn’t speak like Jesse Jackson. You might find more than a few “racist” Southern Christian types were quite comfortable voting for Obama, and proud of the fact their voting for him “proved they are not racist”. Their votes for Obama proved “they can vote for the ‘right kind’ of black person”.
Bottom line: I agree, most Southern Christians will NOT support a Mormon candidate for POTUS. Joseph Smith set himself up as a Jesus figure; there cannot be two Jesuses.. does not compute.
Agreed, Romney’s “religion” has not been discussed enough.
Obviously we’ll find out tomorrow just what Iowa conservatives think about Romney; if Santorum (the nearest thing to Huckabee {he beat Romney last time}) beats Romney, it will be the second time the “real Christian conservative” won in Iowa.
And that would be a large indicator, IMHO, that many conservative and moderate type Christians are not comfortable with Romney– and Romney’s wasting his time and money. He’s not going to get the nomination.
In addition, I’m not convinced conservative voters have bought into the massive anti-Obama hype emanating constantly from the repugs in congress, FAUX News, etc. I’m not convinced they are rabid-anti Obama to the point they are going to strongly come out for Romney.