Mormon Shmormon
By lowdowncentral Posted in Archived — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon
For nearly eight months, there has been a spate of articles questioning the religious belief of one presidential candidate: Mitt Romney. This is not because he is the only candidate who happens to be a man of faith, but because he is of the Mormon faith. Every writer that injects a man’s religion into a campaign as an issue has a dearth of negative information to write about. The nonsensical hammering of the Mormon point makes us wonder if the MSM are actually trying to say “First Moron in the White House” – in which case, it’s a wide open field.
Plainly, the liberal media and secular progressives lack a sense of decorum. Each article they write is a deliberate attempt to frame Governor Romney as a probable cultist with designs on America . This predatory rhetoric is nothing more than depraved indifference to logic, trying to obfuscate politics with faith in order to distract attention from the real issues facing Americans.
Let he who is without faith cast the first political stone!
For anyone to describe The Church of Latter Day Saints as a cult, one first needs to understand the unabridged definition of the word “cult,” which is a particular system of religious worship with reference to its rites and ceremonies. Taken literally, this definition would cut a mile-wide swath across all religions.
In a recent Newsweek article, Campaign ’08: The Making of Mitt Romney Jonathan Darman and Lisa Miller , take a sloppy stab at construing that “ Romney has been unable to shake his authenticity problem....” Why? Because he does not choose to focus on his religion but rather on how he can help better serve this country. He is not running for high theological office, but as President of a multi-cultural and religiously diverse nation. They also say: “the fate of Romney ’s candidacy may come down to one question: Can he embrace his own biography to create a political and personal narrative that has heart and soul?” The Newsweek writers will have to build a stronger mousetrap than that.
Would they pose the same question in connection with Hillary Clinton ’s heart and soul, or genuine lack thereof? Was it with her heart, or soul, that she whipped out a fake southern accent for a church rally? Or simply the calculated machinations of her cafeteria Christianity?
Miller and Darman should bag the cuttings on their barber’s floor. That way they’d have limitless hairs to split.
John F. Kennedy very wisely pointed out in his 1960 address to Southern Baptists about his Catholicism:
“But because I am a Catholic and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured—perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again—not what kind of church I believe in for that should be important only to me, but what kind of American I believe in.”
Substitute the word “Mormon” for “Catholic” and it remains the perfect response to an imperfect liberal bone of contention.
Harry Reid is a Mormon. Yet, no matter how annoying his vituperative railing in the Senate is, there are no Republicans who have publicly attributed it to his Mormon faith. Have any of these supposedly fair-minded journalists put forth examples of how Orrin Hatch’s, Harry Reid ’s and other Mormon members of the House and Senate have allowed this so-called “cult” to interfere with their elected office? Has any member of the liberal media ever seen or heard Mitt Romney proselytizing during his term as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or do they assume he is saving it for a special situation – such as the Presidency?
This is a country founded on religious freedom, therefore it is mind-boggling when secularists (and unfathomable when the media) persecute anyone who does not share their irreverent values, unless, of course, it is to protect the religious freedom of terrorists. John Kennedy pointed out, “we have a system of checks and balances in this country that would not permit a President to subvert the First Amendment guarantees of religious liberty.”
So what are these critics really afraid of?
Unless and until every candidate is subjected to the same battery of questions about their respective faiths, it is time to move on with the election and focus on the strengths each man or woman brings to the table in 2008.
I meant to say, "As a resident Romney supporter at RedState, I think your diary is really out of place."
What exactly does a "resident Romney supporter" mean? Mitt has read all of our articles about him. We believe that's endorsement enough.
Mitt’s church, the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) has been often misunderstood by Evangelical preachers in the past . . Some accused the Church of not believing in Christ and, therefore, not being a Christian religion . .
http://MormonsAreChristian.blogspot.com/ helps to clarify such misconceptions by examining early (First Century) Christianity's theology relating to baptism, the Godhead, the deity of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Mitt’s church believes in the Jesus of the New Testament, who prayed to his Father in Heaven in the Garden of Gethsemane, not the Jesus portrayed in the creeds of the 4th Century.
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) adheres to Early Christian (New Testament) theology more closely than other Christian denominations. . Perhaps the reason Evangelical preachers promoted this mis-representation was to protect their flock (and their livlihood). It is encouraging to note that Evangelical preachers appear now to have a moral and competent president as a priority..
Rose and Tanya,
As a resident Romney supporter at RedState, your diary is really out of place. Unless you have specific examples of "critics" at Redstate dissing Romney due to his religion, why go off on a post that at the minimum makes non-mormon's roll their eyes and at most just reminds evangelical's of their distain for a religion that is not their own? You go off on the cult thing like that will change people's minds here, but you offer no theological reasoning for it except JFK and fear. You critize Newsweek's limp article which most here of political sound mind most likely do not buy into. If you'd like to add something constructive politically to Romney's campaign then please do.