Does the average conservative know anything about mormonism?
Being catholic did not prevent JFK from being elected, will mormonism trip up mitt?
Do you know anything about mormonism, its racist "past" policies, or its beliefs?

Search engine time?

Jimmy Carter's effect on mormon policies
park romney
the mark and curse of cain

Interesting question. From my perspective, (which is one I believe most folks would consider pretty far left of center, and in some respects 'radical' - although I believe it to be common sense (I consider "ideal" socialism common sense), and certainly more 'moderate' than when I was younger), the answer to the question posed depends on whether the individual can appropriately separate his/her religious dogma from his/her evaluative and decision-making processes. I seriously doubt America will elect an atheist any time soon; still, an atheistic president would need to be aware and reasonably responsive to certain fundamental rights and protections for believers of any given faith. There exists a continuum within any organized religion from the open-minded to the fanatical and intolerant. Can Mormanism allow for the former? Probably...... I think JFK was able to function well without experiencing a debilitating dichotomy which disabled his ability to maintain fairness and open-mindedness. Jimmy Carter did an excellent job considering his self-proclaimed "deepness" of his faith. I believe Obama has shown he can do it. I still wonder how Nixon pursued war as a self-proclaimed Quaker, but he was an enigma in so many ways!

For me, the biggest problem with Romney is that I don't agree with him about social issues or about the personhood of corporations. I don't find the average Mormon any more (or less) nuts than the average member of any other religion; if Romney were remotely in the "running" for my vote, I'd probably want to know more about his individual religious beliefs and views on the separation, establishment and free exercise, but since he's not, they're pretty irrelevant. (I will be voting for either Rocky Anderson (lapsed Mormon, now agnostic) or Jill Stein (Jewish) and if I lived somewhere that mattered* I'd probably vote for Obama reluctantly notwithstanding his religious beliefs.)

*I live in DC, which gave Obama 92% of the vote in 2008 and McCain 6%...a decent third party candidate run here could put Mittens into 3d place.

re: romney. eileen elaborated a bit more than i felt like doing, i find myself appreciating that.

about all i was going to say was

that i guess you try to look at the whole picture

and that said, i am not on board with romney

I read somewhere that Romney said he was Christian even tho was was a Mormon and had accepted Jesus. So I think he is a Mormon who became a Christian but still stays in the Mormon church.

Thanks for thinking about this and responding. We know a few mormon families and I had a formerly mormon co-worker. He was ex-communicated, as was a friend of our daughters. They both expressed views the church felt were detrimental to the greater good of the congragation. Its seems to be a good mormon you must not be curious of or actively question their founders beliefs.

The mormons have quite a few beliefs that make me scratch my head. To name some; smith and his revelation (god and jesus visited him at age 14 to tell him all other religons were an abomination) and 4 yrs later an angel led him to find the golden plates that he then translated into the book of mormon, that we can get to heaven thru proxy baptisim - even after death, that god lives on the planet kolob, that there are men on the moon that live to be 100 yrs old, that mary was not a virgin - but impregnated by god on earth, that dark skin was the mark and curse of cain - and impurity, that only (every) white mormon male(s) could enter the priesthood until 1978 (when Pres. Carter forced change by threating to disallow them tax exempt status and only then did their 12 elders have a revelation of god telling them to now accept all), practicing poligamy until it got in the way of their political agenda.

I hope you get the idea I'm trying to convey, that so many of these beliefs seem contrary to mainstream christian beliefs.

Also much like mitt's etch-a-sketch political views and proclaimed policies, many of these lds beliefs and ideals have been subject to change according to what is best for bringing in money to the church. Where it seems to me mainstream christians say god never changes.
That as it was, so it shall be...yada, yada, yada.

There are many good thing the lds do for the greater good of their community, but I wonder if people who hold strong christian beliefs accept the more extreme things they hold as truths? Will an evangelical christian vote for mitt?

I agree with you Eileen there are many types of religous wack-o's. Could I vote for someone who is a scientologist? While I accept and include them and have had friends among them, I am fearful of being led by anyone who embraces extreme religous views. Mormons included.

Sorry for rambling. Happy halloween!

It just hit me. I read somewhere once that Mormons wear some kind of holy underwear. LOL.

well, regardless of who you are voting for and sorry if you have already seen this, i saw it on the news only just this morning, and thought i would share it here

....poor kid. she has me laughing and crying at the same time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjrthOPLAKM

Cheryl, so the question to ask Romney is magic boxers or magic briefs?

Maybe Fruit of the Loom or BVD's lol.

Scientist? One step forward, two steps back...from Slate...

Rep. Paul Broun, who serves on the House Science Committee, told a church-sponsored banquet in his home state of Georgia that the theories of evolution and the big bang are “lies straight from the pit of hell.” Broun has long been known as one of the most conservative members of Congress, and an outspoken conservative Christian. He wanted to declare 2010 “the year of the Bible,” points out NBC News. Still, the comments from the medical doctor who also has a degree in chemistry are getting lots of attention after the Bridge Project, a progressive political watchdog group, began distributing video of the remarks. (Video is after the jump.)


Broun says “all that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang theory” was part of a ploy to hide how old the Earth really is, “to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.”


The House Science Committee had already come under scrutiny recently after Rep. Todd Akin, another one of its members, made the now-infamous remarks about “legitimate rape,” points out Talking Points Memo.


Broun plays off on his qualifications and degrees to add credence to his views:


You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I've found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says.


And what I've come to learn is that it's the manufacturer's handbook, is what I call it. It teaches us how to run our lives individually, how to run our families, how to run our churches. But it teaches us how to run all of public policy and everything in society. And that's the reason as your congressman I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I'll continue to do that.


His comments were greeted with applause at the Sept. 27 Sportsman’s Banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga. Broun’s reelection is assured next month since he doesn’t even have a Democratic challenger, reports NBC.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... c=obinsite

Yep, 9,000 years ago, back when Adam and Eve rode a dinosaur to church to get married so they could get on with the business of being fruitful and multiplying...

Why did he not share this so called scientific evidence he refers to and lead us all to the light?

My cousin Jason Mraz is doing a tour of Ohio with Vice President Biden. Figured folks would be pleased to know.

reminder

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcv70 ... o1_500.jpg

Great reminder Agnes.

And to those impatient people out there, it took 8 years to get FUBAR, give the man more time before you throw the baby out with the bath water. I've seen this movie before, don't like how it ended four years ago.

To elect a Mormon President is to advance the cause of the Mormon Church.