Sunday, September 30, 2007

That Pesky Mormon Background






















Newsweek has a very good article about Mitt Romney and his Mormon Background. It speaks very well about how his handlers are adept at skirting all the tough issues concerning things that the church does and believes. How they have him using vernacular that is not typical to the average Mormon, to make his religion seem more main stream to average folks. As a "recovering Mormon" I can tell you that if it bothers you to have people letting God lead this country, then Mitt Romney is most definitely not the guy anyone wants for president.

He has used phrases like "judeo-Christian" when asked to describe his religious beliefs, but he uses it as a generic term because people would flinch, the average Sunday church goer, if they actually knew how the Mormon style services were run. The bible may be there, but almost ALL of their scripture and speech material comes from their Book of Mormon. They like to say that they believe the bible, but that it has not been translated correctly. Heck, when I was there, about 6-7 years, I hardly remember a time when a bible was used and when it was they took such small and distinct phrases from it just to prove one of their points.

Once you learn anything about the Masons you find out how much of their symbolism the originators of the Mormon church adopted for their temple religious signs and symbols. That they wear clothing and make movements quite like the Masons do. Their leader Joseph Smith was a Mason as were many men back in that time period.

The typical Mormon prays about EVERYTHING and every decision they make and they believe that the answers they get come directly from God. In their churches they promote by prayer. So, I for one do not think that I want a president that would make decisions based upon this reasoning. He might take in all the advise from his staff, but ultimately he is going to pray about it and go with the Lord. They are HUGE believers and practice this religiously. No pun intended!

I do not mind if my leaders have a passing mention of some kind of religious affiliation, but it is when it is THE integral part of their life, the guiding force , that it makes me very wary.

It is good to have a moral basis in your life, to know good from bad and all that, but I am just uncomfortable when someone with such background as Mr. Romney's wants to lead this country. He has had many positions of power within the church and people expect him to keep it up at home as well. He could never back off from his Mormon roots as the higher up leaders would not allow it and would have a talk with him about this. I know first hand as I toiled for years in positions that they gave me and as they piled on more and more they expected more from me and my behavior was always watched.

He may very well be a good person and a nice man....just not one that I would like as president of a country with such diverse religious views and his being the one that is most questionable as to origin and beginning.

3 comments:

What If There Is dog? said...

Hi,Dharma.Great Post.Mitt seems like a twit,but not because he is a Mormom.I dated a Mormom for a couple of years and she was one foxy chick.And,very passionate.I don't know the ends and outs of the LDS church,but it can't be much worse then Bush's ideals.Can it?

Dharma said...

Oh yeah. Even more conservative. Very family values and anti-abortion and gay. Heck, they used to even be very anti-black and did not allow them to hold membership positions in the church until the late 70's. They thought that tyhe black was the mark of Cain and so those people were not good people.

Nothing wrong with family values, mind you, but they have very distinct roles and ideas about womens roles and fasmily etc. The male runs the show.

What If There Is dog? said...

Are you saying they are bigots with a nieteen-fifties smile?