THE DAILY BLADE: Questioning A Faith
With the Brownback, Giuliani and McCain campaigns in rapid succession apologizing for, and disassociating themselves from, anti-Mormon comments or talking points, The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund suggests "ground rules" for discussing Mitt Romney’s beliefs:
[A]ny expression of religious bigotry should be roundly condemned as not fit for the public square in a religiously tolerant country. … It would help if every presidential candidate issued a public statement urging their supporters not to engage in whispering campaigns or even blanket assertions to the effect that a Mormon can't be elected president.
Fair enough – as long as Fund doesn’t define curiosity about Mormonism as bigotry against Mormonism. A question is not a calumny.
Oddly, Fund and other pundits recommend that Romney "explain" his belief system to voters by giving nonsensical non-answers to legitimate questions:
He knocked one out of the ballpark during a GOP debate in New Hampshire when he said, "Some pundits out there are hoping that I'll distance myself from my church so that that'll help me politically. And that's not going to happen." But at other times he has appeared defensive. When a reporter asked him if Mormonism is similar to Scientology, Mr. Romney curtly replied "It's not." David Weigel of Reason magazine suggests he should have deflected the comment with a joke about Tom Cruise: "When we're in love, we don't celebrate by jumping on couches."
In The Stiletto’s opinion, Romney is already too slick by a half, and coming off glib about his belief system will be off-putting to many voters. In the absence of facts and forthright explanations of the tenets of Mormonism by the candidate, the rumors and whispering campaigns that Fund condemns will inevitably fill the void.
Journalists, too, have been disingenuous – or (willfully?) uninformed – when writing about Mormonism.
Fund – and WSJ readers - would benefit if he did his own research rather than getting his "facts" from Mormon flacks, according to reader Sue Emmett, who posted a comment taking the pundit to task for claiming that the "White Horse Prophecy" is a Mormon legend disavowed by the church and that any references to it constitutes de facto anti-Mormon bigotry:
Having been a Mormon for over 50 years, I can tell you that this particular belief, although not canonized in any Mormon scripture, is alive and well. I heard this all my life, and believed it. Do NOT rely on the PR people from the LDS church for "the facts" on many of these weird doctrinal things that pop up about Mormonism. Mormon people believe in, and make decisions for their lives every day, based on "unofficial" doctrine which has been quoted, preached or taught for decades over the pulpit or in their adult Sunday School classrooms.
You reporters have got to quit going to just sources that are "touchy-feely" about the church when you want to verify something you've heard about Mormonism! The church spends millions every year on their image. Be alert!
Meanwhile, last week Chris Cillizza, who writes "The Fix" asked readers of the WaPo blog to comment on "whether Romney's Mormonism is a legitimate campaign issue or a private matter … are the specifics of Romney's faith important for voters to hear in order to make an informed decision when assessing the Republican presidential candidates?"
Of the nearly 300 comments posted, this one by John B. is a perfect distillation of the tenor of the discussion:
It seems to me that Romney wants to have it both ways: hold out his "faith" as something making him a good candidate, somebody who's worth voting for, but sweep the details of that faith under the rug because most people - and particularly the conservative Christian voters he's wooing - find them rather weird. But since the Republican party has been making faith and religious belief a political issue, surprise surprise, you can't have it both ways.
Based on the reader comments posted on The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post Web sites (moderated discussions, no hate-filled rants), The Stiletto can understand the strategic calculation Romney has made to keep voters – particularly evangelicals - in the dark about his faith, even if he has to resort to obfuscation (The Daily Blade, second item). She just can’t understand why the media is helping him.
We Have Lost Our Stinking Badges: Part II
CBS 2 (Chicago) has been airing a series of undercover reports about lax security at O'Hare International Airport. In an ongoing investigation, the station has learned that as many as 3,807 employee access badges have gone missing, which could be the biggest security failure involving access badges to date. The latest bunch of missing badges discovered by CBS 2 belonged to 47 Mesa Airlines employees. Anyone with a badge can get into secure areas of the airport.
Former Mesa Airlines flight attendant Marcia Pinkston also alleges that employees shared security codes or followed right behind someone who opened a door to a secure area (a practice known as "piggybacking"). Pinkston complains that the Transportation Security Administration has yet to investigate her charges.
Prince Charles Is Carbon Neutral. Now We Are (ROTFL) Amused.
An annual accounting of Prince Charles’s households - printed on recycled paper in vegetable-based ink – finds that he has cut his annual carbon emissions by nine percent, to 3,775 tons, between April 1, 2006 and March 31 of this year. He achieved this historical feat by cutting back on helicopter jaunts and converting his Jag and Landie to run on used cooking oil, reports The Associated Press. The prince offset the other 91 percent of emissions created by his households - the Highgrove estate in western England, Clarence House in London and Birkhall in Scotland - by investing $60,000, in an agency that promotes tree planting and sustainable energy projects, meaning that his royal lifestyle is now "carbon-neutral."
Meanwhile, an online poll suggests that most of the err-to-the-throne’s subjects think he’s rather daft on the subject of global warming. The survey of 4,000 people found that 71 percent believe global warming is a natural phenomenon and not caused by carbon emissions, and that 65 percent think that climate scientists’ doomsday scenarios are tommy-rot. The poll was conducted by Pocket Issue (a British firm that publishes three "Cliff’s Notes"-type briefs: "The Energy Crisis," "Global Warming" and "Middle East Conflict").
Alarmed that the Orwellian brainwashing techniques used by the BBC and other mass media are inexplicably ineffective, Pocket Issue publisher Emma Hardcastle says, "[T]he poll highlights the need for government and influential bodies to concentrate on getting the public to understand the facts about global warming and ‘why’ rather than ‘how’ they should reduce their carbon footprint."
[Editorial Note: Not only trees spew methane into the atmosphere, but earthworms living in the soil surrounding their roots produce greenhouse gases 290 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to a German study of commercial composting of organic waste (the "green" alternative to landfills). Further, the very concept of offsetting one’s carbon footprint is bogus. Buying carbon offsets has become the secular equivalent of buying indulgences – and neither purchase will turn a sinner into a saint.]
On Romney: Perhaps the curious should read the Book of Mormon first, remembering that it BORROWS a lot from the Bible yet adds, er, ideas...
On earthworms: Those dirty critters! I also love the comparison between carbon credits and indulgences. "When the coin in the coffer rings, a soul [degree Celcius?] from Purgatory springs [dissipates into space?]." - John Tetzel
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Romney has decided to misstate his beliefs or evade questions about them. The media has decided that "anti-Mormon prejudice" is a more legitimate story than whether and how the tenets/practices of Mormonism are at odds with other people's belief systems, EEOC regulations, etc. So in The Stiletto's opinion, voters are going to have to do their own research and make up their own minds.
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I am not a Mormon. I believe Mormon beliefs are not Christian beliefs. I believe Mormon beliefs place Mormonism in the realm of a cult that is closer to Gnostic-Christianity rather legitimate Christianity.
Having said that: What about Mitt Romney?
I believe Romney is a good man with morals that many Christians in this day and age fail to live up to. I say that not knowing Romney; however I have known some Mormons (via work etc.) in my time. The Mormons I have known have a moral system that is conducive to the Christian Right.
I consider Mormonism to be a Christian heresy. I believe practicing Mormons to be engaged in a theology that even many of them do not comprehend. Sensitive questions are rarely answered with a straight answer but rather with a defensive deflection move the questioner off the point.
Knowing how I feel about Mormonism, would I vote for Mitt Romney for President?
During the primaries the answer would be NO. If Romney is the Republican nominee, the answer is a diminutive yes. A moral/Conservative Romney would be a better President than a so-called Progressive (oft times godless) Democrat that believes that Christian morality is an archaic belief system.
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The Stiletto agrees with you on the primary vote. After that, she doesn't know. Staying home on Election Day means Hillary (if she is the canddidate) wins. It's truly a dilemma.
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The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is often misunderstood . . Some accuse the Church of not believing in Christ and, therefore, not being a Christian religion . . This post helps to clarify such misconceptions
· Baptism: .
Early Christian churches, practiced baptism of youth (not infants) by immersion by the father of the family. The local congregation had a lay ministry. An early Christian Church has been re-constructed at the Israel Museum, and the above can be verified. http://www.imj.org.il/eng/exhibitions/2000/christianity/ancientchurch/structure/index.html
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) continues baptism and a lay ministry as taught by Jesus’ Apostles. . Early Christians were persecuted for keeping their practices sacred, and not allowing non-Christians to witness them
· The Trinity: .
A literal reading of the New Testament points to God and Jesus Christ , His Son , being separate , divine beings , united in purpose. . To whom was Jesus praying in Gethsemane, and Who was speaking to Him and his apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration?
The Nicene Creed”s definition of the Trinity was influenced by scribes translating the Greek manuscripts into Latin. . The scribes embellished on a passage explaining the Trinity , which is the Catholic and Protestant belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. . The oldest versions of the epistle of 1 John, read: "There are three that bear witness: the Spirit, the water and the blood and these three are one."
Scribes later added "the Father, the Word and the Spirit," and it remained in the epistle when it was translated into English for the King James Version, according to Dr. Bart Ehrman, Chairman of the Religion Department at UNC- Chapel Hill. . . .He no longer believes in the Nicene Trinity. .
Scholars agree that Early Christians believed in an embodied God; it was neo-Platonist influences that later turned Him into a disembodied Spirit. . Divinization, narrowing the space between God and humans, was also part of Early Christian belief. . The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) views the Trinity as three separate divine beings , in accord with the earliest Greek New Testament manuscripts.
· The Deity of Jesus Christ
Mormons hold firmly to the deity of Christ. For members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS), Jesus is not only the Son of God but also God the Son. Evangelical pollster George Barna found in 2001 that while only 33 percent of American Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists (28 percent of Episcopalians) agreed that Jesus was “without sin”, 70 percent of Mormons believe Jesus was sinless. http://www.adherents.com/misc/BarnaPoll.html
· The Cross: .
The Cross became popular as a Christian symbol in the Fifth Century A.D. . Members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) believe the proper Christian symbol is Christ’s resurrection , not his crucifixion on the Cross. Many Mormon chapels feature paintings of the resurrected Christ or His Second Coming.
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On the Trinity - see Matthew 28:19 and other verses for a biblical understanding of this concept.
On the Cross - granted, "if Christ had not been raised, our faith had been in vain"; however, 2 Peter 3:21 - "We preach Christ crucified." Christ's death atoned for sins; His resurrection confirmed it and guaranteed the resurrection of believers.
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