Mormonism in America

[MandyLaLa]

On NBC at 10 pm est Thursday night Rock Center with Brian Williams is doing an episode on Mormons in America.

[lilwriter85]

I saw the promo last week on Rock Center after Mrs. Mittens was interviewed.

[Jessica]

I hate how people think they have to vote for him just because he's LDS and thus, they're helping to fulfill prophecy... The dude scares me, LDS or not.

[deelaem]

I might watch this, but I'm pretty sure it'll just piss me off. I've watched that Rock Center show before and it's so patriarchal in its slant. I have a feeling this will be a whitewash of what really goes on in the Mormon church.

The dude scares me, LDS or not.

He scares me for many reasons, but right up near the top is the fact that he's LDS and wants to fulfill a prophecy. Especially when that prophecy is that the LDS will take over the world.

[bionicmlle]

DH and I talking about this a few nights ago -- We were brought up conservative SDA and I am sure that many of the older folks in my childhood church would be frightened about an LDS as POTUS because of the threat of a National Sunday Law (anyone get those black/white/red tracts on their door???) but would still be supportive because 1) he's republican and 2) it might move us towards the End Times .

[NerdyHil]

I might watch this, but I'm pretty sure it'll just piss me off. I've watched that Rock Center show before and it's so patriarchal in its slant. I have a feeling this will be a whitewash of what really goes on in the Mormon church.

He scares me for many reasons, but right up near the top is the fact that he's LDS and wants to fulfill a prophecy. Especially when that prophecy is that the LDS will take over the world.

I was raised Mormon. I must have missed that crazy prophecy. I'm not a Mittward fan, in fact I was just yelling at the TV about his elitist view on education. And I'm annoyed to see friends and family that haven't ever been political are now huge Mitt supporters. But they've always been the ones that love Glenn Beck, just because he's LDS too.

[ADoyle90815]

I might watch this, but I'm pretty sure it'll just piss me off. I've watched that Rock Center show before and it's so patriarchal in its slant. I have a feeling this will be a whitewash of what really goes on in the Mormon church.

He scares me for many reasons, but right up near the top is the fact that he's LDS and wants to fulfill a prophecy. Especially when that prophecy is that the LDS will take over the world.

He scares me as well, especially since I've heard that bishops are already telling their wards to campaign and vote for Mitt. My uncle even said that he won't vote for a cult member, as he considers the LDS church to be a cult. What's really scary is his running mate and the extremists in the Republican party who would love to take away women's rights to their own bodies, and even the right to vote. Mormonism considers women to be nothing more than brood mares that produce future tithe payers. This is why That Wife had to manipulate someone who wasn't that into her to marry her, as she believed it was her only role in life.

[lilwriter85]

The show is almost over in my area. It was basically a fluff type piece. They did interview Abby Hunstman the daughter of Jon Huntsman. She left the church when she decided to marry a non Mormon. Her interview wasn't extremely revealing. There was a brief segment on the bishop stores.

[YPestis]

I may be one of the few on this board who don't feel that strongly against Mitt Romney. I remembered him when he was governor of MA and ran the state with a fairly moderate plank. He was the type of republican I am comfortable with, someone who was fiscally conservative and socially moderate. I consider myself a left of center democrat. I am socially liberal and fiscally moderate. I will probably vote for Obama this election but I'm not afraid if Romney gets elected. I've survived Bush II, haven't I? Now, that was a guy who really sucked up to the Right. If Mitt Romney can run one of the most liberal states in the union, and institute such liberal health care reform as seen in MA, I think he is capable of not going all right wing on us, unlike Bush. His Mormonism doesn't scare me either. My SO find him "creepy" partly because he feels uncomfortable with the Mormon faith. I don't think much of it as I grew up in a nonChristian household. I don't care for the Mormon Church's stance on women and my only fear is that Mitt Romney will turn a blind eye towards female concerns due to that. I don't know how closely aligned he is with the Mormon Church currently. I dislike his church's stance on women's role in society, their push for girls to be SAHM, their bland, "leave it to beaver" view of how everyone should live, and of course, their anti-gay stance. I figure, if the people of MA found him to be moderate enough to run the state, then I can live with him as prez.

[breadprincess]

A fair amount of my friends are decidedly anti-Mitt, but then again I belong to a fairly liberal ward (my bishop supports planned parenthood, a lot of my lady friends are feminists, pretty accepting of LBGT people, encouraging of higher education and women working, etc). Usually it is my friends who have been out of Utah/InterMountain West for awhile and have no plans of going back. My car is not the only one in the ward parking lot with Obama campaign stickers on it, which is refreshing. I definitely want to track this down on Hulu and watch it tomorrow. I will be terrified if Mitt wins, not because of his religious affiliation, but because of his stance on women, the economy, war, etc.

[Kira]

I may be one of the few on this board who don't feel that strongly against Mitt Romney. I remembered him when he was governor of MA and ran the state with a fairly moderate plank. He was the type of republican I am comfortable with, someone who was fiscally conservative and socially moderate. I consider myself a left of center democrat. I am socially liberal and fiscally moderate. I will probably vote for Obama this election but I'm not afraid if Romney gets elected. I've survived Bush II, haven't I? Now, that was a guy who really sucked up to the Right. If Mitt Romney can run one of the most liberal states in the union, and institute such liberal health care reform as seen in MA, I think he is capable of not going all right wing on us, unlike Bush. His Mormonism doesn't scare me either. My SO find him "creepy" partly because he feels uncomfortable with the Mormon faith. I don't think much of it as I grew up in a nonChristian household. I don't care for the Mormon Church's stance on women and my only fear is that Mitt Romney will turn a blind eye towards female concerns due to that. I don't know how closely aligned he is with the Mormon Church currently. I dislike his church's stance on women's role in society, their push for girls to be SAHM, their bland, "leave it to beaver" view of how everyone should live, and of course, their anti-gay stance. I figure, if the people of MA found him to be moderate enough to run the state, then I can live with him as prez.

1. The last thing Romney wants to talk about is "Romneycare". It's very similar to "Obamacare" which he has promised to repeal.

2. He doesn't want to run on his MA. record because the good parts are bad(to his base) and he left MA. 47th out of 50 in employment. The people of MA. don't like him very much.

3. He has been a moderate republican, a liberal republican and a far right republican. It depends on where he is. He has been on every side of most issues. As of now he's anti-gay and anti-choice

4. Racist "birthers" Joe Apraio and Donald Trump are speaking at the Republican convention while many mainstream conservatives are not. Conventions usually gives candidates a boost, what audience do you think they speak to. This is sucking up to the far-right. Conservatives have admitted that don't like him, but will vote for him if he does what they want. He needs the far-right. He has pandered to them since becoming the Republican nominee(most conservatives preferred Santorum)

5. You should be afraid of Romney. Conservatives want a war with Iran and there is a good chance that it could happen under Romney. He could also choose 3 supreme court judges. The right wing is going to influence his policies because he needs them to win and if he wants another term.

eta: He chose a very right wing VP, Paul Ryan.

[Justme]

I have an elderly Aunt (never married). She's had serious health issues her whole life. She's always been able to work to support herself as a file clerk. She became a Morman in her early 20's. I remember every year, her "church elders" would pay her a visit and review her income tax return and finances. Not to assure they were correctly done, but to make sure she was giving them at least 10% of her income. The lady lived very simply. It still amazes me how "they" could take so much money from someone who had so little. Thank goodness, she had good health insurance and disability to pay for her many operations and hospital stays. She's now retired and basically lives on social security.

[deelaem]

I was raised Mormon. I must have missed that crazy prophecy. I'm not a Mittward fan, in fact I was just yelling at the TV about his elitist view on education. And I'm annoyed to see friends and family that haven't ever been political are now huge Mitt supporters. But they've always been the ones that love Glenn Beck, just because he's LDS too.

Nice try! :roll:

[MonkeyMomma]

I thought it was interesting that two of the featured interviewers were ex-Mormons, both Abby Huntsman and a guy (forgot his name) who is in the Book of Mormon on Broadway and left the church because he is gay. There was a lot of whitewashing, and I would have liked a bit more explication of LDS theology.

[Cannelle]

I didn't watch it (missed it, hoping I can find it online somewhere), but I have a Mormon FB friend who is seriously pissed about it, especially about the show featuring ex-Mormons.

[Talitha Cumi]

DH and I talking about this a few nights ago -- We were brought up conservative SDA and I am sure that many of the older folks in my childhood church would be frightened about an LDS as POTUS because of the threat of a National Sunday Law (anyone get those black/white/red tracts on their door???) but would still be supportive because 1) he's republican and 2) it might move us towards the End Times .

Hey, another SDA here, but liberal. (We ate meat! And went to movies in theaters!) LDS as President would be the harbinger of the Sunday law, sure enough. But the Adventists I knew wanted to keep the End Times away as much as possible, hence the church's focus on religious liberty.

I do love the Adventist focus on separation of church and state. Anyone who gets well-known politically (or as anything other than a medical person) is automatically suspect in the church. :)

[xDreamerx]

I was hoping they would actually investigate harder. This was just a puff piece disguised as news. I thought the PBS special on Mormons was much better (but it was several hours long).

[lilwriter85]

I was hoping they would actually investigate harder. This was just a puff piece disguised as news. I thought the PBS special on Mormons was much better (but it was several hours long).

Do you know if that PBS special is online somewhere? I also wished Rock Center would have investigated harder, but before I watched, I figured it was going to be a puff piece. But in the part that featured Abby Hunstman, I could tell that she was itching to tell more.

The posters on exmormon.org have discussed the Rock Center episode.

exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,613617

[pomology]

Do you know if that PBS special is online somewhere? I also wished Rock Center would have investigated harder, but before I watched, I figured it was going to be a puff piece. But in the part that featured Abby Hunstman, I could tell that she was itching to tell more.

The posters on exmormon.org have discussed the Rock Center episode.

exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,613617

http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/

It's like four hours long, but gives a pretty thorough history of the LDS and what the church is like today. I watched it in January and was completely fascinated. But other than that I can't remember the details.

[lilwriter85]

http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/

It's like four hours long, but gives a pretty thorough history of the LDS and what the church is like today. I watched it in January and was completely fascinated. But other than that I can't remember the details.

Thank you for posting the link pomolgy.

[emmiedahl]

I am concerned about any candidate who believes he was sent by God to force my country's conversion to his religion.

I mean, all other things aside, Mitt could be an otherwise perfect candidate who agrees with me on every single issue and that would still be a dealbreaker. I have had enough Mormons call me a gentile to know that Jews will certainly be part of this mass conversion to LDS.

[YPestis]

I think all religions have tenets about conversion and if read carefully, most are filled with some crazy ideas. I don't judge a person based on their religion because most do not buy into every single item that their religion espouses.

I was raised in a nonreligious household so I've seen plenty of crazy Christians trying to convert me in my days. That didn't stop me from marrying a Christian or tying the knot in a church. My SO was raised in the church but actually shares many beliefs with me which is why I married him. Growing up, I faced alot of pre-judgement because I said I was agnostic and that my parents are atheist. That's why I'm not buying into any Mormon conspiracy just because Romney was an active Mormon.

If Romney showed he actually took steps or openly hinted at a mass conversion then I'd be more worried. However, the LDS is a minority religion which is seen negatively by a majority of people in this country so if anything, I think Mormons has sympathy for minority faiths. Whatever tenets in their church, I feel that Mormon leaders themselves are more religious tolerant than the typical Christian conservative Republican leaders. Case in point, when there was that mosque near Ground Zero controversy a while back, Orrin Hatch, the conservative Mormon Republican broke with his party and openly said he'd support the mosque because he remembered his grandmother talking about being prevented from building a temple because of anti-LDS sentiments. When school prayer was in the news, I read in the Washington Post an article that the LDS church was silent on the issue because they know any school prayer fought and instituted would not be LDS sanctioned as they are a minority faith.

See, the way I see is is this. Regardless of how conservative your belief is, if you are a religious minority and a practical person living in a democratic society, you know any merging of church with gov't will not be with YOUR faith, it will be the faith of the majority of the population.

I also feel that regardless of one's belief system, people don't forget what it's like to be persecuted and tend to be more tolerant of differing religions precisely because they know what it's like to be on the receiving end of such bigotry.

I know that many people find Mormonism odd or too conservative (I definitely agree with the latter), but I'm not worried that having Romney as president will turn the country into a Mormon state. That's the same argument people made of JFK and I think it comes from the same fear of a little known religion. When Obama was president, people went after his foreign sounding name and his "ethnic" appearance. I feel that Romney may be getting a bad rap because of his Mormonism. Looking at his past record as governor, I just don't see indication of secret plans to turn the country over to the Mormon church. I would be far more concerned about his stance on the economy, health care reforms, foreign policy.....the list is pretty long. His grand plan to convert the country and fulfill the prophecy has never been in any of his governing policies in the past, so the fact that his church has crazy ideas of such things is not bothering me here.

[emmiedahl]

I know that many people find Mormonism odd or too conservative (I definitely agree with the latter), but I'm not worried that having Romney as president will turn the country into a Mormon state. That's the same argument people made of JFK and I think it comes from the same fear of a little known religion. When Obama was president, people went after his foreign sounding name and his "ethnic" appearance. I feel that Romney may be getting a bad rap because of his Mormonism. Looking at his past record as governor, I just don't see indication of secret plans to turn the country over to the Mormon church. I would be far more concerned about his stance on the economy, health care reforms, foreign policy.....the list is pretty long. His grand plan to convert the country and fulfill the prophecy has never been in any of his governing policies in the past, so the fact that his church has crazy ideas of such things is not bothering me here.

I think personal religion is usually irrelevant to public office. I am not generally concerned about having a Mormon in the office, I am concerned about one particular Mormon whose church believes he is coming to vindicate them as a fulfillment of prophecy. That *does* concern me. Mitt has not done a spectacular job of addressing this issue; when asked about it he said that the prophesy is not official LDS doctrine but would not go into whether he personally believes it or thinks he is fulfilling it. Come to think of it, Mitt has not really addressed any concerns, from the taxes to the budget to how Romneycare & the ACA are different. He does not think he really needs to explain anything to anyone--he deserves the presidency and we are being annoying little peons for arguing with authority.

People did question whether a Catholic could be president several decades ago and JFK eloquently addressed their concerns. That is the behavior of a leader, as opposed to the behavior of a man who believes his presidency is inevitable because it was ordained by God.

[shedemei]

How common is the belief that Romney is fulfilling the White Horse prophecy? Mormons tend to keep quiet or bury parts of their history that are not positive or that the church would prefer to forget (e.g. the Adam-God doctrine). Is this something that is widely known and believed in the church? Romney and church elders have said it is not doctrine.

[sarahbrownie]

The sad part is I gotta cozy up to the Mormons to get into their canning class. They sure do know all the tricks of the trade. That's partly one of the reason why they freak me out, I can understand canning your veggies from your garden in prep for the winter, but canning bad cosco orange juice seems a bit unnecessary.