[jdm]

Romney has said for months that he saw no need to make an issue out of his religion...

But now he's got an entire speech on it?

[Red Badger]

Huckaphobia?.........

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Nobody knows what is in a persons heart, so we can only
go by what they do or say before running for POTUS.

Both come across as flip flopper and frauds.

[Vaquero]

Rudy, Romney and Huckleberry are all cut from the same Liberal Cloth.

Might as well sit out the election of any of these 3 is the Republican standard bearer.

[FastCoyote]

[Reasoning with bigotry doesn’t usually have much effect, because bigotry isn’t founded on reason but fear.]

Now, what if you have a whole history of well founded reasons as well?

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

It ain’t the religon, it’s Hillaromney the man that’s a threat to America.

[colorcountry]

“This speech is an opportunity for Governor Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor’s own faith would inform his Presidency if he were elected,” according to the statement. “Governor Romney understands that faith is an important issue to many Americans, and he personally feels this moment is the right moment for him to share his views with the nation.”

And yet Mitty thinks it is okay for him to judge the suitability of someone on this cabinet based upon a belief in Islam. Remarkable the flippy-iness of his Mitty-ness.

In Mitt’s vernacular.....”I can judge others upon their beliefs but if you judge me, you are a hater and bigot.”

[Gondring]

I believe that skillful direct questioning of some of his beliefs could reveal a HUGE weakness. Although he is attempting to head this off, it still doesn’t prevent questions about aspects of his faith that the general public might find distasteful.

[dinoparty]

Unlike many “sophisticated” conservatives, I do think a person’s religious convictions are an important part of a person’s character, and voters should consider it. On the other hand,voters should also consider how authentic those convictions are, too. I’d rather vote for an authentic Morman than a pragmatist posing as a Christian.

[org.whodat]

It’s a look at me, look at me, moment! Anything for attention, and the old vote for me are you are a bigot.

[trisham]

and how the governor’s own faith would inform his Presidency if he were elected,”

*****************

I don't think this is reassuring to those who have a concern about Romney's Mormonism.

[Diogenesis]

Mitt is entitled to his religious beliefs.

The problem is his proven lack of judgement.

Ex-beau recalls murder, lost love [Romney's Tuttman's released murderer might be implicated in an additional nine murders of women]

"The man who lost his fiancee to Daniel T. Tavares Jr. believes the violent convict may be the serial killer
who took the lives of nine drug-involved prostitutes from the New Bedford area in the 1980s.

“He kept talking about them and saying, ‘I know that one.’ One was found buried in the yard,”
said Norman Sirois, who was engaged to marry Ann M. Tavares, 46, when she was stabbed
to death by her son on July 10, 1991. Sirois, 63, made his remarks yesterday after reading
accounts of how Tavares led state police to the remains of Gayle A. Botelho, 32, in 2000.

Botelho’s skeletal remains were unearthed on the grounds of 314 June St. in Fall River,
where Sirois said he rented an apartment with Ann Tavares, her killer son and his friend, Richard Pires, in the 1980s.

Botelho was last seen in October 1988 leaving her apartment, which was across the street.
In the past, investigators have said Botelho’s death was not linked to the prostitutes’ murders.

Sirois said the night Botelho went missing he came home from a party to find Daniel Tavares
staring out a window at a police cruiser outside the Prospect Street apartment where she lived.

“He says, ‘They’re looking for Gayle.’ I said, ‘Did you talk to the police?’ He said, ‘No.’ I never brought it up again.
How did he know they were looking for Gayle if he didn’t talk to the police?” asked Sirois,
who added that he did not know Botelho.

Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol district attorney, C. Samuel Sutter Jr., yesterday
declined to comment on Sirois’ comments.

“We are actively investigating all unsolved homicides from 1991 to 2006,” Miliote said. Paul F. Walsh Jr.,
who served as Bristol district attorney from 1991-2006, could not be reached for comment.

“I can’t prove it. It’s just so funny that everything stopped after he went to prison,” said Sirois,
who lived with Tavares for several years while he dated his mother. Sirois described
Tavares as a man who “lied through his teeth and” was always unemployed.

But regarding the Botelho case, “It’s my word against his,” he said."

[LadyNavyVet]

He’s making a mistake by highlighting his religion, especially after saying it shouldn’t be an issue. I’m not trying to diss Mormonism in and of itself, and while most religions have observances that outsiders might consider a little weird, a full airing of Mormon views will reveal that they differ substantially from those of mainstream Christianity. That is not going to help Romney in Middle America.

[meandog]

"I will do say anything to get elected!"

[Colofornian]

Reasoning with bigotry doesn’t usually have much effect, because bigotry isn’t founded on reason but fear. If “Faith in America” amounts to an apologetic on the LDS religion, it won’t get a meaningful enough response to make it worth the effort...

He's right. How do you reason with the following statements?

"What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

What's Smith view of Christian people? When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

This is reinforced by Brigham Young: "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

Romney’s relatives:

What about Romney’s uncle…has the Mormon church replaced Jesus Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life”? (quote from John 14:6): Marion Romney (LDS First Presidency) said, "This Church is the ensign on the mountain spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. It is the way, the truth, and the life" (Conference Report, April, 1961, pg. 119).

In replacing the Christian church with the Mormon church, what did Romney’s ancestor, Parley Pratt, label “Christendom?” Why it’s the “great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” (Quote in fuller context):

Parley Pratt: "The false and corrupt institutions, and still more corrupt practices of `Christendom,' have had a downward tendency in the generations of man for many centuries ...The overthrow of those ancient degenerate races is a type of that which now awaits the nations call `Christian,' or in other words, `the great whore that sitteth upon many waters" (Key to the Science of Theology, 1938 ed., pg.106).

Pratt’s brother, Orson, an LDS general authority, had even more to say:

"Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

"Q. After the Church of Christ fled from the earth to heaven, what was left? A. A set of wicked Apostates, murderers, and idolaters, who ...left to follow the wicked imaginations of their own corrupt hearts, and to build up churches by human authority..." (The Seer, pg.205).

"This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses 18:44).

"But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance, and they are represented in the revelations of St. John as a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, having a golden cup in her hand, full of filthiness and abominations, full of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; that in her forehead there was a name written - `Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots'" (Journal of Discourses 18:172).

"We have already proved in the previous numbers of this series that immediately after the first century the whole earth became corrupted by the great "Mother of Harlots," that apostasy and wickedness succeeded Christianity, that for the want of new revelation, all legal succession to the apostleship was discontinued that the gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit ceased and that the Church was no longer to be found on the earth: this being the case, all nations must have been destitute of the everlasting gospel for many generations - not destitute of its history as it was once preached and enjoyed but destitute of its blessings, of its powers, of its gifts, of its priesthood, of its ordinances administered by legal authority" (Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, No.6 (1851), pg.82).

Do LDS considers themselves one legitimate church among many? (No, it considers themselves the ONLY true church):

Joseph Smith: "This [the LDS] Church...is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30).

LDS Pres. Ezra Taft Benson: "This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth..." (Teachings of LDS prophet Ezra Taft Benson, p.164-165).

What then, are the rest of the churches? Apostates? (Yes)

"Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Introduction to the History of the Church 1:XL). BH Roberts

Joseph Smith: "they [other churches] were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt" (from Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History 1:19).

McConkie: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269).

So, will Mitt address any of these Mormon "snapshots" of the Christian church? (Or is "tolerance" and "Religious liberty" a one-way street for Mormons?)

[Colofornian]

Reasoning with bigotry

Joseph Smith saying: "I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true." (Joseph Smith, DHC 1:6) is "tolerant" and elevates "religious liberty."

Anybody saying Mormonism isn't true = "intolerant" and full of "bigotry."

[Petronski]

I think he’s making a mistake.

He should give a speech about his religion when everyone else agrees to do the same. And if the concern is that Mormonism is a negative, all he’s really doing is calling further attention to it.

Alas, if he had been a good Mormon on life issues during his 35 years of pro-abortion beliefs, he might not be getting elbowed out by a true pro-lifer from Arkansas.