Pastor at Santorum rally: Americans won’t vote for Mormon president, Mormon church is racist

The Palm Beach Post ^ | January 22nd, 2012 | Andrew Abramson

[Minus_The_Bear]

Bzzzz... wrong.

Romney belongs to a racist organization.

If we nominate him every Republican will be asked if we agree with his racist beliefs.

This pastor at least has the courage to confront it.

[reaganaut]

Thank you for your measured response. The rank and file Mormons often do appear nice, but behind that facade is something very different.

And the South Park episode isn’t only accurate, it is what they admit to - there are a lot of other things they lie about.

[reaganaut]

Sentinel and I are ex-Mormon, colo comes from a Mormon family but was never LDS.

And yes, Mormons are taught they can (and should) lie to further the LDS church or make it look good.

[Colofornian]

All three of you respond as former Mormons, correct? You’ve seen it from the inside. I have no experience with Mormons.

Well, at least one Mormon wannabe apologist has lied 24/7 about me for quite a while now re: this matter -- and shows no remorse or repentance -- but I am NOT a former Mormon.

I am a direct descendent of a Mormon leader; I never was a Mormon. Hence, I have access to more "inside" info than the average person.

Mormons don't like that, and have attacked me. But, hey, that's par for the course for Christians living in this world.

For you Mormons -- Mormons in leadership positions or Mormons who have close access to what Lds leaders have said -- please follow what Jesus tells you in this regard: "...what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs." (Jesus, per Matthew 10:27)

Jesus has no "secret teachings" and secret temples.

If the Old Testament was a "faith-promoting" document the way Mormon leaders present it, the Jews would have covered up their leaders engaging in manslaughter (Moses & David), adultery (David, etc.), mass polygamy & concubinage (Solomon), wife rivalries (Leah & Rachel), rape, Gomer carrying on a prostitute "cottage industry" despite being married to a prophet, whining & complaining in the wilderness -- + idolatry, abandonment of faith, following after other people's idols, etc.

But the Jews weren't interested in "PRing" it the way Mormon businessmen-general authorities do.

So. Shout it from the rooftops. It'll all come out in the end, anyway.

[hocndoc]

We will if his opponent is an atheist or a Muslim.

[hocndoc]

It’s not bigotry to hold a grown man responsible for the religion he practices. In fact, he’s a bishop in his church, which indicates a high level of intentional action and involvement on his part.

[COBOL2Java]

I had a Catholic neighbor and she told me that at times she was the reader.

What function is that?

Reader = Lector. A Lay person can be a Lector.

The Lector can read (from the pulpit - or, if there are two speaker stands, from the lectern [see pulpit in Wikipedia]) from the Old Testament and from the New Testament epistles, but only the clergy can read from the gospels.

[Clara Lou]

I apologize. My mistake. I don’t read Mormon threads,

I should have noticed that this was posted to religion.

[SENTINEL]

"As I understand it, both LDS and Scientology believe in alien gods. What are the major differences?"

I cannot speak with authority on Scientology, but I can tell you that FLDS/LDS "Prophet" Brigham Young taught that men live on the sun, FLDS/LDS "Prophet" Joseph Smith taught that 7 foot tall men who dress like quakers live on the moon, and another mormon cult member after hearing a private Joe Smith sermon, wrote in his journal that Smith taught that the earth was hollow and the core inhabited by the "lost tribes of Isreal".

Also the FLDS/LDS "Book of Abraham", Chapter 4 rewrites the creation account of genesis, replacing the word God with gods. Given Smith's instructions to create graven images of Baal on the Nauvoo and other temples, and his carrying of a Jupiter Talisman at all atimes, we can deduce that he believed that Baal and Jupiter were among the other "gods" who created the heavens and the earth.

Bluemoose, whom I pinged, is a member of this cult and I invite him to defend these FLDS/LDS founding doctrines or denounce the founders as false prophets.

Graven image of Baal at Nauvoo Illinois LDS "temple".

Baal and Pentagrams on LDS sect "Temple".

[Colofornian]

No offense taken.

(I simply took the op to clarify this for other posters & lurkers)

[Elsie]

Homosexual rights: Mormon church supports Salt Lake City's protections for gay rights and Mormons Back Salt Lake City Gay Rights Laws

I'm a MORMON ...

 

 

 

http://www.affirmation.org/

[Elsie]

All three of you respond as former Mormons, correct?

Nope; just the first two.

I have been blessed by their vast knowledge from the inside, giving me ideas for what to search for that the vast MORMON Empire has PUBLISHED and placed ONLINE.

[Elsie]

Far more frightening than Colofornian’s comments is the idea that Romney, as I just recalled, can lie to us for the furtherance of his faith (correct?).

Don't you Chisrtians get too smug now; for you ALL have done this!

--MormonDude(Grampa's in heaven now; with your pet Fluffy.)

[Scoutmaster]

Then-President Gordon B. Hinckley was the last LDS "prophet" to speak directly on race the subject of racism in General Conference (April 2006):

"I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color, is ineligible?"

So that's an unambiguous statement about the church's current policy. Fair enough.

Some people are bothered because the church is unwilling to say "yes, Joseph Smith used the word 'n*ggers' in the written text; we changed it in the current printed text," or "before 1978, it wasn't really God's will that blacks not have the priesthood; it was the will of some racist men who were acting as men, not as the messengers of God," or that Apostle Mark E. Peterson was perhaps a touch ill-advised when he said "I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it" in his speech at BYU titled "Problems - As They Affect The Church," or that Brigham Young wasn't speaking for God, he was just on another one of his spittle-spewing racist tirades when he said stuff like "[i]f the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is death on the spot."

When questioned about it by Mike Wallace, LDS President Gordon B. Hinkley said: "It's behind us. Look. That's behind us. Don't worry about those little flicks of history." Some people would like to address it first. Then put it behind us. Address it by saying God didn't decree it. When Brigham Young and many, many others said these things, they weren't acting as prophets, seers, and revelators. They weren't speaking for God. God didn't change his mind. Address it by saying the teaching that blacks are punished for being fence-sitters in the pre-existence is manmade and wrong. Address that and then put it behind us. Not all people will be satisfied by saying "God didn't think Blacks were ready for the priesthood until 1978."

Just like saying that LDS President Ezra Taft Benson wasn't talking about God, or the Lamanites, but was just being a racist when he said:

“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation."

My Mormon friends? They aren't racist. Don't let lingering history leave the impression that they are.

[Elsie]

I don't know if it qualifies for being major; but I have NEVER seen a MORMON jump up and down on a couch!

The Internet is aMAZing!!!

[Elsie]

The Lector can read (from the pulpit - or, if there are two speaker stands, from the lectern [see pulpit in Wikipedia]) from the Old Testament and from the New Testament epistles, but only the clergy can read from the gospels.

This seems to be mighty narrow job descriptions... ;^)

You guys unionized?

[COBOL2Java]

The pay stinks but the retirement benefits are out of this world!

[Scotswife]

like I said ....black friends having conversation - mostly on facebook.

Why?

[Colofornian]

Address it by saying God didn't decree it. When Brigham Young and many, many others said these things, they weren't acting as prophets, seers, and revelators. They weren't speaking for God. God didn't change his mind. Address it by saying the teaching that blacks are punished for being fence-sitters in the pre-existence is manmade and wrong. Address that and then put it behind us. Not all people will be satisfied by saying "God didn't think Blacks were ready for the priesthood until 1978." Just like saying that LDS President Ezra Taft Benson wasn't talking about God, or the Lamanites, but was just being a racist when he said: “I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation."

Yes.

My Mormon friends? They aren't racist. Don't let lingering history leave the impression that they are.

And let us recognize a couple of things here...

(1) Just as the overwhelming majority of Mormons are NOT temple Mormons (80-85%) -- and therefore are NOT counting on becoming gods of their own planets -- likewise many Mormons have jettisoned the Book of Mormon as ANY reliable source of either history, ethics or theology...and therefore do NOT embrace the racist passages within the Book of Mormon.

(2) Still...MOST grassroots Mormons have
(a) not publicly objected to Book of Mormon content;
and (b) are still financially supporting Lds, Inc. -- some tithing -- and therefore are paying for the publishing and translating both the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham (PoGP)...meaning their wallets, purses & bank accounts ARE undergirding the coffers of still extant racism...

I mean, imagine you are a Mormon convert in another country and you read and embrace the racist passages in the BoM I mentioned earlier on this thread. Are we saying that no Mormon is thereby accountable for this racism-in-print paid for by their contributions when this isn't a "secret" thing known only to leaders?

So the distinction I make here -- which applies also to my Lds relatives -- is that although these Lds friends & family are not personal racists attitudinally...they are still part & parcel of being institutional racists in that they financially support "on-the-books -- on-the-'revelational'-books," that is, racism.

Yes, Virginia. Purses do have pursestrings.

[Scoutmaster]

[I]n the early days mormon pioneers converted tribes of native americans, promising them if they were obedient mormons God would "take their curse away" and make them white!

I can track approximately 80 religions sects that believe in the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith, other than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Spin-off sects began as early as 1832; then there was the leadership crisis after the death of Joseph Smith, which led to a branching of the Mormon church; and of course, the 1890 and 1904 Manifestos led to several fundamentalist sects that continued to practice polygamy rather than to let it die out gradually.

Of these sects, three are particularly interesting in light of your comment and the ban on priesthood for blacks in effect until 1978.

The LDS Church's missionary efforts in Africa in the 1960's led to the baptism of blacks who then learned that they could not be accepted into the priesthood. As a result, three Mormon sects spun off in which baptized African blacks took the priesthood for themselves:

Independent Latter Day Saints of Nigeria
Independent Latter Day Saints of Ghana
Apostolic Divine Church of Ghana

These sects eventually dissolved.