Free Republic

Hearing Mitt Romney’s surrogate Bill Bennett refer to me as a bigot and Jon Huntsman call me a “moron” last week after my controversial comments on Mormonism, amid calls for civility and tolerance in public discourse, reminds me of the exclamation: “We will not tolerate intolerance!” But beyond the personal insults, I am concerned that these men are attempting to prematurely marginalize religion as a relevant topic in elections. Utilizing such incendiary rhetoric against those of us who dare bring up a candidate’s spiritual beliefs cuts off discussion about religion before it begins.

I believe efforts to disqualify Mitt Romney as a presidential contender because of his Mormon faith are outrageous and unfair. Apparently, a lot of people in the liberal media agree with me. Unfortunately, they are hypocrites. The media are ignoring their own established religious test—against candidates whose evangelical or Catholic faith guides their political beliefs. Having momentarily discovered an appreciation for the Constitution, liberal journalists are reminding conservative Christians who question Romney’s faith that our founders prohibited a religious test as a qualification for elected office. “It was only a matter of time before some bigot drew a bead on...

BELMONT, Mass. — In ticking off his credentials on the campaign trail — management consultant, businessman, governor — Mitt Romney omits what may have been his most distinctive post: Mormon lay leader, offering pastoral guidance on all manner of human affairs from marriage to divorce, abortion, adoption, addiction, unemployment and even business disputes. Bryce Clark was a recipient of Mr. Romney’s spiritual advice. Late one summer night in 1993, distraught over his descent into alcoholism and drug use, Mr. Clark, then a 19-year-old college student, decided to confess that he had strayed from his Mormon faith. So he drove through...

I subscribe to a Mormon apologetic Newsletter titled FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research). Normally it falls into my junk email account and I don't even open it, but today I had a few minutes and scanned the latest offering and was stunned to see the hypocrisy of the authors. Please note the entire email is posted below. This particular issue has a great deal of whining about those mean Christians who make the spurious claim that Mormons are not Christians, but are a cult. A couple of examples: -"Mormons are a cult" epithets into the national spotlight. In...

The daughter of a Mormon bishop who has abandoned her family's faith claims in a new book the election of Mitt Romney to the presidency would put the U.S. in danger due to what she calls the Republican's "outrageous," "horrific" and "mind-controlling" beliefs. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann "While he attempts to portray Mormonism as just another Christian religion, Mitt Romney counts on his skills to shift our attention away from what he truly believes," says Tricia Erickson, author of "Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters? The Mormon Church Versus the Office of the Presidency of...

'Would you trust the judgment of a man if he truly believes he's gonna be a god?' "If the American people knew what he truly believed, they would surely not place him in the highest office in the land."

Does Mitt Romney, an elder and former missionary of the Mormon Church, believe he will one day be a god ... equal to Jesus ... ruling his own planet? Does he agree with Mormon teaching that Jesus and Satan are brothers? That America is the Promised Land where Jesus will return one day to rule from the Garden of Eden, which Mormons believe to be Jackson County, Missouri? And do American voters have the right to know this? When Barack Obama was running for president, he assured us he was a Christian. Pastor Rick Warren brought Candidate Obama to his...

Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann dodged questions Sunday whether Romney is a Christian. The issue arose during the just-completed Values Voters Summit in Washington, exposing tensions among evangelicals over Romney's religious faith, as we reported today. Dallas Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress kicked things off by endorsing Rick Perry and declaring that Mormonism is a cult and Romney is not a Christian. Speakers went back and forth on the issue -- and Romney himself weighed in, denouncing "poisonous speech" that doesn't help the nominating process. Asked about Jeffress' comments, Perry said he doesn't believe Mormonism is a cult.

Reuters. Please see link

Hi, I'm Jeff I am thrilled and honored to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a devout Christian. About Me I am a husband and father. I was raised in a family of 14 children (9 boys and 5 girls, all from the same parents). I'm the 9th child. I love people. I love to serve and give. I stay active physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially. I am an attorney. I also have an MBA and am a certified management accountant. Why I am a Mormon The fundamental reason for which I am...

The enormous success on Broadway of "Book of Mormon" brings to mind the longest and most difficult mini-series development in the then-William Morris Agency's history. Feature agent and former New York colleague Fred Milstein called me one morning and spoke about a series of forgeries and murders by a 28-year-old elder of ths Mormon church against fellow Mormons. I could try to explain the convolutions of this story, but the most incisive and coherent analysis comes from a former LDS elder who calls himself "Stray Mutt." It is herein paraphrased. Mark Hofmann [pictured left] was a gifted and masterful forger....

I found this article "Our Relationship With the Lord" written by Bruce R. McConkie and found in the BYU Devotional dated March 2, 1982. This portion of the article left me somewhat stunned : "5. Christ worked out his own salvation by worshiping the Father.After the Firstborn of the Father, while yet a spirit being, had gained power and intelligence that made him like unto God; after he had become, under the Father, the Creator of worlds without number; after he had reigned on the throne of eternal power as the Lord Omnipotent-- after all this he yet had to...

(CNN) - Early on in life, Mitch Mayne knew exactly who he was. He would race home...to watch reruns of “Star Trek” and swoon over his crush, Captain Kirk. At 8, after his parents converted, he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... It is where he feels spiritually at home, irrespective of the fact that, for the past 10 years, he’s been openly gay. “I’m a man that lives in two worlds that a lot of people don’t think intersect,” Mayne said... Actively Mormon and openly gay: It's the sort of combo that might leave...

Mike Huckabee‘s faith made up a significant part of his political identity during his 2008 Republican Presidential bid, and as such Huckabee came out this morning to defend the open airing of faith by other Republican candidates this time around. Speaking to the Fox & Friends crew this morning, Huckabee said he appreciated Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s openness with his faith, but didn’t see it as a way of “other”-ing the Mormon candidates in the field, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. “I want to know what a candidate believes,” Huckabee explained, arguing that electing a religious candidate is not the...

Bill Clinton Praises Two GOP Candidates GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman received some unsolicited praise from a former president today, though it might not be from the one they were hoping for. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, former President Bill Clinton lauded the two former governors for addressing climate change on the stump. When Blitzer asked Clinton to list the candidates he liked and the ones he was concerned about, the former president said: ” Well, it appears that Gov. Huntsman and Gov. Romney, at least, have not come out in just flat out denial...

>Mormonism Teaches That:  The Constitution will hang by a thread, to be saved by the Mormon Church. Will the Constitution be destroyed?  No, it will be held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, "The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At that critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from destruction." It will be so. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses [JOD] Vol. 7, page 150). …And when the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single  thread, they will have to call for...

Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman will announce the endorsement of former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Gov. Tom Ridge Friday in an event at St. Anselm College in Goffstown. Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, plans to attend a press conference with Huntsman at the college’s New Hampshire Institute for Politics. In a statement by the Huntsman campaign, Ridge said Thursday that Huntsman is “a serious, insightful leader.” Huntsman, 51, a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, said he’ll be counting on Ridge for help and counsel.

The southern Utah site of a wagon train massacre was dedicated Sunday as a national historic landmark 154 years to the day after the tragedy occurred. About 350 people watched as Zion National Park Superintendent Jock Whitworth presented plaques to mark the Mountain Meadows Massacre Historic Site 30 miles north of St. George. The 760-acre site is where 120 members of an Arkansas wagon train were shot and killed by a Mormon militia on Sept. 11, 1857. The Baker-Fancher wagon train stopped in the meadows on its way to California when it was attacked. Government officials, church leaders and descendants...

By Marsha WestHere Glenn Beck goes again, claiming he's a Christian, this time at Restoring Courage 2011 — Jerusalem. Glenn gets upset when anyone questions his Christianity. That's weird because he's a Mormon who affirms the official teaching of Mormonism aka the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The LDS outright deny many of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Moreover, LDS doctrine contradicts what Scripture teaches. So of course there are Christians who feel Beck's not a true follower of Jesus Christ — not the Jesus of the Bible anyway. When his "I'm a Christian" claim...

Marriage is a fundamental tenet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But church leaders now face a matrimony problem within their flock: Young single Mormons are delaying marriage.-SNIP-Maher and Forsyth reflect a shift that worries national church leaders. Women want to marry. Men want to wait. And church leaders are concerned because they believe marriage is a prerequisite for life in eternity.-SNIP-Mormon church leaders say Mormon men are postponing marriage either for financial, career or educational concerns. And sometimes for other reasons, according to church President Thomas Monson."Men are having a little too much fun being single,...