June 19, 2007
Hotline After Dark -- Mormonism 101
NBC's Allen gave a primer on the Mormon religion on last night's "Nightly News": "The Mormon church ... is relatively young -- founded in the 1830s -- a brief history that has been a constant struggle for acceptance. ... Now it's America's fourth largest religion. And politics is nothing new. Fifteen members of Congress are Mormons -- most are Republicans but so is Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid" (6/18).
And then ABC's Harris examined Mitt Romney's religion on "GMA": "Fairly or unfairly, however, Mitt Romney's Mormonism is coming in for increasing scrutiny" (6/19).
ABC's Stephanopoulos: "They have a strategy to deal with it. Number one -- [Romney] is aggressively reaching out to christian and evangelical leaders saying 'I am a Christian.' ... Secondly, that he does deplore some parts of the Mormon past -- polygamy, racial separation. Finally, most importantly, he believes in this bed-rock separation between church and state" ("GMA," 6/19).
ACCORDING TO JIM
And Jim Gilmore was on "Tucker" to talk about his op-ed in the Washington Post:
Gilmore: "The thing that really motivated me to write my letter today, my open letter to the president, is the simple fact that more and more people keep trying to put all the responsibility for this on the people of the United States and of the United States of America. And that's not where it belongs."
Asked if GOPers should back away from Pres. Bush on this: "I don't know the politics of this. All I care about at this point is protecting the interests of the United States of America" (MSNBC, 6/18). [EMILY GOODIN]
Posted at 08:56 AM
Comments
What if all religions had to undergo the same scrutiny as the LDS church?
bjalder26 | 06.20.07 02:37 AM
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Racial separation? Well, if we are getting into scrutiny:
How about the catholic acceptance of slavery in the 1860s? How about the creation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church because of persecution from fellow church members, or the split between northern and southern methodists, or Split over slavery between the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Southern Baptist Convention (still in place today)? Or the 1857 Dred Scott U.S. supreme court decision calling Mr. Scott property, not a citizen? Or the Presbyterian Church split over slavery, not to reunite until 1983? Or the 1866 Catholic declaration that slavery is justified by the bible, hence not a sin? Or the 1873 prayer of Pope Pius IX asking God to "remove the curse of Ham" from blacks in Africa? Or the 1896 supreme court decision to uphold segregation? Or the fact that interracial marriage was illegal in 3/5 of the U.S. in 1940? Or the segregation of military infantry units in WWII?
All the while the LDS church, back in 1830 had a few black priesthood holders. The Utah Territory in 1867 voted almost unanimously (14,000 to 30) to allow all people in Utah Territory to vote, including women and blacks. Why the practice of giving the priesthood to blacks was stopped is unclear, but there are records of some black priesthood holders, and their children and grandchildren as well. We also have on record the debate between church leaders on the issue as far back as 1879. There is no record of the church instituting a priesthood ban, and it is unfortunate that it lasted as long as it did. What we do have is an answer to prayer in 1978 affirming that all worthy men should be able to hold the priesthood.
I know this was only one part of the article, but I want everyone to be clear on the church's position, and that it was not some politically motivated reaction to civil rights actions of the 1960, the discussion goes back much further than that.
sloagm | 06.21.07 09:51 AM
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First off, Mormon is a mis-nomer. The official name of the Mormon Church is this: "THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, OF LATTER DAY SAINTS." MORMON WAS A PROFIT OF GOD WHO WAS ONE OF THE WRITERS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON. HE LIVED ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT PRIOR TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AND WAS COMMANDED BY HIM TO KEEP A FAITHFUL RECORD OF HIS PEOPLE (FOR A WISE PURPOSE). THESE PEOPLE WORSHIPPED GOD THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST JUST AS WE DO TODAY. LIKE THE BIBLE THE BOOK OF MORMON IS A RECORD OF A PEOPLE WHO CAME BY BOAT TO THE AMERICAS 600 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST WAS EVEN BORN. THERE ARE UNDOUBTEDLY OTHER SCRIPTURES THAT HAVE BEEN KEPT BY OTHER PEOPLE THAT HAVE NOT COME TO LIGHT AS YET. IT IS IDIOCY TO ASSUME THAT OTHER PEOPLE DID NOT KEEP RECORDS OF THEIR LIVES AND TIMES. FOR PETE'S SAKE. THINK FOR YOURSELVES AND STOP THE PRATTLE ABOUT MORMONS. A "LITTLE KNOWLEDGE" CAN BE VERY USELESS AND SELF-DEFEATING.
R. L. Dwyer | 06.27.07 03:17 AM
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