Why does it matter if Mitt Romney is Mormon?

Question

Why do you care? Mormons are no more Christian than Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, or Seventh Day Adventisits. Joe Lieberman is Jewish, and that was ok. Why does Mitt need to defend himself.

Answer 1

It doesn't and he would be a GREAT president. His resume speaks for itself and the man is beyond smart.

He's got my vote, at the moment.

Answer 2

In the last 7 years the Christian Conservatives have fully entered politics and have become a potent force. Mostly they simply want a voice in politics and fair treatment concerning issues that they perceive as religious persecution. Some of them want more though and there are extremist within the movement that want nothing less then a Theocracy. The religion of politicians has always been an issue but now their movement has made it a deciding issue. To a large chunk of voting citizens, the religion of the candidate is far more important then any other part of the candidates platform. This is particularly true about Republicans because the Christian Conservatives have allied themselves with the GOP. Simply being the wrong religion has already cost Mitt Romney a substantial portion of the GOP base. Personally I think he is wasting his time. Nothing he can say will get Christian Conservatives to support him. He should try to appeal to the rest of the base.

Answer 3

No matter what belief anybody has, as long as anyone elected to the presidency DO NOT let their beliefs interfere with their decisions as president. Throughout history, more people have died in the name of religion than any other single issue. One of the reasons our fore fathers left England was the desire to worship as they please. The Church had a very large influence in the governing of England at that time. Many people were imprisoned for having the audacity to disagree with the church elders. The 1st amendment of the bill of rights gives us the freedom of religion. Being the very first amendment shows the importance the writer of the constitution gave that belief. However, we were also given the right of Habeas Corpus. That has been taken away. Our freedom of religion could also be dissolved, given the right circumstances. Religion has a profound impact on people. There are some that feel their belief gives them the right to actually force their beliefs on others. It has been done through out history. The reason this is so important is the belief of others is not the same as his belief & they feel their belief should be the only belief.

Answer 4

I think in this day and age most Americans don`t care what a Presidents religious affiliation is ..catholic ,protestant, etc..I would hope most Americans would look at the person first to see his leadership abilities first.It didn't stop JFK from winning the Presidency just because many opposed catholics at the time did it?

Answer 5

Right. I agree with the tone of your query, which is to say I don't think it matters at all either. If he was waiting for the tail of a comet and had 12 teenage wives in the meantime, his religion might matter to me. But Mormonism -- whether doctrinally correct or not -- has a history and tradition, and isn't a moonbat religion.

Answer 6

You are correct. Mormons are no more Christian than Catholics and Protestants, they are less. They are roughly equal to the Branch Dividians or any other cult where one individual uses Christianity to create a whole new religion that changes based on different revelations they receive.

Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith who already had a track record for fraud. Around 1830, he claimed to have been approached in the woods by an angel who revealed to him golden tablets that showed Jesus came to Central America and wrote a third testament. Only Joseph was allowed to see these golden tablets or translate them. He also supposedly bought ancient Egyptian papyrus scrolls from an antique dealer in 1835. He translated these in the King James style of the Bible and most of the writings seem to fit in with the Bible. However, some of these translations say Christians are "ignorant of the things of God" (Journal of Discourses 6:25) and "..all other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who receives baptism of the Lord's supper from their hands highly offend God, for he looks upon them as the most corrupt of all people" (The Seer, pg 255). Later, he started having some revelations from God that would be binding on the church including several conflicting revelations on polygamy where God was supposedly having second thoughts and changing who can or cannot practice polygamy. Fortunately for Joseph, the relevation he received in 1843, was that he could practice polygamy.

Branch Davidians were a splinter group of the Seventh Day Adventists. They called themselves the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists. Then David Koresh, a member, split off and called his group the Davidian Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists, abbreviated to Branch Davidians. He moved into the property outside Waco that was owned by the founder of the very group he split from. His group claimed they lived in the apocalyptic times. He changed his name from Vernon Howell to a more biblical name, David Koresh, and instituted new revelations from God like the US government was the enemy and all women were to divorce and could only have sex with him to create a House of David. He was allowed polygamy and was in fact entitled to 140 wives. He had in fact been married to several women in the area, especialy underage teenagers.

There are some parallels here like a sole leader of a new religion taking a Christian basis and going wild declaring a few ideas and self-gratifying revelations including that they could practice polygamy. It is no wonder Joseph Smith grew up in Vermont and slowly got pushed all the way to Utah. I am not for harming Mormons, but I don't believe their religion is anything more than a cult and I sure don't want any of them to be my leader. Also, their own book of Mormon distances themselves from Christians so I spoke up about your comment on that comparison as well.

Answer 7

Many evangelical churches have been calling Mormonism a "cult" for decades. Now Mitt needs their vote and must convince them otherwise.

Answer 8

It shouldn't matter. He shouldn't have to defend himself. On the other hand, the American public could use a reminder about religious freedom and religious tolerance.

Answer 9

It's not defend himself. The most most people know about mormons is from that HBO show 'Big Love'. Unless he wants people to make assumptions, he needs to enlighten them as to what being Mormon is all about.

Answer 10

Since politicians are suppose to seperate church and state, I often wonder that myself. Seems to me that America is looking for the next preacher, not president. And since when has a president proven to be a God fearing man?