More on Mitt Romney, double-edged sword for Mormonism?

Is Mitt Romney a double-edged sword for Mormonism?

Whilst on the one hand, the old adage is: "No publicity is bad publicity" but does that always hold true.

Because on the other hand, for every positive aspect of Mormonism that comes up there other others that might give non-Mormons (and, truth to tell, some Mormons) food for thought.

What kinds of things am I thinking about: The fact that some rather dubious MLMs are based in Utah and are controlled by Mormons. (Along with some legit MLMs based in Utah, too, before anyone thinks me prejudiced) Mountain Meadows Massacre, the fact that Brigham Young decreed that any mixed race couple and their children should be hacked to death, that Mormons preach (or preached) that Black people had been less valiant in the pre-existence, siding neither with God or Satan, that Joseph Smith took many married lovers and had a Jeffs-style interest in very young girls and so on and on and on.

Romney has shown himself to be a total waste. No real man would put a dog on the top of a speeding car and travel with it there for mile after terrifying mile until the dog was so psychologically traumatised that it fouled itself in fear.

Do Mormons who sing the praise of Mitt really think that a man of that failed moral calibre is a fit and proper person to be the leader of the United States of America?

Is a Mormon candidate for president good or bad for the Mormon Church?

Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate is a two-edged sword for the Mormon Church.

On the one hand it gives Mormons the opportunity to discuss their faith, yet on the other hand it creates problems, rather than opportunities, at the same time.

"So, let me see... your church believes in Baptism for the dead, yet a number of Mormons keep putting the names of famous dead people from history forward as names to be baptised? They go through lists of famous disasters like the sinking of the Titanic and of awful, wicked events like the Holocaust and events like the Mountain Meadows Massacre and put those names forward for baptism?"

"By the way, is it true your church was racist up until at least 1978, that it believed that black skinned people were cursed, as they had been less valiant that white people in the pre-existence?

"And didn't Brigham Young preach that mixed marriages were not only immoral, but should invoke an automatic death sentence for both parties?"

When confronted with such information the average Mormon will say: "You have been listening to horrible, evil anti-Mormons!" not wanting to believe that such information is true.

Yet it is true. So, the candidacy of Mitt Romney not only helps other people to learn about the history of the Mormon Church, it can teach its members something about the history of the Mormon Church. Is that a good or a bad thing for the Mormon church and for the individual members?

The Mormon Church should have an historical Truth and Reconciliation Committee to look at the history of the Mormon Church, warts and all. That is what it needs. But it is the last thing the current or future leadership of the Mormon Church wants. Which is a pity.

Here's a UK newspaper's take on aspects of Mitt's campaign

"Mitt Romney's family baptised Ann Romney's atheist father into Mormon church a year AFTER his death"

"More questions are being raised about presidential candidate Mitt Romney's religion after it was revealed that he helped baptise his adamantly atheist father-in-law years after the man had died.

"Edward Roderick Davies was Ann Romney's father and died in 1992 after living as a staunch atheist all his life.

"Recently-discovered records show that, in keeping with their controversial tradition of posthumously baptising non-Mormons, a ceremony was held to invite Mr Davies into the Church of Latter Day Saints one year after he died."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093241/Mitt-Romneys-family-baptized-Ann-Romneys-atheist-father-Mormon-church-year-AFTER-death.html

Ouch.

Mitt Romney Agitates Confederate Descendants

Sons of Confederate Veterans leader Christopher M. Sullivan issued the following statement in response to the CNN Republican debate Wednesday 28 November. "Mitt Romney proposes himself to be president of the United States but last night he clearly demonstrated not only his ignorance of American history but also his contempt for Southerners who love and respect their Confederate ancestors.

"Gov. Romney went way over the line when he attacked Southerners for respecting the historical significance of the Confederate flag. Perhaps the citizens of his state of Massachusetts still hate Southerners, but Gov. Romney should not expect us to accept his outrageous attack on Southern heritage."

Responding to a question about the Confederate flag, Romney said, "That flag frankly, is divisive and shouldn't be shown. Right now with the kinds of issues we've got in this country, I'm not going to get involved with a flag like that."

"That's not a flag that I would recognise so that I would hold it up in my room."

"The people of our country have decided not to fly that flag. I think that's the right thing."

Sullivan went on to say, "We were not aware that the people of the country have had their First Amendment rights abridged as Mr. Romney seems to desire. Whether Gov. Romney likes it or not, Confederate flags are freely flown throughout the U.S. and in other countries as well."

"The Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. does not participate in partisan politics. We do speak out when anyone disparages the honorable service of Confederate soldiers and the symbols which identified them," Sullivan concluded.