There’s an article in Addictinginfo from a former Mormon who says Romney “should never be President”. The tone seems a bit like sour-grapes, but there was this, having to do with the growth of Mormonism (which I’ve heard reported to have the fastest growth of any religion in the country).
If the membership numbers come from the Church, this makes them suspect:
Mormons duck out the back door of the church as quickly as they come in the front door. The number of people on the church rolls rises all the time, but that’s because even if you join and then decide the church really isn’t for you, they still continue to count you as a member. . . . .
Mormons have a member “stand in” for a dead person and they’re baptized as a member of the church.
Mormons have a couple “stand in” for a dead man and woman and marry them into the church, and those count as a “twofer” in church membership rolls. Supposedly they’re “sealed for time and eternity” as husband and wife.
There’s also this, which made me giggle:
Mormons are also supposedly the only ones who will be allowed to have sexual intercourse in Heaven.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
I think the Mormon claim regarding growth is global, not US. The NY Times in Dec. 2011 had this, in part, to say about religious growth: “The rest of us, it turns out, constitute the nation’s fastest-growing religious demographic. We are the Nones, the roughly 12 percent of people who say they have no religious affiliation at all. The percentage is even higher among young people; at least a quarter are Nones. “
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Ed, I’ve heard that too – that the ‘nones’ are the fastest growing demographic. But of course we’re still a few generations away from numbers like Europe’s.. We’re a very vvery religious country.
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The author of the AddictingInfo article is using a lot of inference about the motives and goals of the LDS Church, Moe, but his assertions are consistent with history and fact and therefore have credibility. But, you can’t prove a negative either.
I did note the absence in his essay of one notable event in LDS history, the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre in which Mormons disguised as Indians attacked a wealthy wagon train on its way to California. They murdered all the adults, kept the children and confiscated all the livestock and belongings. Some call the attack the first 9/11 because that’s the date it occurred. I bring this up mainly to reinforce the author’s point about the astonishing power of the old men who rule the LDS Church. I have absolutely no doubt that they are as firmly in control today as they were in 1857.
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Jim – initially, I was going to find another source for the ‘good’ info because the writer seemed to have a grudge, but he stated the factual parts well, so I just went with it.
THey’ve ‘baptized’ Anne Frank, among others.
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Most of their history Jim, has been one of either fleeing from or trying to fight the Federal govt. I just said below, that I – gasp! – tend to think of Mormonism as still something of a cult. But who knows what religion is anyway. There are thousands of them, most of which we’ve nevver heard. Maybe all religions are cults. In which case, Romney’s Mormonism is of no more significance than JFK’s Catholicism.
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Maybe not, Moe, but the available evidence indicates that Mitt is a lot more serious about his religion than JFK ever was. JFK was a pragmatist. Mitt is a tabula rasa.
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True that Jim. He’s much more committed to a theology. And indeed we can’t know what that would mean as a president, It would be interesting to dig into how connected he is to the church heirarchy.
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Having been born in Idaho, where Mormon are quite common, I think it’s a non-issue. I think the President’s religious views are also irrelevant.
As for me, I’m a Baptist in the mode of Jimmy Carter.
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Bruce, I want to say that I agree about religious views being irrelevvant, but I find I really don’t. Certainly Christians, Catholics especially, have some pretty bizarre traditional beliefs (transubstantiation, the Virgin birth, rising from the dead etc).
Now I know it’s not pc to say this, but I would have to classify Mormonism as a cult. While it lacks a living central figure – no Sun Young Moon for instance, but he died last week and I doubt that his followers will disband – they behave like a cult. In fact, I’d say Moon is the closest modern equivalent to Mormonism. Right until the 1970’s, blacks were forbidden entry, being seen as ‘fallen’, sinful. And as for polygymy, it’s still practiced, even in the open, even though it’s no longer Church ‘doctrine’.
Romney’s grandfather had 13 wives.
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That’s a pretty creepy article.
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Uh-huh. And a pretty creepy practice. They better keep their hands off my grandparents and parents!
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It seems to me the main issue a Presidential race is what do they propose to do, and what abilities do they have to make what they propose happen.
That said, it seems to me ‘unusual’ religion is only relevant if I think it may lead a candidate to take action I otherwise wouldn’t expect, especially if those action affect us in more than a symbolic way.
Romney as a Mormon is likely to try to block gay marriage and otherwise support morality as it was widely held maybe in the 50’s, but I think his public pronouncements already make that clear.
It seems to me his religion per say doesn’t provide new information to judge him by: does it? Thus I think Mormonism is not relevant.
Moe: Do you foresee specific action like moving the capital to Salt Lake (kind of tongue in check) or something more ominous that Mitt’s Mormonism would cause you to fear beyond what he’s already committed to?
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Do I? Not at all Bruce. Not at all. In fact, I mostly agree with you. My comments are directed at the oddness of the religion, not so much how Romney would behave as a prez. But for someone of such high standing and tremendous power to adhere to some of these beleifs . . . I find it a little offputting..
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