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August 4th, 2011
01:16 PM ET
Mormon presidential politics(CNN)–America is not ready for a Mormon president, according to Christian author Tricia Erickson. On Wednesday she told CNN's Tom Foreman on In the Arena that she believes a practicing Mormon should not be president because of their theological views on the afterlife and governance. CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Eric Marrapodi jumped into the fray on the topic with Foreman as well. He said while religious views shape Mormon politicians on a macro level, there is no evidence Mormon politicians have a "bat phone" to Utah and take orders from the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the church is formally known. While the U.S. Constitution says "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States," Republican candidates for the White House Mitt Romney and John Huntsman – who are both Mormons – may have more ground to make up on this issue than previously thought. Erickson, an ex-Mormon who has long been critical of the church, is not alone in her views. A June poll by the Quinnipiac Poll found 36% of Americans would be somewhat or entirely uncomfortable with a Mormon president. A June Gallup poll found 22% of Americans would not vote for an otherwise qualified Mormon candidate. There may be a silver lining for Mormon candidates though. A July poll by the Public Research Research Institute and Religion News Service, found four of ten Americans know that the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon and about half (46%) said they do not know his religious affiliation. Of the 3,000,000 people who live in Iowa there are only 24,000 LDS members, according to the Deseret News' 2011 Church Almanac. The Deseret News is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, but is independently operated. The percentage breakdown of Mormons living in South Carolina is similar too. With so few practicing Mormons in those early primary states, voters with questions about the tenets of Mormonism may not have many places to turn to ask impolite questions about the faith, allowing rumors and speculation to go unchallenged. This year the church has gone on a PR blitz with its campaign, "I'm a Mormon." It's goal is to break Mormon stereotypes and features a diverse group church members like a motorcycle builder, an African American couple, and Latinos. They bought an electronic billboard in Times Square just down the street from the Broadway Show the "Book of Mormon.” The satirical musical features the adventures of buttoned up and earnest white Mormon missionaries in Africa. "Our Church is known for our efforts to share our message,” Richard G. Hinckley, Executive Director of the Missionary Department for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told the Belief Blog when the ad went up. “This is one way to get to know us — through the lives of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” The campaign is set to expand to more cities this fall but The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday the church would not be buying ads in primary states to avoid the appearance of political meddling. "We know people will draw the wrong conclusions," Michael Otterson a church spokesman told the Journal. We want to hear from you. What do you think? Does a candidate's religion play into your decision to vote for them? What matters more to you policy or theology?
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Why the Christian Right no longer matters in presidential elections:
Once again, all the conservative votes in the country "ain't" going to help a "pro-life" presidential candidate, i.e Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Ron Paul or Rick Santorum, in 2012 as the "Immoral Majority" rules the country and will be doing so for awhile. The "Immoral Majority" you ask?
The fastest growing USA voting bloc: In 2008, the 70+ million "Roe vs. Wade mothers and fathers" of aborted womb-babies" whose ranks grow by two million per year i.e. 78+ million "IM" voters in 2012.
2008 Presidential popular vote results:
69,456,897 for pro-abortion/choice BO, 59,934,814 for "pro-life" JM.
And all because many women fail to take the Pill once a day or men fail to use a condom even though in most cases these men have them in their pockets. (maybe they should be called the "Stupid Majority"?)
(The failures of the widely used birth "control" methods i.e. the Pill and male condom have led to the large rate of abortions ( one million/yr) and S-TDs (19 million/yr) in the USA. Men and women must either recognize their responsibilities by using the Pill or condoms properly and/or use other safer birth control methods in order to reduce the epidemics of abortion and S-TD
you would think that the pro abortion group would NOT be getting bigger, becuase they are KILLING all future voters!
Why the Christian Rightno longer matters in presidential elections:
Once again, all the conservative votes in the country "ain't" going to help a "pro-life" presidential candidate, i.e Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Ron Paul or Rick Santorum, in 2012 as the "Immoral Majority" rules the country and will be doing so for awhile. The "Immoral Majority" you ask?
The fastest growing USA voting bloc: In 2008, the 70+ million "Roe vs. Wade mothers and fathers" of aborted womb-babies" whose ranks grow by two million per year i.e. 78+ million "IM" voters in 2012.
2008 Presidential popular vote results:
69,456,897 for pro-abortion BO, 59,934,814 for "pro-life" JM.
And all because many women fail to take the Pill once a day or men fail to use a condom even though in most cases these men have them in their pockets. (maybe they should be called the "Stupid Majority"?)
(The failures of the widely used birth "control" methods i.e. the Pill and male condom have led to the large rate of abortions ( one million/yr) and S-TDs (19 million/yr) in the USA. Men and women must either recognize their responsibilities by using the Pill or condoms properly and/or use other safer birth control methods in order to reduce the epidemics of abortion and S-TDs.)
Does anyone have a problem with politicians believing in an afterlife? Not just Mormons–anyone?!
If so, I'm scared!
Wait – so I should be concerned with people having nuclear launch codes who are focused on the hereafter rather than this world? I don't get it...
Most people seeking God seeks truth. The facts about the beginnings of Mormonism leaves me sketical that this faith is based in truth. That John Smith found tablets and golden spectacles from angel Eboni with which Smith interpeted these ancient writings into the book of the mormon which by the way mimicks the utterances of the King James Version of the Holy Bible. People in that Religion love a lie more than the truth and that is a character flaw in any vocation. Alternative reality, or the ability to psyche oneself out, is not what this country needs.
John, almost yvreeone calls their opposition Nazis. Attacks alleging Nazism have a distinguished intellectual pedigree:“It finally dawned on me that the person Ken Starr has reminded me of facially all this time was Heinrich Himmler” — Keith Olberman“In South Africa, the status quo was called racism . In Germany, it was called fascism. Now in Britain and the US, it is called conservatism.” — Jesse Jackson“When I compare this to what happened in Germany, I hope you can see the similarities to what is happening to us” — Charles Rangel (D–NY) discussing the Republican “Contract with America”“These are people who are practicing genocide with a smile; they’re worse than Hitler” — Major Owen (D—NY, US House 1983-2007) on the Republican “Contract with America”“[Opponents to Henry Foster] are goose-stepping over women’s rights” — Patricia Schroeder“If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was… describing what Americans had done to prisoner… you would most certainly believe this must be done by Nazis” — Dick Durban (D-IL, Senate Majority Whip)Americans have always used past enemies as archetypes of present evils. We have “Nazi” from WWII, “Communist” from the Cold War, “Racist” from civil rights movement. Even Hamilton was called Monarchist after the Revolutionary War. Using past enemies as archetypes of current evils is as American as apple pie.In fact, when I presented as part of a panel at Sunstone on Glenn Beck, I cited all of these quotes and made the same point (I actually copied and pasted them from my presentation). After yvreeone on the panel spoke, there was a question and answer session. The third question to the panel was about whether developments in the Weimar Republic paralleled current developments in the USA. I was the third person on the panel to respond to the question, and I started by saying, I'd just like to point out that we're talking about Nazis again. This got a good laugh from the audience, because nobody had even realized that we were talking about Nazis. That's how reflexively we use Nazism as an archetype for evil.But more to the point: Reagan did not generally characterize his enemies using Nazi imagery. Nor is it a requirement of Republican nominees that they do so.
From the Article:
" What do you think? What matters more to you (about a candidate their) policy or theology? "
I'm going with "policy" No 'theology' needed to govern our country.
Peace...
Unless that theology is intertwined with policy a la George W Bush.
@Adam
Yes... agreed.
Peace...
Putting religion before governance is akin to the Taliban's modus operandi. The US is a secular collection of diverse peoples, cultures and religions. To put religion ahead of governance is theocracy. That the US ain't.
Yep.
Peace...
Wikie
Putting religion before governance is akin to the Taliban's modus operandi. The US is a secular collection of diverse peoples, cultures and religions. To put religion ahead of governance is theocracy. That the US ain't.
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Yes but the heavenSents, Adelinas, Fair Gardens of the world want to change it.
Not all Catholics voted for JFK, not all Baptists voted for Carter (wasn't he a minister at one time?), not all Methodists voted for Clinton, not all Mormons will vote for Romney or Huntsman. Where is there a story here?
The mormons have got there hand in my hometown....of 49 Hundred people... From the Banks...Lawyers....Auto Sales...Insurance agency's.....Teachers in School's.......They always cater to fellow mormons....They all act as if they are holyier than thou.....I personally when around one of them feel a little creeped out after the encounter....
LJ
you make it sound like Mormons are not allowed to have ANY job.
I thought this was the USA
The land of the free to believe what you want & work where you want!
Harry Reid is a Mormon and he seems pretty normal. In fact, I like him a lot.
He's definitely not one of the Mormon beloved like Romney. I'd say his personal religious views are more akin to Huntsman.
Oh, sorry Adam. You've obviously met these people....Are you Mormon too?
thenagain
Harry Reid is a Mormon and he seems pretty normal. In fact, I like him a lot.
---–
He is a useless POS but that is my opinion
"useless POS" seems more like vitriolic hyperbole than an actual opinion. People that feel compelled to spout meaningless partisan blather are part of what's wrong with our current political landscape. Makes it hard to have an adult conversation.
Fine if that's what you want to believe – the problem is when people claim other people need, should, or have to belive as they do.
In our America – freedom of religion means freedom from religion – as defined by the Founding Fathers.
Thank you, that was well said. Shall we add on the fact that few if any of the founding fathers were actually Christian anyway.
The founding fathers absoultly believed in GOD
Yeah, I remember these same sorts assured voters that there would be a direct phone link from the Oval Office to the Pope's Residence in the Vatican if Kennedy were elected. I was kind of hoping these sort of religeous biggots had gone the way of the Dodo bird, but they are apparently well, alive and in flourishing in the GOP.
“God made a covenant with Abraham and heonrod it. He did not ‘exclude’ the Gentiles, only delayed the preaching of the Gospel to them, to fulfill his promise to his chosen people, who he made the promise to not because of some phony works explanation but because of their FAITH IN GOD.”Amen, brother.In this argument, it doesn’t matter if it was a result of faith, works, or because a particular group sharing the same lineage wore boots with red stripes, there was a “delay” in the time when they could have the blessings of the gospel. God knows all the whys and hows.Bottom line- God has in the past “delayed” when groups of people with a particular ancestry could receive what other people were favored with up front.Like so many reasons you all have for not accepting modern prophets, you insist on understanding the whys yourself- even while accepting ancient prophets who could be rejected for the very same reasons you reject modern prophets.You cannot refute that non-Levites were not given the priesthood duties associated with the temple.You cannot refute that Christ was preferentially sent to those who descended from Jacob/Israel, not gentiles.You have not attempted to address the favoritism I pointed out before that is so fundamental to your theology- that God sends some people to hell while saving others for absolutely no obvious reason that we can determine. Some people are simply created on this earth in a position that will never allow them to be converted to Christ. If that is not favoritism, I really do not know what is.Any objective thinker can see the double standard EVs on this thread are attempting to apply to this topic. You can quote what you think are racist statements and stories all you want to distract from the logical conclusion that the modern “delay” was no different in principle than that practiced in ancient times.It has always been so much easier to accept a dead prophet than a living prophet.
The Book of Mormon says that native Americans are actually Jews. LOL
Punished Jews, right?
Does it really matter? LOL
No it doesn't. It says a group of people came over in 600 BC from Jerusalem, but they found other people living here. Read it again.
It says that they came from Jerusalem, Not that they were Jews!!!
If there is any doubt that Mormons legislate their religion, take a trip to Utah. Despite the population in the Salt Lake City area being close to 45% NON Mormon or non-practicing Mormon, the LDS church owns the state without question. From zoning, schools, liquor laws (google ZION CURTAIN), etc. No public junior or high school is allowed to be built in the entire state without a lot set aside directly next to or facing it. This lot is set aside for Mormon seminary lessons that students attend DURING THE SCHOOL DAY. When other religious affiliations try to buy land near schools for similar purposes, permits are mysteriously not given. People that have never lived or spent extended time in Utah have NO CLUE what the LDS church gets away with there.
This same argument went on when people were affraid that a Catholic pres. would follow the Pope... and look what a great president he turned out to be. Besides, the pres. can't do a whole lot unless House and Senate agree, as we have recently seen.
Trisha is a pathological liar, but she relies on it for her job.
Well, I don't tend to talk to him on a daily basis, but I would guess that as a private citizen he will vote republican no matter who becomes the republican candidate. He will probably be wrong about that 🙂
Instead of a JFK-like speech about being a candidate who happens to be Mormon, instead of a Mormon candidate, I'd like to hear a speech about how he, Romney or Huntsman, perhaps believes in 'certain aspects' of the Mormon faith, but doesn't necessarily believe in the details of it's history. Specifically, I have a hard time trusting someone who honestly believes in the whole Joseph Smith and the golden tablets story really happened.
If either did that they would lose the whole Mormon vote. They'd lose me. It isn't worth it to be Mormon if you don't believe the basic history. Either its all real or none of it is. Either Joseph Smith was a prophet and translated the Book of Mormon, and the book is true and of God, or He isn't and it isn't. Read the book and judge for yourself.
Directly from the Mormon temple ceremony:
" You and each of you covenant and promise before God, angels, and these witnesses at this altar, that you do accept the Law of Consecration as contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, in that you do consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the Kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion."
Mitt Romney and any other Mormon who has gone to the temple has made this promise.
If you believe in Jesus Christ, would you NOT want to devote EVERYTHING to him?
I KNOW I WANT to give EVERYTHING to my to Jesus Christ!!!!
Don't most Catholics believe the Pope speaks for God? And I believe the Pope actually tries to affect policy here and in other countries, but I don't remember the U.S. changing to Catholicism under JFK. In the LDS Church, during political elections, the LDS Church leadership sends out an open letter to its members to vote their conscience, but that the Church does not endorse any party or candidate.
No we don't put our church over family. And to quote one of the articles of faith that was written to define our beliefs in the early days of the LDS Church (and remains true today). "11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. 12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." Where is the problem?
(Joseph Smith first wrote the Articles of Faith in a letter to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, in answer to his request to know what members of the Church believed. The letter became known as the Wentworth Letter and was first published in the Times and Seasons in March 1842. On 10 October 1880, the Articles of Faith were formally accepted as scripture)
"12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."
The history of Joseph Smith makes it clear that he had quite a bit of difficulty living this principle.
"The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday the church would not be buying ads in primary states to avoid the appearance of political meddling. 'We know people will draw the wrong conclusions,' Michael Otterson a church spokesman told the Journal."
In other words, they did it once in the Prop 8 campaign in CA and don't think it will work again.
For something like Prop 8, they WILL do it again, because that isn't politics. They won't buy ads in those states because they do NOT support political parties or candidates.
@John,
That's not what the article said, " to avoid the appearance of political meddling." And, Prop 8 was politics. It's was a piece of legislation, hence a legislative action, hence political. Prop 8 had no affect whatsoever on what Mormon could do in Temple weddings, so why were they interested in it?
The LDS Church's overwhelming support of Prop 8 in California will, probably, forever taint my views on them as an organization. Which is a shame. I've known quite a few individual Mormons over the years who were fine neighbors and decent people. But when an organized religion puts so much effort into restricting -other people's- rights, it leaves a pall over anything they do and any politician that has an affiliation with them.
Mitt Romney believes the Mormon prophet speaks for God. The question for voters is this: If the Mormon prophet ordered Mitt Romney in the name of God to do something as President would he do it?
Mormons put their church (God) before anything else including country and family.
Incorrect Adam, mormons believe the prophet is a human being with human imperfections who nevertheless is the mouthpiece of God on matters of the gospel. On anything else he speaks for himself.
On putting church first? Again, incorrect, the church says your family comes first. I have frequently debated american issues with american mormons, and have frequently shaken my head at their patriotism. Whether church or nation comes first is a moot point as the church has always said that we are to obey the leaders of the country we are in.
Mormon's put God first. To most Mormons there is no difference between the word of the prophet and the word of God.
I challenge you to come up with one instance where you believe the prophet spoke "as a man" and was wrong.
Adam,
Joeseph F. Smith was apparently certain that man wouldn't ever land on the moon. He spoke as a man and was obviously wrong. Unless of course you belong to those who think man DIDN'T land on the moon.
What are the prophets wrong about today?