Washblog

Second fact: We live in a country that has always demanded the highest level of secularism in its government. Mormonism could probably only have developed here in America for exactly that reason.

Third fact: Mormons have some ideas inherent in their faith that are disturbing to Progressive, secular values and which tend to threaten even some important American values.

Fourth fact: Mormonism is highly structured, thus Mormons act practically on their values and the Mormon idea of a scripturally-based hierarchy extends from God, through Salt Lake City, right into every Mormon home. This makes it more important to understand a Mormon political leader's faith than it is to understand the faith of most political leaders, in my view. Where there are large numbers of Mormons, government and the LDS church are often very close.

Fifth fact: Mitt Romney has been consistently dishonest about his Mormon faith and has failed to publically recognize legitimate questions.

Sixth fact: Mormonism is an entirely new confession of Christianity, based on post-Christian Scriptures and claiming to be a re-incarnation of the one, true Christian church that is growing rapidly.

So we have a new church full of nice people. They have some strange books and customs, but we allow for the here in the U.S. and so of course Mormons are welcome here.

What we don't allow are legal racism, legal sexism, and the unification of Church and state.

Unfortunately, the LDS church professed a scriptural belief in racism until 1978. 1978 is not very long ago. For a new religion, Mormonism changed its mind about race very late in the game indeed. And the LDS leadership changed its mind through divine revelation and this became the law of the Mormon church immediately after its announcement. That was because the Mormon "prophet" and his "twelve apostles" declared their absolute authority on the matter once they used that word "revelation".

Mormonism is no longer racist, but it is devoutly and completely sexist - from the top of the LDS church, into the Mormon home. Men are the spiritual leaders of women - even the women who taught those very men in Sunday school (in effect, taught them to be Mormons in the first place). Sons even become the spiritual leaders of their mothers.

All this comes from an odd type of absolutism, forced on the Mormon church by its history as a sect of outsiders trying to re-create a new Judeo-Christianity in America according to divine revelation and predestination. It begins with Smith's revelation about the "war of heaven" and other "pre-mortal" models for how the Earth should be. It goes through to Smith's revelation that God himself is somehow male and so on and so forth on through America as a new Zion.

And it is this last one that I find particularly disturbing. America is a Mormon holy land and they believe that when the Savior comes back he will rule from here - at least part of the time. And that belief, I think, has to be examined if it is held by a person who has the military authority and technological capacity to destroy the world or a good part of it.

And Mormons have a history of excommunicating their members for less offense than one might suppose signing a bill or treaty that goes against the teachings of Mormonism.

And since every single Mormon male is an authority on the church and since Mitt Romney is a high authority in his church, I think it's entirely reasonable to ask more about Mormonism before electing a Mormon to the presidency.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a mood prevailing AMONG LIBERALS that somehow questions about the LDS church are off-limits.