Just as it’s becoming clear that Mitt Romney will become the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, and the first Mormon presidential nominee, we’ve been seeing a predictable uptick in the frequency of exposés about Romney’s zany religion. Now that Rick Santorum has dropped out of the race and Newt Gingrich is making conciliatory remarks, expect to see a lot more of this.
In “7 Questions for Mitt About Mormonism [8],” religion columnist Jeffrey Weiss declares, “[I]t is past time for Mitt Romney to address relevant questions about his religion.” Weiss casts a suspicious eye on such un-American Latter-day Saint doctrines as “[E]ach individual is accountable for his choices and actions… If we have been frugal and saved for a rainy day, then we can more easily weather the financial storm. If we have lived beyond our means, then we pay the consequences of our own actions when the bills come.” Social Darwinism [9] alert!
Weiss notes that until 34 years ago, blacks couldn’t be ordained as Mormon priests, and the religion frowned on interracial marriage. This is in contrast to President Obama’s former church Trinity United, where whites are unlikely to be ordained as ministers today, and interracial marriage is still probably frowned upon.
Weiss frets that LDS’s discouragement of “ethically or legally questionable” medical treatments might—get this—lead Romney to trim funding for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I happen to think there’s a good case for eliminate funding for this agency, and many others like it, and my reasons have nothing to do with Mormonism.
Mormon-basher Tricia Erickson laments the onslaught of “A Mormon One-World-Theocracy Brought To You By Mitt Romney [10].” She labels the faith “an unconstitutional religion” and argues that President Romney would harm U.S. interests if so directed by “the Mormon infallible Prophet.”
David Brody worries that Romney’s religion may be [11] a problem, because the candidate hasn’t spent enough time pandering to Evangelicals. Lawrence O’Donnell trashes Mormonism [12] as a “made-up” religion. Bill Maher calls the faith [13] “so ridiculous even Tom Cruise wouldn’t join it.”
Since the media are suddenly so obsessed with investigating candidates’ religious associations, I wonder how the doctrine Obama absorbed for 20 years at Trinity United—Black Liberation Theology—might inform his approach to governing. How might BLT and its canonization of “redistributive justice” and “racial reparations” affect Obama’s ruling philosophy? Did anyone in the media think to ask that?
Isn’t this a question the media should have asked four years ago?
Coincidentally, Obama mentor and racial reconciliator Jeremiah Wright, who retired in 2008 from Trinity United after ABC News aired a string of his horrific utterances, delivered three sermons last week at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in West Virginia to enraptured audiences.
When he wasn’t crotch-grabbing, miming marijuana puffs, and spitting out tracks [14] by Lil Wayne and Ludacris, Reverend Wright [15] did the following:
• Disparaged the U.S. military and stated that “fighting for peace is like raping for virginity
• Claimed that “white supremacy” drives “world policy,” and called whites “ignorant” and “arrogant”
• Announced that Pontius Pilate’s European army was guilty of “occupying Palestinian territory”
• Declared that Clarence Thomas is “worshipping some other God”—the “god of racists,” the “god of white supremacy,” and the “god who said that black folk are inferior”
• Called Thomas Jefferson “a pedophile”
And that was just in the introduction!
It’s true that both parties’ candidates adhere to faiths that are slightly out of alignment with mainstream Protestant thought. So perhaps a comparative analysis is in order:
• Mormonism is a branch of the Latter-day Saint movement, an outgrowth of Protestantism that started in the 1820s.
- Trinity United Church of Christ, Barack Obama’s place of worship for two decades, is affiliated with Black Liberation Theology, and UCC is an outgrowth of Protestantism established in 1957.
• LDS has exploded to 14 million members, despite a history of religious persecution, libel, geographic expulsion, a “Mormon Extermination Order” issued by Missouri in 1838, and the murder of its founder by the Illinois militia in 1844. LDS is now the fourth-largest [16] religious organization in the United States.
- UCC’s numbers have dwindled from 2 million at its founding to 1 million today, with most of the decline coming from mid-sized congregations rather than megachurches such as Trinity.
• Mormonism relies on the Bible and supplementary texts such as The Book of Mormon and The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church, authored by movement founder Joseph Smith.
- Black Liberation Theology relies on the Bible and supplementary texts such as Black Theology and Black Power and The Communist Manifesto, authored by leftist nut jobs James Cone and Karl Marx.
• Mainstream Mormonism long ago abandoned the fundamentalist practice of polygamy.
- Mainstream Black Liberation Theology-influenced churches still enjoy inflammatory practices such as demonizing America and race-baiting.
• Romney proudly adheres to his faith, despite the bigotry much of the public displays against it.
- Obama pragmatically chose his church because of its progressive credentials and endorsement of redistributive justice. UCC has been labeled the most left-wing Protestant denomination in the country; similarly, Obama has been called the most left-wing president in U.S. history. Obama speedily disowned his church and reverend when they became politically problematic.
• Mormonism is roughly politically synchronous with most Protestant denominations.
- The United Church of Christ leans far, far left. Its Justice and Witness Ministries maintain an office on Capitol Hill, where they lobby Congress on Economic Justice; Public Life and Social Policy; Racial Justice; and Human Rights and Justice for Women. The Ministries have endorsed [17] the following thoroughly mainstream positions: socialized medicine; a national living wage; global warming regulations; unfettered public unions; elimination of all nuclear weapons; opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself against Palestinian radicals; divestment from Israel; and support for Puerto Rican national independence terrorists.
There is no convincing evidence that Obama disagrees with the tenets of Black Liberation Theology or any of the above UCC positions.
Yet we’re supposed to faint in horror over the prospect of a preppy, clean-cut, limited-government businessman and presidential candidate who wears magic underwear.
Previously published in modified form at Red Alert Politics [18]
