….for his pastor’s remarks while giving Romney a pass for hate taught by a cult of which Romney is a 3rd generation elder
The sheer, bald hypocrisy and audacity of the former Romney backers who never addressed the racism, intolerance and sexism inherent in the cult of which Romney is a 3rd generation leader, and who now attack Obama over cherry-picked statements by his paster, Jeremiah Wright.
Capt. Ed is a usually reliable, honest commentator. However, the blatant double standard he employs over Romney he now attempts to use as ju-jitsu in attacking Andrew Sullivan for doing the same thing he did!
Its reminiscent of the Clintons: pull a big enough, outrageous enough and unbelievably venal, dishonest and ridiculously hypocritical stunt and the sheer enormity of the bullshit will astound your critics. After giving Romney a pass, and disallowing any discussion of the Mormon intolerance, people like Capt. Ed are leading the charge attacking Obama’s religion and forcing him to disavow or apologize for random statements his pastor made.
Not part of the religion. Not in some “Black Bible”, as the intolerance is codified in the Book of Mormon. No, just statements made by a private citizen who happens to be Obama’s pastor. While Romney is an official in the cult that promulgates hate, he is unblamed, but Obama is condemned just for sitting in a church where a pastor made some unpopular comments.
Let the Romney supporters who are now attacking Obama answer these:
Below are some suggested questions which should be asked of Governor Romney, both by Christian leaders and by journalists.
* According to Mormon scripture, the founder of your church (Joseph Smith) was told by God in 1820 that all the churches of the day were “an abomination.” Do you agree with God’s view of other churches, as quoted by Joseph Smith? (Pearl of Great Price, JS-Hist 1:18-19)
* According to your church’s Articles of Faith, number eight, the Book of Mormon is the “word of God.” Do you believe that?
* According to the Book of Mormon there are only two churches: the “church of the Lamb of God [presumably the Mormon church]” and the “church of the devil,” “the whore of all the earth.” Do you agree with that Mormon scripture? (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 14:10)
* According to the Book of Mormon a dark skin is a curse imposed by God on the unrighteous and their descendants as a punishment for sin. Do you agree with that doctrine? (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 12:22-23, Alma 3:6, 2 Nephi 5:21-22, Jacob 3:8, 3 Nephi 2:15-16, Mormon 5:15; references to the “Lamanites” are taken to be referring to Native American “Indians”.)
* According to Mormon doctrine, the president of the Mormon church is a prophet of God, receiving revelations and commandments (God’s laws) directly from God. Do you believe that? (Doctrine and Covenants , 21:5, 43:3, 58:18)
* One of the most sacred rituals for adult Mormons, performed only in a Mormon temple, is a ceremony called “the endowment.” Have you undergone this ritual? If so, in what year?
* To be admitted to the temple for the endowment ceremony a Mormon must be “in good standing” in the church and undergo a personal interview with church leaders, who examine the member as to whether the member obeys church commandments, supports church leaders, pays full ten percent tithe, wears the prescribed Mormon underwear, abstains from coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco and extramarital sex, and other matters. If the member answers correctly, a pass to the temples (called a “temple recommend”) is issued, good for two years. Do you have such a temple recommend now, indicating that you are in good standing in your church?
* In the secret Mormon temple ceremony Mormons take an oath of obedience to “the law of the Lord.” Did you take that oath?
* Before 1990, the endowment ceremony required members to take an oath of secrecy not to reveal anything that happened in the temple under penalty of death. Did you take that oath?
* In the temple ceremony Mormons also take a secret oath to “consecrate your time, talents and everything which the Lord has blessed you, or with which he may bless you, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…” Did you take that oath? Would you consider the office of the presidency of the U.S. to be a “blessing” with which the Lord had blessed you?
* Mormons teach that by obedience to all the commandments of Mormonism, a Mormon may attain the highest degree of heaven and ultimately become a god, creating and ruling over his own universe. Do you believe that? Is this your ultimate personal goal?
* Although your church presently condemns the practice of polygamy, the scripture commanding it is still in the Mormon Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132. Many early Mormons were polygamous and married (“sealed”) to numerous wives “for eternity.” Do you believe then that there will be polygamous families in Mormon heaven?
* The extensive interest of Mormons in genealogical research is to enable them to perform “baptisms for the dead,” thus posthumously inducting previous generations into the Mormon church. Many non-Mormons become angry when they learn that the names of their ancestors – having often been faithful members of some other religion during life – have been used in this way. often without permission of the living descendants. The posthumous baptism of many Holocaust victims caused considerable anger among Jewish groups, and your church agreed to stop the practice as to them (but admitted that it was unable to do so). Do you feel that such anger is justified? (Would you feel anger if some voodoo cult was using your deceased grandparents’ names in some voodoo ritual, and then announcing to all the world that they were now voodoo worshippers?)
* It is well documented that Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, secretly had many wives. Some of those women were at the same time married to other men, some were as young as fifteen, He claimed that he was commanded by God to enter into these marriages. Do you feel that these early marital practices of the church founder were really commanded by God? (See the book In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Mormon historian Todd Compton for detailed biographies of these wives.)
* Mormons believe that when Christ returns to earth, a millennium of peace will begin under Christ’s rule (Article of Faith number ten), presumably as a single theocracy. Most Mormons believe that during that time, Mormons will be Christ’s appointed officers and that the law will conform to Mormon teachings. Do you believe that?
* According to Mormon scripture (Doctrine and Covenants 135:3) Joseph Smith did more than any other man except Jesus Christ “for the salvation of men in this world.” Do you agree with that, keeping in mind the contributions of men like the Apostles, Saint Paul, Thomas Aquinas, Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, and others?
All of this was off-limits, but now little niggling quotes from Obama’s pastor are deemed attributable directly to Obama. What the fuck is that? Where is the logic?
The reaction of Obama supporters to Jeremiah Wright has certainly been instructive, especially those who had plenty to say about Mitt Romney and Mormonism last year. Today’s example is Andrew Sullivan, who wondered whether Romney wore Mormon underwear and posted repeatedly about the polygamy that Romney’s faith repudiated over a century earlier. Today, he’s singing a different tune about Barack Obama, whose minister didn’t make his racially inflammatory statements 100 years ago or even thirty years ago
On the other hand, plenty of Romney supporters (mostly just McCain haters who fell back on the default competitor most likely to beat him) repeatedly declared Romney’s religion to be off limits and refused to discuss the CONTINUED intolerance taught and practiced by Mormons, including Capt Ed.
Not 30 years ago. NOW. In the present, Romney never addressed the hate and slander of Jews, Catholics and other Protestant sects by Mormons, and people like the Capt. enabled him by declaring discussion of Mormon intolerance out of bounds and his minions chimed in by calling anyone who brought it up “anti-Mormon bigots” and McCain haters and nominal Romney supporters shouted down any criticism of Romney’s cult.
Why did Romney get a pass for the despicable teachings of his cult, while you lambaste Obama? And Romney is not just sitting in the congregation “nodding his head” as the Glenn Reynolds so snarkily puts it: he is a 3rd generation elder in a dynastic family leadership of LDS, with significant influence of the policy of LDS.
this:
Ask Romney about Mormonism’s intolerance
and this:
Mitt the Mormon: Why Romney needs to talk about his faith.
Mitt Romney and The Mormon Question
Intolerance in the Book of Mormon
Those same people who declared Romney’s religion out of bounds of political discourse are now cherry picking impolitic statements by Obama’s pastor and condemning Obama for them.
Hypocrisy and political expedience, pure and simple. No one who excused Romney’s disgusting, hateful theology have any grounds to rant about Obama’s pastor, including Capt. Ed.
I have no love for Obama, but I know lies and hypocrisy when I see it, and this is the worst case so far in this very corrupted and disgusting political season, starting with the lies and demonization by McCain haters of a decent and honest man, John McCain, and now their venom is directed at Obama. There are legitimate reasons to oppose Obama, but now they are resorting to the very tactics they declared off-limits on their man, Romney. Now nodding in agreement trumps actually sitting in the leadership of a cult whose very basis is bigotry and hatred.
And Romney was sworn to live by these racist and intolerant tenets:
“Obedience is a fundamental law of the gospel. It is not only the demonstration of our faith but also the foundation of our faith. But the philosophical standard of the world holds that unquestioning obedience equals blind obedience, and blind obedience is mindless obedience. This is simply not true. Unquestioning obedience to the Lord indicates that a person has developed faith and trust in Him to the point where he or she considers all inspired instruction — whether it be recorded scripture or the words of modern prophets — to be worthy of obedience.”
“One day there will be answers to all our questions, and they will be based on divine fairness and love. The Lord will not hold people accountable for factors over which they have no control.”
Between the nativist xenophobia exhibited by many rightblogs, to the homophobic ranting against gay marriage, to the tolerance and embracing of a racist, hateful cultist as their nominee of choice, the far right has pretty much proven all the worst accusations about the bigotry of the far right correct.
Others, on the Roger Simon blog, mention that holy underwear and old polygamy charges are not as bad as the “chickens come home to roost:
docweasel, I’d submit there’s a significant difference between wearing odd underwear and aspiring to ascend to being a deity of a universe of one’s own, and believing that the US in historical times invented HIV to kill the black people.
Posted by: Charlie (Colorado) at March 14, 2008 11:10 PM
You’re mentioning the humorous and risible aspects of Mormonism that have popular currency. There are much more despicable aspects codified in the Book of Mormon. I direct you to these:
this:
Ask Romney about Mormonism’s intolerance
and this:
Mitt the MormonWhy Romney needs to talk about his faith.
Mitt Romney and The Mormon Question
Intolerance in the Book of Mormon
Further, do candidates have to be responsible for every aspect of their religion, and disavow or condemn the unpopular parts? This was exactly the argument I heard from Romney supporters, that candidates should NOT have to do this. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, they certainly are taking apart every statement by Obama’s pastor in detail. Obama merely sat in the pew. Romney is a 3rd generation elder of a cult that promulgates th e hateful theology you will find elucidated in the links above.
I can only conclude its partisan hypocrisy, not true moral outrage at anything Obama said.
I except Roger Simon from any of these remarks. I never noted him defending Romney, and he sent a nice note explaining his stand. However, it is still odd how bloggers who never took Romney apart for despicable tenets of his religion, of which he is a LEADER and dynastic family elder, are now taking apart Obama, who was merely in the congregation.