Church and… Church
December 16th, 2007Latter-Day Republicans vs. the Church of Oprah - New York Times
Frank Rich on the state of things in the upcoming primaries. Love his take on Romney. One thing Rich fails to mention is that Romney’s father took major lumps for opposing the Vietnam war in the 60s. So major that the senior Romney lost out on his chance to become President. While the senior Romney was a big civil rights supporter, Rich shows a different side of Mitt:
“The answer is simple. Mr. Romney didn’t fight his church’s institutionalized apartheid, whatever his private misgivings, because that’s his character. Though he is trying to sell himself as a leader, he is actually a follower and a panderer, as confirmed by his flip-flops on nearly every issue.”
Sidenote: Mormons who stand up to their leaders and/or Salt Lake aren’t Mormons for long. Not saying that justifies silence, just saying that internal lobbying of church leaders is done without the benefit of public view. If it’s done publicly, it ends with the church excising the member either through disfellowship or excommunication.
The Oprah comments are just as interesting as the stuff on Romney’s Jesus talk. o
Tags: church and state, mitt romney, mormon politician, mormon politics
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December 16th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for turning me onto this. I get the NYT, but sometimes forget to check it.
December 16th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
My thanks, too… This was just the sort of commentary I had been expecting for weeks, but hadn’t seen anywhere.
December 16th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Although the LDS undeniably has a history of blatant racism, I don’t think the criticisms are fair to Mitt.
In your own post, you praise the elder Romney ( whose was LDS BTW) for opposing Vietnam and link to criticisms of Mitt because he didn’t stand up to his Church when he was in his late 20’s.
You cite the George a proponent of civil rites, but what did he do to bring that view to his Church?
And how much did the elder really do politically? Detroit in the late ’60’s ( while George was Gov) was a
mess! (12h street riots)
If you want to fault Mitt, do it on his policies, but faulting him because he didn’t stand up to his Church in his late 20’s isnt fair.
Look at Robert Byrd of WV. The left hails him as a hero, and completely forgives his LEADERSHIP role in the KKK.
December 16th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
@Karl, I’ll invite you to re-read my sidenote above.
The Mormon church is as conservative as it gets. There is no public way for members, regardless of prominence in the secular world, to have a dialogue with the Mormon church leaders. I have no way of knowing if conversations between Romney and church authorities in Salt Lake ever happened. So I can’t answer your question. He may have said nothing.
I’m not aware of any hero worship of Senator Byrd. He did vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (despite earlier filibustering and opposition to segragation and earlier Civil Rights Acts as well as the Voter Rights Act of 1965).
December 18th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Shameless self-promoting ahead:
My take(s) on Mitt: http://fiddley.com/archive/200712/mitt_misses_the_point_or_does_he
December 20th, 2007 at 9:25 am
As I recall it, Mitt’s Dad’s change of heart on the Vietnam war wasn’t what brought him down. The problem was his use of the term “brainwashed” to describe his previous support of the war. It suggested that he wasn’t strong-minded enough to be president, or something. At the time, I thought this criticism was ridiculous, but it stuck for some reason, and he never recovered.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Oh, how well I agree with the last part of your post! While this has nothing to do with politics, it is evidence of what you said about not being Mormon for long. I was Mormon and engaged to a non-Mormon. Then the Stake President told me that by not moving up my wedding date to when HE wanted me to do it, I was showing an “unrepentant attitude” and he excommunicated me when I basically told him to shove it, I would get married when I wanted to. Free agency, yo.
And as for politics, I support Ron Paul. I feel a Mormon in the White House would lead to nothing but very bad things. (I could be a little biased, though.)
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:57 pm
I just don’t understand why every ex mormon bashes the Church as often as possible. Although I am not Mormon, I do not (and never will) understand it. If you leave the Church, then leave it. You made your decision. Stop trying to convince the world that you were right.
No candidate should be criticized for religion, unless the belong to Al Quieda or the KKK.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:08 am
What, what?
In what way does Jon’s post “bash” anything or anybody? If you disagree with a point he made, then disagree. This is not even a religious post. It is clearly much more political than anything.
Defensive much?
December 27th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
What about the Mormon church’s inequal treatment of women? Why doesn’t anyone ask Romney how he feels about that? Why is racism given so much more attention? This is still current church policy!!
December 28th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Interesting stuff.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I don’t know if you’ll notice this off-topic comment, but your styling needs to set a color for your blockquote elements - they’re dark gray on dark gray right now.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
jemaleddin, thanks. Hopefully, it’s fixed for you.