Why Romney Won't Talk about LDS faith

[_aussieguy55]

Just curious Jason. Are you a firstborn?

[_Drifting]

Romney chooses to talk about things that he believes will increase votes and make him seem more electable. Therefore we can assume he believes Mormonism is not a vote promoting subject...

The hypocrisy of this is that members week in and week out are exhorted to 'open their mouths' and to speak 'boldly' about their beliefs wherever and whenever the opportunity arises.

I guess Romney's exempt from this for some reason...

[_beastie]

Beastie,

I don't quite agree, although I see where you are coming from.

Evangelicals claim that they have THE truth and will be raptured before the rest of us.

The Pope reaffirmed recently that the Catholic Church is THE only true Church.

Muslims have THE truth.

Jews are God's chosen people.

I don't see Mormonism being all that different.

In fact, it seems that Eastern faiths (Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, etc...) are the ones who don't claim absolute authoritative TRUTH.

Romney shouldn't talk about his Mormonism because it doesn't matter, in my opinion. It doesn't matter that President Obama is a liberal Protestant and it doesn't matter than Mitt Romney is a Mormon. What I think a lot of people care about is effective domestic policy and a strong foreign policy.

I don't think you are way off .... any claims to absolute truth are annoying, if not offensive. But most faiths believe they have the truth and have learned, just like Mormons, that the TRUTH card is only to be played at appropriate times.

Seth

I did take this into consideration. However, the vast majority of mainstream Christians have become much more moderate in that claim, and that includes the Catholic Church. There are, undoubtedly, a minority of Catholics who are still very strident and dogmatic in that regard, but most Catholics simply don't accept the "one truism, everyone else burns in hell or goes to purgatory" bit anymore. And born-againers mostly just insist that one accept Jesus as Savior, versus insist that one particular church, or one particular detailed theology by embraced.

I think that to find a religion comparable to Mormonism in terms of its strident, dogmatic insistence on being the "one true church" with the only authentic priesthood, one has to go to other fringe religions like Jehovah's Witnesses.

[_beastie]

I know Romney could have answered this question in an inoffensive manner. What interests me is why he did not. Certainly Mormonism is not a topic he wants to talk about or will bring up on his own, but to avoid answering a softball, positive question that had a perfectly reasonable inoffensive response is odd. That's why I speculate as I did. I think it's obvious that the perfectly reasonable, inoffensive answer didn't occur to Romney at the moment. At the moment something occurred to him which he felt he had to censor, and therefore, dodge. I really do believe that some families within Mormonism have the idea that their family is special, was chosen, to be the leaders of this generation. And who knows what his patriarchal blessing may say.

[_sethpayne]

I know Romney could have answered this question in an inoffensive manner. What interests me is why he did not. Certainly Mormonism is not a topic he wants to talk about or will bring up on his own, but to avoid answering a softball, positive question that had a perfectly reasonable inoffensive response is odd. That's why I speculate as I did. I think it's obvious that the perfectly reasonable, inoffensive answer didn't occur to Romney at the moment. At the moment something occurred to him which he felt he had to censor, and therefore, dodge. I really do believe that some families within Mormonism have the idea that their family is special, was chosen, to be the leaders of this generation. And who knows what his patriarchal blessing may say.

Hi Beastie,

Would a Jew be asked a similar question and if so, how would they answer? It may seem like a softball but it's really a minefield. Even the most delicately answered question would be analyzed for implications for the Israel/Palestine conflict, anti-semitism in the US, etc.... I'm not convinced it is a softball for some of the very reasons you have outlined.

People are going to dislike Mormonism, be neutral, or hate it. Nothing Romney says -- positive spin or not -- will change that. Didn't Pew release #s a while back showing a relationship between perception of Mormonism and contact with individual members. Those who had higher rates of contact tended to have a more positive view while those who had never met a Mormon were more likely to have a negative view.

Romney is so unlikeable (in terms of likeability ratings) that I think he knows the less he says about *anything* the better.

Also, I see your point about theology but don't see it as all that different from EV Christianity in the US. If you haven't watched the film Jesus Camp I would highly recommend it. Eye opening and scary -- especially the tikes done up in warpaint walking around like soldiers.

We Americans elect EVs all the time -- in fact, it some parts of the country it seems almost to be a prerequisite!

I suppose I've never seen this Mormon theology of chosenness play out as arrogantly/obnoxiously in real life -- although I certainly have met some LDS folk who would have done well at Jesus Camp. :)

Seth