Religion In Politics Or How Things Change In 4 Years — A supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry said something nasty about the religion of Republican presidential primary opponent Mitt Romney, namely that it was a cult.
Romney, along with fellow moderate Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman, are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. The institution is often called the Mormon Church.
The church uses the acronym LDS when required albeit not as its proper name.
The supporter who said the nasty thing was Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the 10,000-member First Baptist Church of Dallas, while he was introducing Perry at a convention.
The old media has taken an unusual interest in theological matters and began writing about it and grilling other candidates regarding Jeffress claim.
Perry, who does not attend Jeffress’ church, has said he does not think Romney’s church is a cult.
Now, just suppose Perry, or any of the other candidates regularly attended a church at which the pastor said things like:
The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied
And
We have supported state terrorism against the
Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because
the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own
front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.
You think they would mention it? I dunno. Four years ago they didn’t think it was a big deal.
On a lighter note, did you hear about the Occupy Philadelphia protestor who became a Mormon? He was dyslexic.
Two problems: first of all, neither Mitt Romney nor John Huntsman is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is a small Protestant group (about 250 members) headquartered in Beloit, Wisconsin. Romney and Huntsman are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s sad that such a distinction be necessary, but the existence of the smaller, unorganized group requires that it be.
Secondly, you state that Latter-day Saint “prefer it to be known by the acronym LDS.” While this is somewhat accurate of Church members, the paragraph containing this sentence is not about the saints; it’s about the Church. If “the name must be shortened,” the correct method is to call it “the Church of Jesus Christ.” Any title that does not include the name of the Savior e.g. “the LDS Church,” “the Mormon Church,” “the Church of Latter-day Saints,” etc.) is absolutely incorrect and, frankly, pretty offensive to many Latter-day Saints. According to our beliefs, you might as well just call it “the False Church” and be done with it. The name of the Savior is really that important.
Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm. A lot of people have spent a lot of money promoting slurs like “the Mormon Church,” as a means of perpetuating the ridiculous idea that the Church of Jesus Christ be non-Christian. Sadly, they’ve succeeded, which is why the Church has had to spend millions of dollars on advertising, to combat this century-plus–old farce. Still, it would be greatly appreciated if you’d update your blog to reflect both the correct name of the Church—i.e. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and the appropriate abbreviation—i.e. the Church of Jesus Christ.
Thanks in advance, and God bless! 🙂
I’ve made changes to reflect your concerns and no offense is meant.
This is why we need to separate church and state. I was raised Eastern Orthodox but that doesn’t mean I will only vote for people who follow that religion or put down people of other faiths.
It’s a shame how divisive we’ve become.
“On a lighter note, did you hear about the Occupy Philadelphia protester who became a Mormon? He was dyslexic.”
It took me awhile to get it but once I replaced the LDS with LSD it became an easy TRIP.
I feel strongly that we should concentrate on who the candidate’s pastor or religious counsel rather than the person’s religion.
We should never vote for a person who does not protest a when a leading clergyman denigrates America and its citizens.
If the press had done it job and reported that President Obama listened to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s diatribes for 20 years Mr. Obama would never had been elected to the most important job in the world.
Do you remember Mr. Wright saying blacks should not sing God Bless America, but God Damn America?
Getting back to the LSD, the stuff makes a lot of people super happy, and irresponsible. It lets them give up all inhibitions and allows them to have sexual relations out in the open and defecate. This all taking place within a stone’s throw of the Mayor’s office.
What would happen if the Tea Partier acted in the same way?