The Pink Flamingo :: Romney Is a Poor Representative of the LDS Church

From Allahpundit at Hot Air comes word of a crock of a Vanderbilt University poll that points to tremendous bias against Mormons and that people just plain old won’t vote for them. If so, what about Bill Nelson or Orin Hatch (okay he’s from Utah, but still)? If there is such a bias against them, why do Mormons have no problems being elected to Coongress?

Orin Hatch – R – UT
Harry Reid – D – NV
Bill Nelson – D – FL
Chris Cannon – R – UT
Bob Bennett – R – UT
Gordon Smith – R – OR
Howard McKeon – R – CA
Mike Simpson – R – ID
Dean Heller – R – NV
Jeff Flake – R – AZ
Wally Herger – R – CA
John Doolittle – R – CA
Mike Crapo – R - ID

We learn from the Deseret Morning News that LDS in Congress are not anxious to endorse Romney. If this is true how can he claim bias? There is a Mormon run PAC.

ROMNEY’S CLAIM OF BIAS BOGUS

Yesterday Harold Hutchison had and excellent Called As Seen commentary on Mitt Romney. I left a comment, and thought little more about it until this morning. Another comment was left that all candidates are flawed. Well, in the ‘all have sinned’ vein, sure, all candidates are flawed, but sometimes there are flaws, then there are FLAWS. Everyone is flawed, but Romney’s a little more flawed than any GOP candidate I’ve seen in ages. He is the Bill Clinton of the GOP, warts and all.

None of this is a reflection on the LDS Church. I don’t know how much you know about the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, but if you know nothing else, they, along with the DAR, are the keepers of the world’s genealogy. In my way of thinking that alone should make the LDS Church worthwhile. But, we’re not talking about genealogy here. We are discussing Mitt Romney and his faith.

He’s disparate and is pulling the Kennedy card. He thinks he is the GOP version of JFK, and that he’s not. He’s plastic, a fake, a charming sociopath who has been grooming himself for this run his entire life, just like Bill Clinton. In many ways he’s the worst representative of Mormonism I’ve seen in a long time.
I know quite a bit about the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. There are considerable theological differences between the LDS faith and my Episcopalian denomination, but they have nothing to do with bias, etc. Differences are differences. As I’ve stated earlier, I have a serious problem with the way the Baptists handle the Holy Eucharist, like it was something quite distasteful. I simply cannot imagine going to church to a worship service and not taking Holy Eucharist each time. Enough of this.

There are things I did not like about the LDS at one time and have no changed my mind about it. The LDS church sponsors “seminary” for young people – high school students, during the school year. The average kid must get up and be at church by 6AM for a good hour of lessons and study. Years ago I thought this was terrible, but now, as I age, I think it is an excellent idea. Our Episcopal churches should be so ambitious. There is nothing wrong with a child learning the background of their faith.

I know here in Lincoln County, the “previous administration” was so lax about training that most of our young people (kids I courted for 5 years) have simply walked away. There is no training. The sad fact is in our Parish, many of our Vestry members are completely ignorant when it comes to our faith, the Bible, and the teachings of Christ to the point when they literally do not recognize excerpts from the Bible when it is shoved under their noses. (Trust me on this one). I authored an “Advent” pageant utilizing the story of Bethlehem and the family of David leading up to the birth of Christ. Not only did our Vestry not recognize the story, passages from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, but considered the “Advent” and Christmas story culturally insensitive. Yep – you heard me right.

So, I am now an advocate of what the LDS calls ‘seminary’ for teenagers. More power to ‘em. They also have a tradition of young ‘missionaries’. In order for a youth to become a ‘missionary’ they must attend this seminary. In order to advance in the LDS church a youth must be a missionary for the required amount of time. You have seen the kids around. They are always dressed in black slacks, maybe a black jacket, black tie, and clean white shirt. Years ago they carried brief cases, now they use back-packs, that make the kids look even younger and more vulnerable. The kids are completely removed from home and family with only supervised and limited contact. They do not receive a salary. They must do the missionary thing, going two by two, home-sick, and living off the mercurial charity of the local LDS church where they are assigned.
I once thought this was deplorable. Now I think it isn’t a bad idea. Kids need to learn what their faith is and how to promote it. Nothing wrong with it at all.

Years ago I was introduced to the “missionary” program when a distant half-cousin, was doing his stint in Seneca, SC and discovered there was a “Reidhead” in the book. All Reidheads are related, somehow. Back in 1845 or so John Reidhead, Sr. first wife, (a relative of Endicott Peabody) died. John Reidhead, Jr. was one of the children of their marriage. He was quite a person, our family version of Kit Carson. After losing his 2nd family to horrific tragedy, and almost suicidal, he was ‘rescued’ by some of the westerwarding pioneer Mormons. He ‘converted’ and became a stalwart of the LDS church. His father remarried. We are descended from that marriage – from Charity Carter. When they were married she forced John, Sr. to move to the point in the US farthest away from the oceans, where so many of the men in her family had died. They ended up in Minneapolis as some of the early settlers.

Tensions between the two sides of the family have boiled since that day. We always thought it was because of the “Mormon Thing” until I was doing the genealogy and discovered it had everything to do with the fact that the children of the 1st marriage (grown) absolutely hated “That Carter Woman” and eventually destroyed the marriage. Religion had nothing to do with it.

Reidheads traditionally come in a few modes:
1. Extremely political
2. Extremely religious
3. Extremely commercial & flour millers
4. Petty criminals

My father’s brother was a nationally celebrated minister. My father owned a flour mill. I am extremely political. I have cousins who are all three – and a few who are abject petty criminals. Unfortunately, aside from that Reidhead cousin I met years ago, the only Reidheads I’ve run into in the past few years have been petty criminals and have been involved in the fringe polygamy movements. The first few years I was living here in Ruidoso, a family of Reidheads (several families with the same father) were involved in some shady deals. I was constantly getting calls from their bill collectors, people they fleeced, etc. If you think this has made me biased against Mormons you’re out of your mind.

My question is this: How the heck can Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, get where he got with all that anti-Mormon sentiment out there? The logical answer is there can’t be all that much anti-Mormon sentiment and Mitt Romney is using his faith as a prop for a failing Presidential campaign.

Shame on him!

P. S. I am not above manipulating my "Reidhead" name when it comes to working in the LDS Family History Centers doing genealogy. Doesn't bother me a bit!

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