Here is what really bothers me about Romney.

[leftyladyfrommo]

Not that he's a rich man - everyone in Congress is rich.

But Romney is a really good Mormon. I lived in Salt lake City for about 6 years. Being a really good Mormon really means something there. Good Mormons all think alike. And, boy, do they stick together.

If Romney makes it to the White House then the Mormon Church is in control of the WhiteHouse.
they are all ultraconservative - they make the Southern Baptists look liberal.

I don't dislike Mormons. But I really, truely don't think it's a good idea for a really good Temple Mormon to be in the White House. Romney was a Bishop and in control of a Stake. He's part of the big time in that Church. And church is always very in control of its members.

[uponit7771]

1. This is an understatement-"...they make the Southern Baptists look liberal.."

I have lived around Mormons and at the lower level of their food chain people are great and live and have families and love God, in the upper ranks....not so much, the cult mentality gets VERY VERY strong there.

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. I think you have to live with them to really understand

how that church operates. And just how brain washed those people are.

Women don't do so well there. I know they make a big deal about "family values" and all of that nonsense. But women who dare to speak out against the church actually get ex-communicated. A woman's place is at home raising a very big family. Her only avenue into heaven is through her husband and her children.

It's all so warped but also cleverly disquised as a "main stream Chritian church" and they are so not like mainstream Christian churches.

Really, they kind of remind me of Scientology. I wonder if those two influenced each other in some way in the past.

[eShirl]

2. So, it would be accurate to describe him as a member of the clergy?

[jberryhill]

5. Mormons don't have a formal clergy per se

There is a thin hierarchy at the very top, but their governance and doctrinal structure is not comparable to other denominations.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. They don't have "clergy" in the same way other churches do.

Bishops and everyone else is volunteer. But a Bishop is a lot like a pastor - a lot of the same kind of stuff.

And, yea, Bishops would be like part of the clergy.

That church seems so secular to me. Church services are like going to a town hall meeting - not much religion there. Families all meet in this really plain room - no statues or crosses or anything like that - it's really plain. It's all relationships and business and that kind of thing.

It's hard to describe really. You have to live in it to believe it.

[eShirl]

8. meeting in a plain room with no statues or crosses

sounds like the Quaker meeting I was raised in

I'm sure most of the similarity ends there...

[HopeHoops]

4. That's all that bothers you about him?

He's creepy. Newt's creepy. And Santorum is just, well, "frothy".

[Raven]

6. People said the same thing about JFK and the

Catholic Church. When he was running it was said that he would build a tunnel from Washington to the Vatican. Some people really believed it.

[izquierdista]

9. Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!

Now that you aren't paying attention....

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. Believe me when I say this.

The Mormon Church is not a thing like the Catholic Church.

Just think Big Brother and take it times about 10.

I know people don't believe this. But that really is the way it is.

[Raven]

14. I'll take your word for that. I know

next to nothing about the Morman Church. Given what you point out, I guess Romney won't be giving the JFK religion speech anytime soon.

[CanonRay]

21. Is isn't the same, not even close.

I worked in Salt Lake for years, and the poster is spot on. The 12 Apostles will be in charge of the White House, especially on social policies. I think I would vote for any religion,except a Mormon.

[BeHereNow]

10. Not to worry- the "evangelicals" will not allow him to be the president.

The fringe right consider the Mormons to be a cult.
Not going to happen, his nomination for the party of hate- not even a remote possibility.
BHN

[NNN0LHI]

20. The "evangelicals", that I know personally would rather vote for a Muslim over a Mormon

They at least consider that a real religion. They wouldn't want to vote for either one. But in a pinch they would vote for the Muslim every time.

I have had them tell me that.

Don

[pkz]

12. White Horse Prophecy

bothers me the most about Romney, does he think this is his legacy?

http://www.mormonwiki.org/White_Horse_prophecy

[LeftinOH]

13. The LDS Church is the Scientology of the 19th century:

Each was made up entirely by one individual, in both cases megalomaniacs. Although L. Ron Hubbard may have been more specifically focused on fleecing people out of their money than guiding others to enlightenment.

[leftyladyfrommo]

18. I think Joseph and Brigham

were also really into sex - with a lot of women and some of them very young.

[kctim]

15. So we have gone from

'who cares if he is Muslim' to 'he can't be Mormon?'

That is just so wrong and hypocritical, and I would be willing to bet my home that President Obama feels the same way.

[TwilightGardener]

16. I lived in Utah for a year, took some college classes there..

I didn't find them terribly different than anybody else, at first glance (aside from being crazy-ass speeders on I-15 and loving a nasty mayonnaise concoction called "fry sauce" and having lots of kids). The most disturbing thing I'd found about them, after trying to make friends in my classes, is that they simply won't befriend you if you are not Mormon. They just won't. They will be polite, superficially friendly, but you are nothing to them and to be ignored. I have met people from all faiths, have lived in most parts of this country, and never encountered such insularity and such dismissiveness of everyone who isn't in the "club".

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. Yea. They try to convert you and if that doesn't work

they just shun you. I can't say that anyone was ever really mean to me. I just was totally ignored. It's the weirdest thing.

You are inside or outside - there is no in between.

[TwilightGardener]

19. I think part of this attitude comes from their history of having been persecuted and chased out

of Iowa, Missouri, etc. I think they believe that exclusion of the outside world makes them stronger, less likely to be negatively influenced. (Kind of like the Amish). They also definitely feel an ownership of Utah, and make it pretty clear that they run the show at all levels (at least according to Air Force rumor, it's difficult for non-Mormons to buy houses or land there, because most LDS will only sell to other LDS). I've known some pretty nice Mormons outside of Utah (though even they won't let you get too close), and I hate to knock Romney for the LDS thing since he's such an odious person for many other reasons, but it's fair to wonder what impact his religion will have on the rest of us.