Dec 07
6
Off-topic: A Mormon’s Thoughts on the Presidential Race and Mitt Romney
As I have mentioned previously, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. As most people who follow politics know, Mitt Romney is also a member of the LDS Church and is running for the Republican nomination for President, which has led to chatter in political circles about our faith and whether a Mormon candidate could ever get elected. This prompted him to give a speech this morning on faith and politics (the full text of which you can find here), which I thought he handled very well. Addressing the idea that he should have to explain his faith as part of his campaign, he rightfully said,
“There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church’s distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes President he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.”
Very well put! It isn’t the job of a political candidate to explain his church’s doctrine. If you want to know about the LDS Church, everything you could ever want to know about our beliefs is published on the church’s website at LDS.org. If you don’t feel like reading it online, you can go to Mormon.org and request a copy of the Book of Mormon and even ask for a pair of missionaries to come tell you whatever you want to know.
Don’t read this to mean that I plan on voting for Romney. I have tried to be skeptical of Romney, if for nothing else than the fact he is a Mormon and I want to make sure that doesn’t cloud my judgment about him. While I think he would make a good president, he seems a little too worried about saying the right thing instead of saying what he truly believes. An excellent example was in the last debate when the candidates were asked, in a nutshell, do you believe in the Bible. Pretty simple question, and the first thing that any member of the LDS faith should think of Article of Faith #8 which states in part:
“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly…”
Pretty darn simple answer. However, an obviously uncomfortable Romney apparently didn’t consider that answer (which for most Mormons would almost be a reflex) to be politically expedient, instead struggling to come up with (from debate transcript):
Romney: I believe the Bible is the word of God, absolutely. And I try to live by it as well as I can, but I miss in a lot of ways. But it’s a guide for my life and for hundreds of millions, billions of people around the world. I believe in the Bible.
Anderson Cooper: Does that mean you believe every word?
Romney: You know — yes, I believe it’s the word of God, the Bible is the word of God.
The Bible is the word of God. I mean, I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God. I don’t disagree with the Bible. I try to live by it.
Yes, it was as painful to watch as it is to read. How hard would it have been to answer the question with Article of Faith 8? It may be minor but Romney lost points in my book with that. It is difficult to be excited about a candidate that seems so uncomfortable with what he really believes.
So who do I support? I actually like Ron Paul. I feel like one of the biggest issues we face in this country is the fact our government continues to expand, making more promises to more people through more programs and incurring mountains of debt along the way. How are we going to pay for all of this? We can’t depend on the financial markets to continue to blindly purchase US Government debt instruments forever, and even if they did we would still be paying the interest and at some point have to repaid what we borrowed. Leadership of the Democratic Party in this country are borderline socialists, and the Republicans have spent like drunken sailors while in power. Well, whenever the country finally wises up and figures out we can’t sustain this we will be in for the hangover to end all hangovers. The hit we will take in increased taxes will be extremely painful, and the longer we wait the worse it will be.
I like Ron Paul because he seems like the only candidate that is willing to speak what he feels and has the will to attempt reforms to avoid the financial train wreck this country is on. Of course if Paul does win the nomination I would support Romney (or anyone else not named Hillary for that matter), but at this point this is the guy I would like to see as our next president.