Well, it was bound to happen, and so it has; the Smith has hit the fan...Joseph Smith, that is.

Yes, I'm referring to the refreshened controversy over Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.

Look, let me be perfectly clear here. I am not a religious person and consider all such supernatural beliefs a hangover from mankind's primitive past.

Having said that though, I have no problem with what other, average, run-of-the-mill people, like me, believe. That's their business and if a belief in the supernatural gets them through the day, more power to them. We all need something these days to get us through these days.

But, and it's an enormous BUT for me - I have a big problem with putting a person in charge of everything that is America today if that person openly and proudly believes things that are crazy.. just plain crazy.

Sure, there are gradations of crazy, and we make those kind of "just how crazy is he is" calculations all the time in life. All our Presidents have at least claimed to be "Christian," though most were more along the live-and-let-live Unitarian line than the grim and unyielding Southern Baptist variety.

Even Jack Kennedy got a pass on his Catholic faith because voters had long noticed that American Catholics were, on a whole, pretty lackadaisical at being Catholic. Catholic women appreciated that church was a godly excuse to buy new hats. Meanwhile their husbands were just happy the mass was in Latin so, not only did they not have to participate, but they could use the hour to daydream about football, or babes or one after the other.

But this Mormon thing is -- or at least should be -- a bridge too far along that religious Yellow Brick Road. And if you doubt me, then the The Book of Mormon is online for your reading astonishment. Documented accounts can be found all over online that details the history of the Mormon faith and its felonious founders. There are also chilling accounts from those who once belonged to LDS church but who fell out of favor with church leaders. Why We Left - Personal Accounts of Leaving Mormonism

Of course, the LDS church dismisses these numerous accounts of former believers as just the whining of "disgruntled former members." But there are so many, and they are all so similiar that, as the old Arab saying goes, "A million flies can't all be wrong."

So once again I have ask Americans -- and especially the media, which misses this point regularly, to ponder this question;

Just how crazy does the personal belief structure of a candidate have to be before that candidate is considered, not just unfit for the presidency, but dangerously so.

We already do that to some extent. For example, do you believe for one second that an ardent follower of Scientology would have a chance in hell of getting the nomination of either party, much less elected? Or how about that nut that runs the Wesborrow Church who protests at GI funerals? He claims to be a "good Christian" too, but we wouldn't give him the time of day, much less a shot at the presidency.

So we do have limits. But religion is house of mirrors when it comes navigating this treacherous path - as we have seen in the Middle East where such debates almost always end with gunfire and explosions. So even I prefer to tread lightly through such a minefield.

Still, my argument is that we must tread there nonetheless. Yes, carefully. Yes even respectfully. But tread we must. Because, if a person can become President of the United States even though he openly professes beliefs in mystical nonsense, the kind of stuff that, in the non-religious world, lands thousands of people a year on medication and in locked wards, then we're in for some mighty interesting times.

Is Romeny too crazy to be President? Read the Book of Mormon and decide for yourself. And, once your done, and you still want to consider me a bigot rather than a rational man, then I'll accept your opinion. Until then keep your mind open and, in the process, fill it with facts.

What I propose here is not intolerant exercise in dissing someone's religious beliefs. Those are theirs to hold and value. No. is part and parcel of being an informed voter. It's a exercise in judging how a candidate's mind processes data. And whether they know the difference between what's real and what's -- no so much -- if at all.

Steve
_______
newsforreal.com


http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/stephen-pizzo/38851/how-crazy-is-too-crazy

Here is the thing,,, as crazy as I think someones religious beliefs are, do they have ANYTHING to do with

A) their job responsibilities or
B) their job responsibilities


and is there any indication or proof they impacted on said job responsibilities inappropriately in the past


by that , I mean, everyones belief system impacts their DECISIONS whether they are of religious origin or not, but that doesnt make their decisions WRONG

if a person can do their job, their religious belief should have nothing to do with it

if their religious belief has been PROVEN to impact their job inappropriately or illlegally in the past,, thats a different matter

I think its delicate and potentially unconstitutional ground to walk to single out ANYONES religion or religious beliefs as a way of excluding them from society

its their actions and their words that matter, not JUST their words,,,or just their beliefs,,,

and ACTIONS speak much louder than words

I don't give a damn what religion a person follows (Islam being the exception) so long as the religion plays no part in their decision making, unfortunately a persons religion usually plays a role in their decision making.

I can go furrher and say I dont care about ones religion

it is not a pertinent indicator of whether they can do their job


and even if some decisions are made from a religious standpoint,, noone has proven that people dont agree with religion because it has SOUND reason or logic , as opposed to the idea that they must not have sound or logic to agree with religion



my religion says not to murder, steal, or commit adultery,, all fairly sound advise regardless of whether the origin of it can be proven

and whenever people speak of religion, they do a poor job of proving the value system comes from the religion instead of the religion backing up the value system

I can go furrher and say I dont care about ones religion

it is not a pertinent indicator of whether they can do their job


and even if some decisions are made from a religious standpoint,, noone has proven that people dont agree with religion because it has SOUND reason or logic , as opposed to the idea that they must not have sound or logic to agree with religion



my religion says not to murder, steal, or commit adultery,, all fairly sound advise regardless of whether the origin of it can be proven

and whenever people speak of religion, they do a poor job of proving the value system comes from the religion instead of the religion backing up the value system

I like MsHarmony's answer, I don't understand why Islam is considered a bad religion, but I do think Mormons beliefs are particularly kooky :) That being said I actually really liked McCain and considered voting for him despite him being a republican until he got all crazy and picked Palin, garrrrrr. All that being said I think one must be certifiably crazy to really want and actually TRY to become president of this nation. So lets just get really messed up and vote anyway :D

haa,, truest post here. IT sure has to be the most stressful and thankless job there is,,,,

Bizarre Mormon Beliefs

1. Mormons believe god was a man and then Aliens made him a God.
2. God lives on a planet called Kolob.
3. That God got basically physical with Mary. So she was not a virgin.
4. Jesus and Satan are brothers.
5. Black people are black because they stayed neutral and didn’t decide between Jesus or Satan so they were cursed with black skin by Elohim.
6. The also believe Native Americans are Israelites.
7. That Joseph Smith is a descendant of Jesus.
8. That when they die, they will become the God of there own planet.
9. That you need to know the secret Mormon password which is a handshake of some sort for when you meet Elohim (God), Jesus and Joseph Smith.
10. That you are more likely to get into the celestial kingdom if you have at least 10 wives not just one.
11. It is a Mormon tradition to baptize the dead.
12. They believe that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri in the USA.
13. That dinosaur fossils were created by Satan to deceive the world about the truth of creation.
14. Satan controls all the water in the world.
15. Jesus was married and he had more than one wife and a bunch of kids.
16. That only Mormon men can perform miracles and only the men but the women could receives these miracles.
17. They wear weird white underwear/ spiritual armor.

The Mormon magic underwear


Mormons believe the magic underwear can protect them against the following:

• Knife attacks
• Bullets
• Satan
• Fire
• Etc…
(Don’t try this at home, you will get hurt)

Other weird things about Mormons:

• Many Mormons use fake swear words like Fetch and Flip and what the heck.
• Mormons tend to have large families.
• Many Mormons do not drink anything with caffeine, so Caffeine-free
• Most men (ages 19) and many women (ages 21) dedicate 2 years or 1.5
• years respectively to being missionaries and not only do they not receive
Pay, they pay to do it! There is no dating or movies or schooling during that time.
• They also do not choose where in the world they go. Pretty remarkable, really.
• Mormons are commanded to not drink alcohol, tea or coffee, smoke,
or use recreational drugs.
• Mormons are commanded to not have sex outside of the bonds of marriage.
• Mormons pay 10% of their income to the church as a tithe.
• Mormons who have been to the temple wear sacred undergarments as a
Symbol of covenants made there.
• Mormons meet for 3 hours every Sunday (that’s a lot of meetings!).
• Mormons believe in other scriptures in addition to the Bible, particularly The Book of Mormon.
• Mormons address each other as Brother and Sister.
• Mormons believe in a lay clergy and so they often have? Callings or responsibilities within the church. For example, they may teach Sunday school, direct the youth program, or perform other similar duties for which they are not paid.


http://blogs.ballyfermot.ie/darrens/tag/mormon-magic-underwear/


A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
Groucho Marx

much of it isnt weird, much of the rest I dont believe to be true

but oh well

All ya gota do is a little research

I have

Enlighten me what on the list isnt true?

I know mormons believe God is the creator of the universe, so the beliefs about something else making him or making him human would make no sense,,,


Kolob is the name given in one of the mormon scriptures to describe the entity/star CLOSEST to Gods throne,, not a 'planet' he 'lives' on


IN so much as God is the creator of all things, many denominations refer to all such creation as their 'brother' or sister but Mormonism has the same belief as christianity that Jesus is the son of God and satan is a fallen angel.

They do have garments worn under covenant(like a nun wears a habit, or a catholic carries a rosary). They probably do find it to be 'sacred' and protective, but I dont know if they believe it stops bullets or knives or such nonsense...