Mitt Romney And Quetzalcoatl-- Will South Carolina Republicans Get To The Bottom Of This?

Late last week 150 pooh-bahs from the upper reaches of the religious right-- primarily the most backward of the backward evangelical money-grubbers and bigots-- got together to pick someone, anyone, who could serve as the Not-Romney. Perry is who they wanted, but his campaign has been such an unmitigated disaster and he has proven himself so implausible that they were forced to choose between crazed Catholic fanatic Rick Santorum and sleazy apostate Newt Gingrich, also now a Catholic.

Their real problem with Romney shouldn't be his Mormon faith; it should be his exceedingly ugly worship of Mammon. But their evangelical shtick allows the exact same obeisance. There really shouldn't be that much of a problem. They sure overlooked Santorum's papism, which not long ago would have been a mortal crime for this kind of group. But of course Mammon isn't the only thing Romney worships, at least in public. His family fled to Mexico in the 1800s in order to preserve their polygamist way of life and lived there for generations. I was in the Yucatán recently, visiting Mayan sacred sites all month. I've heard again and again from Mayans that Mormon missionaries-- they're everywhere in Mexico, thick as fleas-- tell them that the Mayan feathered-serpent god Quetzalcoatl was the resurrected Jesus Christ, who Mormons believe as a prime tenet of their religion visited the Americas after being crucified.

The chief Mormon after Brigham Young, John Taylor, who began the Mormon colonization of Mexico by sending Romney's great-grandfather and a gaggle of his illegal wives down there, wrote: "The story of the life of the Mexican divinity Quetzalcoatl closely resembles that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being." Does Mitt Romney worship Quetzalcoatl as the resurrected Jesus? He won't say. In fact, for a powerful Mormon bishop, he sure hates talking about his faith. But it might be something that disturbs the evangelicals.

Conservative Christians, including Protestants and Roman Catholics, generally do not consider Mormons to be Christian, but it is unclear what role those objections will play in South Carolina vote and beyond. Surveys have found that Republicans with the strongest objections to Mormonism also are among the fiercest opponents to President Barack Obama, and would back a Mormon in the general election.

...In the Pew poll released Thursday, nearly half of Mormons said church members face significant discrimination in the United States and nearly two-thirds said other Americans do not consider the religion part of the mainstream. LDS church leaders have long complained that critics take obscure or outdated Mormon teachings and describe them as core doctrine. The church cast aside the teaching of polygamy in 1890, and in 1978, abolished the barrier that kept those of African descent from full participation in the church. In the latest Pew survey, only 2 percent of Mormons said polygamy is morally acceptable.

Despite the prejudice Mormons feel, a majority expressed optimism about their future. More than 60 percent believe Americans are moving toward acceptance of Mormonism and more than half believe the country is ready to accept a Latter-day Saint as president. An overwhelming majority of Mormon voters hold favorable views of Romney, the poll found.

In the 2012 race, Romney has not directly addressed theological differences between his faith and historic Christianity, as he did in his first bid for the nomination, with a 2007 faith-and-values speech in Texas, Instead, his campaign has been emphasizing values that Mormons and conservative Christians share.

About 77 percent of Mormons in the survey identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and most hold much stronger conservative views than the general public. Three-quarters support a smaller government that provides fewer services. The same percentage say having an abortion is morally wrong. Two-thirds believe homosexuality should be discouraged.

Rank-and-file Mormons reflect the strong emphasis throughout the LDS church on family. Asked their life priorities, a large majority of respondents listed being a good parent and having a successful marriage. Latter-day Saints also have a high level of religious observance that surpasses even the most devout American Christians. Three-quarters of Mormons said they attended religious services weekly or more, compared to 64 percent of white evangelicals and 42 percent of white Catholics. Two-thirds of Mormons say they pray several times a day, compared to half of evangelicals and about one-third of Catholics.

Since 1994, a group of evangelical and Mormon scholars who have been meeting to discuss theology, focusing on their shared beliefs. All but 2 percent of Mormons in the Pew survey said they believe that Jesus was resurrected. Nearly all believe the Bible is the word of God and describe themselves Christian or "Christ-centered."

However, Mormons just as strongly hold beliefs that traditional Christians consider heretical. All but 6 percent of Mormons believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate, physical beings, a rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity, in which God, the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit coexist and share one substance.

Joseph Smith became Mormonism's founding prophet after he said he experienced visions during the late 1820s. He said he was told not to join any church because they all held wrong beliefs. An angel, he said, then directed him to gold plates that had been buried in the ground in upstate New York, which Smith then translated as the Book of Mormon. Nearly all Mormons in the survey said they believe the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets and that the president of the LDS church is a prophet of God.

South Carolina Republican primary voters don't know anything about Romney and his embrace of Queztalcoatl, but will their reflexive bigotry and inbred anti-Mormonism cause them to buck the GOP Establishment and give Romney a rough time in favor of the Not-Romney? People who watch right-wing religious bigotry are trying to figure that out. In 2008, fully 60% of South Carolina Republican voters were evangelicals.

Interviews across South Carolina over the past week revealed the antipathy some evangelical Christians hold toward Mormonism. But more often voters said it is not a top concern, if one at all, heading into Saturday’s primary.

“When JFK ran, people questioned whether his allegiance would be to the Constitution or the Pope,” said Pastor Lamar McAbee of Duncan First Baptist Church, who rejects Mormonism as a form of Christianity. “The bottom line is, he was a fine president. I don’t think there is any reason why a Mormon would not be capable of leading.”

What matters most to his congregation in this small town is what matters most to voters across the country. “The economy,” McAbee said.

Religion is not Romney’s only challenge in winning over the state’s social conservatives. Many are squeamish about his past moderate positions on abortion and gay marriage.

“Do not defer your judgment to those who do not share your values,” rival Rick Santorum said at a candidate forum in Duncan Friday night, an event that began with several hundred attendees bowing their heads in prayer. Santorum finished eight votes behind in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and took a majority of the evangelical vote.

Romney has lifelong ties to Mormonism. His father, the former governor of Michigan, had been born in a Mormon colony in Mexico and was active in the church. Willard “Mitt” Romney attended Brigham Young University and worked as a Mormon missionary in France. In the early 1980s, Romney was appointed as bishop of the Mormon congregation in Belmont, Mass.

He rarely talked about his faith in the 2008 race. As he began to prepare to run again he faced new questions of whether he could overcome intolerance.

“The great majority of Americans understand that this nation was founded on the principle of religious tolerance and liberty so most people do not make their decision based on someone’s faith. But you don’t worry about that,” he said in 2011 on ABC’s The View.

Romney garnered a dismal 11 percent evangelical support in South Carolina in 2008 and his faith was a distinct factor, even as he drew some top endorsements, such as Bob Jones III, chancellor of the ultra-Christian college in Greenville that bears his name.

“As a Christian I am completely opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism,” Jones said in 2007. “But I’m not voting for a preacher. I’m voting for a president. It boils down to who can best represent conservative American beliefs, not religious beliefs.”

...South Carolina has a history of dirty politics and with six days before the primary, something could develop. In the 2008 campaign, voters received anti-Romney mailers from an anonymous source that called attention to polygamy, which the Mormon church banned more than a century ago.

No doubt there are many evangelicals here who are turned off to Romney’s candidacy because he is Mormon. But there are also those like Jane Bateman, 68, of Spartanburg, who attended the forum in Duncan.

“I just can’t get past it,” Bateman said of Mormonism, explaining she prefers the Catholic Santorum. “But if Romney is the nominee I’ll hold my nose and vote for him.”

If Romney emerges as the nominee, 91 percent of white evangelical Republicans nationally would back him over President Obama, according to a November poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

At the same time, the survey found that nearly two out of three evangelicals do not believe Mormonism is a Christian religion and that 15 percent of evangelicals would not support Romney.

"They look like they're more Christian than Christians if you just look at the surface. But no, they have their own separate Book of Mormon," Eleanor Becker, 74 of Atlantic, Iowa, said when the candidates were crisscrossing her state a month ago. "I could not vote for one to be the head our nation."

Besides adding to sacred Christian scripture, Mormons believe in living prophets and apostles. The theology remains unclear to most Americans, lending a perception the religion is secretive, or worse.

In October, an ally of GOP hopeful Rick Perry made news by likening Mormonism to a “cult.” In December, the political director of Newt Gingrich’s campaign in Iowa was forced to resign after disparaging remarks he made about the faith came to light.

You'd have to be a real idiot to oppose Romney because of Mormonism, but idiots are a really big constituency in the Republican Party, especially in places like South Carolina... and especially when you consider the pathetic alternatives in the primary. If only Herman Cain had stayed in the race... or Bachmann.




PS: OH NO! EVANGELICAL ELECTION-RIGGING???

The Washington Times reported yesterday ("Conservatives feud over Santorum endorsement") that "in an evolving power struggle, religious conservatives are feuding about whether a weekend meeting in Texas yielded a consensus that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is the best bet to stop Mitt Romney’s drive for the Republican presidential nomination."

Former White House evangelical-outreach official Doug Wead, who represented GOP presidential hopeful Texas Rep. Ron Paul at the event, said the outcome obviously was determined in advance by the choice of the people invited.

“By the time the weekend was over, it was clear that this had been definitely planned all along as a Rick Santorum event,” Mr. Wead said, noting that he was the only supporter of Mr. Paul to receive an invitation.

“The organizer was for Santorum, the person who created the invitation list was for Santorum, the emcee was for Santorum, and after making sure all of the Gingrich people had vented early, the last three speakers before the vote were for Santorum,” he said.

Added a Gingrich supporter, a prominent social conservative who asked not to be named, “My view is that the vote was manipulated.”

As a colleague put it, "Wow. If you can't trust 150 evangelical extremists, who can you trust?"

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