Mormon President (missionaries, America, mission, church, recall)

[Jaiket]

I recall watching something on the BBC a few weeks back. It was about the prospect of a Mormon becoming president of the USA. It gave the impression that this was not an altogether impossible idea.

I'm curious, is there a great deal of prejudice towards Mormons in the USA? (In Scotland I've found a lot of people are quite wary of the Mormon church).

What are the chances of a Mormon becoming president?

[MaddLlama]

A lot of the more outspoken Christian fundamentalists in the US like to give people the impression that the LDS church is at the very least a "fake" Christian sect, and at worst, that they're somehow involved with the anti-christ.



So, that ought to give you an idea....

[Booko]

I'd say the odds are pretty slim at the moment for a Mormon becoming president, but I suspect that's more on account of the reservations about Mitt Romney's political opinions than his religion.

Though there will be a segment of society here that will not vote for him simply because he's a Mormon and they believe that LDS is a "cult". Unfortunately, those folks are more likely to be member of Romney's own party. (There were similar problems and comments made when Catholic JFK ran for Prez, incidentally.)

The people who oppose Romney for religious reasons won't get any more microphone time than someone would who wanted to express an opinion that Obama shouldn't be president because he's black, but it would be naive to imagine no such people exist. They do.

For my part, I grew up in Michigan when Romney's dad (George) was the governor. I don't recall his religion ever being an issue there, but then in that part of the world it's considered bad taste to wear one's religion on one's sleeve publically (or at least it used to be so) and charismatic Christians were sometimes even derided for being so noisy about their religion.

I had policy disagreements with Gov. Romney some times, but frankly I never noticed he was a member of LDS, and I still put my pants on the same way in the morning.

If anything, Mitt's record of keeping his pants zipped outside his own bedroom is somewhat comforting. I frankly would like to not have any repeats of silly investigations into people's bedrooms habits or reporters hiding in the bushes (cf. also-ran Sen. Gary Hart).

[Booko]

Originally Posted by MaddLlama

A lot of the more outspoken Christian fundamentalists in the US like to give people the impression that the LDS church is at the very least a "fake" Christian sect, and at worst, that they're somehow involved with the anti-christ.

So, that ought to give you an idea....

And a few of them actually make a *living* going around spreading things about what members of LDS supposedly believe. I've known a couple of those.

These are generally known as "anti-Mormon missionaries." They even do tacky things like disrupt LDS services. Disgusting.

I figure if these guys lied (knowingly of course) about what I believe, I see no reason to believe them about what Mormons do and believe either.

And yeah, those guys are Republicans. Mitt's got his work cut out for him as long as he runs on a national scale. In some regions, it's more of a non-issue.

[Comprehend]

I agree with what has already been said.

Romney's chances are pretty low right now although he is actually polling pretty good in the early primary states such as NH, and Iowa, he is doing poorly in SC.

also, Americans don't really like Mormons that much but at least they don't try to kill us or chase us out of the country anymore.

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Booko

And a few of them actually make a *living* going around spreading things about what members of LDS supposedly believe. I've known a couple of those.

These are generally known as "anti-Mormon missionaries." They even do tacky things like disrupt LDS services. Disgusting.

I figure if these guys lied (knowingly of course) about what I believe, I see no reason to believe them about what Mormons do and believe either.

And yeah, those guys are Republicans. Mitt's got his work cut out for him as long as he runs on a national scale. In some regions, it's more of a non-issue.

Sadly I'm well aware of these folks. The ministry I used to work with years ago supported such groups and spread the same lies. It's really very disgusting, and I just don't get it.

[Comprehend]

Originally Posted by Booko

And a few of them actually make a *living* going around spreading things about what members of LDS supposedly believe. I've known a couple of those.

These are generally known as "anti-Mormon missionaries." They even do tacky things like disrupt LDS services. Disgusting.

I figure if these guys lied (knowingly of course) about what I believe, I see no reason to believe them about what Mormons do and believe either.

And yeah, those guys are Republicans. Mitt's got his work cut out for him as long as he runs on a national scale. In some regions, it's more of a non-issue.

yeah, you should see the really neat "christians" who show up at our semi-annual conferences at Temple Square and do things like pretend to wipe their butts with stolen temple garments and tear up Books of Mormon and shout lovely things to old ladies as they go to church.

It really makes me want to join their church.

[gmelrod]

Originally Posted by Comprehend

yeah, you should see the really neat "christians" who show up at our semi-annual conferences at Temple Square and do things like pretend to wipe their butts with stolen temple garments and tear up Books of Mormon and shout lovely things to old ladies as they go to church.

It really makes me want to join their church.

I think I heard somewhere that one year the southern Baptist convention decided to make the conversion of LDS members a priority. DId such a thing happen? (if you think this is too off topic please ignore.)

[Comprehend]

Originally Posted by gmelrod