Mormons: 3 Things Obama Knows About the Mormon Church

Is Mitt Romney's Mormonism a key issue? You bet it is

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For polygamy and racism were merely nasty subsets of Mormonism's animating piece of dangerous nonsense. Underlying the whole of Mormonism, past and present, is the claim — part of what makes it a heresy to traditional forms of Christianity — that America is divinely blessed and the US divinely inspired.

These claims run through the Book of Mormon, supposedly translated — with the aid of special stone glasses — by the movement's semi-literate founder, Joseph Smith, from golden tablets dug up by him in New York state in the s at the direction of the angel Moroni, who then conveniently removed the plates to heaven. Among Mormonism's core beliefs is the assertion that Jesus Christ actually visited America two millennia ago.

Mormons also believe that the Garden of Eden was in America, that native Americans are part of the lost tribes of Israel, and that America is the land of Zion where the new Jerusalem will be built before the second coming of the messiah. They hold that the Declaration of Independence and the US constitution were divinely inspired documents towards that end — though it is not so clear, as the historian Garry Wills has pointed out , whether Mormons regard the constitution's later amendments, including the abolition of slavery, as divinely inspired too.

George Washington and America's founding fathers have all been posthumously incorporated into the Mormon narrative and rebaptised as Mormons, as has Christopher Columbus. There are two reasons why this view of the world matters outside the confines of the Mormon temples. The first is that it is a good old-fashioned spectacular Christian heresy.

This has electoral consequences. Mormonism makes it difficult not just for agnostics but for members of other religions, including the more doctrinaire American Christians of course, to vote for someone who professes it, as Romney does. The second matters more widely.

If America has divine sanction, as Mormons believe, it follows that American foreign policy has divine sanction too , and that it is answerable to its own ie God's rules, not those of other, by definition lesser and less blessed, nations. Perhaps, as many believe, Romney's Mormonism will not loom large in November. There are, after all, at most 6 million Mormons.

6 facts about U.S. Mormons

But this seems at odds with the widely accepted view that American politics, especially on the right, continue to be deeply influenced by religious and cultural divides. Romney may not flaunt his religion but his speech was an affirmation, never since denied, of the centrality of religion in American public life.

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And individuals matter in politics. If he becomes president, a man who believes that the existence of the United States is proof of God's higher purpose for its rulers will again occupy the Oval Office. Does Romney's Mormonism matter?

You bet it does. Topics Mitt Romney Opinion. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Inventor of the electric lightbulb and moving pictures, Thomas Edison, is his 10 th cousin. Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, is his fifth cousin two times removed.

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Inventor of the television, Philo T. Farnsworth, is his ninth cousin one time removed.

Morse — who refined the telegraph and developed Morse code — is his fifth cousin two times removed. Some of his distant cousins also are known for trying to help people. Catherine Coffin, a Quaker who helped thousands of slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, is his fifth cousin five times removed. Wyandanch, a chief of Montaukett Indians in New York in the s, is credited with preventing or stopping several wars with English settlers.

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Samuel Mudd treated John Wilkes Booth while he fled after assassinating Lincoln, and delayed reporting it to authorities. He was imprisoned for it, and years of trying to clear his name officially have failed. Florence Nightingale, a founder of modern nursing who tended to soldiers in the Crimean War, is his 12 th cousin three times removed. LDS Church president from to , Smith is known for his close relationships to other Mormon prophets.

His father, Joseph F. He is the grand-nephew of church founder Joseph Smith. Smith also has distant cousins who were key non-Mormon religious leaders, too. That includes four people declared saints by the Roman Catholic Church. Katharine Drexel, a U. Mary of the Cross MacKillop, is his 13 th cousin. His distant cousins include plenty of famous athletes.

Some were pro football players. McKay also is related to some famous college football coaches.

McKay is also related to several Hall of Fame baseball players. Mickey Mantle is his 13 th cousin two times removed; Ted Williams is his 14 th cousin one time removed; Rogers Hornsby is his 11 th cousin two times removed; and Ty Cobb is his 11 th cousin three times removed.

A record number of women will be serving in the new Congress

Legal Notices Obituaries Jobs. Tuesday, December 18, You might be surprised whom Mormon prophets could call family: September 25, Updated: Following is a look at some of those relationships: BYU grad invents glitter bomb with fart spray to discourage package thieves — and millions are watch. BYU has commitments from 16 football recruits, and all but a couple are expected to sign Wednesday w. Utes will grab a bigger chunk of their recruiting class this year as early signing day commences.

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