Archive for December, 2006|Monthly archive page
Jacob Weisberg: “By holding [irrational and absurd views], someone indicates a basic failure to think for himself or see the world as it is”
Leave a CommentChristians aren’t the only crowd that have folks concerned about Romney’s religious views. Jacob Weisberg in Slate argues that he would not vote for a Mormon. Note that Jacob is not an evangelical Christian, and yet agrees that one’s religious worldview is worth examining. Jacob lists views (including my own, evangelical Christianity) he deems “dogmatic, irrational, and absurd. By holding them, someone indicates a basic failure to think for himself or see the world as it is.” I of course have a different view on the reasonableness of Biblical Christianity, but here’s a question worth asking: If my religion was really “irrational and absurd”, would that legitimately cast doubt on my ability to “see the world as it is”, and thus my ability to run the country? It’s a fair question that no one should scoff at. While I believe in the significance of integrated worldviews, I do wonder if we should spend more time reflecting on just how integrated some worldviews are. It’s complicated.
Weisberg goes on to describe the absurdity of the Mormon religion:
“I wouldn’t vote for someone who truly believed in the founding whoppers of Mormonism. The LDS church holds that Joseph Smith, directed by the angel Moroni, unearthed a book of golden plates buried in a hillside in Western New York in 1827. The plates were inscribed in “reformed” Egyptian hieroglyphics—a nonexistent version of the ancient language that had yet to be decoded. If you don’t know the story, it’s worth spending some time with Fawn Brodie’s wonderful biography No Man Knows My History. Smith was able to dictate his “translation” of the Book of Mormon first by looking through diamond-encrusted decoder glasses and then by burying his face in a hat with a brown rock at the bottom of it. He was an obvious con man. Romney has every right to believe in con men, but I want to know if he does, and if so, I don’t want him running the country.
“One may object that all religious beliefs are irrational—what’s the difference between Smith’s ’seer stone’ and the virgin birth or the parting of the Red Sea? But Mormonism is different because it is based on such a transparent and recent fraud. It’s Scientology plus 125 years.”
Weisberg also corrects the false notion that since “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States”, we should be hush-hush over religion:
“Objecting to someone because of his religious beliefs is not the same thing as prejudice based on religious heritage, race, or gender. Not applying a religious test for public office, means that people of all faiths are allowed to run—not that views about God, creation, and the moral order are inadmissible for political debate.” (emphasis added)
Video: “Mitt Romney and Mormonism”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That’s the official name for what is otherwise known as the Mormon Church. Most people associate Mormons with missionaries on bikes, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and polygamy. Of course, that’s not the whole story. The Mormons are a peculiar people, with a unique set of beliefs and quite a history.
Meet Mitt Romney. Romney is a Mormon Republican who’d like to be the next president. People are asking the question: Will his religion affect whether or not evangelicals vote for him? That’s a good question. But to many of us evangelical Christians in Utah who witness to Mormons, we think there are more important questions. Will this be an opportunity for the public to learn about what Mormonism really teaches? Will the doctrines of Mormonism be accurately portrayed? Will people understand the differences between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity?
This video is more about Mormonism than it is about Mitt Romney. We use an interview Romney had on the Charlie Rose show as a springboard for conversation.
Formats
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- MPEG4 (94 MB; requires QuickTime)
- DivX (278 MB; requires DivX codec or player)
- MPEG2 (1.1 GB)
Chapters
- Introduction
- Will Christ Appear Again in Missouri?
- Does God the Father have a Material Body?
- Does God the Father have a Father?
- Is the Great Flood the Most Unusual Belief in Mormonism?
- Ambiguity, Transition, and Diversity in Mormonism
- Should Christians Vote for a Mormon?
- Credits
Interviewees
The individual interviewees were not officially speaking for their respective organizations. Title and affiliation for identification purposes only.
- Timothy Oliver
Watchman Fellowship (Santaquin, UT) - Chip Thompson
Tri-Grace Ministries (Ephraim, UT) - Jason Larsen
Mormon (Ephraim, UT) - Matt Ortega
Lighthouse Baptist Church (American Fork, UT) - Bill McKeever
Mormonism Research Ministry (South Jordan, UT) - Matt Slick
Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (Boise, ID)
Correction
“Reenactment of Mormon temple ceremony” should read “Reenactment of pre-1990 Mormon temple ceremony”. The endowment ceremony was significantly changed in 1990.
Note from the producer
Grace and peace in Christ. This video is not meant to definitively support or oppose Romney as a presidential candidate. In fact, when people ask me whether I would personally vote for him, I am ambivalent. As a Christian countercultist, my primary interest is in replacing Mormonism with Christianity and inoculating outsiders with up-front information about Mormonism. Romney’s candidacy provides an unprecedented opportunity to make Mormonism a public issue. Some argue that electing Romney as president would legitimize the religion as “Christian” in the eyes of millions. Others argue that it would give the media an opportunity to talk about things the Mormon Church and its PR department try very hard to obscure. Whatever position voters decide to take, I want them to be informed and thoughtful, knowing that there is Biblical allowance for voting for those of different religious worldviews. More importantly, I want the public exposure of Mormonism to appropriately alarm Christians and encourage them to actively evangelize the Mormon people.
Since having produced the video as a personal project, I have decided to point my evangelistic web site, JesusNotJoseph.com, to MRM.org. I am now a part of the ministry, but want to make it clear that Mormonism Research Ministry was not involved in the production of the movie.
License
“Mitt Romney and Mormonism” is under a Creative Commons license, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5. This means you are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work under the following conditions:
- You must give the original author (JesusNotJoseph.com) credit.
- You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
- You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Steven Taylor Gets the “Main Issue” Right
Blog Post: On Romney and the Politics of Mormonism, by Steven Taylor
The main issue between Mormonism and orthodox Christianity (Catholicism, mainline protestantism, Evangelicals, etc.) of various stripes is pretty fundamental: it is disagreement over who Jesus of Nazareth was and is. One cannot get more fundamental than this issue. Orthodox Christianity sees Jesus as the literal incarnation of God and the doctrine of the Trinity states that the Father, Son and Spirit are all God, not Gods, not part of God, not simply manifestations of God, but God: God in three persons. And the God in question is the eternal God, the creator of all things, and is ultimately singular in all of existence for all time.
The Jesus of Mormonism is literally the son of a God, although Jesus Himself is also a God. However, instead of being a complex ontological proposition like the Trinity, the idea here is that there are actually many Gods throughout space and time, Jesus being only one. Further, we all, as humans, can become a God as well.
It is this fundamental difference, in different iterations, that separates orthodox Christian theology from Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists. Regardless of any other issue, they have different views on the essence of Christ. This is why, in a nutshell, orthodox Christians will often call these groups, Mormons included, as being cults.
BostonHerald.com: “Does Mormon Mitt have a prayer?”
Article: Does Mormon Mitt have a prayer?, by Dave Wedge
Worthen even explores the notion that some religious zealots may shun Romney for fear of “legitimizing” the religion and sparking swarms of Protestants to convert.
Ah, don’t you just love the affectionate terms us evangelicals are given?
Publishing pictures of the clothes in ridicule is as blasphemous to Mormons as posting pictures of Allah is to Muslims.
Eh, perhaps, but thank God Mormons don’t violently react like Muslims do. And thank God this isn’t 1844 and we aren’t in Nauvoo.
It would be difficult for Romney to advance LDS theology
Article: Bauer: In Some Cases, Candidate’s Stance on Issues Outweighs Theological Differences, by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
Bauer says he is not concerned that Romney would possibly use the White House to advance LDS theology. “I don’t know how he would do that,” the American Values leader states. “I think the public and the media would be on him in a second if he did anything that promoted his particular faith. And, in fact, I think he would be very hesitant to even appoint other Mormons to his cabinet.”
