[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

But I think the difference between a Mormon missionary and your other missions is that ALL the Mormon ones seem to care about is that you come around to their way of thinking.

Exactly. The motivation for anything else is conversion.

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

The Mormon missionaries I've come in contact with have all been lovely people.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

And to some degree, aren't every religions practices or beliefs a little strange to outsiders? No doubt most of what I know about Mormonism seems unusually odd but the individual Mormons I have know have demonstrated excellent character and I'd feel as/more comfortable voting for them as any evangelical Protestants.

Perhaps I was a bit flippant, but at the risk of sounding a bit more bigoted, I'll go ahead and lay out my thoughts on it. (Although I'm with you, UGAalum94, as to many evangelical Protestants.)

I'll readily agree that the Mormons I have known have almost without exception been good and caring people. My wife has Mormon cousins (converts), I have a cousin who married a Mormon but did not convert, and I have had Mormon collegues, especially in work with the Boy Scouts. (The Boy Scouts is the official LDS boys' youth organization).

I am also accutely aware that the beliefs of all religions, including my own, can seem strange or preposterous to outsiders. More than that, I am aware that my own faith is founded on the accounts of a bunch of no-account people in Palestine 2000 years ago who claimed that their no-account rabbi -- for whom there is little, if any, evidence outside the writings of his disciples that he actually lived -- (1) was God incarnate and (2) rose from the dead. So I am aware of the dangers of criticizing too much the foundations of someone else's religion.

That said, among my chief issues with Mormonism itself is the whole Joseph Smith/revelation thing. The evidence is just too strong that he made the whole thing up (and that as far as temple rituals go, he drew a great deal on masonic rituals). I would simply have a hard time trusting the judgment of a presidential candidate who accepts the Joseph Smith story.

Just to take it a step further, I would also have a hard time voting for a presidential candidate who believes that he is progressing toward his own godhood (exaltation), and who believes that unquestioning obedience to LDS Church Authorities is essential to achieving his own exaltation as well as his family's.

So, that's my feeling on the whole thing. Again, if it makes me a bigot, so be it.