Romney Bows Out

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

I hate missionaries. With their humanitarian aid and stuff, disgusting.

Mormon missionaries proselytize and that's all -- no humanitarian aid or stuff. Humanitarian aid and stuff, except for aiding their own, is not an LDS strong-suit.

'Course, I wouldn't exlude all missionaries from political service either. I couldn't, however, vote for anyone for president who believes that you need a secret password and grip to get into heaven. Chapter meetings -- yes, heaven -- no. If that makes me a bigot, so be it.

Glad to see you back, shinerbock.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Mormon missionaries proselytize and that's all -- no humanitarian aid or stuff. Humanitarian aid and stuff, except for aiding their own, is not an LDS strong-suit.

'Course, I wouldn't exlude all missionaries from political service either. I couldn't, however, vote for anyone for president who believes that you need a secret password and grip to get into heaven. Chapter meetings -- yes, heaven -- no. If that makes me a bigot, so be it.

I don't know, being willing to sacrifice two years of your life to try to bring more people to God and your idea of heaven isn't really a bad thing in my book. (I've also found Mormon missionaries pretty easy to brush off if you weren't interested.) And while Mormon missions may not typically involve humanitarian aid, the Mormons that I have known are frequently involved in secular organizations that provide assistance.

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. Outside of Utah, I don't think they'd except to bring about any kind of Mormon theocracy and might even be especially sensitive about religious tolerance.

I'm not trying to get into how you ought to vote, MysticCat. What people believe is ultimately real spiritually is probably pretty important and seems as valid a consideration as any.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I don't know, being willing to sacrifice two years of your life to try to bring more people to God and your idea of heaven isn't really a bad thing in my book. (I've also found Mormon missionaries pretty easy to brush off if you weren't interested.) And while Mormon missions may not typically involve humanitarian aid, the Mormons that I have known are frequently involved in secular organizations that provide assistance.

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. Outside of Utah, I don't think they'd except to bring about any kind of Mormon theocracy and might even be especially sensitive about religious tolerance.

I'm not trying to get into how you ought to vote, MysticCat. What people believe is ultimately real spiritually is probably pretty important and seems as valid a consideration as any.

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. I have friends in what would be considered fundamentalist churches who do a lot of mission work in Africa and while some of it is "This is how we love Jesus and you should too" some of it is also "have some rice and medical care and let's teach you how to read." My boyfriend's brother did a mission in Albania where he spent most of his time teaching English. He also talked about faith a lot, but he wasn't just there to talk about faith.

To me it sort of reminds me of that Assisi quote: Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.

I think the Mormons just use words. I would really like it if religion was not a factor at all in voting for president, but since everybody wants to talk about it all the time, it's hard not to consider it. I wonder if this happened as much before Al Smith and later Kennedy, when everyone running was a WASP.