Thursday, April 5, 2012

Why I Don't Trust the Mormon Church and Why Mitt Romney Makes Me Uneasy

I understand Mitt Romney will get the Republican nomination and could be the next president of the United States of America. I know Romney is a Mormon. I don't trust politicians. I don't trust Mormons. Romney is both.
My first experience with Mormons was a grade school classmate whose family converted because they liked playing board games together. I liked playing board games and would have converted if they would have let me. But they moved away.
My next experience was reading a Sherlock Holmes story 'Study in Scarlet' based on actual events depicting Mormon blood feuds. Past is past and history is history, so I didn't hold that against current day Mormons any more than I hold the Spanish Inquisition against Catholics.
All that changed when I went to college in southern California. I was working in a student center as a custodian, cleaning toilets and washing windows to pay for my tuition. Occasionally, I would help with audio visual set up in the student center for big meetings. I became good friends with the set up director and sometimes he would invite me to sit with him in the lighting booth and listen in on meetings.
We listened to sorority and fraternity 'secret' initiations. I was amazed how puerile both were, but that's another story.
One day, we listened in on the Mormons. Adult church leaders were giving speeches to Mormon students. The adult leaders used words like 'infiltrate' and 'pretend' and 'blend in' and 'take over' and 'ultimate victory.'
Student members were encouraged to pretend to be loyal Americans, fit in, blend in, and infiltrate society at all levels for an eventual take over of the country to prepare for the coming of Jesus and establishment of His Rule in the Latter Days.
This was in the early 1980's. It's 2012 and a Mormon could be president. Those college classmates of mine listening to those speeches are, like me, in their 50's now. Are they still 'pretending' and 'infiltrating?' Are they still playing board games with their families?
My parents were born-again Christians who believed the world would end in their lifetime and that Jesus would come on the clouds of Heaven and restore His Rule on earth. As a result, their long range planning was non-existent and their deaths left their children straddled with debts, struggling to tie up the loose ends of their worldly estate.
I don't think that people who hold religious views like my parents did should be in government service. People can believe what they want in the privacy of their own homes. But if you really believe the end of the world is imminent, then you shouldn't be in a position making public policy for people who do not share your views and want to make a better future for your children and grandchildren.
I should say, a better future that does not rely on being lifted into the clouds of heaven by Jesus. There is a reason for separation of church and state. It should be philosophical as well as financial. The two don't mix.  Today, our country is straddled with debt and spending is out of control. We are spending like there is no tomorrow precisely because some people in power really believe there will be no tomorrow.
I can not assume Romney shares the views of Mormon church leaders. I do not share the views of my parents. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney was a moderate in a liberal state. I do not know the break down demographically of how born-again Christians support Romney. Not all born-again Christians are social conservatives. Many are egalitarian. It is not cut and dried.
But I don't trust Romney. I don't trust secret societies in general, whether it's Skull and Bones or the Masons or Amway. I've listened to John Kennedy's speeches about being a Catholic and about how dangerous and harmful secret societies are to our country.
I haven't heard anything convincing from Romney that addresses the concerns of how his beliefs will affect his policy decisions. Maybe part of that is due to Romney's inability to be convincing about ANYTHING.
I admit that due to my upbringing I am uneasy and distrustful of people with strong religious beliefs. I will vote for the candidates that I believe will work hard for the benefit of ALL Americans. I am not convinced Romney will.