Posted by:
anagrammy
(
)
Date: January 31, 2012 08:31AM
For link lovers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-mormon-church-in-need-of-reform/2012/01/27/gIQA3s44aQ_story.html?tid=pm_popCan't tell if it posted or not--Here's my comment:
You can't remove religion from politics because both represent ideologies, which is how we identify in a visceral "our tribe/other tribe." This is what commentators are talking about when they struggle to articulate the baffling (to them) inability of Mitt Romney to "connect" with voters. They tend to think it's his money--the insular patrician aloofness we associate with the moneyed upper class. We exmormons recognize the "oddness" as the superior tone of leaders in the Mormon hierarchy.
Sametoyou rightfully mentions the significance of Romney's deference to Church policy over his wife's natural desire to include her parents in their temple wedding. The banning of non-members is bad enough, but Mormons also ban member parents from weddings if they are not paid-up tithe payers. Many parents are forced to pay unpaid tithing on back income in the thousands in order to see their children be married. Each Mormon family faces an annual Tithing Settlement meeting with their Bishop in which they are asked whether or not they have paid a full tithing. Some are asked to provide payroll receipts to prove they are compliant with the requirement to pay a full 10% on gross rather than net income. Those who fail this test are barred from entering Mormon temples. Mitt Romney conducted these interviews.
When you understand the scope of intrusion perpetrated by Mormon Bishops and Stake Presidents into the private lives of Mormons, it does become significant to our ability to include Mitt Romney as "one of us." For example, did you know that Mormon bishops routinely call young boys twelve and older into their offices without a parent or other adult present to grill them about masturbation? The main culture of America disapproves of an adult male discussing a child's sexuality alone in an office without parental knowledge. Utah leads the nation in suicide for young males because they are hounded and made to feel filthy and unworthy about activities that the rest of the country considers normal. Your child's answers to sex interviews are detailed and kept in a file to be reviewed at any future time (even years later) or worse yet, for the titillation of the interviewer, file clerk, next bishop, ward clerk, or anyone else with access. Mormon obsession with masturbation prevention has lead to youth suicides and distorted views of sexuality. Utah is the state with the highest number of teachers who sexually abuse their students and has ranked as number one in the nation in the consumption of pornography. Mitt Romney conducted those child interviews and wrote those notes.
A Stake President presides over Mormon "Court of Love" where a member is "tried" for serious moral crimes. Male adulterers are excommunicated. The female participant in the same act is given a lesser punishment due to what? Females are less responsible for their behavior than males due to inherent inferiority. Mitt Romney has handed down these biased judgments.
You decide.
Anagrammy (Kathleen Waters)