Posted by:
jw the inquizzinator
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Date: July 17, 2012 03:25PM
1) Sir, your faith believes some Native Americans are the descendants of Jewish settlers, wouldn't that negate their claims to being "Native" Americans? What Native American programs will you cut as President as a result of this Mormon "truth"? Which Native American tribes are of this lineage?
2) You have stated that your religion no longer practices polygamy, isn't it true that many of your faith are married--or sealed as you would call it--to more than one spouse right now? Do you personally believe that it is necessary to practice polygamy in the hereafter in order to attain the highest rewards in Heaven? What, as President, will you do as the Chief US Law Enforcement Official to increase the pursuit and apprehension of those that currently practice polygamy on the earth?
3) Do you think that organizations that claim tax exempt status have the right to selectively exclude US taxpayers/citizens from their facilities? If not, what will you do to change that?
4) Do you think US military forces should be used to protect LDS missionaries abroad, should they require assistance?
5) Do you support the current LDS missionary effort to China?
6) Since we assume you wear the authorized garment of the LDS church, and since you believe it will protect you from harm, are you willing to forgo the use of Secret Service personal security and save the US taxpayers thousands of dollars?
7) Do you believe there is a planet or star named Kolob? Will you be directing NASA to finds its location?
8) The LDS church continues to perform rituals for deceased persons without prior consent, do you support this, or will you, as President, introduce legislation to prevent it?
9) The LDS Church currently uses public school buildings to conduct religious training for teenagers, do you support the use of publicly funded school facilities for religious training? Are you willing to open all public school facilities to all religions for their use?
10) You believe in keeping the Sabbath Day, Sunday in your religion, holy, correct? What will you do as President to enforce that belief? Assuming your are sincere in your belief, would you promote a National Blue Law? Will you encourage the NFL to move the Superbowl and all its football games to Saturdays?
11) What historical episodes from Mormon history have you publicly condemned? Any? The destruction of the Expositor? The Mountain Meadows Massacre? The historically racist policies of your church? The expulsion of church historians? If so, when?
12) What do you believe should be the role of women in a marriage? Should they work outside the home?
13) In your faith, all the leadership positions are filled by males (with the exception of the separate women's and children's organizations), do you believe women are capable of holding important leadership positions? Have you ever encouraged your church to place women in positions of leadership (other than woman-only or children's organizations)? If so, have you articulated your views [that women can fill leadership positions as well as men] to the leadership of your church? In writing? When?
14) Why is it that your Mormon Church has officially gone on record as teaching that Blacks will be servants to White people in Mormon heaven?
15) It mentions in your faith’s scriptures about a “great and abominable church” [1 Ne. 14: 3-4, 9-10, 12-13, 15-17; 1 Ne. 13: 5-6, 8, 26, 28, 32, 34; 1 Ne. 22: 13-14; D&C 29: 21; 2 Ne. 6: 12], to what does that refer? Some have suggested that it refers to the Catholic Church, some say all Protestant denominations, some say it refers to all religions other than Mormonism…what do you believe?
16) The decision in 2007 by the president of the College of William & Mary to remove the 100-year old Wren Cross from the college’s 274-year-old school chapel in order to make it “more welcoming” abruptly brought the nation’s second oldest university to a dramatic crossroads. In light of that decision, what are your views on this action? Your faith chooses not to embrace the most common Christian symbol [the cross], if you were elected President, would you remove crosses from all Federal Property?
17) The judgment of the President of the US is an important issue, since, if elected, you may have to decide to invade a foreign country based on information given to you. As we have seen in Iraq, the ability to critically challenge intelligence can lead to faulty decisions. Some of the information in the Mormon religion states that there are three Nephites that have never died and that still walk the earth, do you subscribe to that belief? Have you ever challenged that belief? Have you ever communicated to your church's officials in reference to this?
18) If the United States were attacked by a nuclear weapon, and we knew which country had attacked us, would you respond in kind? If yes, would you do so even if there were LDS missionaries in that country?
19) Under pressure from the US Federal government over statehood, the Mormon Church changed its policy concerning polygamy in 1890 and again in 1904. Under pressure from the civil rights movement in 1978, the Mormon Church changed its policy about denying the priesthood to blacks. Like the Mormon Church, you have shown the propensity for changing your positions on important issue such as gun control and abortion when it suited your political needs. Since we do not know what might happen in the next four years, what assurances do the American people have that you will not change your positions on other important issues?
20) In one of your past talking points you say that Americans don’t really dissect what faith a candidate has, they just want a person of faith in the White House. Your faith is unfamiliar and seems unconventional to many Americans with beliefs like a planet named Kolob, polygamous marriages in Heaven, and a belief that men can become gods. If elected President, how will you help the American people understand the faith of their Commander in Chief?
21) In a past 60 Minutes interview, you acknowledged that voters may have a problem with your religion's history of polygamy. You stated that polygamy, currently outlawed by your church, is troubling to you. You said, “I must admit, I can't image anything more awful than polygamy". Do you believe that God is married and currently has more than one wife? Do you believe that men who become gods must have more than one wife? Do you believe that a faithful Mormon woman who is not “sealed” to a worthy Mormon male member on earth will be “sealed”, perhaps as a plural wife, to a worthy Mormon male in the hereafter?
22) Your Great, Great, Grandfather was Parley P. Pratt, a distinguished figure in Mormon history. He was murdered in NW Arkansas in 1857 yet the assailant was never prosecuted. How do you feel about that? What were the details of that incident? [Follow-up if it is claimed Pratt was murdered while on a mission…Isn’t it true that Hector McLean, a Federal Official, was the murderer, and that he killed Pratt because Parley had married his wife Eleanor and was attempting to take his three children to Utah?]
23) On an episode of the Glenn Beck Show in 2007 [March 30, 2007], Beck had Joel Rosenberg, Author of the book "Epicenter”, as a guest. Mr. Rosenburg said the following, “What’s interesting now in the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, you have a radical Shiite Muslim who is telling people publicly that he believes the end of the world is imminent and that the way to hasten the coming of the Islamic messiah, known as the 12th imam or the Mahdi, is to wipe Israel off the map -- that’s the little Satan -- and to wipe the United States off the map. That’s the great Satan.” Since you share President Ahmadinejad’s view that we are in the latter days of the planet, how is your vision of the end times different than Ahmadinejad’s? [Follow up if he states that he doesn’t believe we are in the end times…Isn’t it true that you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Is there some other meaning to “Latter-day” that the American people should know about?]
25) The LDS Church has not made its financial records public since about 1959, do you support that decision? Do you think the LDS church benefits from taxpayer-funded roads that connect LDS meetinghouses, temples, and business offices? Do you think the freedom afforded LDS missionaries, both at home and abroad, is facilitated by the presence of the US Armed Forces (and their capabilities), also funded by the American taxpayers? In your opinion, why won’t the LDS Church openly admit where their money comes from and on what it is spent?
26) In July of every year, your church produces the “Hill Cumorah Pageant” that serves as a religious recruiting event. Are you aware of any Federal tax dollars that are expended to facilitate that event? Security? Infrastructure? If you knew Federal tax dollars did in fact, directly or indirectly, support the event, what would you do as President? Do nothing? Increase the level of support? Ask the LDS church to pay for Federal Services used (both direct and indirect)? Would you be as supportive of a similar event for Wiccans? How about a Fundamentalist LDS group?
27) In 1839, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded Nauvoo, IL on the banks of the Mississippi River. There they developed a community that grew as large in population as Chicago. With almost no federal or state governmental interference, Nauvoo developed into what was inarguably a theocratic state. The theocracy in Nauvoo ran religious, civil and military affairs. The Mormon army grew to a third the size of the United States Army, and Joseph Smith remained in charge of the entire apparatus. Given what a central role your religion plays in your life, what assurances do the American people have that you will not guide the federal government into a theocracy—since that is obviously the ultimate design approved by your Church’s leaders when unhindered by outside influences? [Follow-up] So you think Joseph Smith was blatantly wrong in the type of government he instituted in Nauvoo?
28) The American people want to be assured that their President will be able to make the right choices in times of crisis. As humans, all our decisions are based on the values we hold dear, the experiences we have had, and the lessons we have learned. In the past you said, “I also believe that there are some pundits out there that are hoping that I'll distance myself from my church so that that'll help me politically, and that's not going to happen.” Are we to assume, then, that your values, your decision-making will continue to be shaped by your Mormon faith? In particular, how will that affect you views of the following:
• The role of women in families and in society
• The role of organized religions in politics
• The practice of discrimination, based on sexual preference, by tax exempt organizations [temple admittance]
29) If elected President and when visiting foreign nations, will you make it a point to meet with the LDS missionaries in those nations? Do you think being a Mormon President will increase the likelihood that these missionaries might be attacked or kidnapped as retaliation against the United States? Would you negotiate with organizations that chose this tactic or are you willing to say right now that you would never negotiate in that instance? What advice would you give the families of these young missionaries should you be elected President?
30) In a past BBC news article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6972862.stm) you were quoted as saying, “This [the Mountain Meadows Massacre] was a terrible, awful act carried out by members of my faith. There are bad people in any church, and it's true of members of my church." You seem to know that there were several LDS Church members involved in the massacre; do you have any idea why only one was prosecuted and why that prosecution took so long? Have you communicated your angst to the LDS Church leadership? If so, was it in writing and can I get a copy? If you had been President, what would you have done differently to ensure justice would have been swift and sure?
31) Your church has an interesting record regarding race and some interesting theories on how the skins of some peoples of the world became dark. In your opinion, how did dark-skinned people become dark-skinned?
32) Should you be elected President, will you use the Book of Mormon at your inauguration?
33) In a recent 60 Minutes interview you said “I can’t imagine anything more awful than polygamy,” what did you mean by that? Do you think your great grandfather and his five wives and your great-great grandfather and his 12 wives are currently living an “awful” life? Do you think God likes polygamy?
34) What was the worst hardship of your missionary experience in France during the Viet Nam War?
35) A recent edit to the introduction to the Book of Mormon states that instead of being the "principal ancestors" of American Indians, Lamanites are now......“among the ancestors of the American Indians.” What do you believe initiated this change? [Isn’t it true it was made to reflect the fact that no Israelite genetic markers have been discovered in Native Americans?]
36) Do you believe that all the extant versions of the Bible in 1830 were corrupt? Are there any non-corrupt Bibles today? if current Bibles are corrupt will you identify which verses are the corrupt ones?
37) Since many Mormons have contributed to your campaign, what percentage of Mormons will you have in your cabinet? As political appointees? In Federal agencies?
38) Many of your church leaders have used the word “Gentile” in talks and conferences. Some say that “Gentile” in Mormonism refers to anyone that is not a member of the LDS Church. What is your definition of “gentile”?
39) If elected, would you, by executive order, take the Mountain Meadows Massacre Monument site under Federal Stewardship?
40) I understand that in your religion worthy priesthood holders have the ability to heal the sick with the use of consecrated oil and through the power of this priesthood. Why haven't you cured your wife? Have you tried? More than once?
41) Do you think that Churches that have vast land holdings and that run businesses from these holdings should pay taxes on thee property and the businesses (since they use roads, require emergency services, etc.)?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2012 03:44PM by jw the inquizzinator.