BOM

[shakatany]

Well since Mitt Romney is still a strong contender amongst the  Rethuglicans (*g*) I thought I'd check out exactly what he supposedly believes in at The Skeptics Annotated Book of Mormon. I know it's not PC to comment on someone's religious beliefs but if the Mormons truly believe all that it just proves David Hannum's adage that "there's a sucker

Comments

[debauched_angel]

Oh my, I'm certainly going to check that link out later :) I must admit to being totally fascinated with the whole US Presidential race.

We have nothing like that here in NI - when the UK mainland are busy voting for who they want as their, or should I say 'our', Prime Minister, we get to vote for representatives of whom I'm never sure who they're representing! Although we're a part of the UK, we don't get to vote Labour or Conservative per se as everyone on the Mainland does - in fact, I'm never really sure *why* we are voting as it's only really on a local Council basis, not Labour or 'Tory.

I'm enjoying the whole USA process on Sky, though. I'm actually quite excited as to who will finally be elected President. At the end of the day, I may be hundreds of miles across the ocean, but the outcome, especially with *this* years candidates, will affect us all.

I certainly don't want a president who believes that Native Americans are descended from Hebrew immigrants especially since geneticists have performed DNA tests and shown

[shakatany]

With Romney the Mormon (I originally wrote Huckabee *headdesk*) and Huckabee the fundamentalist preacher favored by the religious right and McCain the hypocrite, the Rethuglicans have an interesting lineup of all white males whereas we have a woman, an African-American and, until he dropped out, a part-Hispanic. We are the future and the Rethuglicans are clinging to a past that never was.

Shakatany

[fenchurche]

certainly don't want a president who believes that Native Americans are descended from Hebrew immigrants

The answer to that is yes and no. The belief is that there was a group of people who made it here from Israel... but the Book of Mormon actually mentions that there were other people in the Americas and that those settlers eventually intermarried with them. I guess I should say that the religion, itself, does not believe that all the native peoples of the two American continents are descended from those Hebrew settlers... but that doesn't mean there aren't individual church members who believe that, simply because they haven't done enough reading. Even more than that, there was so much intermarrying and so much shifting in beliefs between the various groups that are mentioned, that in the end most of the people were "descendants" largely in the philosophical sense of following some of their traditions.

Also if Hilary becomes the Democratic nominee they may do their utmost to see that she loses as they believe "When women are

[shakatany]

To believe that people from Israel came to America around 600 BCE and found cows, horses, oxen, asses, and goats (though indeed there once were horses in America but they died out around 12,000 years ago along with the mammoths and other fauna) and supposedly planted wheat and barley though none existed here before the arrival of the Europeans is to believe in fantasy IMO. Of course if one day geneticists found Semitic DNA in the native population or ruins or remains of these early settlers, I, and others, would have to reconsider this

[riani1]

As I think you know, I live in Utah, in one of the more right-leaning areas at that (a long, strange story to how I got here). I'm not a Mormon and never have been, but I've picked up a lot of the culture. As fenchurche said, the Israelites are only one factor in the Lamanites (ie, native Americans). Also, the most recent edition of the BOM has a note in the preface commenting briefly on the discrepancy between the scientific evidence and scripture

[shakatany]

it's not a true translation of the papyrus, which has "mysteriously" gone missing, Didn't the gold tablets of the angel Moroni also conveniently vanish?

Basically I am tired of the people who rule trying to impose upon us the idea that we are a Christian nation and everything would be better if we all believed and who do their darnedest to weaken the walls separating church and state. When did religious belief become a politcal litmus test? Jefferson and the others must be turning over in their graves.

Shakatany

[riani1]

The golden tablets were taken back by the Angel Moroni, either because they were too sacred to leave or because they were not being treated correctly. Also, Joseph Smith's translation technique was to put two special rocks into his top hat and peer into the hat to receive revelation.

To their credit, the LDS folk know how that sounds, and try to deflect talk into the validity of the message rather than the means the message arrived. It's a touchy subject.

Apparently John Madison stated specifically in a treaty with the Barbary pirates or something that we are not a Christian nation. I've got the citation somewhere, but it can be found by Googling John Madison and Christian nation.

[shakatany]

I made a post about that treaty some time ago because Fargo is in the midst of a "Ten Commandments" fight and I thought it made a good point. Of course now I can't find that entry *sigh*

Shakatany

[lit_gal]

They believe that there were descendants of the lost tribe of Israel over here, not that all Native Americans are descended from them. They don't believe in inheriting planets or being gods... they do wear funny underwear. The underwear actually comes midthigh, and women are not supposed to wear anything that would show that underwear, although the kids who just visited me are still newlyweds, and D was teasing his new wife, which led to tickling, which led to me seeing the edge of L's funny underwear.

[shakatany]

Well the whole thing is moot now (or until 2012).

I just wish religious beliefs hadn't become a litmus test for politicians. Atheists (and agnostics and freethinkers) are currently being discriminated against in the political realm and the barrier between church and state is being hacked at daily by the administration. I just want that to stop.

Shakatany