NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Does Mitt Romney really believe that Jesus visited Missouri? -- Questions on his Mormon beliefs sure to arise as campaign continues

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Does Mitt Romney really believe that Jesus visited Missouri? -- Questions on his Mormon beliefs sure to arise as campaign continues

Posted on Friday, August 17, 2012 at 08:13 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

66 Comments

RSS

Archives

Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney Campaigns In Wisconsin (Credit: Getty Images)

Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith teaches that Jesus visited Missouri between his death and resurrection and that the Garden of Eden is located there.

Pretty bizarre don’t you think but the next occupant of the White House will hold it as a tenet of his faith.

Most religions have strange beliefs but somehow Jesus in Missouri does blow my mind quite a bit.

Did he visit St. Louis; did he like it there? What did he think of the Wild West – we don’t know, as he left no account

Mormonism is unique in the sense that it is an American-founded, funded and based religion, which may be why it is so popular and growing here.

It was the Scientology of its day, bitterly resisted by the established religions, and based on an heretical concept as far as they were concerned. Scientology preaches we are descended from aliens who came a calling millenniums ago.

Whether Joseph Smith was directed in the 1820s in Palmyra, New York by an angel named Moroni to a set of buried golden plates containing the ancient script that created his new religion is highly debatable.

Perhaps no more debatable that Jesus rose form the dead but certainly passing strange. Imagine if someone appeared today and made the same claims – every network would have investigative reporters on the case seeking to expose a fraud.

Nonetheless, Smith and his successor Brigham Young convinced millions it was all true and the Mormon religion was founded and has lasted and prospered.

Me I’ll take and leave religion as far as it goes and people are welcome to believe or not. But there is something about Jesus arriving in Missouri that upsets my critical faculties more than almost anything.

Maybe Mitt will show up in Jerusalem and proclaim himself the hidden imam—I mean would it be any more oddball than Jesus saying “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

E-mail

66 comments

Next Page 1 of 5 pages

bonjouryall | Aug 31, 2012, 02:29 PM EDT

I'm a Catholic but that doesn't mean I believe all the tenets of this religion. Personally, I think Jesus intended to go to Disneyworld but just got his years and geography wrong.

Report abuse

The Commentator | Aug 25, 2012, 04:09 PM EDT

Hey BulldogManiac, Is that paper fetching dogs' name Seamus ? The wonderful thing about individuals are that each person can believe all or part of whatever doctrine that a religion, political party, group or organization has. People draw the line at whatever is their comfort level. People may feel it is OK to just sin this once or may feel that some sins are not so bad and it is OK to continuously commit that sin. Religion should not be part of the politics, but unfortunately it is. What would really be comforting is that there be consequences for candidates and supporters after the election. If a candidate or supporter is found to have lied during the campaign, s/he should go to jail for the next four years. (no Presidential Pardons allowed) The rhetoric about the election is entertaining. Perhaps if all sides just agree to disagree, and continue to exaggerate and malign in jest, it will invite more outrageous opinions. Try not to get hung up on facts, as it will discourage irrational discourse and what fun would that be? Whether Romney and the rich win or Obama and the poor win, the country will still be here and there will be problems. Will it be the rich who have to pay more taxes or will it be the poor who pay more taxes and not have access to healthcare. Chew on that !!!

Report abuse

seanomelb | Aug 22, 2012, 10:27 PM EDT

none both are ridiculous

Report abuse

EphraimKibbey | Aug 21, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT

Romney of the many positions deserves to lose for sooo many reasons but his religion should not be one of them. I find it strange that some of the commenter’s here who are so angelically defending the separation of church and state in our elections are the same ones for whom President Obama is a godless, socialist, communist, Marxist, Nazi, racist, revolutionary bent on reshaping the USA in his own image. Did I leave anything out? Now to the questions that we all want answered: do the magic pants really have pagan/Masonic symbols? Do they really enhance one's love life? Where can we get them without converting? Who got to Dan Brown and made him leave the Mormons out of his book about the Masons?

Report abuse

Collette2 | Aug 21, 2012, 06:31 AM EDT

Whats the difference between Christ purporting to have appeared in Missouri and Mary popping up all over the place? It's the same as us, boiling down to tradition.

Report abuse

seanomelb | Aug 20, 2012, 07:43 PM EDT

Briano answer eiriamach's last sentence after all he makes a valid point.

Report abuse

BrianO | Aug 20, 2012, 05:05 PM EDT

So by implication Romney is part of the Mormon fringe but Reid is as level headed as my sainted mother? Please.

Report abuse

eiriamach | Aug 20, 2012, 04:30 PM EDT

No, you don't have it right yet, BrianO. Mormons can be dangerous unless they are Democrats (Mormons themselves do not consider any Democrat to be a "real" Mormon). And the most dangerous Mormons are not Republicans. Most Mormons-- even Republican Mormons-- at least allow women to use contraceptives--IF their husbands don't object. And they generally obey the laws. But there are some dangerous, gun-toting, polygamous Mormon sects out in the hinterlands of Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and even closer to civilization. They drive out teenaged boys because there's no one for them to marry because the middle-aged, pedophile cult leaders keep adding under-aged girls to their many wives and concubines.... Them's the most dangerous Mormons! And now I'd like to know whether you find it funny when IC posters claim that one cannot be both a "real" Catholic and a pro-choice Democrat.

Report abuse

BrianO | Aug 20, 2012, 02:54 PM EDT

Eiriamach, Ha let me get this straight, Reid the Mormon isn't a real Mormon because he is a democrat, Romney the Mormon is the most dangerous of Mormons because he is a Republican. That says it all,

Report abuse

BulldogMania | Aug 20, 2012, 02:09 PM EDT

Unless he were a democrat. Democrats can believe that dogs are spiritual beings sent here by God to fetch our newspapers and the liberal media would support that. A republican's religion is questioned, regardless of what it is.

Report abuse

Scrivner | Aug 20, 2012, 12:38 PM EDT

At least no one has cast stones based on polygamy of his ancestors...oops, Barack could be zapped on that one, too!

Report abuse

seanomelb | Aug 19, 2012, 07:36 PM EDT

Love to hear them chipmonks sing, madrigals in chipmonk speak how scary.

Report abuse

eiriamach | Aug 19, 2012, 04:59 PM EDT

BrianO, many Mormons do not consider Senator Reid of Nevada to be a Mormon, at least not one in good standing, simply because he is a Democrat. His politics clashes with his religion. I've been to the Las Vegas area of Nevada several times, and I have to say that all the churches hang kinda' loose there--Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, etc. For example, there's a Catholic monastery whose only work is to visit all the other churches and collect the casino chips that repentant gamblers toss into the collection plates on Sundays, when they have no real money left after losing it all at the poker tables and slot machines. The monks sort the chips, cash them in at the casinos, and distribute the cash, minus their cut, back to the churches. No one knows what order they belong to, so everyone just calls them the chip monks!

Report abuse

BrianO | Aug 19, 2012, 02:54 PM EDT

Interesting metaphor seano, My take on turds is different. The citizenry produce the grain and meat from God's green earth by their hard labor. before they get to partake of the harvest it is swallowed up by government which squeezes out a smaller and less palatable product for all, making turds out of left, right, and middle.

Report abuse

seanomelb | Aug 19, 2012, 05:27 AM EDT

Who cares about his religion it's the quality of the man that counts and he leaves the right wing turds Romney/Ryan for dead in the quality stakes.

Report abuse

Next Page 1 of 5 pages