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Interesting information concerning the relationship between the Mormon Religious Industrial Complex
and the Boy Scouts, racism, discrimination toward women, and the LGBT community, etc.
I can't vouch for the complete accuracy of every single bit the information posted below, but believe that for the most part, that the sources of information are credible and accurate. This is a very long post, and is meant as a starting point for anyone interested in further researching the facts about the LDS Religious Industrial Complex and Willard Romney's lifelong immersion in the doctrines and practices of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex.
Personally, in light of everything I have learned about the LDS Religious Industrial Complex over the past year, I am adamantly against having a currently practicing, lifelong member of this Conglomerate to be my President. This is not religious bigotry, it's just common sense. This authoritarian Conglomerate seeks complete control over the lives of individuals, and Mitt Romney has been a practicing member of this highly unusual Religious Industrial Complex since birth.
The impact of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex on the thinking, beliefs, and ethics of Mitt Romney cannot help but be all pervasive and overwhelming in his consciousness. I have little choice, as reasonable human being, and as responsible citizen, to consider this fact when making a decision as to the suitability of Willard Romney for the Office of President of the United States. The influence and control that the highly authoritarian Mormon Religious Industrial Complex has over its adherents is honestly extremely frightening to me as a person who places the highest value on individual and collective liberty and freedom, and the possibility of having a POTUS who cannot help but having been overwhelmingly inundated with the belief in the divine supremacy of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex, and its doctrines, is doubly frightening to me.
After serious consideration of his overall suitability for the office of Commander in Chief of United States, there's no fucking way I want Mitt Romney as my POTUS, and there many factors for why I do not want him for my POTUS.
And his lifelong membership in the LDS Religious Industrial Complex is one of the main factors for my strong belief that Willard Romney should never, ever reside in the White House.
First, some info about the holdings, business interests of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex.
How the Mormons Make Money
It’s perhaps unsurprising that Mormonism, an indigenous American religion, would also adopt the country’s secular faith in money. What is remarkable is how varied the church’s business interests are and that so little is known about its financial interests. Although a former Mormon bishop is about to receive the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, and despite a recent public-relations campaign aimed at combating the perception that it is “secretive,” the LDS Church remains tight-lipped about its holdings. It offers little financial transparency even to its members, who are required to tithe 10 percent of their income to gain access to Mormon temples.
1.4 percent of the U.S. population, but the church’s holdings are vast. First among its for-profit enterprises is DMC, which reaps estimated annual revenue of $1.2 billion from six subsidiaries, according to the business information and analysis firm Hoover’s Company Records (DNB). Those subsidiaries run a newspaper, 11 radio stations, a TV station, a publishing and distribution company, a digital media company, a hospitality business, and an insurance business with assets worth $3.3 billion.
AgReserves, another for-profit Mormon umbrella company, together with other church-run agricultural affiliates, reportedly owns about 1 million acres in the continental U.S., on which the church has farms, hunting preserves, orchards, and ranches. These include the $1 billion, 290,000-acre Deseret Ranches in Florida, which, in addition to keeping 44,000 cows and 1,300 bulls, also has citrus, sod, and timber operations. Outside the U.S., AgReserves operates in Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Its Australian property, valued at $61 million in 1997, has estimated annual sales of $276 million, according to Dun & Bradstreet.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that Mormonism, an indigenous American religion, would also adopt the country’s secular faith in money. What is remarkable is how varied the church’s business interests are and that so little is known about its financial interests. Although a former Mormon bishop is about to receive the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, and despite a recent public-relations campaign aimed at combating the perception that it is “secretive,” the LDS Church remains tight-lipped about its holdings. It offers little financial transparency even to its members, who are required to tithe 10 percent of their income to gain access to Mormon temples.
1.4 percent of the U.S. population, but the church’s holdings are vast. First among its for-profit enterprises is DMC, which reaps estimated annual revenue of $1.2 billion from six subsidiaries, according to the business information and analysis firm Hoover’s Company Records (DNB). Those subsidiaries run a newspaper, 11 radio stations, a TV station, a publishing and distribution company, a digital media company, a hospitality business, and an insurance business with assets worth $3.3 billion.
AgReserves, another for-profit Mormon umbrella company, together with other church-run agricultural affiliates, reportedly owns about 1 million acres in the continental U.S., on which the church has farms, hunting preserves, orchards, and ranches. These include the $1 billion, 290,000-acre Deseret Ranches in Florida, which, in addition to keeping 44,000 cows and 1,300 bulls, also has citrus, sod, and timber operations. Outside the U.S., AgReserves operates in Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Its Australian property, valued at $61 million in 1997, has estimated annual sales of $276 million, according to Dun & Bradstreet.
Mormons, Boy Scouts, and anti-LGBT policies
The LDS Church became formally affiliated with the Boy Scouts in 1913. According to figures on the Boy Scouts of America website, as of 2011, there were nearly 38,000 scouting units sponsored by the Latter Day Saints. That’s nearly 34 percent of all units nationwide.
And the LDS Church, which opposes “homosexual behavior,” holds sway with the Boy Scouts of America.
In a brief filed in the landmark case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, a lawyer for the LDS Church warned that the church would leave the scouts if gays were allowed to be scout leaders.
"If the appointment of scout leaders cannot be limited to those who live and affirm the sexual standards of BSA and its religious sponsors, the Scouting Movement as now constituted will cease to exist, “ wrote Von G. Keetch on behalf of the LDS Church and several other religious organizations in 2000 (PDF). “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the largest single sponsor of Scouting units in the United States -- would withdraw from Scouting if it were compelled to accept openly homosexual Scout leaders.”
The LDS Church became formally affiliated with the Boy Scouts in 1913. According to figures on the Boy Scouts of America website, as of 2011, there were nearly 38,000 scouting units sponsored by the Latter Day Saints. That’s nearly 34 percent of all units nationwide.
And the LDS Church, which opposes “homosexual behavior,” holds sway with the Boy Scouts of America.
In a brief filed in the landmark case of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, a lawyer for the LDS Church warned that the church would leave the scouts if gays were allowed to be scout leaders.
"If the appointment of scout leaders cannot be limited to those who live and affirm the sexual standards of BSA and its religious sponsors, the Scouting Movement as now constituted will cease to exist, “ wrote Von G. Keetch on behalf of the LDS Church and several other religious organizations in 2000 (PDF). “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- the largest single sponsor of Scouting units in the United States -- would withdraw from Scouting if it were compelled to accept openly homosexual Scout leaders.”
BOY SCOUTS
Mormonism has morphed the Boy Scouts into a religious organization in which they use to indoctrinate the young men into a lifetime of church membership. Awards and rewards are based on Mormon Priesthood rules and regulations. More emphasis is placed on indoctrination and obedience to the Mormon Gospel. Young men are accelerated through the program faster than boys outside the Mormon controlled BSA. Mormon boys can receive an Eagle Award simply by placing bags on neighbor doors to collect food for homeless shelters.
Women are not allowed to participate (except as "Den Mother"
- in fact, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not have a Girl Scouting program.
snip---
Youth and Adult Volunteers: Boy Scouts of America believes that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. Because of its views concerning the duty to God, Boy Scouts of America believes that an atheist or agnostic is not an appropriate role model of the Scout Oath and Law for adolescent boys. Because of Scouting’s methods and beliefs, Scouting does not accept atheists and agnostics as adult volunteer leaders.
Mormonism has morphed the Boy Scouts into a religious organization in which they use to indoctrinate the young men into a lifetime of church membership. Awards and rewards are based on Mormon Priesthood rules and regulations. More emphasis is placed on indoctrination and obedience to the Mormon Gospel. Young men are accelerated through the program faster than boys outside the Mormon controlled BSA. Mormon boys can receive an Eagle Award simply by placing bags on neighbor doors to collect food for homeless shelters.
Women are not allowed to participate (except as "Den Mother"
- in fact, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not have a Girl Scouting program.
snip---
Youth and Adult Volunteers: Boy Scouts of America believes that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. Because of its views concerning the duty to God, Boy Scouts of America believes that an atheist or agnostic is not an appropriate role model of the Scout Oath and Law for adolescent boys. Because of Scouting’s methods and beliefs, Scouting does not accept atheists and agnostics as adult volunteer leaders.
The Mormon Curtain
Position on atheists and agnostics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_membership_controversies#Position_on_atheists_and_agnostics
The Boy Scouts of America's position is that atheists and agnostics cannot participate as Scouts (youth members) or Scouters (adult leaders) in its traditional Scouting programs. The Bylaws of the BSA contain a non-sectarian Declaration of Religious Principle. This was adopted in the first decade of the organization to assuage the Catholic Church that the work of the YMCA in getting Scouting established in this country did not mean that it was a Protestant proselytizing organization:
"The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise the member declares, ‘On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.’ The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members."[2]
During the membership application process and as a requirement to obtain membership, youths and adults are required to subscribe to the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle and to agree to abide by the Scout Oath and Law, which include the words, "do my duty to God" and "reverent". Youths are also required to repeat the Scout Oath and Law periodically after being accepted as Scouts. The BSA believes that atheists and agnostics are not appropriate role models of the Scout Oath and Law for boys, and thus will not accept such adults as leaders.[2]
The BSA does not require adherence to any particular religious beliefs or ethos beyond this. The Boy Scout Handbook goes on to explain that "A Scout is Reverent" simply means that "A Scout is reverent towards God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others." Buddhists, followers of Native American religions, Muslims, Jews, Christians of all denominations, Wiccans, and many others, including those who define their own spirituality, can be and are members of the BSA. The BSA recognizes religious awards for over 38 faith groups including Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, and 28 varieties of Christianity.[13] Boy Scouts of America–approved religious emblems exist for all these except for Wicca and Native American religions. The former exists but has not been approved due to the fact that there are fewer than 25 chartered Wiccan units.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_membership_controversies#Position_on_atheists_and_agnostics
The Boy Scouts of America's position is that atheists and agnostics cannot participate as Scouts (youth members) or Scouters (adult leaders) in its traditional Scouting programs. The Bylaws of the BSA contain a non-sectarian Declaration of Religious Principle. This was adopted in the first decade of the organization to assuage the Catholic Church that the work of the YMCA in getting Scouting established in this country did not mean that it was a Protestant proselytizing organization:
"The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise the member declares, ‘On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.’ The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members."[2]
During the membership application process and as a requirement to obtain membership, youths and adults are required to subscribe to the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle and to agree to abide by the Scout Oath and Law, which include the words, "do my duty to God" and "reverent". Youths are also required to repeat the Scout Oath and Law periodically after being accepted as Scouts. The BSA believes that atheists and agnostics are not appropriate role models of the Scout Oath and Law for boys, and thus will not accept such adults as leaders.[2]
The BSA does not require adherence to any particular religious beliefs or ethos beyond this. The Boy Scout Handbook goes on to explain that "A Scout is Reverent" simply means that "A Scout is reverent towards God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others." Buddhists, followers of Native American religions, Muslims, Jews, Christians of all denominations, Wiccans, and many others, including those who define their own spirituality, can be and are members of the BSA. The BSA recognizes religious awards for over 38 faith groups including Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, and 28 varieties of Christianity.[13] Boy Scouts of America–approved religious emblems exist for all these except for Wicca and Native American religions. The former exists but has not been approved due to the fact that there are fewer than 25 chartered Wiccan units.
Mormons Want to Excommunicate Romney Critic
After writing negative articles about the Republican candidate, the managing editor of MormonThink.com says he faces excommunication. Is the Church on a witch hunt? Jamie Reno reports.
After writing negative articles about the Republican candidate, the managing editor of MormonThink.com says he faces excommunication. Is the Church on a witch hunt? Jamie Reno reports.
The Role of Women in Mormonism
Mormonism has created an ingenious system of oppression, in which opposition towards men is tantamount to arguing with God. The Mormon religion makes no distinction between clergy and laity, at least with regard to men (Laake 9). All Mormon men are ordained as members of the "priesthood," with the absolute authority to preach the gospel, bestow blessings, prophecy, perform healings and baptisms, and generally speak for God. "Their priesthood gives them the right to advise and instruct the Saints (i.e., Mormons), and their jurisdiction extends over all things spiritual and temporal" (Snowden 134).
Mormonism has created an ingenious system of oppression, in which opposition towards men is tantamount to arguing with God. The Mormon religion makes no distinction between clergy and laity, at least with regard to men (Laake 9). All Mormon men are ordained as members of the "priesthood," with the absolute authority to preach the gospel, bestow blessings, prophecy, perform healings and baptisms, and generally speak for God. "Their priesthood gives them the right to advise and instruct the Saints (i.e., Mormons), and their jurisdiction extends over all things spiritual and temporal" (Snowden 134).
[link:http://www.alternet.org/belief/mitt-romneys-role-mormon-bishop-shows-his-extremist-religious-beliefs?paging=off|Mitt Romney's Role as Mormon Bishop Shows His Extremist Religious Beliefs
Romney has consistently avoided having his Mormon beliefs put under scrutiny. There are some good reasons for that.]
Hayes, the divorced, unmarried mother of a 3-year-old daughter, was struggling as a nurse’s aide in a working-class suburb of Boston. She had little in common with the successful Bain executive, but the request wasn’t as odd as it might seem. Hayes was a Mormon. Romney was her bishop. Romney walked into her small apartment, made small talk and then commanded her to give her baby up for adoption after it was born. He was her bishop, and as she knew, Mormonism disapproved of single motherhood. Hayes said no.
“Well, this is what the church wants you to do, and if you don’t then you could be excommunicated for failing to follow the leadership of the church,” Romney said, according to Hayes in an interview with Boston Globe journalists Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. Romney denied he made that threat, although he did not dispute the incident.
Romney has consistently avoided having his Mormon beliefs put under scrutiny. There are some good reasons for that.]
Hayes, the divorced, unmarried mother of a 3-year-old daughter, was struggling as a nurse’s aide in a working-class suburb of Boston. She had little in common with the successful Bain executive, but the request wasn’t as odd as it might seem. Hayes was a Mormon. Romney was her bishop. Romney walked into her small apartment, made small talk and then commanded her to give her baby up for adoption after it was born. He was her bishop, and as she knew, Mormonism disapproved of single motherhood. Hayes said no.
“Well, this is what the church wants you to do, and if you don’t then you could be excommunicated for failing to follow the leadership of the church,” Romney said, according to Hayes in an interview with Boston Globe journalists Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. Romney denied he made that threat, although he did not dispute the incident.
Racism and the Mormon Church
In a June 1978 letter, the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaimed that “all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color.” Men of African descent could now hold the priesthood, the power and authority exercised by all male members of the church in good standing. Such a statement was necessary, because until then, blacks were relegated to a very second-class status within the church.
The revelation may have lifted the ban, but it neither repudiated it nor apologized for it. “It doesn’t make a particle of difference,” proclaimed the Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie a few months later, “what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year, 1978.”
snip---
It was Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, who adopted the policies that now haunt the church. He described black people as cursed with dark skin as punishment for Cain’s murder of his brother. “Any man having one drop of the seed of Cane in him cannot hold the priesthood,” he declared in 1852. Young deemed black-white intermarriage so sinful that he suggested that a man could atone for it only by having “his head cut off” and spilling “his blood upon the ground.” Other Mormon leaders convinced themselves that the pre-existent spirits of black people had sinned in heaven by supporting Lucifer in his rebellion against God.
The priesthood ban had sweeping ecclesiastical consequences for black Mormons. They could not participate in the sacred ordinances, like the endowment ceremony (which prepares one for the afterlife) and sealings (which formally bind a family together), rites that Smith and Young taught were necessary to obtain celestial glory.
In a June 1978 letter, the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaimed that “all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color.” Men of African descent could now hold the priesthood, the power and authority exercised by all male members of the church in good standing. Such a statement was necessary, because until then, blacks were relegated to a very second-class status within the church.
The revelation may have lifted the ban, but it neither repudiated it nor apologized for it. “It doesn’t make a particle of difference,” proclaimed the Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie a few months later, “what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year, 1978.”
snip---
It was Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, who adopted the policies that now haunt the church. He described black people as cursed with dark skin as punishment for Cain’s murder of his brother. “Any man having one drop of the seed of Cane in him cannot hold the priesthood,” he declared in 1852. Young deemed black-white intermarriage so sinful that he suggested that a man could atone for it only by having “his head cut off” and spilling “his blood upon the ground.” Other Mormon leaders convinced themselves that the pre-existent spirits of black people had sinned in heaven by supporting Lucifer in his rebellion against God.
The priesthood ban had sweeping ecclesiastical consequences for black Mormons. They could not participate in the sacred ordinances, like the endowment ceremony (which prepares one for the afterlife) and sealings (which formally bind a family together), rites that Smith and Young taught were necessary to obtain celestial glory.
Here is what I believe may be a relatively objective overview of some of the foundational ideology and subsequent practices of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex.
PBS: THE MORMON FAITH
Given all this disturbing information regarding the ideology and practices of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex within which Willard Romney has been completely immersed for his entire life, it appears to me that no reasonable American, republican or otherwise, could vote for Willard Romney without serious reservations over the distinct possibility of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex directly instructing Romney that it his duty to the Mormon Church, and to the god of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex, to act exclusively in the interests of the Mormon Church, and not in the interests of the American People.
Linking faith, service
Hulse bases his contention that the oath Mormons swear to the church holds precedence over those they take when assuming public office, in part, on a portion of scripture in "Doctrines and Covenants," one of the books of the Mormon canon. The passage declares that a member of the priesthood, typically males 12 and older, who breaks the "covenant" of the priesthood "and altogether turneth therefrom shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."
LDS Church spokeswoman Kim Farah declined to respond directly to "When Salt Lake City Calls." Instead, she referenced the statement of political neutrality found on the church's Web site, www.lds.org, which begins, "The church's mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians." The statement also says the church does not "attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader."
"While the Church may communicate its views to them, as it may to any other elected official," Farah said in an e-mail from her office in Salt Lake City, "it recognizes that these officials still must make their own choices based on their best judgment and with consideration of the constituencies whom they were elected to represent."
Asked if a Mormon politician could say no to an order from the church president, Farah said she could not answer a hypothetical question.
Hulse bases his contention that the oath Mormons swear to the church holds precedence over those they take when assuming public office, in part, on a portion of scripture in "Doctrines and Covenants," one of the books of the Mormon canon. The passage declares that a member of the priesthood, typically males 12 and older, who breaks the "covenant" of the priesthood "and altogether turneth therefrom shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come."
LDS Church spokeswoman Kim Farah declined to respond directly to "When Salt Lake City Calls." Instead, she referenced the statement of political neutrality found on the church's Web site, www.lds.org, which begins, "The church's mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians." The statement also says the church does not "attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader."
"While the Church may communicate its views to them, as it may to any other elected official," Farah said in an e-mail from her office in Salt Lake City, "it recognizes that these officials still must make their own choices based on their best judgment and with consideration of the constituencies whom they were elected to represent."
Asked if a Mormon politician could say no to an order from the church president, Farah said she could not answer a hypothetical question.
For these, and for so many other very valid reasons, we absolutely cannot take the very real risk of the LDS Religious Industrial Complex being in full control of the office of Commander-In-Chief of the United States.
18 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
When an organization engages in malicious, nefarious practices, they will have to deal with getting called on these practices. Simply "being a religion" does not exempt an organization from legitimate and deserved criticism.
End of story.
