Anyone else watch "The Mormon Candidate" on Current?

[nolabear]

BBC program about Romney and Mormonism. There are some horrific things about him. One in particular involves a woman who babysat his kids when he was her bishop, the head of the church and a powerful, priestlike figure in her area. She became pregnanat out of wedlock and he came to her and told her that she should give her child up for adoption or face excommunication. She did not. When the child became ill, she called him and begged (still being under the influence of the church) him to come to the hospital and bless the boy. He sent strangers instead, having no communication with her. She has since left the church.

I think there are two characteristics about Romney that make him a disastrous choice for president. One is his utter lack of human compassion, which is clear in so many ways. The other is his utter subjugation to Mormon law, which by its own admission wants to become the law of the land. I am not inclined toward paranoia, but this man and what he represents scares the hell out of me.

[Pyrzqxgl]

1. I hear he wants to have caffeine declared a hard drug

believe it or not a teabagger who doesn't trust Romney told me that. There goes our coffee & most of their tea.

[nolabear]

4. I don't believe that. But I do believe his social "conservatism" is based on his religion

and he is open to influence, pressure, an exceptionalist pov, and a history that is filled with violent adherence to a belief system that it elevates above civil law. And that scares me.

[goclark]

2. While it doesn't surprise me a bit

is sure is scary that Rethugs knew all this and they still gave the the nomination.

[Hamlette]

3. there is one think the Mormon church wants above all: acceptance

they are tired of being seen as back water polygamists. When they get pushed to the wall, God "tells them" to change (ie. blacks in the priesthood, when the publicity got too hot, God says blacks were okay).

There is little danger they will enforce "Mormon law" whatever that is. Romney is no more a slave to his religion than most believers. And to my ear, the Mormons are not any crazier in their beliefs than the vast majority of religions.

[nolabear]

6. I agree that acceptance is important. And I am just barely able to post this without feeling guilty

Honestly, I don't care what people believe and what their relationship is to their god or spirituality, until it has the power to impact those of us who want to live as equals and with rights. I like seekers, but this isn't about seeking; it's about power, about controlling peoples' lives. There's a lot of that in many religions and I don't like it, but the idea that the level of influence of these extreme ideas is enough to make someone deny people their rights under threat of excommunication alarms me.

Yes, it's possible with other religions as well. I wouldn't favor their bishops being president either.

[renie408]

10. I think the story about the pregnant nanny, if true, speaks to Romney's lack

of feeling for a fellow human being in trouble. People use their religion as an excuse to do the things they already want to do. Want to marry five women? HEY!! God told me to!! Are you homophobic?? HEY!! God hates gay people, too!! Abortion gives you the creeps? HEY! The Bible says it is wrong!!

The main thing the Bible says is to live YOUR life the best way possible and let God sort out the rest. But does ANYBODY hear that?? Nope. They don't hear "judge not lest ye be judged" or "worry about the plank in your own eye before you worry about the speck in your neighbor's eye" or "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's". People see and hear what they want to see and hear.

[kentuck]

5. I had the link from BBC but it has been removed

I posted the link about 2-3 weeks ago. The "baby" is now 27 years old and looks just like Mitt Romney at that age.

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[Raffi Ella]

7. I saw it a few weeks ago, someone here posted it.

I watched the whole thing and I gotta say Mormonism is as sci-fi and dangerous sounding as Scientology if you ask me.

[jacksevarg]

8. Where's the skepticism

I'm betting a lot of folks here pride themselves for possessing a healthy level of skepticism.

I'm not seeing it here in the discussion.

This is called a hit piece. They take anything negative they can find, or anything they can find and spin negatively.

For a story to be fair, you need to hear all sides.

This takes one story, from one persons point of view, and people are extrapolating to all kinds of conclusions. Why do supposedly intellectually honest people fall into that trap? People believe what they want to believe. If they had a negative opinion or impression of Mitt Romney or Mormons before the piece, this would fit their world view, and they would like what they saw.

Ask questions. Be skeptical. It's healthy.

[geek_sabre]

11. John Sweeney is a hack

As insane as Scientology is, his "documentaries" were simply hit pieces. He didn't even bother to try to appear objective.

I'm surprised he didn't put "cult" in the title of this one as well.

[avebury]

9. I saw it a while back. It is a good documentary.

Remember when people were concerned that electing JFK would mean the Pope would rule the US and Kennedy made it clear that would not happen. The same cannot be said about Rmoney and the Mormon Church.

[kentuck]

12. Here is an excerpt:

It has been scrubbed in its entirety.