Romney to give Regent Univ. commencement speech. Students & alumni outraged b/c of his Mormonism.

[Doondoo]

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- Some Regent University students and alumni are upset that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will speak at commencement, saying his Mormon faith clashes with the evangelical Christianity of the school founded by Pat Robertson.

"What we're against is the fact that Mormonism is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Christian values and what we believe," said Doug Dowdey, a Virginia Beach pastor who said he graduated from Regent's divinity school last year.

"If Pat wants to hold a political rally, well, hold one. Why not? Just don't hold it at commencement," Dowdey said.

.......

Robertson, who is Regent's chancellor, invited Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, to be the keynote speaker at the May 5 commencement, said Sherri Stocks, a Regent vice president.

Another Republican presidential candidate, ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, will speak at Regent's executive leadership program in April. Giuliani is Catholic.

"Gov. Romney is running for the post of Chief Executive Officer, not Chief Theologian," Robertson said in a memo to Regent alumni, staff and students.

.......

Political scientist John C. Green said the invitations to Romney and Giuliani continue Robertson's long involvement in national politics. Robertson ran for president as a Republican in 1988 and in the 1990s, his Christian Coalition helped increase evangelicals' influence in presidential races.

Robertson "has often thought of himself as a bit of a kingmaker in the Republican Party," said Green, a scholar at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington, D.C.



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOU_ROMNEY_REGENT_VAOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US

[Lerkfish]

1. LOL.. WHEN TITAN FASCIST RELIGIOUS CULTS COLLIDE....film at eleven

:)

[Jacobin]

3. We should arm all factions of the religious zealots in this country

and let them fight until they all blow each other up.

We would have a much nicer country afterwards.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Why split hairs?

"What we're against is the fact that Mormonism is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Christian values and what we believe."

Can't they come together on the mutual agreement of Jesus being their Savior?

[Lerkfish]

4. the odd thing is, mormon values and right wing christian values are nearly identical

extremely conservative politically, under the surface racist and blatantly homophobic, and whiter than white bread. The only difference is that one small sect of Mormonism is polygamic.

otherwise, i'm hard pressed to find any difference in "values". Obviously, there are differences in beliefs, but their values are the same.