Poll: Is America ready for a black, woman, or Mormon president.

I'm a little surprised at the http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm">results.

Is America ready for a woman president? 55 % say yes
Is America ready for a black president? 56 % say yes
Is America ready for a Mormon president? 34 % say yes, 48% say No.

On the less reliable question of who respondents are personally open to voting for...

"If your party nominated a woman, would you vote for her if she were qualified?" 86% say Yes
"If your party nominated an Arican-American, would you vote for him if he were qualified?" 93% say Yes
"If your party nominated a Mormon, would you vote for him if he were qualified?" Only 66% say Yes, 25% say No.

I'm a little ashamed of my country for this. The race and gender questions show improvement, but I'm appalled people really think Mormonism is crazier than their own religions.

Don't count on that after her testimony this week.

I think that being black and being female would both cost a candidate votes, but not necessarily sufficiently many to make winning the election impossible.

I don't think a mormon would have a chance of winning an election yet becase, while Mormons *don't* condone poligamy, too many Americans think they do.

Being a recovering Mormon, I can tell you that there are several reasons not to vote for a practicing Mormon. The biggest reason IMHO is the fact that all Mormons swear their allegiance to the church over their country when they go through their (required) temple ceremony. If, like most Mormons, Romney takes the oaths in the temple seriously, that's a big problem in my book.

Every religion in the world believes that there is a law of God that establishes right and wrong. The idea that a Mormon president would be disloyal is kookoo-bananas. I seriously don't see how Mormonism is crazier than Judaism or older forms of Christianity. A guy proclaims himself a prophet, goes up a mountain, meets a supernatural being, receives the law of how people ought to live in this life, and comes back down the mountain filled the fire of spirit and certainty. This is what Moses did and what Jesus did. So why is Joseph Smith's story any crazier?

I mean, Jesus is practically a zombie.

But for me, the culture of the religion is uniquely repressive and homogeneous in Utah.

...and I'm still technically a life long member of the church (though I no longer believe).

For one thing, they believe that they individually posses the power of God through their "priesthood." Every Mormon male from the age of 12 is a member of the priesthood and claims to have that power. No women allowed. Mormons literally trace their line of authority directly to God.

For another thing, NO ONE ever breaks their temple vows and stays in the church. They are so sacred that they won't even talk about them. They have secret vows, oaths, and hand shakes. Everyone also gets a new "sacred" name that they are never to divulge.

Besides all the temple stuff that I mentioned, they also baptize EVERYONE for the dead. In other words, they wait till you're dead, and submit your name to be baptized. They baptize literally everyone...sometimes more than once, believing that you will accept Mormonism as the only true church after you see the error of your ways after you die.

They believe their prophet (currently Gordon B. Hinckley) is infallible. When the prophet speaks, you better listen and do what he says. Romney isn't exempt from this. And it is a whole lot different than between the Pope and a parishioner. If Hinckley told him that God wanted him to do something, I promise you Romney wouldn't dare object.

Don't even get me started about Joseph Smith. Suffice it to say that he started what became a 30+ billion dollar church/corporation by getting folks to believe in a really cool fairy tale. It preys on people who are in a crisis in their lives. It uses the situation to present a better vision of the future, even though that vision is nothing more than a mirage.

Either Romney is a good Mormon as he says, and all of the above applies...or he's a liar. Either way, I can't trust him. And, remember, I AM A MORMON.

unless they publicly broke from the church on a number of issues, which is fairly rare among mormon politicians of national stature.

That's not because I think mormonism is crazy, but just because they would be unlikely to represent my points of view. I could see voting for Harry Reid (who, for example, broke with the church's position on the gay marriage ban) in a general election. The fact that he converted to a religion which, at the time, considered blacks as theologically second class citizens gives pause, but his record on Civil Rights seems to counter those concerns.

a woman, a colorful persom OR anyone who isn't Protestant or Catholic. But, I'm a cynical youknowwhat.

That doesn't mean, I wouldn't vote for any such candidate.

:shrug:

I forget which door knockin group it was that said that to me. Is that the mormons?

The issue of being a Mormon seems more acute now than when in 1968, when George Romney (Mitt's dad) toyed seriously with the idea of running for president.

running as a liberal alternative to Carter in the democratic primary. His campaign was derailed in part by associating his mormonism with the church's then-contemporary doctrine that blacks were ineligible for the priesthood, even though he vocally criticized the church for that position.

Romney went on a mission for a church that considered blacks second-class citizens. I think that's a legitimate cause for concern. I wasn't around for his dad, but if my recall of reading about him is right, he was fairly liberal for a republican, right?

Rockefeller was the one encouraging Romney to seek the nomination. I remember Romney trying ot keep his distance from the of the church's more peculiar doctrines.

I want to say this: this fuss is a big step backwards. I've known enough Mormons not to consider them a monolithic group. No Mormon or anybody else should be tarred as a racist until he's had an opportunity to present his views. To make that assumption is just holding someone guilty by association.

I have close mormon relatives and in-laws. But prior to 1978, racism was official church policy (until then, blacks could not hold the priesthood); so, while I certainly don't consider mormons monolithically racist (indeed, I wouldn't consider most mormons I know to be explicitly racist), I do think that someone who actively embraced (Romney served a mission, and Reid converted) the faith before that time has something to answer for. That's not to say that they couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer, but I think it's a legitimate issue.

:shrug:

Oh, and of course both Clintons, according to the delightful Miss Coulter :eyes:

It's extremely, extremely fucked up.

That said, one's religon doesn't qualify or disqualify you, it' the manner in which it plays a role in your life. Clearly, people like Bush are an example of religious people to never elect.

Romney is a nut, though. I hope he runs--he'll be curb-stomped.

:mad:

And he's a goddamn carpetbagger. He doesn't even LIVE in MA--he lives in NH!

I fucking HATE him.

He was pro-domestic partnerships until he got elected into office and realized how deep the hatred ran among the fundies he pretended to part of.

I think the issues are more important than a man's religion.
I would vote for a satanist if I thought his/her positions agreed with mine.

Mormonism seems more or less like all the rest. But mormonism and Scientology are both modern religions founded after the invention of the printing press. So there are plenty of records to show Joe Smith and L Ron Hubbard were nutcases, not so much the writers of the bible, whoever they are. As a result, those religions get beat up in more in public, but aren't exactly any worse. Me, I consider the less religious a candidate is, the better. I sure there are many candidates who are athiests, but just pretend to be a christian to win, but we will never know. Has an out of the closet atheist except Jesse Ventura ever been elected to anything major in this country?

:hi:

I wouldn't imagine that a satanists positions would agree with mine :)

I also don't think most mormons positions would agree with mine, at least on issues like gay rights, welfare programs, tax cuts, etc. That doesn't mean that there's no mormon I would vote for--I have relatives and in-laws who are mormon, and they despise bush's administration as much as I do, but they're in the minority in their wards.

I'm LDS, too.

:hi:

Welcome to DU! :hi:

Mark Twain

everyone knows a-theists can't be good people.