To this point, there has been no reason to believe that Mike Huckabee is a bigot. While he has seemed more than willing to benefit from religious intolerance, he himself has to this point not crossed the line of becoming a purveyor of religious intolerance.
Until today.
From the Dallas Morning News:
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”
The article, to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, says Mr. Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn’t know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon Church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The authoritative Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, does not refer to Jesus and Satan as brothers. It speaks of Jesus as the son of God and of Satan as a fallen angel, which is a biblical account.
A spokeswoman for the church said Mr. Huckabee’s question is usually raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith.
“We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the father of all,” said the spokeswoman, Kim Farah. “Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh, and we worship him as the son of God and the savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for.”
This infuriates me.
What in the hell does any of this have to do with the Presidency?
A caller the other night summed up how differences in theology should be handled in religion:
“You think I’m going to hell.
I think you’re going to hell.
But while we’re here on earth, let’s create a little heaven”
I don’t care if evangelicals think I or any other Mormon is a Christian. God is the arbiter of that question, not evangelicals and not Mormons. What I won’t stand for is to be marginalized because I am not considered a Christian.
Mormons don’t believe in the same doctrines as Evangelicals. And that’s OK. But don’t twist LDS doctrine with the old “Jesus and Satan are brothers” line. It makes it sound like the have supper at the same table.
The Huckabee campaign is in damage control:
LITTLE ROCK, AR – A report released tonight cites an upcoming article in the Sunday edition of The New York Times Magazine which quotes former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee asking a question about the content of the Mormon faith. In fact, the full context of the exchange makes it clear that Governor Huckabee was illustrating his unwillingness to answer questions about Mormonism and to avoid addressing theological questions during this campaign.
“Governor Huckabee has said consistently that he believes this campaign should center on a discussion of the important issues confronting our nation,” said Senior Advisor, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, “and not focus on questions of religious belief. He wants to assure persons of all faith traditions of his firm commitment to religious tolerance and freedom of worship. Governor Huckabee believes that one of the great strengths of our nation lies in its diversity of thought, opinion and faith.”
-Tom
More Romney/Mormon News:
- The National Review has endorsed Mitt Romney
- Christian Burridge, UtahAmicus.com:Anti-Mormon Wing of GOP Rears its’ Ugly Biggotted Head
I’m disappointed in Gov. Huckabee. He is apparently running on a religious platform, whereas Gov. Romney is running on a platform centered around relevant issues we face. The ironic thing is… those who judge others not be be “Christian” are demonstrating that they themselves are not Christian.
Why didn’t Huckabee offer his own belief on the origins of the devil? This question has been around for 30+ years, and it taught as a way to debate and ridicule Latter-day Saints.
Huckabee just needs to raise inappropriate questions to weaken Romney, he won’t need to state his personal anti-Mormon theology, and that is why he shoudl not be a major party nominee for president.
Every time you post something along these lines I write about eleventyhundred comments and then delete them all.
There is so much CRAP swirling around this election. It makes me furiously mad. So many irrelevant questions, disrespect, hate, bigotry, smugness and down right vileness.
I feel like I need to shower after I read some of these articles online.
I have been afraid my whole life of a Mormon running for President? Freaky fear to have, no? Especially as a child?
My dad was a newsman and so I followed all this stuff closely. At six I decided that I wanted to be Reagan’s campaign manager so that he would beat Jimmy Carter.
I used to imagine what would happen if a Mormon was President. It wasn’t a pretty picture for me. Why? Because my grandmother was an vitriolic anti-Mormon Southern Baptist. A seriously unhappy person that was a cross between The Church Lady and those women in tent dresses and horn rim glasses from “The Far Side” comic strip. She used to send me anti-Mormon literature in my birthday cards and tell me I was going to hell every opportunity she got.
I didn’t want that on a world wide level. It freaked me out and scared me when I would think about it.
And here we are today.
Even though I am not an active member, I am pretty protective of the Mormon faith. Even though I haven been to church in 3 years I still feel stung by so much of it.
No one should be a second class citizen. NO ONE. Not for faith, sexual orientation, how you make your livelihood, disability or race.