Tag Archives: LDS

Growing up Romney

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Grey Villet—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Caption from March, 1958, issue of LIFE. ”With ‘Mitt,’ 10, youngest of Romney children, [George Romney] inspects house at Bloomfield Hills which he and his wife designed.”


Grey Villet—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not originally published in LIFE. George Romney with his son, Mitt, 1958


Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Caption from February, 1962, issue of LIFE. ”At end of a long day on the new state constitution — and after a quick change to pajamas — Romney falls asleep on fold-back seat of his car as the chauffeur begins the trip back to Bloomfield Hills.”


Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Caption from February, 1962, issue of LIFE. “After Sunday services the Romneys crowd onto a sofa in living room. Son Mitt and married daughters Jane and Lynn are at the rear. From left, grandchildren are Gregory (held by Lenore), Douglas, Susan, Brett and Jody. Another son, Scott, is in England with a mission group.“

**************My SIDE NOTE: U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned international borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. American involvement in the war peaked in 1968, at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were gradually withdrawn as part of a policy known as Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.***********

Mitt wasn’t the only fortunate son from that family — or the last.


Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not originally published in LIFE. Lenore Romney, wife of Michigan governor George Romney, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 1963


Francis Miller—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not originally published in LIFE. George Romney officiates during a Mormon service, Michigan, 1962

Growing Up Romney: Mitt’s Early World | LIFE (see all photos) – Nevertheless, it remains clear that President Obama’s and Governor Romney’s backgrounds are part of the larger national conversation this fall. Electing a commander in chief solely on the basis of his experience of childhood would, of course, be absurd; but ignoring the public curiosity about where these men came from would be equally silly. Both candidates, after all, have proudly proclaimed that the people who raised them unquestionably shaped the way they see the world. These photos, ultimately, offer one, small window through which to view the world in which Mitt Romney was raised. His father (“lean, hard George Romney,” as LIFE put characterized the AMC chairman and president in 1958) is here, as are his mom and his siblings. Some of the pictures feel rather stagey; others seem genuinely informal and, as it were, intimate; all of them suggest a close-knit family defined, in large part, by its faith and by the pursuits of its dynamic patriarch. Taken as a whole, they’re one more piece to the puzzle that is the current Republican candidate for president. This is not an exhaustive portrait, but instead a glimpse into what it was sometimes like — at least when reporters and photographers were around — growing up Romney.

Well, this is awkward: when rightwing Christianity devours itself

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The only negative to the implosion of rightwing fundamentalism is that it’s just not happening fast enough.

via: confrontingbabble-on

Bill Keller’s website: http://www.votingforsatan.com

NOTE: Bill Keller has also claimed that President Obama is God’s enemy.

But look, I guess it’s good to know who’s been officially appointed to stand in judgement of all people and speak for GOD (when Rick Santorum is busy, of course): good ol’ Bill Keller.

Romney: “The president tends to say things that aren’t true.”

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“I think the challenge that I’ll have in the debate is that the president tends to, how shall I say it, to say things that aren’t true. I’ve looked at prior debates. And in that kind of case, it’s difficult to say, ‘Well, am I going to spend my time correcting things that aren’t quite accurate? Or am I going to spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about?” — Mitt Romney to George Stephanopolis.

Related and FYI:

  • Steve Benen is now on the 34th installment of his weekly series Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity. Benen said about Mitt’s comment above: “There’s no sense of shame and no sense of irony.”
  • It was a Romney pollster who infamously said, rather recently: “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”

“I didn’t know you had families.” — Mitt Romney to LGBT constituents in Massachusetts

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Unsurprisingly the Mormon Bishop Mitt Romney, who has been described as generous, helpful and kind by his past congregation, is a completely different person from the Mitt Romney dealing with non-Mormons and people he has no use for in the political and/or business realm. From Think Progress:

David Wilson and Julie Goodridge, two of the plaintiffs whose case led to the legalization of marriage equality in Massachusetts, described meeting with Romney to discuss their experiences. According to Wilson, “it was like talking to a robot. No expression, no feeling.” At one point, Romney remarked, “I didn’t know you had families.” Goodridge recalls her final exchange with the governor, which proved to her that he had “no capacity for empathy”:

GOODRIDGE: Governor Romney, tell me — what would you suggest I say to my 8 year-old daughter about why her mommy and her ma can’t get married because you, the governor of her state, are going to block our marriage?

ROMNEY: I don’t really care what you tell your adopted daughter. Why don’t you just tell her the same thing you’ve been telling her the last eight years.

Romney described the meeting to the press as “pleasant,” as Goodridge cried.

Because if you really are a human being, there are far different ways to disagree with someone or tell them “no,” than insulting their very existence and humanity. But to Romney, some people are more equal than others.

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Mormon Christus commands you to insult people who are different!

Richard Cummins/Corbis - A sculpture in the visitors’ center at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

If Romney’s background, heritage, and faith have made him the person he is…

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…that doesn’t speak well of his faith or heritage or background. Just saying.

“I’m convinced that my background, and my heritage and my faith have made me the person I am to a great degree. The Judeo-Christian ethics that I was brought up with, the sense of obligation to one’s fellow man, and an absolute conviction that we are all sons and daughters of the same God and therefore, in a human family, is one of the reasons I’m doing what I’m doing.  I’m sure a number of members of my faith are proud of the fact that someone of my faith – our faith – is able to run for president.” — Mitt Romney: ‘My heritage and my faith have made me the person I am’

WILLARD ROMNEY: MAN OF GOD!

…

Weirdly, the “Judeo-Christian ethics” with which Romney claims to have been brought up has 10 Commandments, and bearing false witness is NUMBER NINE.  Let’s just say that suggesting your political opponent is going to take God off the nation’s currency, just to make that opponent look bad to your supporters, would be a transgression of Judeo-Christian ethics, hypocrite.

And what kind of “faith” makes you attack someone else’s for political points? Is Romney’s Mormonism, his heritage and family’s history in Mexico, still going to be off-limits if he keeps taking digs at the President’s birthplace and religious faith to make the extremist nutjobs froth and shriek with approval (and votes)?

When can we ask how big of a role The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would play in a Romney presidency? After all, we’ve already learned that the LDS Church profited handsomely in charitable contributions when Romney oversaw Bain Capital. For example:

As part of just one Bain transaction in 2008, involving its investment in Burger King Holdings, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal thatan unnamed Bain partner donated 65,326 shares of Burger King stock to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, holdings then worth nearly $1.9 million. And there were numerous others, giving the church a stake in other Bain properties, such as Domino’s Pizza, the electronics manufacturerDDi, the phosphates company Innophos Holdings, and Marquee Holdings, the parent to AMC Theaters.

[...] In a 2008 stock sale involving Innophos Holdings, the church’s 50,301 shares were worth nearly $1.4 million. SEC filings for Marquee Holdings note that “certain members and other employees of Bain and its affiliates may make a contribution of shares to one or more charities prior to this offering, including … The Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

This isn’t 1930 and the intention of “off-limits” isn’t just for the white guy’s comfort and convenience.

The traveling press corps will now be attending Sunday services with Mitt Romney

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The Romney campaign is going to begin allowing the traveling press corps to attend a Mormon service each week with the Romneys from now through the election. Buzzfeed’s intrepid McKay Coppins (who is also a Mormon) wrote about attending a service with the Romneys yesterday, as a member of the first group of traveling pool reporters allowed to do so:

“Shortly after entering the chapel, Mitt and Ann filed into an aisle with their son Tagg, his wife, and their six children, while a handful of reporters took seats in the back of the chapel. As my colleagues surveyed their unremarkable surroundings, they commented on how unremarkable it all looked: a generic high-ceilinged room full of nondescript parishioners. What I saw, though, was a slice of Mormon Americana — a buffet of congregational quirks that any Latter-day Saint would recognize.” 

Coppins goes onto detail a bit of the service: hymns, bread and water passed out to the congregation which instead of calling it communion, Coppins describes it as “the ordinance, which represents repentance for past sins and a renewed commitment to avoid them in the future. It’s a key tenet of Mormonism — this notion of constant spiritual course-correction.” The speakers at this service were from the Marriott family (THE Marriotts? Probably.). Ann sang with some other women… and it was all so very average and normal (or unremarkable, generic, and nondescript as Coppins describes it). NOTHING TO SEE HERE, FOLKS.

It’s interesting that McKay Coppins didn’t mention that a Mormon chapel (church, temple) won’t have any crosses or crucifixes — and maybe that’s what struck the other reporters (if they were used to Protestant or Catholic churches)? Or maybe they did remark on that fact. Or maybe not. And maybe Coppins wouldn’t even be aware that might seem odd to Protestants and Catholics.

In place of crosses, apparently there will be other symbols found, and usually (always?) the golden Angel Moroni with the trumpet. Many sites online make these other symbols sound like a huge conspiracy theory, by the way — masonic, pagan, occult — but that’s said about symbols in Catholic and Protestant churches as well. And, to me, that’s interesting.

If anyone reading this is a practicing Mormon, please verify the “no crosses / crucifixes” thing. I’m almost sure that’s true. I’ve tried to find out why there would be no crosses / crucifixes in Mormon churches (and why Mormons do not wear crosses or crucifixes) and all I can find are two explanations: 1) the cross symbolizes Jesus Christ’s death and Mormons prefer to focus on the resurrected Christ; and 2) Mormons believe Christ’s atonement happened in the Garden of Gethsemane and not on the cross. Maybe there’s another / better reason?

I realize Coppins works for Buzzfeed (one of Romney’s online PR firms) but it seems like he would do his readership, the Romneys, and other Mormons a service by explaining differences like this one to non-Mormons, instead of trying to completely white-out the service as something really super average and generic. Like he’s trying to say, See? Mormonism is almost like nothing happened at all… 

Romney’s Mormonism and Ryan’s Catholicism matter

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Charles P. Pierce discusses how Romney-Ryan each have a problem with their respective religions:

“Much will be made of the fact that the Republican party, with its Bible-banging sectarian political base, has nominated a presidential ticket that includes both a Mormon and a Roman Catholic, which would have been unthinkable, oh, eight months ago, and still would be unthinkable, had the Mormon not possessed more money than anyone’s God, and had the Papist not been the poster child for magical-thinking conservative economics. This will be seen by the more gullible of the people out there as proof that the party is “moving beyond” the influence of the Dixiecrat snake-handlers… In reality, however, it is more a vivid demonstration that the Republican party’s One True Faith is in its desire to shove even more of the nation’s wealth upwards in the general direction of Willard Romney and, thence, in the general direction of Switzerland or the Cayman islands. To that end, the party eagerly would line up behind Asmodeus/Nero ’12 for the upcoming stretch drive…” 

— Why Romney’s Mormon Thing Matters (Ryan’s Catholic Thing, Too)

Does Romney think taxes are a form of “charity” and how much DOES he give the LDS Church?

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Rosalind S. Helderman at The Washington Post asks, because “…Romney seemed to suggest that he might think so last week, when he responded to questions about how much he pays in taxes by suggesting that people should take into account his total contributions to the government and charities.”

The comment was a quick one — a by-golly insistence that despite paying a relatively low tax rate on his vast income, the millions he has given to charity show that he’s not a greedy guy.

But experts who research public attitudes on philanthropy on both sides of the political spectrum said it was an inadvertently revealing moment, a brief window into the deep philosophical differences between how liberals and conservatives view government and society.

Another question raised here earlier is why are donations to the Mormon Church considered ‘charity’ and are therefore tax deductible — especially when such tithing is required by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? We know the Romneys tithe the required 10% to the Church, so you’d presume that if their 2010 return says they gave 13% to charity, then 10% of that was to the LDS Church. In January (not followed up, ever heard about this?) ABC News found there may be even more contributions to the Church from the Romney family through Bain Capital (one wonders, with the associated tax deductions?):

Newly uncovered stock contributions made during Romney’s Bain days suggest there is another dimension to Romney’s support for the church — one that could involve millions more than has been previously disclosed.

As part of just one Bain transaction in 2008, involving its investment in Burger King Holdings, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal that an unnamed Bain partner donated 65,326 shares of Burger King stock to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, holdings then worth nearly $1.9 million. And there were numerous others, giving the church a stake in other Bain properties, such as Domino’s Pizza, the electronics manufacturer DDi, the phosphates company Innophos Holdings, and Marquee Holdings, the parent to AMC Theaters.

The Republican presidential candidate’s campaign staff confirmed that some of the stock transactions were at Romney’s direction, but they would not say which ones. 

[...] In some cases the filings are vague about the way stocks are apportioned to the different recipients. In others, such as the 2000 stock sale involving DDi Corporation, the records show the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held 27,016 shares, worth $754,827 at the time of the sale. In a 2008 stock sale involving Innophos Holdings, the church’s 50,301 shares were worth nearly $1.4 million. SEC filings for Marquee Holdings note that “certain members and other employees of Bain and its affiliates may make a contribution of shares to one or more charities prior to this offering, including … The Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Charitable donations! You know what would actually be wonderfully karmic? If at some point, Bain Capital had given Stericycle stock to “The Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Mitt Romney’s fortune combined with all the associated business dealings through Bain Capital — which can now be connected in unknown numerous ways with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – is like traveling down the rabbit hole without hope of returning anytime soon.

What Mitt Romney has on his side is American media: they don’t like to research such information or follow the money — it could get ‘uncomfortable’ with their pre-programmed formula of “both sides do it,” the GOP loves America, and Democrats are socialist hippies. Of course now the question becomes: how much of our mainstream media might be owned (by a one- to six-degree separation) by Kolob or the billionaires who are working behind the scenes to buy the White House?

Maybe people ought to start paying more attention.

President Obama’s religion (Protestant) vs. Mitt Romney’s religion (Mormon)

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Until the wholesale rightwing nutjob attack on the President’s religion and birthplace stops influencing the mainstream opinion of average Americans, a discussion of Mitt Romney’s religion and beliefs should not be off limits. In fact, there should be more open discussion of Romney’s religion, since it’s been one of the most important parts of his entire life. Especially now with Romney’s new ad “Be Not Afraid” which questions President Obama’s ‘beliefs’ and the now familiar conservative theme of “us and him” separation — the dog-whistling racist implication of the “otherness” of Obama and how he doesn’t share “our values,” how Obama has declared a “war on religion” with health care reform. And how Mitt Romney believes “that’s wrong.”  And that Romney is the one to choose when “religious freedom is threatened.” What. Total. Horseshit.


…


image: theyoungturks: “Obama’s Religion vs Romney’s Religion“

Let’s talk about a couple of things regarding Mitt Romney and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:

The Dark Side of Mitt Romney | Vanity Fair – ”But a dichotomy exists within the Mormon Church, which holds that one is either in or out; there is little or no tolerance for those, like so-called cafeteria Catholics, who pick and choose what doctrines to follow. And in Mormonism, if one is in, a lot is expected, including tithing 10 percent of one’s income, participating regularly in church activities, meeting high moral expectations, and accepting Mormon doctrine—including many concepts, such as the belief that Jesus will rule from Missouri in his Second Coming, that run counter to those of other Christian faiths. That rigidity can be difficult to abide for those who love the faith but chafe at its strictures or question its teachings and cultural habits. For one, Mormonism is male-dominated—women can serve only in certain leadership roles and never as bishops or stake presidents. The church also makes a number of firm value judgments, typically prohibiting single or divorced men from leading wards and stakes, for example, and not looking kindly upon single parenthood.”

Romney served “as bishop of the ward (ecclesiastical and administrative head of his congregation) at Belmont, Massachusetts, from 1981 to 1986.”  What’s a Mormon bishop?

“Bishop is the highest priesthood office of the Aaronic priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement, and is leader of the Aaronic priesthood in a given ward or congregation. It is almost always held by one who already holds the Melchizedek Priesthood office of high priest and who serves as the leader of a local congregation of church members. The Latter Day Saint concept of the office differs significantly from the role of bishops in other Christian denominations, being in some respects more analogous to a pastor or parish priest. Each bishop serves with two counselors, which together form a bishopric.

“[...] In the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), bishops are called from among the members of a local congregation, known as a ward, and traditionally serve, without pay, for four to seven years (the actual length of service can vary). A bishop must be a married high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood. The bishop acts as the Presiding High Priest of the ward. A bishop simultaneously serves as the president of the Aaronic priesthood and president of the Priests Quorum in the ward. [...] The calling of each bishop must be approved by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles…”

— Bishop (Latter Day Saints) – Wikipedia

The question is: if elected, can Mitt Romney separate his religious beliefs from his secular duties in the office of President? Can he protect our country’s principle of ‘freedom of religion’ — meaning everyone has a right to their beliefs, even if their beliefs are not similar to Romney’s — meaning the government cannot tell you to worship God if you don’t or, if you do, how to worship God. The government cannot mandate you be a Sikh, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, or Mormon — the government cannot legislate you to believe that Jesus will return to rural Missouri, that you’ll get your own planet in the afterlife, or that wearing underwear marked with freemasonry symbols will protect you from the evils of the world (and the “others”).

If Romney wants to pretend that a mandate in the Affordable Care Act to include birth control in insurance plans (with the caveat that Churches in opposition do not have to pay for the mandate) is a “threat to religious freedom,” then I think it’s fair to wonder if that opinion is based in Republican political ideology or in Romney’s personal religious beliefs. And IF it’s based in his religious beliefs, what else might he impose on the rest of us from the Book of Mormon?

“Nuns on a Bus” want Mitt Romney to join them — even for one hour

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Think Progress reports “The group behind the Nuns On A Bus tour that highlighted the ill-effects of the House Republican budget in congressional districts across the country is now setting its sights on the party’s presidential candidate, inviting Mitt Romney to spend a day with the nuns to learn about the plight of America’s poorest citizens.”

“Romney has endorsed the House GOP budget plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). It was that plan, which includes deep cuts to food stamps and other safety net programs that benefit the middle class, that NETWORK’s Nuns On A Bus tour targeted, with [Sister Simone] Campbell and other sisters blasting it as “immoral” at the tour’s conclusion in Washington D.C. Romney has also proposed massive tax cuts for the rich that would likely come at the expense of lower- and middle-class families, which would see higher taxes or significant cuts to the programs they depend on.

“Those policies, Campbell told ThinkProgress, show that Romney “doesn’t have clue” about the struggles the poor face. “The fact is, his policies shift wealth to the upper class,” she said. “Yes, it hurts the middle class, but it devastates those at the margins of our society.” If Romney were to accept their invitation, Campbell said she would take him to places like St. Augustine’s in Cleveland, where food programs “provide a hand up” to the community’s neediest members. “He thinks they’re lazy,” Campbell said, in reference to Romney’s misleading welfare reform ad. “It is hard work to keep things together when you’re poor. He doesn’t have a clue. Let him talk to them, and maybe they’ll touch his heart. And his mind too.”

“The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Campbell said she “lives in hope” that he will accept, even if he spends only an hour with the group. “I’ll take whatever I can get,” Campbell said. “He should accept.””

Unfortunately Mitt, more than most, does need to step outside the gates of his lavish lifestyle to understand exactly how the peasantry lives. But spending time with nuns in service to the poor is something that will never happen. There’s no upside to this kind of PR for a Republican candidate, and especially for Willard Romney — even if it’s very clear that he could benefit from some experience and education on America’s working class and income / poverty:

Flashback (July/2012): Romney completely unaware of what waiters and waitresses earn, calls them “middle class”

Mitt Romney’s sense of entitlement is only slightly larger than his capacity for whining

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“The president’s campaign has put out a campaign that’s talking about me and attacking me. I think it’s just demeaning to the nature of the process, particularly when we face the kinds of challenges we face.” — Mitt Romney, in an interview on CBS News.

Dennis G. at Balloon Juice breaks this down the best:

The shock of it all. You run for office and your opponent talks about you, your ideas and why he thinks you are wrong for the job. Most folks would think that this just comes with the territory when you run for President, but for Mitt it is an outrage. The idea that anybody might question him offends his sense of entitlement.

In Romney’s view, he should be able to say anything he wants. Tell any lie. Mitt can attack Barack Obama as the ‘Great Other’, as an unAmerican usurper of power, as a man who hates the Country, as a man who doesn’t understand American values, as a man who wants to take the money from hard working white folks and give it to lazy brown people, as a man unfit for office, as a man who is incompetent, as a man who is a gangster thug and a thousand other insults and lies that Romney and the Wingnuts use to attack President Obama ALL the time. In Mitt’s view race-baiting is justified if it might help him win. He is fine with using code-talking to call Barack Obama an angry black man that all decent white folks should fear. It is OK for Team Mitt to lie and to promote policies that will destroy the middle class. It is OK for his side to bring all the crazy they want.

What is not OK—what Mitt thinks is out-of-bounds—is for anybody to notice and/or mention any of it.

If you call Mitt out for the ways that his policies will hurt the middle-class: that’s going over the line. If you notice that Mitt made his fortune through tax dodges and the destruction of American Jobs, well that is out-of-bounds. If you point out that Mitt is using memes about welfare and angry black men to appeal to white fear and anxiety, then you’re guilty of hate speech.

Mitt Romney wants to run for President with all aspects about him, his campaign, his record, his plans, his statements and his goals off-limits from any review or discussion.

I think we’ve all seen that Mitt can dish it out — but, wow, can he NOT take it. Not even a little bit. He’s a thin-skinned, whiny, spoiled aristocrat who can’t take criticism (he won’t release more tax returns for that reason!). He’s a guy who is used to telling people to jump and having them respond, “How high?” No one dares look directly at the King!

Dennis G. hits the nail on the head: Mitt’s sense of entitlement is massive — it may extend all the way to Kolob. Hopefully there are more of us who think Romney is not  ”entitled” to anything, let alone the White House, just because he wants it. I hope after the election Romney can go spend some quality time with his money in the Caymans or Bermuda.

Mitt Romney is an 18-year long construct of a GOP presidential candidate

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Timothy Egan attempts to define the boundary, shape or texture of Mitt in his opinion piece Romney the Unknowable:

The Republican National Convention will mark the fourth time in 18 years, dating to a losing Senate race in 1994, that a Team Romney has tried to construct a Brand Romney. This problem of who he is, Romney acknowledged last year, has plagued him ever since he became a public figure.

In focus groups, he’s described as a tin man, a shell, an empty suit, vacuous, a multimillionaire in mom jeans. And that’s from supporters.

At the convention, you can expect to hear high praise for a virtuous, disciplined, loyal person of family and faith. You will surely hear the words “turnaround” and “no apology” — both titles of platitudinous and unread books by Romney — in defense of his business acumen and unshakable view of American exceptionalism.

But I doubt you will hear anything of the real Romney because he is afraid of his own past. His life — even with prep school privilege in Bloomfield Hills, the draft-avoiding refuges of mission work in Paris and business school at Harvard, a founding role at Bain Capital from a mentor who guaranteed he would never fail financially or professionally — is not without drama… continue

Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate, is a construct. Here’s what his supporters will be voting for:


image: topherchris

And by the way, still no tax returns? So many secrets.

Sunday sermon: Mitt Romney criticized by Franciscan Friars for comments on the poor

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“Our Christian tradition teaches that we are to treat the poor with dignity and to prioritize the poor in our policies as a society. At a time when millions are struggling financially, it is degrading to talk about the ‘dependency’ of people hurting in this economy, as Gov. Romney did recently.” — The Franciscan Action Network (FAN), a Catholic faith-based advocacy and civic engagement organization, strongly criticizing Mitt Romney’s recent ads and rhetoric regarding welfare programs and welfare recipients. (via: azspot)

I would imagine, but I couldn’t say for sure, that this Christian tradition is similar between Mormons and Catholics. But the political agendas of Romney and Ryan — both of whom profess to be Mormon and Catholic, respectively — are not inspired by any of the teachings of Jesus Christ, as far as I can see.

It seems like Christianity only matters to far-right conservatives when they can use it as a weapon against a political enemy. Sometimes atheists can also be found wearing sheep’s clothing.