24 replies to this topic

[smac97]

Weird:


A startling investigation into America's fastest growing religion and the former Mormon bishop who says he now wants to be President of the United States.

He's been described as the Republican Presidential candidate from central casting. Good looks, lots of money and powerful connections. But Mitt Romney is a Mormon and there are many, even inside his own political party, who say they simply can't vote for him. This week Four Corners presents a BBC investigation into an organisation that may yet destroy Mitt Romney's attempt to become the most powerful leader in the world.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) has been described by some as the ultimate American religion. Based on the Christian tradition, it was founded by Joseph Smith Jnr in the early 19th Century in the United States. However, some claim the Mormons act more like a cult than a religion. BBC reporter John Sweeney investigates claims that the organisation brainwashes its members and targets people who leave the faith - keeping dossiers on them and telling their families, who remain in the church, to shun them.

The investigation looks at Mitt Romney's work as a Mormon bishop and includes a revealing interview with the politician's second cousin Park Romney, who says the church is a fraud and that after he left he was followed by people he believed were acting on behalf of the church.

The church denies it brainwashes people or forces them to shun members of their family, but that hasn't stopped many voters asking themselves why they would vote for a man who's involved in this religion.

"Mitt Romney and the Mormons", reported by John Sweeney and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 30th April at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 1st May at 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24at 8.00pm on Saturdays or on ABC iview



I think ABC News is going to end up looking foolish by running a paranoid conspiracy story about a disgruntled ex-mo griping about doctrinal issues.



-Smac

[cinepro]

smac97, on 26 April 2012 - 11:06 PM, said:

I think ABC News is going to end up looking foolish by running a paranoid conspiracy story about a disgruntled ex-mo griping about doctrinal issues.



-Smac

To be clear, it's "ABC News" Australia.  

Maybe Pahoran can watch it.

Edited by cinepro, 26 April 2012 - 11:17 PM.

[Log]

It will only look foolish to those who know better.

That particular exmo gripe reminds me of this video.

[thesometimesaint]

Leave us alone and we'll convert the world, persecute us and we'll do it faster.

[Messenger]

Funny - I always get a kick out of this forum and how the "no politics" policy works with everything but Romney.  That being said, I like Romney, but I like integrity on a forum better.

Edited by Messenger, 27 April 2012 - 07:42 AM.

[Buzzard]

Messenger, on 27 April 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

Funny - I always get a kick out of this forum and how the "no politics" policy works with everything but Romney.  That being said, I like Romney, but I like integrity on a forum better.

Maybe the mods are sleeping in this morning...

[bluebell]

Messenger, on 27 April 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

Funny - I always get a kick out of this forum and how the "no politics" policy works with everything but Romney.  That being said, I like Romney, but I like integrity on a forum better.

It's always been a practice of this forum (for as long as i can remember anyway) to allow a certain level of political discussion when a mormon is involved, or if the political issue directly affects the LDS church (such as with Prop. 8 ).

You can't have political debate just for the sake of it though.  (I think there might even be a thread pinned in the 'news' folder right now about this, but maybe i'm thinking of something different).

Edited by bluebell, 27 April 2012 - 07:48 AM.

[Garden Girl]

I think it's about time the Church put out its own film to counter the BBC's (or whoever's).  It's easy for non-LDS made films to be misleading in content or narrative, unintentional or otherwise.

GG

[thesometimesaint]

GG:

We already do that through 40,000+ Missionaries.

[Kenngo1969]

Well, Brother Park, we do "believe in being honest, true, chased ..."  yada-yada!   (And you think you're being chased now, you ain't seen nothin' yet!  Wait'll the black-clad, jack-booted hit squads zip-line from the black helicopters through an open window at your house ...)

P.S.:  And have I simply become too desensitized to how sensationalized the news has become worldwide, or (even with the degree to which it is sensationalized here) does such sensationalization nevertheless seem much more acute in other parts of the world?

P.P.S.: It's amazing, even with the amount of stuff that's already out there about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that any media outlet would still claim to have "startling" information about the Church; of course, I guess that's not hard ... if you're completely committed to reading nefarious motives into otherwise innocuous goings-on (or if that doesn't work, you could always just make stuff up ...)

Edited by Kenngo1969, 27 April 2012 - 08:37 AM.

[Ares]

Messenger, on 27 April 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

Funny - I always get a kick out of this forum and how the "no politics" policy works with everything but Romney.  That being said, I like Romney, but I like integrity on a forum better.

Stories about political figures are not stories about politics.  We have also given some leeway to stories about Mormons in politics.  Integrity in tact.

[Garden Girl]

thesometimesaint, on 27 April 2012 - 08:20 AM, said:

GG:

We already do that through 40,000+ Missionaries.

Not the same as something on the networks...

GG

[Tepui]

smac97, on 26 April 2012 - 11:06 PM, said:

I think ABC News is going to end up looking foolish by running a paranoid conspiracy story about a disgruntled ex-mo griping about doctrinal issues.
-Smac

Talking about ex-mos... Remember Morris "Mo" Udall who ran against Jimmy Carter? Anyone here born before then? From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Udall

"During the Michigan primary, the Carter campaign had Coleman Young, the mayor of Detroit, accuse Udall of racism for belonging to the LDS church, which at the time, did not allow blacks to serve in the church's priesthood (since changed in 1978 by LDS Church President, Spencer W. Kimball). Young's attack was at least somewhat unfair, since Udall had been a longtime critic of that church policy, and had ceased being an active member because of it."

He ceased being an active member... yikes! Mo couldn't win with that. (Good ole' Jimmy.)
Integrity was spoken here. Romney as a Republican has far more than a Mo-Democrat.

Mods: I hope that wasn't too political.  

Edited by Tepui, 27 April 2012 - 04:49 PM.

[thesometimesaint]

GG:

All due deference to the news networks, but they often get religion wrong. You can know everything there is to know about the Mormons in 6 little discussions, but the LDS still surprize me after 41 years of being one.

Edited by thesometimesaint, 28 April 2012 - 05:21 PM.

[Messenger]

Ares, on 27 April 2012 - 10:22 AM, said:

Stories about political figures are not stories about politics.  We have also given some leeway to stories about Mormons in politics.  Integrity in tact.

Integrity can be a lot like humility, you can say you have it, but then when you do, everyone does a double take.     However, its entirely possible to say it, and still have it.  In the end our actions define us, not our words.

Edited by Messenger, 29 April 2012 - 07:44 AM.

[LDS_RM]

the thread title is misleading, from the article it seems Park is saying he was followed, the thread suggest Park is saying he is currently being followed.

Either way, if he is or was followed, I have two theories. Theory One, someone connected to the Church did/is following him, because in England defaming a corporation is easy, and corps in England have and do file and win defamation suits. So maybe its a SMC member.  Theory 2, he is/was being followed by the US Fed to determine whether he is a National security threat to his cousin running for Pres.  Third theory, he is just a angry kook attempting to avenge himself.

Edited by LDS_RM, 29 April 2012 - 10:56 AM.

[blackstrap]

Walk down any busy street in any metropolis and I guarantee that you are being followed.The followers are so sophisticated at every block or so they switch off and a new person is following you. You can walk 50 blocks and will be followed the entire way,even if you change directions. Scary isn't it?

[thesometimesaint]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

[ERayR]

LDS_RM, on 29 April 2012 - 10:55 AM, said:

the thread title is misleading, from the article it seems Park is saying he was followed, the thread suggest Park is saying he is currently being followed.

Either way, if he is or was followed, I have two theories. Theory One, someone connected to the Church did/is following him, because in England defaming a corporation is easy, and corps in England have and do file and win defamation suits. So maybe its a SMC member.  Theory 2, he is/was being followed by the US Fed to determine whether he is a National security threat to his cousin running for Pres.  Third theory, he is just a angry kook attempting to avenge himself.

Fourth theory - he has good home teachers.

[Storm Rider]

Every family has their resident idiot.  Jimmy Carter's brother comes immediately to mind.  Theodore Roosevelt had a brother that was an opium addict that he committed to an asylum in Paris.  Every family has someone that just is either completely crazy or an embarrassment to the human race.  This twit is obviously the Romney family's resident idiot.  I pity him not because he has a mental condition or an addiction, but because he wears his bottom on his shoulders and wanders about in darkness without an recognition that he cannot see.