Rick Perry/David Lane Anti-Mormon Connection Redux

[CQUIRK]

Here. I figured I would do a separate thread on this..

In the wake of anti-Mormon comments made by Robert Jeffress -- an influential pastor who has endorsed Rick Perry -- a second prominent evangelical power broker with ties to the Texas governor is now causing an additional stir.

On Sunday, The Daily Beast published excerpts of emails sent by David Lane, a key organizer of Perry's "The Response," an August gathering in Houston billed as “a call to prayer for a nation in crisis.” In the email excerpts, Lane questioned Mitt Romney’s fitness for the presidency on theological grounds and reveled in the potential political utility of Jeffress’ comments.

“We owe Dr. Jeffress a big thank you,” Lane wrote to Christian talk radio executive **** Bott, according to the Daily Beast, adding that Jeffress’ comments were “a stroke of luck” in that they drew attention to Romney’s Mormonism.

On Sunday night, Lane doubled down on his anti-Mormon rhetoric in a mass email he distributed, which was obtained by RealClearPolitics.

In the mailing, addressed to unspecified “friends,” Lane drew attention to a Sunday New York Times story that highlighted Romney’s past work as a lay leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Lane highlighted an anecdote featured in the article, which recounted the counseling that Romney provided in 1993 to a fellow Mormon who was struggling with alcoholism and drug abuse and has since become sober.

Lane wrote, “Mitt's spiritual guidance to Mr. Clark, ‘Are you trying to improve, are you trying to do better? And if you are, then you’re a saint,’ may not need much polish for core curriculum at a Positive Mental Attitude seminar, but it's not Christian.”

Lane added that the Bible alludes to “two classes of people, ‘Saints and Aints.’ ”

“The ‘Saints’ accept Jesus' prescription for eternal life, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again,’ ” Lane wrote. “The ‘Aints’ do not . . . one can serve as a missionary, abstain from adult beverages, and be a good boy, ‘but its end is the way to death.’ ”

Lane went on to suggest that Romney should have been excommunicated from the LDS Church due to his previous support of abortion rights and gay rights.

“My biggest problem with Mitt Romney is not that he's a Mormon, it's that he is not even a good Mormon,” Lane wrote.

Later in his email, Lane turned to his attention to the 2012 Republican presidential horse race, suggesting that Romney, Perry, and Ron Paul would join whoever wins the Iowa Caucuses in moving on to the subsequent GOP contests.

Lane wrote that Romney “very badly” needed Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Rick Santorum to stay in the race, in order to divide the evangelical and pro-life Catholic vote but that Perry’s impressive fundraising haul “threw a monkey wrench” into the theory that no other Republican contender would be able to compete with Romney financially.

Lane then went on to echo Jeffress’ characterization of Mormonism as a cult.

“If the secular Press' bullying over the ‘cult issue’ fails to censor those voices who are calling into question the theological legitimacy of a ‘group sharing belief’ (political correctness for Cult), Romney is going to have to defend his and the Mormon's ‘bizarre’ Articles of Faith,” Lane wrote.

Asked for a reaction to Lane’s comments and to explain the extent of the evangelical activist’s relationship with the Texas governor, Perry’s spokesman Mark Miner wrote in an email to RCP, “This has nothing to do with our campaign.”

Before Jeffress made his comments at the Values Voter Summit, Romney’s Mormon faith had not been the oft-discussed topic that it was during his 2008 run. In that race, the Mormon issue came up so often in places like Iowa and South Carolina that Romney decided to deliver a closely watched speech on religious liberty and how his own faith would inform his presidency.

Romney last week called on Perry to “repudiate” Jeffress’ remarks, and aides to the former Massachusetts governor have privately fumed over what they see as the Perry campaign’s deliberate attempt to keep the story alive by refusing to issue an emphatic condemnation of the anti-Mormon comments.

During a round of TV interviews on Friday, Perry said that Americans were not interested in “sideshows” and said that he disagreed with Jeffress’ statement but stopped short of denouncing it.

“Look, I’m not going to say that he can’t say what he wants to say,” Perry told “Good Morning America’s” George Stephanopoulos. “The issue is: Are we going to tell people what they can say? And I’m not going to be one of those.”

[CQUIRK]

Its vile and stupid, yet stuff like this getting into the public spotlight is necessary.

Anti-Mormonism is now in the same position that anti-Catholicism was in 1960; the American people are smarting up to all the wild and sensational claims made about us, and some are even becoming more interested in getting involved with our faith too.

[thesometimesaint]

The law can't keep someone from making an a$$ of themselves.

[Nemesis]

Knock off the political party rhetoric or we will stop allowing threads that deal with the upcoming election.

Nemesis

[Mordecai]

I think priestcraft is at the core of this problem, and it runs deeper than the 60's anti-Catholic sentiment.

[Glenn101]

We will be much worse off when the public begins identifying the LDS as just like all of the other Christian religions and those of all of the Christian religions as bosom buddies, er Christians.

Glenn

[cdowis]

As PT Barnum said, "I don't care what they say about me, as long as they spell my name right."

The church couldn't buy the publicity that Jefferies, et al, are generating. Peggy Noonan, speaking about "good people" said that the day of neutrality on moral issues is quickly passing. Good people talk about getting an abortion in a casual way like an appointment at the beauty parlor.

"Good people" will be making a decision on the church and can no longer remain neutral. As the Lord stated, the Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn from the world.

[CQUIRK]

Though I must admit, when these people bash our faith in the media, they don't do themselves any favors at all in the mainstream; rather it seems that our faith is becoming more accepted by the American public, and even the general media these days as time passes.

That said, I do predict that while anti-Mormonism will always be around, in the near future, it will mainly come from those on the Left side of the political spectrum, and from secular sources; while religious anti-Mormonism will continue to mellow and decline, as it already is.

[thesometimesaint]

Bigotry knows no political identity.

[CQUIRK]

Either or, BY was right in his assessment- "...When critics kick Mormonism, they kick it upstairs"

[thesometimesaint]

Personally I don't want to be kicked by anyone.

[CQUIRK]

We don't want to be, but sometimes it still happens, though we're quite used to it

[Log]

“My biggest problem with Mitt Romney is not that he's a Mormon, it's that he is not even a good Mormon,” Lane wrote.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

[Kenngo1969]

Lane added that the Bible alludes to “two classes of people, ‘Saints and Aints.’ ”

I wonder, where and in which version are the "Aints" alluded to?

[LeSellers]

I wonder, where and in which version are the "Aints" alluded to?

Sheep and goats.

Use the terms you prefer.

Lehi