Park Romney: Mormonism Is A Fraud

[Zakuska]

Mitt's cousin, former high priest, has left their religion

(Newser) – Not all Romneys are as enamored of Mormonism as Mitt. Take Park Romney, Mitt's cousin. He used to be a Mormon high priest, but finally left the religion. "I became convinced that it's a fraud," he tells the BBC. He doubts many aspects of the religion, such as founder Joseph Smith's prophecies, including those based on Smith's translation of an Egyptian scroll he said he purchased from a traveling mummy exhibit. The translation, which became part of the Mormon book of Abraham, has been discredited by Egyptologists. "There's compelling evidence that the Mormon Church leaders knowingly and willfully misrepresent the historical truth of their origins and of the church for the purpose of deceiving their members into a state of mind that renders them exploitable," says Park Romney, 56.

Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, doesn't discuss his religion on the stump, and it's generally not considered kosher to challenge him on it, according to Professor Robert Putnam of the Harvard Kennedy School. "Whenever the issue of Romney's Mormonism has come to the surface, there's been lots of condemnation across the political spectrum for raising the issue of his religion," Putnam tells the BBC. "I'm not saying it's not relevant, but it's not talked about in polite company." Park Romney says he's been the victim of the Mormon practice of "shunning" for criticizing the religion. "I'm alienated from my family," he says.

Sounds like Park might post here or possibly on RFM.

http://www.newser.com/story/142656/park-romney-mormonism-is-a-fraud.html

[Zakuska]

More on Park Romney: Why he left the church

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17487873

[KevinG]

Alienated from the family for openly attacking their beliefs = shunning?

Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame Park.

[thesometimesaint]

He left the Church, but can't leave it alone.

[KevinG]

"If that is what they believe, it's probably a good thing they leave, because we're not a cult." - Elder Holland

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Sounds like Park might post here or possibly on RFM.

http://www.newser.co...is-a-fraud.html

What impresses me the most about Romney is how far they have to go to find anything “they” think is scandalous. I have a number of cousins who left the faith in which they were raised.

[KevinG]

What impresses me the most about Romney is how far they have to go to find anything “they” think is scandalous. I have a number of cousins who left the faith in which they were raised.

...and yet I'm not sure the press would contact me for rejecting Methodism if my brother were to run for public office.

[Zakuska]

What impresses me the most about Romney is how far they have to go to find anything “they” think is scandalous. I have a number of cousins who left the faith in which they were raised.

I know what you mean, "the second cousin on his mothers side twice removed said..."

[KevinG]

I know what you mean, "the second cousin on his mothers side twice removed said..."

I'm sure if they went back far enough they could find a relative of Romney's who was living in squalor in Kenya.

[ERayR]

What impresses me the most about Romney is how far they have to go to find anything “they” think is scandalous. I have a number of cousins who left the faith in which they were raised.

I have some cousins who think I am scandalous.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I have some cousins who think I am scandalous.

Duh...

[Sky]

Sounds like another disgruntled ex-Mormon. If his last name were not "Romney", this would not be news.

[Zakuska]

Sounds like another disgruntled ex-Mormon. If his last name were not "Romney", this would not be news.

Correct.

Did anyone else notice this piece in the SLC Trib?

http://www.sltrib.co...mment-476532206

I beleive the Reptilian body snachers have infiltrated management notify MiB headquarters Immediatley!

Who would a thunk that the SLC Trib could write something almost positive about the LDS church or one of its members?!

Of course that photo could lead to some pretty colorful pro-womens health media ditties. I mean with a enuendo ridden head line like that... "Church service » Boston Mormons recall not a stern, stiff sermonizer, but a caring, creative leader."

[Zakuska]

So it looks like the media is shifting back into the attack the Mormon Church mode, since what they have been doing isn't slowing him down enough:

Mitt Romney’s Mormon religion is ‘demonstrable contemporary fraud’, says relative

http://www.thestar.c...s-relative?bn=1

Yep looky there:

The two men are second cousins who share a great-grandfather, Miles Romney, and have never met.

Second cousins through a shared great-grandfather.

A relative of Mitt Romney is questioning whether he’s qualified to be a U.S. president because of his religion, Mormonism, is a “demonstrable contemporary fraud.”

Park Romney, a former Mormon high priest who actively campaigns against the church now, raises the issue in an interview with the BBC for a documentary on Mormonism.

Park Romney also maintains a website denouncing Mormonism and casting doubt on Mitt Romney’s ability to be the leader of the United States. The fundamental beliefs of the religion based on founder Joseph Smith’s translations of an Egyptian scroll, has been discredited by modern study of the documents, he said.

“We are talking about a Church whose former prophet, Joseph Smith, declared himself King, and ordered the destruction of a private printing enterprise that was about to publish revelations about his personal indiscretions,” Park Romney says on his website.

The two men are second cousins who share a great-grandfather, Miles Romney, and have never met.

Speaking on behalf of Mitt Romney, campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul has said of Park: “Gov. Romney has never heard of this person, and he doesn’t know him.”

Park Romney contends his relative needs to be held accountable to his faith.

Mormon Church leaders, Park Romney says on his website, “are exploiting the faith of the lay members in extracting countless millions of dollars in tithing receipts, a significant portion of which are being invested in worldwide commercial enterprises.”

If Mitt Romney is aware of this, “how do we escape the conclusion that he is party to this fraud, as a high priest of the Mormon Church?”

These are some pretty serious allegations.

Another Article:

http://global.christ...families-72082/

[KevinG]

I particularly like his self published book "The Apostacy of a High Priest".

Those in the know - know that being a High Priest means you have been in a Stake Calling or served as a Bishop's Counselor. But "The Apostasy of a Guy Who Once Served as A Local Unit Counselor" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[Zakuska]

I particularly like his self published book "The Apostacy of a High Priest".

Those in the know - know that being a High Priest means you have been in a Stake Calling or served as a Bishop's Counselor. But "The Apostasy of a Guy Who Once Served as A Local Unit Counselor" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

You mean this book:

http://www.parkromney.com/?view=review

AN AMERICAN FRAUD: One Lawyer's Case against Mormonism

"Each of us has to face the matter--either the Church is true, or it is a fraud. There is no middle ground. It is the Church and kingdom of God or it is nothing."--LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley, April Conference, 2003.

Many Mormons assume that this and other similar proclamations by Mormon Leaders are rhetorical statements. But what if the LDS leaders meant something else? It is estimated that more than 1-1.5 million Mormons have resigned from the LDS Church since 1995. This book exposes why there is such a recent, formal abandonment of Mormonism by, in many cases, previously devout members of the Church.

Admittedly, the LDS Church "stands or falls," on the divinity of "The Book of Mormon." However, it has been proven that "The Book of Mormon" is not a translation of ancient American history engraved in "reformed Egyptian," on golden plates buried by an early American prophet. Instead, it has been shown to be a 19th-century work of fiction authored by Joseph Smith and perhaps others.

Until the advent of widespread internet access, most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, rarely read outside the strictly proscribed canonized scriptures, books and magazines approved by Church leaders. But over the past 10-15 years, Mormons have begun to discover facts about LDS history that had only previously been known to very few, mainly scholarly historians of Mormonism.

Through the discovery of these primary historical sources, now available on numerous internet sites, most intelligent and curious Mormons have reached a critical point and are furious. If they read, they have become disaffected and disoriented. Many are experiencing existential crises. Those who refuse to look outside Mormon Society for Truth have become increasingly self-righteous and insular.

The first third of "An American Fraud: One Lawyer's Case against Mormonism," chronicles the Author's journey out of the Religion. The second two-thirds of the Book, the last six chapters, are an exposé including an analysis under the law. The Author, an experienced civil trial attorney, places the activities of Mormon Leaders over almost two centuries in their proper legal framework, analyzing not only the misrepresentations, but the resulting damages: political, environmental and especially psycho-social.

Ms. Burningham writes that a determination of whether Mormon Leaders have historically misrepresented the origins of LDS theology does not involve a judicial evaluation of the truth of religious beliefs and is therefore not beyond the reach of the American legal system--it is not constitutionally barred. The issue is not whether Jesus Christ is the Son of God, or the efficacy of prayer. These things could never be determined by a secular court of law. Instead, the fraud committed by generations of Mormon Leaders is that they have misrepresented the facts surrounding the source of their scriptures, presenting that source as divine, when they have known otherwise.

Neither the golden plates, nor the writings by the Old Testament prophet, Abraham, claimed to have been inscribed on Egyptian papyri, ever existed. Furthermore, the claimed visitations by biblical apostles to restore lost priesthoods to Smith and his colleagues never occurred. Yet for decades LDS leaders have at least ignored, if not suppressed and grossly misrepresented, the true facts surrounding Mormonism's origins, reworking and re-packaging the founding facts and the theology as necessary.

Those who joined the Church or continued on in the Religion reasonably relied on LDS leaders' misrepresentations to their significant detriment. Given what has been proven about its sources, the Author claims that the Mormon Religion cannot continue to be defended under any guise as a religious organization for the good of its members

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S7FTXE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=musealldirect-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004S7FTXE

[Zakuska]

Here is Parks response to the times piece:

http://www.parkromney.com/?view=faq&Query=Q10017

[Avatar4321]

You mean this book:

http://www.parkromney.com/?view=review

http://www.amazon.co...ASIN=B004S7FTXE

It's a rhetorical statement? It's been proved that the Book of Mormon is a fraud?

The amusing thing about Church critics is the fact that they need to lie to argue what they claim is the truth.

[Kenngo1969]

I know what you mean, "the second cousin on his mothers side twice removed said..."

Who needs to be shunned when you're that distantly related? Just because, to the best of my knowledge, I've never even met somebody to whom I'm that distantly related doesn't mean we're shunning each other. But hey, if one's got an axe to grind, I guess any stone'll do!

P.S.: Park, apparently, is speshul! (Or at least, he wants people to think he is!) "I'm not just Brother J. Hicken McFarland who left the Church! I'm a High Priest!" People will see his book and say to themselves, "Oooh! He's a Mormon High Priest! Those aren't a dime-a-dozen!" But what they don't realize is that most old farts who stick around long enough and are reasonably active will eventually become High Priests ... by default if for no other reason!

[Pahoran]

Fraudulent claims by Park Romney:

1. The discredited canard of "Shunning." This falsehood was invented by Ed Decker and parlayed into an actual ritual, "Mira Hachibu," by Martha Beck. It is an outright lie.
   
2. His implied claim that a High Priest has special insider knowledge. He appeals to that assumption in a number of places.
   
3. His claim that Mitt Romney, as a High Priest, must be "party to this fraud." But Park was a High Priest too. Is he admitting that he was "party to this fraud" thereby?
   

Regards,

Pahoran

[Zakuska]

Fraudulent claims by Park Romney:

1. The discredited canard of "Shunning." This falsehood was invented by Ed Decker and parlayed into an actual ritual, "Mira Hachibu," by Martha Beck. It is an outright lie.
   

Agreed... Mormons never were Ahmish. But Im flatered they would try to stick this to us.

On the other hand I know of serveral people who Ive seen come into the LDS faith that were indeed "shunned" (ie Disowned) by their families for becoming LDS. One young girl age 17 went home after her baptism and found her belongs packed in boxes on the curb and the lock to the front door changed. She ended up living with the family of her best friend (our stake presidents daughter) for the last 4 months of her Senior year in Highschool after which she left for college on a full Scholarship.

RE: 2 &3. It would seem that he was party to it, but got fed up with it and took the "high road" and became a wistle blower like Radkey, Beck, Ed Decker, Sandra Tanner and the like.

[Zakuska]

AMEN! Preach it Brother... It's about time the press started calling people on their Anti-Mormonism!

His sentiments, unfortunately, are not fringe views: As my Post colleague Charles Lane pointed out recently, more than one in five Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, tell Gallup they wouldn’t vote for a Mormon presidential candidate from their own party. And now we have Newt Gingrich flirting with that segment of the population on the stump: He’s calling for a defense of “our religions” and accusing Mitt Romney of discriminating against Catholics and Jews.

For that reason, Park Romney’s use of the family name is part of something darker than Billy’s beer. The anti-Mormonism he represents should be examined in the light of day.

http://www.washingto...vclQ_story.html

[Avatar4321]

Isn't it amazing how we shun people so effectively while never leaving them alone?

[KevinG]

The closest thing we do to shunning is sending our sons and daughters away for two years without letting them call their Mother more than twice a year.

Mind you I don't doubt there are dysfunctional LDS families who cut off ties with rebellious kids - but that is a family problem and against the doctrines and teachings of our church.

[The Nehor]

Isn't it amazing how we shun people so effectively while never leaving them alone?

Yeah, it's sad. My Elder's Quorum President won't let me shun the apostates on my Home Teaching list. I keep trying to tell him that anti-mormons tell me that this is what we are supposed to do and to get with the program. I guess my ward is failing.