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27 August 2012
Mormon temples, Fox’s Juan Williams still doesn’t get it
August 25, 2012
Examiner
During an on-air exchange Friday afternoon, Fox News political analyst Juan Williams commented with some intensity about how a person could walk into a black church and see what is going on but he couldn’t do that in a Mormon Temple, in essence asking why not?
In fairness he’s not the only person who still doesn’t understand the distinction between regular churches and temples in the Mormon faith. Hopefully if he did, he wouldn’t have been so condemning of the church on national TV.
http://www.examiner.com/article/mormon-temples-fox-s-juan-williams-still-doesn-t-get-it
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Mormon-owned station won’t show “The New Normal”
August 27, 2012
Chicago Tribune (Illinois)
Salt Lake City Television station KSV-TV won’t air the new NBC comedy “The New Normal,” which features a gay couple adopting a baby.
The Mormon church-owned NBC affiliate station doesn’t say what exactly it finds offensive about the show.
“From time to time we may struggle with content that crosses the line in one area or another,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “The dialogue might be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive.”
The decision means “The New Normal” will now seem slightly more “edgy” to people who care about that sort of thing.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-thenewnormalbre87q0ui-20120827,0,4166830.story
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Mormon-Owned NBC Affiliate Refuses to Air Gay-Friendly Sitcom The New Normal
August 27, 2012
Gawker
The Salt Lake City, Utah-based television station KSL, an major NBC affiliate owned by the Mormon Church, has announced that it will not air the Peacock Network’s upcoming comedy series The New Normal due to its “inappropriate content.”
The sitcom, which is set to begin airing this fall, centers around a gay couple having a baby with the help of surrogate.
“For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s Church-owned parent company Bonneville International, said in a statement.
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Mormon-church owned NBC affiliate refuses to air comedy series about gay couple
August 27, 2012
Daily Mail
An NBC affiliate television station in Salt Lake City, Utah has refused to air a comedy series about a gay couple using a surrogate to have a baby.
Mormon-church owned KSL-TV will not air The New Normal when it premieres in September as it deemed the series ‘inappropriate’ for family viewing.
It is a move that has enraged the show’s stars and LGBT activists, who labelled the decision ‘homophobic’ and ‘dangerous’.
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‘This program simply feels inappropriate’: Mormon-owned Utah station won’t air NBC show about gay couple
August 27, 2012
Miami Herald (Florida)
A Mormon church-owned NBC affiliate in Utah won’t air an upcoming sitcom about a gay couple that invites a surrogate mother into their home as they try to have a baby because the station deems the content inappropriate for its audience.
“The New Normal” is set to debut Sept. 11 on NBC.
“After viewing the pilot episode of ‘The New Normal,’ we have made the decision to keep it off our fall schedule,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told the Deseret News.
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Mormon-owned station pulls pin on New Normal
August 27, 2012
Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
Salt Lake City Television station KSV-TV won’t air the new NBC comedy The New Normal, which features a gay couple adopting a baby.
The Mormon church-owned NBC affiliate station doesn’t say what exactly it finds offensive about the show.
“From time to time we may struggle with content that crosses the line in one area or another,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “The dialogue might be excessively rude and crude. The scenes may be too explicit or the characterizations might seem offensive.”
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Mormon+owned+station+pulls+Normal/7152115/story.html
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Mormon church-owned TV network bans show about gay couple
August 28, 2012
news.com.au (Australia)
A MORMON church-owned TV station affiliate in Utah is refusing to air a sitcom about a gay couple, deeming the content inappropriate.
The station won’t air the upcoming sitcom The New Normal, which follows the lives of a gay couple that invite a surrogate mother into their home as they try to have a baby, because it says the content is not appropriate for its audience.
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Mormon-Church-Owned NBC Affiliate Won’t Air “The New Normal”
August 27, 2012
KWTX (Texas)
KSL, a Mormon church-owned NBC affiliate in Utah, won’t air an upcoming sitcom about two gay men who line up a surrogate mother to have their child and invite her into their home.
Officials with KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the show is inappropriate for family viewing.
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Mormon-Owned Station Passes On NBC’s ‘Normal’
August 27, 2012
Media Post News
For the second year in a row, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City has decided not to air a first-year series from the Peacock network. The Mormon Church-owned station will take a pass on comedy “The New Normal,” which includes a surrogate mom for a gay male couple.
Last year, KSL-TV opted not to show drama “The Playboy Club,” which had only three episodes on NBC.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/181642/mormon-owned-station-passes-on-nbcs-normal.html
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NBC’s Salt Lake City Affiliate Won’t Air Gay-Themed Comedy ‘The New Normal’
August 27, 2012
ABC News
For the second year in a row, NBC’s affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah, has opted not to air one of the network’s new series.
In 2011, KSL-TV banned “The Playboy Club” from its airwaves, which was quickly cancelled by NBC. Now, the station has said it will leave “The New Normal” — a comedy about a surrogate mother who moves in with a gay couple to help them have a child — off its schedule.
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NBC Searches for ‘New Normal’ Home in Salt Lake City
August 27, 2012
New York Times
When the NBC television affiliate in Salt Lake City decided against showing “The New Normal,” a sitcom about a gay couple adopting a baby, network executives were not surprised. That station, KSL-TV, which is owned by a subsidiary of the Mormon Church, has a long history of steering clear of NBC programs it deems of questionable content. Last fall it blocked the NBC drama “The Playboy Club” and for years it has refused to carry one of the pillars of NBC entertainment, “Saturday Night Live.” It also blocked a previous NBC comedy considered too racy, the short-lived “Coupling.”
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/nbc-searches-for-new-normal-home-in-salt-lake-city/
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Utah Affiliate Axes Gay-Themed NBC Sitcom
August 27, 2012
Newser
A Mormon Church-owned NBC affiliate won’t be airing the network’s new show about a gay couple because it’s “excessively rude and crude,” Gawker reports. The New Normal, which tells the story of the couple having a child through a surrogate, “feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time,” says Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV. New Normal star Ellen Barkin blasts the move as “blatantly homophobic,” tweeting: “So L&O SVU (rape & child murder) is ok? But loving gay couple having a baby is inappropriate?”
http://www.newser.com/story/152903/utah-affiliate-axes-gay-themed-nbc-sitcom.html
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Salt Lake City Is Helping, Not Hurting, Ryan Murphy’s New Show ‘The New Normal’
August 27, 2012
Forbes
The Salt Lake City ban has got people talking about the new show, a bonus going into the crowded Fall season. And NBC no doubt hoped for a little controversy when it picked up Murphy’s show. The perennial fourth place network needs something to bring viewers back. The latest brouhaha will likely draw good crowds for the show’s premier. Whether they stick around will depend on if the show is any good.
Even the people of Salt Lake City will get a chance to watch the show, despite the ban. The city’s CW affiliate will air the show on weekend.
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Utah Affiliate Will Not Air NBC Series “The New Normal,” Featuring Andrew Rannells, Ellen Barkin, Justin Bartha
August 27, 2012
Playbill
The NBC Utah affiliate KSL-TV has announced that it will not air the upcoming series “The New Normal,” starring Book of Mormon Tony nominee Andrew Rannells, due to to subject matter deemed inappropriate for family viewing. The series centers on a gay couple starting a family of their own.
KSL-TV, which doesn’t air “Saturday Night Live,” has also opted out of airing programs such as “The Playboy Club.” It does, however, broadcast violent crime dramas such as “Law and Order.” The station is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate refuses to air Ryan Murphy’s ‘The New Normal’
August 27, 2012
Washington Post
It’s that time of year again, when NBC’s Salt Lake City television station — owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Letter-day Saints — lets America know which of NBC’s new prime-time series it will not air.
This season’s winner: “The New Normal,” a comedy series about a gay couple having a baby via a single-mom surrogate who comes with a “small-minded” (says NBC) grandmother, played by Ellen Barkin.
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Utah station refuses to carry ‘The New Normal’
August 25, 2012
Entertainment Weekly
The same Mormon-owned Utah station that refused to carry NBC’s The Playboy Club last season is now giving a thumbs down to the net’s new comedy The New Normal.
The CEO of KSL-TV’s parent company told the Salt Lake Tribune that “from time to time we may struggle with content” and that the dialogue may be “excessively rude.” The comedy from Glee creator Ryan Murphy is about a gay couple who relies on a surrogate to have a baby.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/08/25/utah-station-refuses-to-carry-the-new-normal/
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Ellen Barkin: Utah station that won’t air her sitcom has ‘sacred undergarments’ in a ‘Mormon twist’
August 25, 2012
Twitchy
Much like Cher and actor Michael McKean, Barkin “just can’t help” flaunting her disdain for the Mormon faith. In her progressive bubble, tolerance doesn’t include those icky Mormons.
This is what “No H8″ looks like to the Left.
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The New Normal Banned by NBC Affiliate in Utah Puts LGBT Gay Rights on the Spot
August 27, 2012
Policy Mic
NBC’s new sitcom, The New Normal, has been banned from a Utah NBC affiliate because of the series, which deals with the topic of gay adoption, is deemed as “inappropriate” for the Mormon church-owned network’s audience.
“After viewing the pilot episode of The New Normal, we have made the decision to keep it off our fall schedule,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, told AP.
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What Does Mormon Food Culture Say About Mitt Romney?
August 27, 2012
NPR
As the Republican convention gets under way in Tampa tomorrow, we can expect to hear more about the personal life of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Romney aides, in fact, say that now is the time for him to “publicly embrace” his Mormon faith, a religion that plays a large role in the candidate’s life but is misunderstood by many Americans.
If Romney does open up, we might get some insight into an area of particular interest to us here at The Salt — how that faith may shape his eating habits. Whether you like his politics or not, let’s face it, the guy is fit. At the very least, it gives us a reason to explore the relationship between food and the Mormon religion.
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Romney Plans to Discuss Mormon Faith at Convention
August 27, 2012
Bloomberg Businessweek
Mitt Romney will talk about his time as a Mormon bishop at the Republican convention this week when he accepts the party’s presidential nomination, as he works to persuade voters he is sympathetic to average Americans’ concerns.
Romney “insisted” on mentioning his experience pastoring to his congregation in Massachusetts — a subject that will also be addressed by other convention speakers — during his speech scheduled for Thursday night, top adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said at a Bloomberg Breakfast today in Tampa, Florida.
The subject will round out Romney’s biography with a little-discussed element of his life that he and his advisers believe shows the former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive “does have an appreciation for the hardships that are faced by ordinary Americans,” Fehrnstrom said.
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Fehrnstrom: Mitt wants to talk Mormon
August 27, 2012
Politico
Mitt Romney’s decision to talk about being a Mormon when he gives his convention speech Thursday was something he wanted, for a subject he “welcomes,” according to his senior adviser.
“I think the governor gets a bum rap in one respect … and that is because of the assumption that he doesn’t talk about his faith when he’s out on the campaign trails. Actually, it’s probably one of the two, three or four subjects that he gets asked about most frequently,” adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said to reporters at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg News, adding that Romney also gets asked about it by the press.
“The governor … welcomes those questions,” said Fehrnstrom, adding Romney talks about when he was a bishop in the Mormon church and the different types of people he helped, saying it gives the candidate an understanding of the “hardships” that “ordinary Americans” go through.
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Mormons and Polygamy: Truths, Lies and Ambiguities
August 27, 2012
Huffington Post
Ask the person in the street for the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Mormons. The answer: “Polygamy.” Nothing pains the official Church more than the public perception that the straight-laced mainstream Mormon community still practices polygamy. And while this perception is false, there are reasons for its endurance, and those reasons continue to haunt the Church, demanding but never quite receiving a full public airing. We suggest three reasons for its durability.
#1: Polygamy, the Defining Doctrine. Beginning with church founder Joseph Smith’s private foray into plural marriage in the late 1830s, polygamy grew in importance until it became the defining doctrine of Mormonism. Historian (and Mormon) Kathleen Flake has noted that in the second half of the 19th century, polygamy was as important to Mormons as baptism was to Catholics. Church leaders at the highest levels taught not only its importance, but also its permanence. Ultimately, two Apostles — the second-highest office in the Church — were expelled from their offices for their intransigence in the face of institutional extinction at the hands of a federal government that viewed polygamy as the last “relic of barbarism,” and was empowered by the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 to give Mormonism an all-or-nothing ultimatum. Yet even after an 1890 “Manifesto” publicly disavowing the practice, some Mormon leaders (and many church members)
continued its practice in secret. While the Church now summarily excommunicates any members who practice polygamy, the history dies a slow death.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gregory-a-prince-phd/mormons-and-polygamy-trut_b_1833493.html
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How Romney’s Mormon Problem Became His Greatest Asset
August 27, 2012
The New Republic
One year ago, Romney’s faith was a problem, not an asset. The conventional wisdom held that Romney’s strength was his background as a successful businessperson and competent, technocratic, turnaround guru, while Mormonism threatened his support among the Evangelical Christians central to his chances of securing the presidency. Now, with two months to go until the election, that narrative has been turned on its head: The Romney campaign has decided, with good reason, that Mormonism is no longer the candidate’s problem, it’s his solution.
The heart of Romney’s problem entering the convention isn’t his faith, it’s that people don’t like him very much (ie: ordinary Americans don’t think he understands their problems.) Much of this, of course, has to do with the Obama campaign’s attacks on Romney, which, in aggregate, have managed to neutralize his preferred image as a trustworthy businessperson. As a result, Romney trails Obama by substantial margins on every question of compassion or likability. For instance, Obama’s ahead by 16 points on the question of which candidate cares more about “people like me” in a recent Gallup survey.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/electionate/106593/romneys-religious-rnc
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Why author Judith Freeman says Mitt Romney owes her money
August 27, 2012
Los Angeles Times (California)
Mitt Romney owes Judith Freeman money if you follow their genealogies back a few generations, to the time of the Mormon settlement of the West, she says.
Freeman is the author of the biography “The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved” and three novels; Romney is expected to be nominated by Republican delegates at the convention this week as their candidate for president. The financial connection was between Romney’s great-grandfather Miles P. Romney and Freeman’s great-grandfather William Jordan Flake.
Both were devoted to the Mormon teachings of Brigham Young. Each had taken additional spouses, as they had been told to do. By the 1880s, both families found themselves in northern Arizona, part of a Mormon plan to create a corridor of Mormon communities from Utah to Mexico.
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Orrin Hatch: No need for Mitt Romney to talk Mormonism
August 27, 2012
Politico
Mitt Romney hasn’t spoken much about his Mormon faith this election season — and Sen. Orrin Hatch doesn’t think that’s a problem.
Hatch, one of the most prominent Mormon Republicans in the country, thinks Romney shouldn’t spend any time talking about his religion when he reintroduces himself to the American public in his nomination acceptance speech Thursday night.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80234.html?hp=l9
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Republicans Weren’t Always Accepting of Mormons
August 27, 2012
National Journal
The party that on Tuesday will make history by giving its presidential nomination to a Mormon has its own less-uplifting history with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its adherents.
For most of its early decades, the GOP was staunchly against Mormons and their efforts to get the UtahUtahPOPULATION (2010): 2,763,885REGISTERED VOTERS: 0.00% R, 0.00% D, 0.00% I GOVERNOR: Gov. Gary Herbert (R)SENATORS: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), Sen. Mike Lee (R) Read Full Almanac Profile » territory admitted to the union. Not coincidentally, most Mormons were then Democrats. But even allowing for the raw political calculation that Republicans did not want a new state that would send Democrats to Washington, the vehemence of the Republican opposition was striking.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/the-history-of-gop-opposition-to-mormonism-20120827
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Romney’s high-wire act on religion at the Republican convention
August 27, 2012
Washington Post
What Romney needs, in other words, is to craft a message around what has been called “civil religion.” However, Romney faces some unique challenges, both because of the minority status of his Mormon faith and because of the expectations of white evangelical Protestants, who promise, if things go well, to constitute more than one-third of his voter base in November.
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Mike Leavitt and the ‘Mormon mafia,’ ctd
August 27, 2012
The Daily Caller
Perhaps not surprisingly (although it constituted only a fraction of the column), the quote about the “Mormon mafia” garnered the most attention and controversy. In response, a Mormon reader (who is connected to the Romney campaign) emailed me this:
Leavitt is a true manager — a very very good one.
He is more conservative then people think — he lives a very conservative life. The funny thing about the “social conservative” aspect is that people like Leavitt are as personally conservative as any [Evangelical], but Mormons in business personify temperance in leadership and public life. Look at Utah’s economy the past two decades. Are their states more fiscally conservative? Is that what our country needs?
http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/27/mike-leavitt-and-the-mormon-mafia-ctd
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Mitt Romney Labeled ‘Racist’ Due To Mormon Faith In Controversial Neon Sign
August 27, 2012
International Business Times
A 14-foot neon sign pleads for passersby to “Save the GOP.” A relatively unthreatening sentiment, except the rest of the glowing red and green text labels soon-to-be-presidential nominee Mitt Romney a “racist.” The sign, in front of Steven Showers’ Newbury Park, Calif., home, has made his home the topic of neighborly outrage.
The 59-year-old registered Republican erected the sign to express his opposition to the candidate’s Mormon faith, and what he deems its racist history, according to the Los Angeles Times. The neon sign is meant to advertise his Web site, which explains his thoughts in further detail.
The Mormon religion’s dealings with race have been something of a blemish in its history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not allow blacks into the priesthood — the status of all adult male members in good standing — until 1978.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/377883/20120827/mitt-romney-racist-neon-sign-newbury-park.htm
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Neon sign attacking Mitt Romney generates controversy
August 27, 2012
Los Angeles Times (California)
Showers said he has always voted Republican and is still registered as one. But he said he finds fault with Mormon doctrine with regard to race and believes Romney, who is Mormon, would damage the party.
The Mormon Church first allowed blacks into the priesthood in 1978. Romney has spoken favorably of the change.
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Neon protest
August 27, 2012
Ventura County Star (California)
By the time I finished the second paragraph about how Newbury Park resident Steven Showers “decided to research the religion further,” I knew that truth was going to be tortured and the mormons bashed.
Naturally, his “research” was most likely done on the Internet from anti-Mormon sources only. After decades of wandering through spiritual darkness and ignorance, I became converted to the Mormon faith (41 years ago) because they have modern revelation from God, authority from God to baptize and other truths too numerous to mention here. I am glad I never went to the enemies of the Mormon church for my research, or I might still be wandering and stumbling through life with false notions and an ignorant belief system.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/aug/27/neon-protest/?opinion=1
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Romney camp balks at anonymous story on Leavitt
August 27, 2012
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is disputing a report that former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt is attempting to stack the Romney transition team with his own Mormon and business cronies.
The Daily Caller, citing anonymous sources, said some officials in Romney’s Boston headquarters were concerned that Leavitt, who is heading the campaign’s plans should Romney win the White House, was “trying to preemptively populate a future Romney administration with personal loyalists,” including those from a so-called Mormon mafia.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54774734-78/romney-josh-obama-utah.html.csp
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Mitt Romney embraces his Mormonism in public after years of discretion
August 27, 2012
The Guardian (United Kingdom)
Philip Barlow does not recognise the descriptions of Mitt Romney, as a cold, stiff CEO. As Romney’s church counsellor when the Republican presidential hopeful was a bishop in the Mormon church in Boston, Barlow saw him administer to the emotional and practical needs of all his flock.
“It forces you to become intimately involved in the lives of people of all economic and racial backgrounds,” he explains. “People would come to him with problems: a son who’s strayed from the faith, a daughter with a drug problem, marriage difficulties. I was there with him in his home, every Saturday, talking about how he would handle these problems. In his personal life he’s not stiff at all.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/27/mitt-romney-embrace-mormonism?newsfeed=true
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Evangelical GOP voters back Romney ‘in spite’ of his religion
August 27, 2012
Standard Examiner (Utah)
Greg Jones, Ventura, Calif., stake president for the Mormon church, won’t divulge his vote. And despite Romney’s candidacy, he said, the election isn’t discussed at church services, as part of a policy of political neutrality.
To Jones, the election creates an opportunity to address the robust stream of claims that center most often on the idea that Mormonism is not Christian.
“We believe in Christ, and we believe in him as the Son of God,” he said.
http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/08/27/evangelical-gop-voters-back-romney-spite-his-religion
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Romney’s religion
August 27, 2012
Columbia Daily Tribune (Missouri)
From what we know and can surmise, Kennedy was more immune than Romney. When Kennedy said he could put aside his sectarian religion, he was eminently believable. Romney shows much more immersion in his. Indeed, rather independent Catholics surely are the largest group in the church. Some 95 percent are said to ignore the church teachings on contraception, for instance. I know of no such overtly outlier group in Mormonism, but surely such a contingent lurks somewhere.
Recently, Romney sought to blunt the problem in an approach quite different from Kennedy’s. In New Hampshire, Romney took a group of journalists to church, obviously in an effort to show the world practicing Mormons do not eat snakes or otherwise engage in strange behavior, and no calls from the pulpit urge this or that public policy.
Mormons are Christians, but with a different messiah. A fellow named Joseph Smith brought them the word of God along with a distinct brand of cultural conservatism. For most of us, this would not be our faith of choice, but I can’t see any grave danger in its beliefs or practices, at least not any that would disqualify a practitioner from being president.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/aug/27/romneys-religion/
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Why Won’t Mitt Romney Fully Disclose His Tax Returns?
August 27, 2012
International Business Times
In an interview with Parade magazine published Sunday, Romney again stressed that there are certain things in his life that he would like to keep private — one of which happens to be his contributions to the Mormon Church.
Mormons tithe 10 percent of their income to the church, and the presidential hopeful doesn’t think it’s the country’s business to know how much he forks over.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/377726/20120827/mitt-romney-tax-returns-tithes-mormon-parade.htm
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A Different Kind of Party for Delegates From Utah
August 27, 2012
National Journal
Merit Medical CEO Fred Lampropoulos, a prominent Utah Republican, just spent $10,000 on towels, toothbrushes, and soap from the local Costco in Tampa to be distributed to storm victims and packaged by the Utah convention delegation.
It was a do-gooder party, born of a free day before the official Republican National Convention start and of the Utah Republican Party’s tradition of “service projects” wherever members go. (The delegation is also running a school-supply drive.)
Utah party leaders told Lampropoulos over the weekend that they wanted to collect goods for people who would lose power or get caught short-supplied by Tropical Storm Isaac. “I said, ‘Let me do it for you,’ ” he said. “It’s part of what I call our local tradition of helping local communities.”
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/a-different-kind-of-party-for-delegates-from-utah-20120827
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County says big anti-Romney sign is largely up to code
August 27, 2012
Ventura County Star (California)
A 10-foot-tall anti-Mitt Romney sign in an unincorporated Newbury Park neighborhood is up to code except for the flashing neon lights, a code compliance official said Monday.
The Ventura County Resource Management Agency left a notice Friday at Steven Showers’ house ordering him to unplug the display that says, “Romney’s Racist Heart Dotcom. Save the GOP,” according to Code Compliance Director Jim Delperdang.
“We’re coalescing around the idea that the illumination is the issue,” Delperdang said. “Our concern is that it’s projecting onto adjoining properties, which is not permitted.”
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/aug/27/county-says-big-anti-romney-sign-is-largely-up/
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10-Foot-Tall Anti-Romney Neon Sign Erected In Newbury Park Neighborhood
August 27, 2012
CBS Los Angeles (California)
Complaints poured in Monday about a 10-foot-high wooden structure and neon sign in a quiet Newbury Park neighborhood that says “Romney’s Racist Heart Dotcom. Save the GOP.”
Steven Showers, 59, built the display after doing research into Mormonism after it became apparent that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would get the Republican nomination for president, according to the Ventura County Star.
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Black, Mormon and female, Utah Republican embodies new hope
August 28, 2012
Reuters
That’s how some pundits describe Mia Love, a Republican congressional nominee in Utah who is upending stereotypes about the state and its predominant faith. A rising star and mayor of a small Utah city, she will have a brief prime-time speaking role on Tuesday at the Republican convention.
Love, 36, is a black Mormon in a deeply conservative state where her race makes up less than 3 percent of the population. If she bests the popular, right-of-center Democratic incumbent, Jim Matheson, in November, Love would be the first black, conservative woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, although polls show she faces an uphill battle.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/us-usa-campaign-mormon-idINBRE87Q19Q20120827
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Mia Love, Utah’s Mormon mayor, increases GOP’s minority appeal
August 27, 2012
Global Post
Mia Love will be speaking at the Republican National Convention.
The Mormon mayor of Saratoga Springs is currently running against Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, according to ABC News.
If elected in November, Love, born in Brooklyn to Haitian-American parents, would become the first black female Republican in Congress, noted NPR.
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Fayetteville area Mormons see opportunity in Romney candidacy to dispel misconceptions
August 27, 2012
Fayetteville Observer (North Carolina)
Nephi Brock is following this year’s presidential election with interest.
And not just because the presumptive Republican nominee is a fellow Mormon.
“I think all elections are special, especially presidential elections,” said Brock, who lives in Hope Mills. “I’m excited about the election just because I believe we need a change in direction, whether that’s Mitt Romney or another candidate.”
When Romney accepts his party’s nomination Thursday in Tampa, Fla., he will become the first major party presidential candidate who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2012/08/28/1197122?sac=fo.local
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Perspectives: A Mormon president may just be what America needs
August 27, 2012
Dixie Press (Utah)
Moreover, Romney is a Mormon and Mormons, we are told, are weird and mysterious.
If Mormonism shaped Romney’s life and was a key element in him becoming a devoted and loyal husband, father, philanthropist, citizen and leader, then, it seems to me a practicing Mormon would make an incredible President of the United States.
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Atheist group removes billboards targeting presidential candidates’ religious faith
August 27, 2012
CNN
The billboard targeting Mormonism lambasted – and, Mormons would say, distorted – specific Mormon doctrines: “God is a Space Alien, Baptizes Dead People, Big Money, Big Bigotry.”
The Mormon billboard featured a man in white underwear, a reference to special Mormon garments.
American Atheists said the billboards provoked a “large volume of threats” by phone and e-mail and that the group reported the threats to police.
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ATHEISTS PULL BILLBOARDS ON PREZ CANDIDATES’ FAITH
August 27, 2012
World Net Daily
The anti-Mormon billboard, obviously targeting presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, begins with the heading “Mormonism” and then declares “God is a Space Alien.”
The billboard featured a man in glowing underwear, an apparent reference to special undergarments worn by Mormon faithful.
The atheists’ statement refers to the public criticism of the billboard campaign.
“It is with regret that we tell our members and all of those who treasure free speech and the separation of religion and government that American Atheists and Adams Outdoor Advertising have mutually agreed to remove the billboards immediately,” said Amanda Knief, American Atheists’ managing director.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/08/atheists-pull-billboards-on-prez-candidates-faith/?cat_orig=faith
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