Paul Ryan waited until the end of the presidential campaign to bring up religion. Here's what he said on a Value Voters call via NY Times:

Representative Paul D. Ryan accused President Obama on Sunday of taking the country down a path that compromised Judeo-Christian values and the traditions of Western civilization.

The remarks came in a conference call with evangelical Christians, sandwiched between public rallies in which he often spoke of the Romney-Ryan ticket’s promise to bridge partisan divides if elected.

Mr. Ryan’s campaign plane touched down in Colorado late on Sunday, his fourth state in a hectic day of rallies meant to maximize turnout on Election Day, and he spoke by phone to the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group founded by the conservative Christian strategist Ralph Reed.

“It’s a dangerous path,” Mr. Ryan said, describing Mr. Obama’s policies. “It’s a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place.

Has anyone flip floppped on religious values more than Mitt? These statements are usually out of bounds for candidates to attack each other with, but I imagine the RMoney team is very nervous about tomorrow and are pulling out all the stops no matter how awful. As Digby and Adele Stan say, the Romney/Ryan campaign has been the most racist campaign in recent memory.

Now we turn to this video that has reemerged from 2007 in which Romney is actually forced to discuss his Mormon beliefs.

Mitt Romney has largely avoided discussing the details of his Mormon faith throughout this year’s presidential race, speaking in general terms about his church-related values and charitable deeds. But the revival this week of a testy 2007 interview caught on video offers a reminder of the struggles Romney has confronted as a politician wary of being defined, or confined, by his faith.

The video, which has become an Internet sensation in the closing days of his campaign to unseat President Obama, shows Romney sparring off-air with an Iowa radio talk show host over the tenets and beliefs of Mormonism — including a discussion of abortion and the second coming of Jesus Christ — and scolding the interviewer for bringing it up.

The beltway media has deemed it inappropriate in discussing the arcane beliefs held by the Mormon Church so Mitt has been off the hook explaining what he believes this election which has done a disservice to all Americans. Well, back in 2007 talk show host Jan Mickelson didn't let him off the hook and asks pertinent questions about Romney's flip flopping on his Mormon beliefs. Mitt didn't like it one bit. Romney refuses to discuss his church's views on anything with the bogus talking point that he's running for secular office so go f*&k yourself.

Democratic strategist Rosen said she had been struck by Romney’s explanation in the video of how his shifting views on abortion over the years were unrelated to the views of his church, which opposes abortion. Anti-abortion politicians, she said, typically cite their religion as a primary factor in shaping their views on the issue.

“I just thought that was the most voluble explanation of his anti-choice view that we’ve seen,” Rosen said.

The issue came up in the 2007 interview when Mickelson asked Romney why his past support for abortion rights had not violated Mormonism. The question prompted a visibly angry Romney to argue that the church prohibits abortions but does not bar members from supporting the rights of others to make their own choices.

Romney did not point out that he had contended with the political implications of the church’s abortion views in the past. A former aide to Romney from his time as a leader in the Boston church would later recall that Romney had visited Salt Lake City shortly before his 1994 Senate bid, polling in hand, to show members of the church hierarchy that it was impossible to win in Massachusetts without supporting abortion rights. At the time, Romney told the aide, Ron Scott, that he had “left a few bridges burning, or at least smoldering.”

In the 2007 video interview, Romney told Mickelson that his opposition to abortion rights came about from a political decision, when as governor he faced a choice about the use of embryonic stem cells.

“Politically, I looked at it, I said, ‘You know what, that’s wrong,’” Romney told Mickelson. “And it’s not a Mormon thing, it’s a secular position to say, ‘You know what, I was wrong, we should have as a society a prohibition on abortion under the following circumstances.’ But it’s not violating my faith, let me assure you.”

Mickelson also quizzed Romney about his past statements that Christ would return to Jerusalem, a view shared by other Christians but which Mickelson argued was not the true view of Mormons. Some Mormons believe Missouri, one of the states traversed by early Mormon pioneers in their escape from persecution, is the site of the Garden of Eden and one of the places that Christ will rule from.

Romney was really pissed that his off air conversation was recorded by what he said was a hidden camera, which it was not.

One other aspect of the interview annoyed him, too.

“Unbeknownst to me,” Romney said, “he had a hidden camera on the console, so this then popped up on the Internet.”

Mickelson, in an interview, called Romney’s subsequent comments surprising.

“There were two cameras mounted on tripods,” the talk show host recalled. “This was not at a bar, it was a radio talk show in front of cameras. What did he think was going to happen?”

Candidates know everything they say in a media setting is recorded so Mitt's not fooling anybody, but it was still fascinating to watch the two debate. Mickelson was asking him about his religion because Romney has flip flopped even Mormon beliefs to get elected so Jan wanted to know who they were actually electing. I wonder if the Grandma killer really believes that Romney's Mormon beliefs are much more detrimental to America than Obama's.

Over the weekend, there was an interesting piece in the New York Times about Glenn Beck serving as Mitt Romney's unofficial liaison to the evangelical community. And what was interesting was that evangelicals were described in very unflattering terms -- by their own leaders.

“Romney has staked out issues that are aligned with evangelicals,” said Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for the conservative nonprofit American Family Association. But, he added, Mr. Romney’s faith may ultimately present a problem in the voting booth. “It’s still an issue for some evangelicals and may influence their voting decision on Nov. 6,” he said. “There are a number of evangelicals who will not vote for someone who doesn’t adhere to orthodox Christianity.”

First of all, not voting for a candidate because they don't share your religious views is simply un-American (yes, that's Michael Medved--stopped clock). Ever hear of the "No Religious Test" clause, Mr. Fischer?

Also, I'm not familiar with "orthodox Christianity." Does it include Catholics? Methodists? Unitarians? What is that exactly, pray tell?

Mr. Fischer said of the complicated relationship between evangelical Christians and Mormons that “evangelicals appreciate what Glenn Beck has done in refocusing attention on the values of our founding fathers,” but “that doesn’t mean evangelicals regard him as a Christian.”

Sectarianism really brings us all together as a country, doesn't it? Just like the Sunnis and Shiites.

Until last month, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Web site listed Mormonism as a “cult” along with Scientology and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Hey, Mitt's in good company. A couple decades ago, the same crowd was saying the same thing about "Papists."

“There’s a difference between a public figure like Glenn Beck and someone who could be the president of the United States,” said John C. Green, the author of “The Faith Factor: How Religion Influences American Elections.” “Many evangelicals believe this country was founded by Christian leaders. It’s important that the person in the White House be positive about Christianity, if not a devout Christian himself.”

Note the use of the word, "believe" in that sentence. Says it all.

What's ironic is that these people obviously couldn't vote for Thomas Jefferson, a Deist who re-wrote the New Testament by removing all the miracles.

Not terribly "orthodox" of him, was it?

Whenever a controversial issue comes out that shows the LDS church to have practiced some bizarre ritual, Romney usually tells reporters to question his church and not him. Being a Bishop in the Mormon hierarchy he's more than qualified to answer all questions about his religion. I think it's time for reporters to start demanding some answers from him since its been his political strategy to not answer anything or reveal anything which even pertains to his own economic plans for America. Last night he said he'd create 12 million jobs, but didn't say how. That's been his strategy and he's not changing. That's partly why he won't release his tax returns. You can't know it because the truth undermines his ability to be elected.

I have a few simple question for Mitt that doesn't require him to pass it on because its beyond his scope of comprehension. It was reported that Romney admitted to performing the rite know as baptisms for the dead, but he says he stopped doing them.

Q: What is the Mormon ritual called 'baptisms for the dead' mean?

Q: How many times have you performed 'baptisms for the dead?'

Q: Did you stop performing the ordinance because you decided to run for the presidency?

Q: Have you ever performed this ordinance to someone not of the Mormon faith or who is currently not with us?

I picked the BOTD ordinance because it has already kicked up a firestorm in Israel. You may remember this: Mormon Church Apologizes for Performing 'Baptism For The Dead' Ritual On Jews

The Mormon Church apologized Tuesday for a "serious breach of protocol" after it was discovered that the parents of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized as Mormons. The church also acknowledged that one of its members tried to baptize posthumously three relatives of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

The efforts, at least in Wiesenthal's case, violated the terms of an agreement that the church signed in 1995, in which it agreed to stop baptizing Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Wiesenthal and Wiesel gained fame for careers spent grappling with the legacy of the Holocaust, Wiesenthal by hunting down war criminals, Wiesel by writing books that became part of the canon of 20th century literature.

Coming at a time when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in the public eye as perhaps never before, the revelations could prove embarrassing — and, conceivably, influence perceptions of presidential candidate Mitt Romney's faith.

The LDS church already lied and violated their agreement with Israel on this ordinance so why should we believe anything they say?

I'll have more questions for Romney shortly.

Mitt Romney is the highest-profile Mormon politician in the history of the Latter-Day Saints Church. Since I've been exploring and writing about the subject of Romney's beliefs and how they will shape him as a president, it's not at all surprising to me that he's speaking out against separation between church and state.

Remember, a Mormon such as Romney performed his perfunctory duty by fulfilling his two-year mission work obligation. Not many people realize that the prime directive of Mormon mission work is to convert people to the LDS faith. Many of us are accustomed to Mother Teresa and the sort of mission work she did, which was to help the poor and struggling people across the world. It’s a noble act, but trying to convert someone is hardly noble. It's a recruitment tool, much like what Scientologists and Jehovah's Witnesses use to entice members into joining their flock.

Now Mitt Romney has become the quintessential Mormon Church recruiter, as influential and broad-reaching a figure the Church has ever had, outside of Joseph Smith himself (and perhaps Brigham Young).

Romney said this to the National Cathedral's magazine, Cathedral Age:

Romney said those who "seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God" aren't acting in line with the Founders' intent.

The separation of church and state is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, but Congress and the courts have debated the practical extent of that separation since its founding.

Romney said the Founders didn't intend for "the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation 'Under God, 'and in God, we do indeed trust."

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There are many things wrong with the presumptive Republican candidacy of Mitt Romney. Mitt is wishy-washy, a mediocre politician at best, willing to say or be for anything that will get him ahead. But that's just me as a liberal. If I was a Republican Party elder, I'd be fearful of a Romney campaign for an entire other reason. It's a terribly hard sell to convince the evangelical right (a huge percentage of Republican voters) to consider a Mormon elder like Romney a true Christian.

Rick Warren, head of Saddleback Church, which claims 20,000 weekly church goers, and co-author of the ridiculously popular book "The Purpose Driven Life" (with sales of more than 30 million units), is very influential among the evangelical community. What he told Jake Tapper has to make every Republican operative working for a 2012 victory very, very nervous.

“I have a congregation that’s very large. It talks to me all the time. Most people would not think they’re better off economically than they were four years ago,” Pastor Warren said. “I hold everybody responsible for that. I hold the people who got themselves into debt. I hold the government that got themselves into debt. I hold multiple administrations. It’s not the fault of any one person.”

With Republican Mitt Romney moving closer to becoming the first Mormon presidential nominee, I asked Warren whether he believes Mormons are Christians — a contested issue among evangelicals.

“The key sticking point for evangelicals and actually for many is the issue of the Trinity… that’s the historic doctrine of the church that God is three-in-one,” Warren said. “Not three Gods; one God in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mormonism denies that.”

Ouch.

I don't see how Romney gets over that hurdle. The only hope I guess he has is to revive the whole Obama-is-a-Muslim trope to point to the only religious faction more horrifying to the evangelical voter.

While it's true supporters of Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry made bigoted remarks about Mormonism, I think this is a new low for the increasingly ugly quadrennial sectarian conflict known as the Republican presidential primary.

DOZIER: See, Mitt Romney has a lot of minuses. Number one, I don't believe that he's going to garnish the black vote like he needs to. Why? Because he's a Mormon. Why? Because in the Book of Mormon, there is a verse in there...that says that the negro is cursed and that his skin is black because of that curse.

Well, if Mormonism is what's holding back Romney with black voters -- what's the rest of the GOP field's excuse? Because 0% of the Arizona Republican primary vote was cast by blacks.

In this interview he also serves up this parody-worthy remark.

DOZIER: God does not have the Robin Hood mentality. That is a socialist mentality. There is no place in the bible, Brook, where God orders -- even mandates -- for the rich to give their monies to the poor or someone take their monies from them.

This guy isn't teaching the New Testament I learned in Catholic school -- he's teaching the Gospel of Supply Side Jesus.

h/t Dave at Video Cafe

Rick Santorum's attack of JFK's great speech about the separation of church and state in 1960 caused a stir around pundit-land. It was so off the wall it led to Billo's opening segment on Monday night called JFK, Ronald Reagan and Rick Santorum. When in a pickle Conservatives always turn to Ronnie. Billo tried to find a way to soften the blow against Rick as much as possible since Rick loves the Catholic church as much as he does. After the Talking Points Memo, Brit Hume comes on to do his usual pundit duties. But as Brit Hume was offering up analysis on the two candidates and their religious beliefs, Billo shut down Hume's commentary of Romney's Mormon faith very, very quickly. It was quite a revealing moment if you didn't miss it.

Hume: (Romney) ...as far as we know hews very much to his own fate. He ties a huge amount of money to his church, there's been no indication that he's not a man who lives his faith. And yet, he's not discussing that all the time.

O'Reilly: Well, he can't. Mormonism is so controversial that he just couldn't, but Santorum...

Hume: I understand that, I understand that but remember there used to be...

O'Reilly: Let's look at Santorum from another light. Santorum's big challenge to Romney is now on the backs of the evangelical..

Frank Bruni of the NY Times asked why Rommey never mentions his Mormon faith and got attacked for it. Well, O'Reilly reveals what many of his viewers believe: Mormonism is a problem for Mitt to openly discuss because of some of its controversial practices and many from the religious right are not fans so he avoids it at all times and Bill wouldn't even let Brit Hume broach the topic on his show. It explains in part why Santorum has been rising in the national polls for the GOP.

An incredible story just hit the wires involving Mormons and their 'baptism for the dead' rituals via the LA Times

The Mormon Church apologized Tuesday for a "serious breach of protocol" after it was discovered that the parents of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized as Mormons. The church also acknowledged that one of its members tried to baptize posthumously three relatives of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

The efforts, at least in Wiesenthal's case, violated the terms of an agreement that the church signed in 1995, in which it agreed to stop baptizing Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Wiesenthal and Wiesel gained fame for careers spent grappling with the legacy of the Holocaust, Wiesenthal by hunting down war criminals, Wiesel by writing books that became part of the canon of 20th century literature.

Coming at a time when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in the public eye as perhaps never before, the revelations could prove embarrassing — and, conceivably, influence perceptions of presidential candidate Mitt Romney's faith.

Posthumous baptism is common in the Mormon Church. The purpose is to ensure that ancestors can join church members in the afterlife. Individual Mormons submit to the church the names of persons they wish to have baptized, then undergo baptism "by proxy."

However, the practice has sometimes offended those of other faiths whose ancestors are baptized by proxy by enthusiastic Mormons. That is especially true of the families of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, whose outcries prompted the 1995 agreement.

You may remember that the LDS Church posthumously baptized the late mother of President Obama into the Mormon faith.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints confirmed Tuesday afternoon that someone improperly, posthumously baptized the late mother of President Obama into the Mormon faith.Last June 4 — the day after then-Sen. Obama secured enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nominee — someone had the president’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995 of cancer, baptized. On June 11, she received the endowment.
The baptism and endowment which appear on FamilySearch.org, the LDS Church’s genealogical site, were first reported by John Aravosis at the liberal Americablog.

Mormon Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said that "the offering of baptism to our deceased ancestors is a sacred practice to us and it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related. The Church is looking into the circumstances of how this happened and does not yet have all the facts. However, this is a serious matter and we are treating it as such."For almost two centuries, Mormons have performed baptisms on behalf of deceased relatives, but church members are counseled to request temple baptism only on behalf of their relatives. To do so for those who are not relatives is contrary to Church policy, officials of the Mormon church said.

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Rick Santorum fared incredibly well in the Iowa caucus Tuesday night. It ended in an almost virtual tie with Romney pulling ahead by a handful of votes. In Santorum's "victory speech" he discussed his family's working class roots. We rarely hear anything much about Mitt Romney's family even though his father ran American Motors and was Governor of Michigan. What about Romney's roots?

I decided to research Mitt Romney's father. George Romney was a powerful industrial and political figure of his day.

Romney's family came from England, converted to Mormonism, came to America and quickly turned to plural marriage which led them to an unexpected exile and exodus to Mexico and then just as abruptly, they fled back to the USA to avoid a revolution.

It's an unexpected backstory to the "next in line" probable GOP nominee.

In this post I'll use information I found from the book by Tom Mahoney published in 1960 called 'The Story Of George Romney."

Mitt comes from a long line of Romney's that resided in England for generations and when an early Mormon missionary from America named Orson Hyde came to England to spread their word, Gaskell Romney and his wife Elizabeth converted in 1839. Soon after they boarded a boat to America. (pg 50)

He and his wife, who had been Elizabeth Gaskell, were attracted by a street meeting of Orson Hyde, one of the first Mormon missionaries to England, and in 1839 were baptized.

If you're not familiar with the Mormon religion, Joesph Smith, the founder, said he had vision as far back as 1820 in upstate New York and traveled West, where his flock finally ending up in Utah, led by Brigham Young after Smith was killed. After writing the Book of Mormon, Smith had a revelation which is known as Article 132 from the Mormon text called Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, a sort of addendum book to the Book of Mormon.

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, recorded 12 July 1843, relating to the new and everlasting covenant, including the eternity of the marriage covenant, and also the plurality of wives (see History of the Church, 5:501–7). Although the revelation was recorded in 1843, it is evident from the historical records that the doctrines and principles involved in this revelation had been known by the Prophet since 1831.

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Anti-Gay and big Prop 8 donors, the Lassen's have taken over a long time health food market in the middle of an area that has a high population of the LGBT community.

DownWithTyranny explains:

My hill isn't zoned for stores but I can hike down to Hillhurst in Los Feliz Village to do some shopping at the local healthfood store if I want to. I've been shopping at Nature Mart since I moved to L.A. two decades ago. Last month the owner sold it but there was a big hush-hush mystery about who bought it. I went over there yesterday, the first day of the new operation, to check it out. The Nature Mart signs are all still up and the store looks pretty much the same. But then I saw the bags-- Lassen's Natural Foods. Oh, God, no!

I recognized the name immediately. Lassen's is owned by a vicious hate-monger and Mormon militant, Peter Lassen, who helped finance the Mormon attack on Prop 8 here in California. Rural, backward Lassen County, the reddest county in California, is named for his great grandfather, also Peter Lassen. The county voted 71.3 % for Proposition 8, amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Lassen's store in Ventura alone contributed $27,500 to the anti-gay jihad. His store in Camarillo ponied up another $3,000 and his store in Simi Valley gave more. In the end, Lassen gave tens of thousands of dollars towards institutionalizing bigotry and hatred in our communities. The Los Feliz/Silverlake area is one of the most gay-friendly parts of Los Angeles. What a stupid decision for him to buy a store in an area where everyone is going to hear about what he did and look for alternative places to shop!

These shameless homophobes have big cojones stones, I'll say that for them, but if they think they'll get away with this...they are sadly mistaken. And God forbid if you criticize the Lassen's for their anti-Gay positions and actions. Lassen's niece uses the "it's not me it's you defense.

Lassen's niece, who personally donated anti-gay money herself and manages the store in Camarillo (owned by her father, John Lassen), defended the idea that the stores gave money to defeat Prop 8. "We have a lot a gay and lesbian customers. We have nothing against them. To us, it is a moral issue, not a civil issue... Sadly, people feel like they have to blame somebody. It's not just Mormons who voted for this. It was passed by a majority of Californians. We love our gay and lesbian customers. If they don't want to shop at our store, then that's their choice. I can respect that, but they should respect my family's beliefs, too. It's pretty sad how mean people can be."

Yes, we're mean because we object to a bunch of wealthy freaks financing a hate-filled proposition targeting our families, friends and neighbors.

I don't know if Else Endecott, Lassen's niece was asking Frank Luntz for help in responding to their outrageous behavior, but calling gay and lesbian and Liberals who speak out about their actions 'mean' is unserious and pretty sick to boot. Businesses can support any political party they want, but when they get in the middle of a civil rights fight against Americans they have crossed the line. I wonder if giving Else a call at her Camarillo store (805) 482-3287 and asking her why we're the mean people would shed some light on her beliefs?

There's a day of protest being scheduled and I plan to be there if my health holds up. I'll let you know more as it comes in. #occupyLassens

(@JohnAmato)