NYT Too Fair to Mitt's Mormonism?

Mon. July 23, 2012:


I.
This post's topic is delicate, but the subject must be addressed.
No one wants to condemn any religion -- Mormonism or any other -- because of
SOME of its fundamental beliefs which, to put it politely, strain scientific credulity.
                                         

Fundamentalist Christians ask us to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin & that he walked on water.
Orthodox Jews:  Earth was created in 6 days; Noah's Ark saved all species, pair by pair.
Fundamentalist Muslims:  Muhammad was a prophet sent by Allah with a new dispensation in the Koran, which, as holy writ, must be taken literally.

Mormons:  In the 1820's, God chose one Joseph Smith, a western New York farm boy, as His new Prophet, and sent the Angel Moroni to visit him near Palmyra, New York; the angel guided the farm boy to dig up sacred tablets in the "Hill Cumorah," and then helped him translate God's new dispensation from behind a partition.

Ultimately, this led to building "temples," with secret temple rituals, plus mandatory cultural, economic, political, and social solidarity -- including, until a new "revelation" in the early 1890's [convenient for U.S. statehood in 1894], polygamy.

II.
Then there is the worry, from each religion, about past horrendous misdeeds.

Christians' slaughters of innocents -- as an article of faith -- during the Crusades, during Portugal's conquests along the Indian coast, during Spain's conquests in the Americas.
Jews' multiple killings of innocents in, say, the West Bank of the River Jordan.
Fundamentalist Muslims' perpetration of 9/11, and mass murders of Jewish victims since the postwar founding of Israel.

Mormons:  If respected historian Leonard J. Arrington's Great Basin Kingdom is to be
believed -- along with Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven and countless other anti-Mormon

accounts -- Mormons perpetrated the "Mountain Meadow Massacre" in southern Utah in 1857, and even after 1894 have turned a blind eye to polygamous abductions including child brides,

continuing into the 21st Century.
 

III.
A week ago, the NYT ran a piece by Sharon Otterman who was reporting from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' annual Book of Mormon pageant near Palmyra, in western New York.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/nyregion/a-showy-spectacle-draws-the-mormon-faithful.html

It portrayed the festival as the clean, confident, family-oriented, happy, turn-the-other-cheek event that it likely is.

Like all religions, the overwhelming majority of the Faithful are decent, God-fearing, peaceful folks.  Like most religions, believers feel so much better because of it, that they are eager to invite ["proselytize"] nonbelievers to join the fun and perhaps live -- literally --  happily ever after.


The 3 most memorable tableaus from Sharon Otterman's story:

1.  Young LDS "greeters," in "colorful ancient-Hebrew-meets-Mesoamerican-Indian
garb" --  circulating along with many of the 750 actors & special effects portraying the Book of Mormon -- through the festive crowd:  "Have you been greeted?"

2.  "Outside the pageant," Ms. Otterman writes, "a small band of evangelical protesters drives around town in a yellow sign truck marked 'WhatMormonsDontTell.com," and shouts warnings of damnation near the performance each night.

" 'You need to repent, Mormons, you are going to hell!'shouted one protester through a megaphone, from the roadside near the parking field after a performance ended.  The lights of the local sheriff's car flashed in the darkness.

"The Mormon families ignored the noise.  A light-up Frisbee flew through the sky.  A blue sign by the barbecue tent reminded the families to meet criticism with kindness, and no one shouted back.

" 'As you enter and exit the Hill Cumorah Pageant," the sign said, "please be courteous to those who may attempt to disrupt the special spirit you will feel at this historic site.' "

3.  "Debra Munk, 62, a high school principal visiting from Kensington, Md., said she saw both threat and opportunity in the added focus [that Mitt Romney's presidential nomination brings] on the church.  'It's positive in that it helps people to understand us more, but negative in that it really exposes us, and anytime you put under a microscope things that people don't understand,
it can get misinterpreted,' she said."

IV.
Mitt Romney is an avowed & proud Mormon, faithful to the Latter-day-Saint practice of annual tithing.  To this blog, NOTHING about Mitt's Mormonism is a worry -- with ONE MAJOR EXCEPTION.

The Mountain Meadow Massacre happened long ago.
Church-sanctioned polygamy ended long ago.


Nevertheless: 
The LDS Church still conducts much of its business -- and all of its Temple rituals -- in secret.

Mormon cultural, economic, political, and social cohesiveness prevails today -- much of it to the benefit of all mankind.  Global relief efforts & organization.  JetBlue Airlines.  Marriott Hotels.

On the other hand:  There is also Bain Capital, for better and worse.  How many Mormons were, and still are, holding key positions there?  How big a role is the Church playing in Mitt Romney's campaign and fundraising?  How many will play top roles in a Romney administration?

V.
The New York Times, so far at least, is NOT asking these questions.
In this blog's next post, we shall analyze its latest front-page story,
"Mormons' First Families Rally Behind Romney."


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/us/politics/support-for-romney-by-old-mormon-families.html?pagewanted=all