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In reply to the discussion: Tagg Romney Says He Wants To ‘Take A Swing’ At Obama [View all]Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)The Mormon church is a CULT and a big business. It is not actually a religion, in my view.
The Mormons made several attempts to join the Union and were thwarted for various reasons including polygamy. The church president had to have an epiphany and formally reject polygamy as a tenet of church doctrine before Utah was admitted into the Union.
After the success of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and early to mid 1970's, again the head of the Mormon church had an epiphany that blacks (men only need apply) could be accepted into the priesthood.
Time and time again the "church" has had a communication from God, at the appropriate time, to advance their interests.
The Mormon Church is a huge business. Their tithing requirements give them not only significant income but often members contribute interests in land, businesses, etc. that are now managed in Salt Lake City by church managers.
I have attended many services in Mormon "stake houses". I am struck by the total lack of a sense of "spirituality". These are often drawn-out services that rarely invoke the name of God, or Jesus.
Don't get me wrong....there are many things, taken objectively, are positive. They do support the idea of families and families spending time together. They do care for their own. But all of this comes at a price - total submission to the authority of the church fathers.
Aside from the Catholic Church that used to excommunicate (or burn) you for so-called "heretical" beliefs, the Mormon Church comes a close second. Gay? Not celibate? Excommunicated. Woman? Not subservient to your husband? Excommunicated.
Lastly I have to say that their pro-creation ideology is perhaps the most immoral on this planet. They encourage, in fact require, "good" Mormons to have at least 6 children. Our planet cannot sustain that kind of population growth. I am assuming the early Mormon church fathers created this to encourage the growth of the population so that they could rise to be "counted". But today this policy results in some cases in poverty because these families birth more children than they can afford and contributes to the over-population of this country and the world. I consider this policy alone one of the most heinous.