I'm really troubled that the theological issues of Mormonism keep being raised in the media. Especially when Romney has spoken publicly about this one before.

ormer Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that he wept with relief when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormon church, announced a 1978 revelation that the priesthood would no longer be denied to persons of African descent.

RomneyÂ’s eyes appeared to fill with tears as he discussed the emotional subject during a high-stakes appearance that he handled with no major blunders.

“I was anxious to see a change in my church,” said the Republican presidential candidate, appearing for the full hour just two weeks ahead of the crucial Iowa caucuses.

“I can remember when I heard about the change being made. I was driving home from — I think it was law school, but I was driving home — going through the Fresh Pond rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I heard it on the radio and I pulled over and literally wept.

“Even to this day, it’s emotional,” Romney went on.

“And so it’s very deep and fundamental in my life and my most core beliefs that all people are children of God. My faith has always told me that. My faith has also always told me that in the eyes of God, every individual was merited the fullest degree of happiness in the hereafter and I had no question that African Americans and blacks generally would have every right and every benefit in the hereafter that anyone else had and that God is no respecter of persons.”

Moderator Tim Russert asked if “it was wrong for your faith to exclude them for as long as it did.”

“I told you exactly where I stand,” Romney said. “My view is that there’s no discrimination in the eyes of God. And I could not have been more pleased than to see the change that occurred.”

Enough with the Inquisition, folks -- Romney is a faithful Mormon, but he is not responsible for all the positions taken by that faith in its history. And for that matter, he was not in a position to do anything about that policy -- which the LDS Church held to be a matter of divine revelation and teaches was changed by divine revelation.

But if we are going to engage in theological grillings of candidates, let's start right now. When will we see Mike Huckabee grilled about the much more malignant racism that prevailed int eh Southern Baptist Convention for most of his adult life? When will Obama be called to account for the black-supremacist views of his pastor that are being propagated right now?

It is time for this crap to stop. We are electing a president, not a pastor.

Posted by: Greg at 11:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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