Comments on: Mitt Romney, Meet the Press, And An Enduring Religious-Social Issue http://www.article6blog.com/2007/12/16/mitt-romney-meet-the-press-and-an-enduring-religious-social-issue/ "Religion, Politics, the Presidency: Commentary by a Mormon, an Evangelical, and an Orthodox Christian" Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:15:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: JLFuller http://www.article6blog.com/2007/12/16/mitt-romney-meet-the-press-and-an-enduring-religious-social-issue/comment-page-1/#comment-11628 JLFuller Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:00:21 +0000 http://www.article6blog.com/2007/12/16/mitt-romney-meet-the-press-and-an-enduring-religious-social-issue/#comment-11628 If you will, allow me this one personal note. One particular bishop I had had a profound impact on me. Not only was he my ecclesiastical leader but he was assigned to my family as a family liaison with the church. We all them Home Teachers. I had lunch with him one day during the work week right after he had been called to the bishopric. He told me that almost at once after he was set apart he felt a warm sense of love come over him for the members of our ward that he hadn't had before. It seemed each members faces came to him and as he thought about and reflected on them he noted that his sense about each one had changed. Although he had known each in varying degrees, he now felt like he had known each intimately much as a father knows his family. As he was telling me this his eyes began to water just like Mitt's did. I have to admit that I too felt someting new and completely differently about this good man. My sense about him changed too. Something was different. Somethng had changed. If you, the reader, felt that same tug on your heart as you watched that video, then you know something more about Mitt Romney than you knew before. You may now feel that same closeness that many of us Mormons feel for one another and especially our leaders. It is that quiet unspoken love we feel that is hard to put into words but is just as sure and just as present as if we had known them all our lives. If you will, allow me this one personal note. One particular bishop I had had a profound impact on me. Not only was he my ecclesiastical leader but he was assigned to my family as a family liaison with the church. We all them Home Teachers. I had lunch with him one day during the work week right after he had been called to the bishopric. He told me that almost at once after he was set apart he felt a warm sense of love come over him for the members of our ward that he hadn’t had before. It seemed each members faces came to him and as he thought about and reflected on them he noted that his sense about each one had changed. Although he had known each in varying degrees, he now felt like he had known each intimately much as a father knows his family. As he was telling me this his eyes began to water just like Mitt’s did. I have to admit that I too felt someting new and completely differently about this good man. My sense about him changed too. Something was different. Somethng had changed.

If you, the reader, felt that same tug on your heart as you watched that video, then you know something more about Mitt Romney than you knew before. You may now feel that same closeness that many of us Mormons feel for one another and especially our leaders. It is that quiet unspoken love we feel that is hard to put into words but is just as sure and just as present as if we had known them all our lives.

]]> By: JLFuller http://www.article6blog.com/2007/12/16/mitt-romney-meet-the-press-and-an-enduring-religious-social-issue/comment-page-1/#comment-11627 JLFuller Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:25:07 +0000 http://www.article6blog.com/2007/12/16/mitt-romney-meet-the-press-and-an-enduring-religious-social-issue/#comment-11627 <strong>Giving African-American Men the Priesthood</strong> I remember that I was angry and even considered leaving the Church when that happened. That's because I was raised thinking blacks were inferior. But I was not taught that in church. In fact I remember feeling terribly conflicted when a young mixed race fellow I worked with was denied the priesthood in the last sixties because his father was black. I also remember the pain the kid said his bishop felt at having to tell him why. As I grew up, I began to see that my upbringing was at odds with the church's deep felt belief that all men deserved to be priesthood holders. Even the Church's presiding leadership for the most part had strong misgivings about discriminating against black men although there was one or two that held contrary views. The popular view that the LDS Church is and was a racist organization is just not accurate. I know of no one who believed that at the time. For those who point to Mark Peterson and Brigham Young I can tell you they were the exceptions. People are products of their times. They were subject of the same influences as people that we are today and remain subject to them. As I read about how the church leadership struggled personally with this issue for decades, taking it to the Lord in prayer and fasting again and again, I am reassured that they honestly believed they were honoring God's time table. Even today, black members who comment on this subject believe the same. Today one of the church's fasting growing areas is in Africa amongst black people. Black conversion in that distressed continent is a faith promoting story and I urge interested people to read about it. For those who believe this was an opportunistic change of heart based on political motivations, I urge you to go to http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1988.htm/ensign%20october%201988.htm/priesthood%20restoration.htm?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0 to read about that event by someone who was there when it happened. http://www.blacklds.org/ tells of how black LDS members view the Church and their circumstances today. http://www.ldsfilm.com/movies/Panther.html tells the story of black civil rights activist Eldridge Cleaver who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the early 1980’s. This story is a work in progress. We have a long way to go and we are still products of our times. I just hope that by doing just the smallest bit of reading, some will find that their old notions about us are not as advertised by our detractors. Giving African-American Men the Priesthood

I remember that I was angry and even considered leaving the Church when that happened. That’s because I was raised thinking blacks were inferior. But I was not taught that in church. In fact I remember feeling terribly conflicted when a young mixed race fellow I worked with was denied the priesthood in the last sixties because his father was black. I also remember the pain the kid said his bishop felt at having to tell him why.

As I grew up, I began to see that my upbringing was at odds with the church’s deep felt belief that all men deserved to be priesthood holders. Even the Church’s presiding leadership for the most part had strong misgivings about discriminating against black men although there was one or two that held contrary views. The popular view that the LDS Church is and was a racist organization is just not accurate. I know of no one who believed that at the time. For those who point to Mark Peterson and Brigham Young I can tell you they were the exceptions. People are products of their times. They were subject of the same influences as people that we are today and remain subject to them.

As I read about how the church leadership struggled personally with this issue for decades, taking it to the Lord in prayer and fasting again and again, I am reassured that they honestly believed they were honoring God’s time table. Even today, black members who comment on this subject believe the same. Today one of the church’s fasting growing areas is in Africa amongst black people. Black conversion in that distressed continent is a faith promoting story and I urge interested people to read about it.

For those who believe this was an opportunistic change of heart based on political motivations, I urge you to go to http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/1988.htm/ensign%20october%201988.htm/priesthood%20restoration.htm?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0 to read about that event by someone who was there when it happened.

http://www.blacklds.org/ tells of how black LDS members view the Church and their circumstances today.

http://www.ldsfilm.com/movies/Panther.html tells the story of black civil rights activist Eldridge Cleaver who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the early 1980’s.

This story is a work in progress. We have a long way to go and we are still products of our times. I just hope that by doing just the smallest bit of reading, some will find that their old notions about us are not as advertised by our detractors.

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