Article VI Blog

Just a couple of quick things before we go too deep into holiday mode – things that strike us as very important.

Thanks to a regular commenter for this link from Idaho:

Gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell says he will hold a series of special meetings with men who are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Standard Journal reports that Rammell says the meetings aren’t intended to be secret but he doesn’t want people who “don’t believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet” to attend.

That is perhaps the least helpful thing the man could do in terms of advancing the Mormon place in the court of public opinion on a national level.  It feeds every stereotype.  Forgive me, but “durn fool idiot” is about all I can say.

And forgive us this highly partisan link and pull quote, but it is just too appropriate for the holiday season:

Governor Romney and his wife Ann have donated nearly $2.9 million to churches and religious organizations, healthcare groups, and schools since 1999, approximately 13% of his earnings during the past decade.

We’ll let you read the link for the figures for other political leaders, but the Romney figures set an example for all of us to follow.

Lowell adds . . .

I don’t know Rex Rammell or much about him. My first two thoughts when I saw John’s link above were, first, “What crazy things to say and do!” and second, “this man is not a serious player.” After a little digging I think both thoughts were right.

Over the years many people have sought office in areas with heavy Mormon populations and have waved the Mormon banner in ways that make them look like, well, crackpots at worst, cranks at best. Usually they run as independents, because no party will nominate them; and they make extreme statements that cause reasonable Mormons to wince and wish the candidate would go away and stop embarrassing the rest of us.

Sure enough, Rammell seems to fall into those categories. Here’s the flier he sent out to Mormons. For whatever it’s worth, I can say with great certainty that reasonable LDS members will not take this invitation, or Mr. Rammell, seriously at all, and that he bears all the marks of a fringe candidate who represents . . . fringe political beliefs. This is a man who has joked about “hunting” President Obama and still refuses to apologize for that.  As for the “White Horse Prophecy” that Rammell has apparently invoked, we blogged about that here in some detail.  I’ll say again what I said then:

[M]ost informed observers consider much of this prophecy, known popularly as “the White Horse Prophecy,” to be folklore.  For those interested, there’s an in-depth analysis here; the “Summary and Conclusions” section on page 10 is worth reading.  And, for what it’s worth, as a life-long Mormon I’ve never heard the White Horse Prophecy described as Church doctrine, or indeed, as anything more than an interesting tale.  My personal experience is that when Mormon office-seekers cite that “prophecy” as the reason they are running, other Mormons simply roll their eyes.

And that’s all we have to say for now about that.  We have presents to wrap!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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