Mormonism is NOT a cult!

It would appear that a man calling himself both a minister and supporter of Rick Perry has recently called upon fellow christians - read evangelists and ultra right wing conservative christians - to boycott Mitt Romney and elect one of their own, rather than someone who is Mormon and belongs to a cult.

Not so. For over 23 years, I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or Mormon Church. During that time I found members to be kind, loving, service minded both in and out of their church community and almost without exception......they devoted numerous hours of service to their faith and ultimately their religious beliefs.

We are living in the year 2011 and I am wondering whence this religious zeal cometh - certainly not from anything I have seen in all my years reading the bible. This election cycle has been hijacked by ultra right winged so-called Christian zealots. It is unfortunate, given that Jesus was one of the first progressives in the Bible.

Indeed, were he here on the earth today, I would venture to say that he would be preaching in much the same way he did while on his earlier mission - that is, spending time with the poor, meek and downtrodden - he certainly would not be spending time with zealots, hypocrites and the like (read zealots) and he would spread forth his compassion to encompass everyone, even publicans and gasp - prostitutes and adulterers.

My heart is heavy and quite saddened for the many LDS/Mormon faithful whom I have been privileged to encounter in these 2+ decades......is this not America - the greatest country in the world, founded on religious freedom? I guess not.

The case for Jon Huntsman

I had the privilege to live in the great state of Utah for 7 1/2 years. During some of that time, I was fortunate to live in the parochial district and neighborhood of Jon Huntsman, two term governor of Utah.

Jon Huntsman is a compassionate conservative, fiscally prudent, supporter of civil unions which he championed while governor. He is also fully cognizant of the fact that Utah is essentially a theocracy, given that some 70% of residents are members of the Mormon faith. Jon Huntsman teamed up with an unlikely ally - Rocky Anderson - the former mayor of Salt Lake in order to overhaul the archaic and restrictive liquor laws which were in sore need of a revisit since their inception. Jon Huntsman realized that the constrictive laws were costing business revenue and tourist revenue to the state as many would not come and visit given that in order to get an alcoholic beverage (hard liquor), one had to become a "member" of a private club with a fee ranging from $5 to as high as $25 for a year. One could get a friend or club member to sponsor them, but that was easier said than done. That this staunch Republican and Governor could collaborate with a staunch ACLU Democrat and mayor in order to right such an aggregious wrong is testament to the governor's ability to cross party lines for the good of his state and its people.

Jon Huntsman supported civil unions - again, not an easy thing to do, given his staunch and devout Mormon faith. Salt Lake City has a surprisingly large gay community thankfully. Gay pride, the Pride Center, Equality Utah are all part of what makes the community so wonderfully vibrant. Jon gets that while he might differ with gay marriage based on his religion, he should not and does not usurp his beliefs on others. Whilst living in Utah I campaigned against a ballot initiative defining marriage as between one man and one woman - Amendment 3 - unfortunately the amendment passed - this in a state where polygamy - that is, marriage between one man and several women - was what the state was founded on and is practiced to this day in some enclaves.

Jon Huntsman's economic development vision made Utah number one in the nation for economy and job creation - mostly through private corporations and small business - tax incentives are how he accomplished this - his vision is remarkable and broad.

I love that he has spent time living in another country - China of all places - our ally and foe economically and militarily speaking - he knows that there is a significant trade deficit between the two countries and the disparity between what China takes in versus what they ship out is growing exponentially.

He might have come late to the party but in this former political appointee's opinion, he is the best candidate the GOP has put forth thus far - yes, even better than flip-flopper Mitt Romney.

Utah vs. Minnesota, Romney, Huntsman and Pawlenty

They are rising stars in the Republican party.

Tim Pawlenty has just announced that he will not seek a third term as Minnesota's Governor. John Huntsman won a second term as Utah's Governor in a landslide and was recently tapped by Obama to be his ambassador to China and Romney managed one term as governor of Massachusetts. What they all have in common is my prediction that they will play heavily in the next primaries as in - be on the Republican Presidential ticket.

The Republican party is desperately trying to remake their image - with the exception of Romney, these men are moderate, even liberal, by conservative Republican standards. If they are to have even a remote chance at defeating Obama in 2012, they will have to come closer to the center, left even. America has shifted in it's beliefs and demographics. No more will we tolerate ultra conservatives like Bush, who had been a compassionate conservative prior to entering the White House.

Interesting to note, both Romney and Huntsman are devout Mormons and while Huntsman supports civil unions, Romney is more conservative in his approach.

I am anxious for the next election cycle - I think these men are worth watching.

Spiritual, not religious - proud to be labeled "progressive"

My elder Brother, Jesus was progressive - one of the leading progressives of his time. His voice spoke on being kind, adultery, hypocrity, being charitable, not judging, paying taxes, and a myriad of other issues that I don't necessarily need to name here.

For over 23 years, I was a member of the LDS Church - that's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known by its nickname - the Mormons. The same religion that Mitt Romney affiliates himself with.

Some 2 years ago, I had to painfully extricate myself from this church that I had known and loved. I had been baptized in this organization, been married for 15 years in a sacred temple ceremony to my former husband and raised 3 of my 4 sons faithfully in this religion. Seven years ago when I moved to Utah, I was disturbed to see that there was an inordinate of racism experienced first by me and then by my 3 teenage sons. As things became progressively worse, I tried to make sense of it.

According to the most recent census data, Utah is less than 1% black. According to Mormon doctrine/theology/tradition or even heritage, blacks were deemed less than, or even inferior - their dark skin was allegedly the mythical mark of Cain. While I am no scriptorian, my readings and research into this matter have never revealed to me whether this mark was a wart on the end of Cain's nose as punishment for his sins, but I do know that Jesus died on the cross for any "sin" or transgression committed by any who have lived or died, including Cain.

It is then, not surprising that there are vestiges left over in Utah of racism, based partly on those archaic and, in my belief, incorrect teachings, and on the teachings of one of the early leaders of the LDS Church - some have called him "American Moses" - that would be Brigham Young, who believed and stated that blacks were lower than dogs.

In 1978, the ACLU was going to sue the LDS Church and force them to make public their financial records - this was their way of getting the LDS Church to bring blacks into full fellowship. Up until that point, their fellowship was limited to merely visiting church - no participation in communion, baptism services, no admittance to the temple. The dream of any worthy person of the LDS faith.

When I joined the LDS faith in January of 1982, this was explained to me in a peripheral way, essentially making it sounds like an unfortunate blip on the screen of LDS theology. Friends had often asked me how I could align myself with the religion. One of the men I admire greatly is a former ACLU attorney and civil liberties champion. He is Rocky Anderson, the former mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah. One day, years ago, I was in his office. He was praising my intelligence and intellect and was the first person who had intimated that Brigham Young - a Mormon leader and prophet was racist. He asked me why I was in the Mormon faith. I told him that the Church worked for me and should the day come when it no longer did, I would leave.

I know exactly how Senator Obama felt when he had to extricate himself from his church over the Reverend Wright debacle. I have been there. I cried more tears over that than even over my divorce from my husband of 15 years. The pain was visceral.

As I look today at the potential (and in some cases, certainly in some African Episcopal churches) for the same rift to come to the Episcopal Church over women being ordained to the priesthood. In the Mormon Church, my understanding is that many people left after blacks were allowed to become fully functioning in the church.

I continue to be spiritual and not religious, because it is more important to me to be like my elder brother, the Savior, Jesus Christ, than to associate with any church that discounts any of my brothers and sisters.