No! No! They're EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVIIIILLLLLL!!

Countdown 'til the inevitable vicious defense of Latter Day Saints by someone who read just the headline...

Jay is right on again. BTW, Michael Novak (a theologian) has endorsed Mitt Romney (ht Hugh Hewitt)

Jay, you have a patent on bait and switch? By the way it seems that Republicans (Huckabee) are leading the anti Mormon charge, and they are injecting religion into the debate.

swanny: tick...tick...tick . . .

Is the religious right crushing itself? Is Huckabee really a viable front runner or is this a case of the media playing democrat politics? Hummmmm

So, Jay, since readers just wanna push "play," how is it you only give us a link?

It's the pot calling Surber a kettle, or something . . .

Barney, as usual, completely misses the point. That boy would need steroids to bulk up to "stupid."

The only way to tell if a person is really a Mormon is to see if they wear their secret magic underwear every day or not. Someone should ask Harry and Mitt about it.

What -- you mean I couldn't just talk it over with them over coffee or a beer?

I love the discussions coming out about Mormonism this year. First, most only contain, at most, a nugget of truth surrounded by a heck of a lot of misinformation. Sad thing to say in an age when the truth is so easily accessible. Second, you get to see upfront who the bigots are. (see PTG's comment. Apparently "right to privacy" is defined by some as "only applies to what I believe in" :-D))

One of my favorite "theories" is that Mitt Romney will take his marching orders from Salt Lake City. Supposedly, he will be stripped of his church membership if he fails to do the absolute bidding of the church leadership.

Reid, however, is praised for be willing to buck Salt Lake City's influence and have his own opinions.

What no one can explain is why he (Reid) hasn't been stripped of his membership for *NOT* towing the supposed church line.

Why is it that Reid and Romney BOTH hold pretty much the same position in the church despite having virtually opposite positions? (Their positions in the church, by the way, are no where near as exalted within the church as most of the media tries to claim.)

Harry Reid actually proves that most of the Mormon hysteria about who Mitt will be beholden to is equal parts bull and bigotry.

There are a lot of valid reasons to *NOT* vote for Mitt - which sadly is also true for every other candidate in the race - but I would hope that we would get beyond simple, blatant bigotry dictating who we vote for in 2008.

It is getting to where a cat needs a program to be a bigot. The LDS church has excommunicated folks in the past for their political stance. Remember Sonia Johnson? She was excommunicated for supporting the ERA (Equal rights Amendment).

It is getting to where a cat needs a program to be a bigot. The LDS church has excommunicated folks in the past for their political stance. Remember Sonia Johnson? She was excommunicated for supporting the ERA (Equal rights Amendment).

Yes, I do remember Sonia Johnson. Pity that you don't. :-D

Sonia held and expressed her opinions on the ERA for quite some time with absolutely no reprecussions from the Mormon church. She even organized on behalf of the ERA with no reprecussions. If she were actually sanctioned for her "political stance" her excommunication would have come much sooner than it did.

Unfortunately Sonia, like so many others, was not content to allow OTHERS to have a divergent opinion from theirs.

For example, were I to have a different viewpoint from a purely voluntary organization that I belonged to and I felt that I could no longer tolerate being part of that organization while their viewpoint was different than mine, I would

L-E-A-V-E T-H-E O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-A-T-I-O-N.

It's not a hard thing to do.

Sonja thought the organization should change to her views.

She wasn't excommunicated for what she believed - she was excommunicated for her methods.

Now that I have responded to your "Sonia Johnson" red herring, how about explaining why Harry Reid - who holds many positions different from the church - has not been excommunicated if, as you have claimed, the church excommunicates people for different "political stances"?