Mormons to the Rescue
Latter-day Saints are like the superheroes of Christianity: When disaster strikes, they spring into action. So why isn't Mitt Romney bragging?
Despite his much-heralded "Mormon speech" earlier this month, Mitt Romney has avoided talking about the nitty-gritty of his Latter-day Sainthood on the campaign trail. And therein lies a strategic gaffe perhaps akin to Al Gore's refusal in 2000 to campaign on the environment.
Sure, Mormonism may freak people out. Its rules and rituals—baptizing the dead, the funny underwear—are a bit outside the Christian mainstream for a guy who needs to woo evangelicals in Iowa. But forget for a moment the golden tablets, and consider this: Mormonism, at its most practical, is a deeply American religion—rooted in Republican Party orthodoxy and many bedrock American values.
While the Book of Mormon may tell tall tales of mythical Nephites romping around North America, LDS church doctrine, as practiced, emphasizes far more pragmatic tenets. Mormons preach such virtues as moderation, frugality, taking care of your own, giving back to the community, and avoiding dependence on the government. (They're also known for armed resistance, too, a history that should have wide appeal to the GOP gun-nut constituency, but that's another story.)
There's no better place to see the manifestation of all this than in a crisis. Mormons are masters of disaster preparedness, a point that neither Romney nor his advisers have yet touted. The church's humanitarian-services arm is an underappreciated asset that Romney has thus far failed to capitalize on as he's contended with the charge—or suspicion—that his religion makes him too weird to be president.
Ever since 9/11, federal and state officials have been imploring Americans to stockpile some food and water and supplies in the basement, without tremendous success (if my basement is any indication). But long before the war on terror, the Mormon church was teaching its members how to prepare for the worst. As the church's Welfare Services Handbook says, "No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else." To that end, the church coaches members to stockpile a year's worth of food and drinking water, along with other provisions, and most do. If terrorists or a tornado hits your neighborhood, you definitely want to be living next door to a family of Mormons.
The church's self-reliance dogma extends beyond the average family basement to the community at large. For instance, it runs Bishop's Storehouse Services, a network of regional warehouses that became well known during the Great Depression. When disaster strikes, church elders spring into action to distribute the goods through a welfare organization whose efficiency has been compared by some writers to the German Wehrmacht.
I grew up in Utah and have seen this phenomenon first hand. In the spring of 1983, after record levels of snow melted in the nearby mountains, City Creek flooded and threatened major parts of Salt Lake City. On a Sunday morning, as the water started to rise, the church quickly mobilized thousands of people to make sandbags to save critical parts of downtown (and, of course, the church infrastructure). We watched with amazement as the volunteers literally diverted the floodwater onto State Street, a major thoroughfare (where people later went fishing). The efforts were so successful that state officials estimated that they prevented 1,400 acres of land from flooding and $140 million in water damage.
More recently, the church went into high gear during Hurricane Katrina in a performance that put the federal government to shame. Before the storm made landfall, the LDS church in New Orleans safely evacuated all but about seven families out of about 2,500 local members, largely because the church had created an automated telephone emergency warning system that alerted all its members, instructing them to get out of town and telling them where to go.
Two days before the storm made landfall, while FEMA was floundering, the church dispatched 10 trucks full of tents, sleeping bags, tarps to cover wrecked roofs, bottled water, and 5-gallon drums of gas from its warehouses to New Orleans and other hard-hit areas. The supplies were distributed in an orderly fashion to people who desperately needed them.
Rather than downplay his religion, Mitt could spotlight the aspects of his church that reflect basic Republican values of self-sufficiency and the primacy of the private sector. After all, if disaster strikes, who will really care whether the Book of Mormon puts the Garden of Eden in Missouri? What matters is that if Romney ends up in the White House, his God will no doubt tell him to dispatch the trucks before the hurricane strikes.
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The Mormon Church? is very good at promoting itself, especially during crisis, but if you follow the money and relief you will find that the vast majority of it will go solely to local Mormons and not the community in general. This has happened time and time again and is easily verified, so please temper your enthusiasm for Mormon giving and understand that it is to a large part very self serving.
T0 Swimmerboy:
You really dont know what you are talking about. People like you who need to put others down when they help others are just feeling crappy about their own life and lack of service.
Time and time again you say? You have obviously been underwater too long and lost some brain cells.
How about easily verifying your claim? Start with the Katrina disaster for example.
The LDS church has given millions to NON-MEMBERS all over the world. When the tsunami hit, the church loaded up 5 747’s full of supplies in Salt Lake City & flew them to southeast asia. Hardly any of those supplies went to Mormons.
Swimmerboy...Mormons are here to stay and neither you nor or any anti-mormon is going to change that. We can't reach out to everyone, but to those we do, we do so in the spirit of love and charity.
That's it Swimmerboy. You be the unchristian christian this time. No good deed goes uncritized by you if it comes from the Mormons. No matter what they do, you always hate the Mormons, don't ya, Swimmerboy?
For verification, I would suggest following the link in the article to the PBS website where this was documented.
Your article is well written and well researched. Twice, I've been witness to the LDS church's humanitarian service. During Tropical Storm Allison which devastated Houston, all Stakes in the area cancelled their Sunday meetings and sent members door-to-door to assist people whose homes had been flooded. During Katrina, the Houston stakes were organized to send hundreds of volunteers to New Orleans to do the same thing.
Thanks for the well-written article.
I believe that Mitt doesn't capitalize on the LDS church's donations and good doing because he understands that is not how Christ would have it. He wants his followers to good continually and not brag about it. Christ himself said in Matt 6:3,4
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine aalms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall breward thee openly
It, like all other Christian religions, are an illness upon the psyche of man's collective contiousness. I had a relative marry a LDS gentleman, make a family, and now my dead grandfather is baptized mormon. There is no good religion, only good people with a sense of what is right and good. The planet and its inhabitants, animal, plant and people would do well to abandon these nonsensical dogmamatic corporations that call themselves churches and move on with living, compassionately, and with a simple outlook of care to harm no-one or thing.
all over the world, the Mormon Church had helped so much and directly to the needy...even until Now, if you go to Indonesia where majority are Muslims, you can still find the Mormon Church building boats and houses for people who are displaced and families or children who lost their parents...where did you get your information where the vast majority of the money solely goes to local mormons???...also all over Africa, the Mormon Church are building artesian wells so the people there could have clean water...where can we get that verification???? give us the information we'll check it out???
I was a member of that Mormon Army that went to help victims of Katrina. Our little church sent three tractors and 15 men all with chainsaws and other tools to clear downed trees and debris from homes. I was there for several days in a tent city with hundreds of other LDS men. We helped whoever needed help. No questions asked.
Mormonism has always been a little odd to me, but I applaud these efforts and I'm very happy to see Mother Jones pointing out the positive attributes of a religion instead of the usual SF-Lefty "all religion is bad" attitude. Nice article!
hww what, sorry. I was out creating my own religion. I came up with some silver tablets that only I can read, that were written by God. Anyone seen my other wife?
This Money the church helps comes from members who fast and set aside that money they would have spent to give to those who are in need.
What a great way to help others, I have seen this work in action in India, Sri lanka and many places without anything in return
Romney's problem is that he has morphed from a moderate Republican to a right wing bigot, and is trying to gain political traction with the party's BARN (born again redneck) base with homophobia, immigrant bashing, Islamophobia and anti-abortion rhetoric while avoiding their disapproval of his distinctly non-mainstream theology. It just goes to show that people who live in glass houses shouldn't wear holy underwear.
funny underwear, now everyone pays attention. utah is the only state where i never got a ride with a local when i was hitchhiking.
the ones i've encountered have all had this undercurrent i couldn't put a finger on. an almost vicious niceness
but now days we elect presidents on their haircut so does it really matter
I believe the reason Mitt doesn't discuss his faith is he wants to keep the debate on the issues, not on his beliefs. He also may not want to disqualify himself from the race by making remarks on religion the way John McCain did during the last presidential primary . LDS take a lot of unnecessary heat from members of mainstream religions...We need to stay focused on the fact that the process is intended to decide who will be our next leader. After all, if we had been truly concerned about the personal life of past candidates, then there have been a lot of people we've elected who should not have been. You know, we live in a free country where everyone has the right to express their point of view. What's mine? Give the Mormon thing a rest!
I lived in a small Mormon town for several years. It was like living in the village of the damned, only you felt like the damned one if you weren't mormon. It's a very insular religion; non-mormons are not allowed in temples, cultish practices: special underwear, secret baptisms. I found it most offensive to get invitations to wedding receptions, but wasn't allowed to attend the temple weddings. I recommend a book "Secret Ceremonies" that makes me very worried to have someone who believes these things to be the "leader of the free world."
I guess its like that Ford Escape Hybrid commercial. "I didn't think we needed to talk about it."
While I appreciate the positive tone of the article, I don't think that it is fair to give Romney credit for the service his church provides. I think he has demonstrated this type of ethic in his own actions - such as when he helped a co-worker find his runaway daughter in NYC (video on YouTube). I feel that Romney is a positive role-model and I would like to see him as our next President.
Ms. Mencimer seems to believe that only Republicans share "values of self-sufficiency and the primacy of the private sector..." Her bias is pretty obvious, here... wow...
THE LIES OF U.S. DEMOCRATS
Hypocritical & cowardly Democrats want it both ways - they supported the Iraq War Resolution, but also want to place the blame for going to war on President George W. Bush. President Bush’s only mistake was to trust incorrect intelligence reports that originally came from the Clinton administration:
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
--- President Clinton (Feb. 17, 1998 Statement On Iraq - address to Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pentagon staff).
These intelligence reports were also believed by other high profile Democrats. For example:
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
--- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is developing weapons of mass destruction."
--- Senator Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts), Sept. 27, 2002.
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
--- Senator John F. Kerry (Massachusetts), Oct. 9, 2002.
“He (Saddam Hussein) has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al-Qaida members....Left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
--- Senator Hillary Clinton (New York), Oct 10, 2002
As you can see from the above, Democrats find it easy to cast blame, but have very short memories when it comes to the judgments of leaders in their own political party.
Vincent Bemowski - Webmaster/Editor: Catholic Messages USA
Regarding Republican values of self - sufficiency & the primacy of the private sector...
The Republicans' main constituency is the ultra-rich. Those people, for the most part, have no interest in the average person except for what we can do for THEM! After all, the worker bees have been getting 2-5% pay raises (if they get one) for the majority of the last 15 years. On the other hand , the executives have been getting 15-20% raises during the same period. The owners & stockholders have done even better...For example, one of the Waltons ( a daughter) had a net worth of $35,000,000 in 1999. In 2006, the same person had a net worth of $ 8.5 BILLION! This was done on the backs of their workers using cheap goods primarily from the PRC. What's the point? It's hard as hell to be self-sufficient when your income is not keeping up with the cost of living.
There is no doubt that the Republicans believe in the primacy of the private sector...They have disabled the checks & balances in our government so they can keep the government from keeping the business community on a leash...Why should they need to do that? Ask workers in virtually every country outside the USA. It's the reason why the manufacturing section in this country has shrunk from 32% in 1985 to 8% in 2004. The companies blame the Labor Unions for the necessity of transferring their operations overseas...However, before you're quick to accept that logic, consider this...The average American worker during the early 1900's did not have the kind of benefits & protections we have now. There was essentially no middle class. We're well down the road to that point...Thanks in large part to 35 years of Republican intervention (most of it in the last 13 years) & 8 years of the Clinton administration. What was the precipitating event that made it possible? The so-called collapse of the Soviet Bloc. With no one to challenge them, "Free Enterprise" took over. The question is...Are we going to allow it to continue? Or, are we going to quit letting this continue and do something to preserve what we still have? Way too many people like to say we can't do anything. The reality is..."The only thing that needs to happen for "Evil" to win is for "good" people to stand by & do nothing." The bottom line is that we need to do something.
Don't count on it. They help people, I conceed that, but mostly they help their own first and if resources are strained the rest of us, well we're doomed to hell anyway, so not to worry.
I too, have lived among the Mormons and I am no fan. They may no longer be poligamists, but their entire family structure is based on the subservience of women. Can you say, "Gee-had?" Give Mitt a turbin, he earns it everyday.
Bob S., I was also part of that Mormon army serving after Katrina. Out of the 15 families our work party of 8 guys helped, none were LDS. From mucking houses (think post-flood demolition of walls/cabinets/flooring) and complete gutting of rain-soaked interiors in Harvey, to clearing land in Metarie for a FEMA trailer to (hopefully) be placed in the following weeks. The most poigniant experience for me was clearing a shed that had collapsed for a family who's house was spared. As we set out clearing the debris roof down, we finally made it to the contents and got the toys out for the kids. Their eyes lit up with excitement! Having been away from their home during the evacuation and come back to a disaster area, they were missing the normalcy of their lives. They were so excited to play with their familiar toys. That's what it was all about. Helping people who needed help.
If "Mother Jones" wanted to perform a public service, they could focus on groups that use disaster as a vehicle for power and profit. Aside from the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, there are numerous groups that use disaster as a pretext for prosyletization or naked greed for the gold in suffering.
Mormons are great people. They take care of their own and are, by-and-large, model citizens in every respect. People who bash the Mormons need to take hard look at why they enjoy being a bigot.
I had no idea of how active the LDS has been. I am a Man of Color and have stayed away from looking into the church. I'll talk a second look.
Mormons aren't necessarily Romneyites.
I've made contributions to a couple of Mormon brothers that are traveling around campainging for RON PAUL.
Whoa! Let's back up just a minute here. Ok, granted the Mormon's are he "squirrels" of the US, but applauding this seems to be endorsing the social welfare practices of the the 19th century.
Oh...yes..Mormons spring into action all right...helping only other Mormons in good standing with the church...meaning they are all current on their monthly 15% tithing's...(from some one who has lived there...!)
I have no objection to voting for a Mormon, just not this Mormon.
P.S. I'm a Quaker living in Salt Lake City
Mormons help people all around the world. Not jsut other Mormons..They are superb at taking care of their own, however.
That sounds all nice and good... but.... I worked in Salt Lake City with people in need and met more than one person who was receiving help from this Mormon-infrastructure until someone determined they'd been given "enough" help. Then they showed up at our door. I'm talking about people who will need help their entire lives, unable to work, unable to care for themselves or their family due to multiple physical and psychiatric problems. Also, Mormonism is certainly not alone as a religious institution providing help... Catholics and Lutherans, among others, have their entire theologies based in "serving others as serving Christ" -- and truly ask no questions because it's not about "converting" people to a religion, but simply living out one's religious beliefs which is to serve others. Period. Always consider the source, and follow the money. Who benefits?
how exciting.
a Church that actually does something.
unfortunately, the history of the LDS Elders mucking around & throwing their weight about in Utah politics is legendary.
how does the LDS manipulate? why they've perfected the social intimidation of their membership.
When CHURCHES muck about in POLITICS... there's no freedom to be found for anyone.
~~~ Spread Love...
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~~~
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
~~~
"Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced"
Oh, and regarding not being allowed to attend mormon weddings if you're not mormon -- even if you are the mother of father of the bride or groom... imagine this, moms... having your child "blessed" (Mormons don't do baptisms) by men and you ARE NOT ALLOWED TO STAND WITH THEM, but must remain seated. Saw that in my time in Salt Lake City, too. Real good "family values" there... as long as you are male, you've got it made.
There it is again... "they take care of their own" as if that is such a great thing... what about the rest of America... must we then go through the motions of being mormon to get our services if a mormon becomes president? It's bad enough one of the "qualities" of being mormon is to not ever ask questions or question authority. How does that affect our democracy?
Regarding mothers not being able to stand in the circle when their babies are blessed —
Women bear the children, but their husbands bear the Priesthood. It makes a good partnership. A mother would feel sad if her husband wasn't able to bless their new baby!
MORMONS come to the rescue? Do you even know what kind of crazy cult that is?
I find it incredible that millions of people believe in an obvious false religion founded by a charlatan. The Book of Mormon is FAKE, parts of it are directly copied from the King James Bible(both contain the 'Satyr' mistranslation). The american indians are not descended from jews, this is genetically proven. This is a fact that anyone with an open mind can look up for themselves.
Maybe the Mormons are nice people but they believe in a book which is proven to be a fraud. If Romney is elected then you will have a nutcase for president. You will be a laugh for the rest of the world. I can't believe I even have to write this.
Try reading a few pages of the Book of Mormon. 'Joseph Smith found gold plates buried in the ground with the book engraved on'? 'Jews sailed across the atlantic ocean and founded the Aztec civilization'? 'Jesus appeared in person there at the same time he was in Israel'? What kind of nonsense is this? How can you even consider believing it? If the same story happened today noone would believe it, but because it happened in the 1830's people believed it then and hang on to it. Where are those gold plates?
Mormonism and the Book of Mormon is a hoax, even a child knows that. It's one of the biggest practical jokes in history. How stupid can one be? The fact that millions believe in it is an INSULT to human intelligence. The fact that it originated in the U.S. (along with Scientology, Jehovahs Witnesses and other bizarre inventions) is a disgrace to your country.
God doesn't live on a star named Kolob and Jesus and Satan isn't blood brothers. Can it get any more bizarre? Get a grip!!!
swimmerboy is not alone in his disdain for the Mormon religion. I've got a good dose of that myself, so feel free to pick on me too.
My beef is not so much at how they act, however. They act okay. My problem is simply with believing in silly things as if they are so. And why? Just because someone said so, is why. There is no proof that JS got any "gold tablets" from an angel. Where are the tablets? How could someone POSSIBLY have "lost" such divinely-delivered mail? Is it then "God's Plan" that they be lost? If so, then it must be that he (sorry: He) SPECIFICALLY wants there to be no proof. He SPECIFICALLY wants us not to use our brains for actually thinking with, but to accept fairy tales as reality "just because."
Har! Now start on me. Please!
Vincent, get your head out of your butt. Only one person is responsible for the war in Iraq; George Bush. He followed the neocons who had been looking for an excuse to wage war there for years. His administration cherry picked the intelligence, and lied about the rest (aluminum tubes, uranium etc) They ignored the advice of the Atomic Energy agency, the weapons inspectors and our allies. Typical for you to be still talking about Clinton.
I take swimmerboy's comments as a challenge, but not as offensive. My response to his comments is 'so what'?
For the sake of arguement let's assume he's correct and the 'vast majority' of money and relief from the LDS Church in disasters goes to Mormons, so what?
When did self sufficiency in groups, religious or otherwise, cease to be a positive?
Vincent,
Way to wake this blog up!
Yes, the LDS are wonderful at helping their own. But if you want to see impressive general disaster relief check out the Mennonites!
Whoa, this started out on the subject of Mormonism and ends up with bashing of the Democrats by right wing extremists.I am a Humanist and could never accept the blather about Joe Smith's discovery on a mountain in upper New York state, not can I accept the mythology of the Bible.
I will make a few positive statements about the Mormons. Here in FL, in Osceola County, they own a working cattle ranch of over 300,000. acres. The VOLUNTARILY put it on the tax rolls of the County, realizing that if they did otherwise they would deprive the largely agricultural county (before DisneyWorld was built next door) of needed revenue and throw the tax rolls out of kilter.
I have a mental picture of Baptists, Catholics et al, making such a voluntary move. Revenues from their ranch help feed their built-in welfare system. A member (emphasis on "Member," one who tithes and pledges to their idea of a good lifestyle) will never go on public welfare.
All of you who get so worked up should go and pray for the souls of the Mormons (and, possibly, the non-theists)or ask you doctor for a Valium Rx.
Where is the public outcry over the fact that the Bushies pressured the TV networks to list just the Red Cross and Rev. Pat Robertson's charity (he who owns a diamond mine in Africa to milk when he is not milking his gullible Assembly of God parishioners).
There are many things about the LDS faith that can be criticized, but this article correctly points out one of the Mormons very admirable traits. I am the HIV/AIDS lobbyist for the state of Utah, as well as an HIV positive out gay man. Believe me when I say there are times I have very much wanted to slam the Mormons that control this bizarre little state. That said they really do walk the walk where helping those in need is concerned, no matter where those people are or what those people believe. It is only fair to give credit where credit is due.
The LDS church may have a history of sound emergency preparedness, & I'm sure our government could learn a thing or 2 from them; however, Romney, the Stepford presidential candidate, in the Oval Office is a scary thought. He is an extremist religious nutcase who says whatever is necessary to win in whichever state in which he's running for office He has no true convictions of any kind other than government control of "morality" as he sees it. He is a dangerous man, & I sincerely hope he & Huckabee (who is even worse) are soundly defeated in their efforts.
