Posted: Jul 2, 08 8:46am

The thing that disturbed me most about the resulting controversy over Rev. Wright's speech, and the whole controversy over what was taught in Sen. Obama's church in his absence, was the media double standard. With the discussion of Romney as a lead choice for VP, perhaps this will correct. What follows explains why it should, and emphasizes how egregious this double standard was in the primary.

Mitt Romney is not just a member of his church, he is a high priest in it. That means whatever his church accepts as doctrine he not only believes, but actively promotes.

Rejecting a candidate simply because he is Mormon would be prejudice. Rejecting him simply because he acknowledges a different canon of scripture as the Word of God is also prejudiced. Even rejecting him because the church used to practice polygamy, and used to restrict blacks from holding the priesthood, is prejudice, since the Church abandoned the former practice in 1890 and the latter in 1978.

But one need not be an anti-Mormon to find LDS beliefs that would prove troublesome in the White House. Page 66 of the current edition of the Book of Mormon reads in part, (numbers are verse numbers):

"21 And [God] had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.

22 And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.

23 And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.

24 And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey."

Read it in context at the official LDS website: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_ne/5/21#21

This is just one such reference from the book, and refers to a people called the "Lamanites" whom the Church teaches were the ancestors of Native Americans. This is not a fringe teaching in the Book of Mormon, but is an anchor of the entire narrative. It is not just part of Gov. Romeny's beliefs -- it is part of his ministry.

Merely pointing this out I get accused of attacking the Church, when all I am doing is specifying one of the things they have about 30,000 missionaries in the field trying to get people to believe. This concept is taught in their religious classes, elementary school level through college. It is discussed regularly in their Sunday school classes, preached on in their sacrament meetings, and expounded upon in General Conference addresses -- though much less emphasized since 1978..

Mormons believe the Book of Mormon more dependable Word of God than the Bible, and "the most correct of all books, and the keystone of our religion,(Joseph Smith, Jr.)" As a Mormon High Priest, Mitt Romney believes this principle, that God darkens skin color as a punishment, to be infallible doctrine. As a good LDS father he has taught this to his family. As an LDS leader he has taught it to youth, and taught others how to teach it.

Letting the public know this won't depend on having a camera on in a church at the right time. It's right out there, but the media won't confront it, and Romney's party still considers running him on a ticket opposing the first African-American nominee of a major party in history.

I'm white and consider that disgusting. The concerns over "black racist" religious teachings involving the history of black oppression by whites in this country, which caused all the controversy in the primaries, pale in comparison to this doctrine. The media chose to ignore it altogether. Sounds like the media is racist to me.

That is not the only thing Romney has taught in his ministry which could be troublesome in the Wihite House, just all pertinent to this issue. I go more into depth on this topic in a Blog: http://cumorahsshadow.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-makes-obamas-beliefs-so-important.html