This BBC documentary, “The Mormon Candidate,” was released in March of this year. Here’s Buzzfeed’s take:
Mormonism, the British public learned from a documentary that aired on the BBC this week, is scary and mysterious, a possible “cult” on the verge of taking over the most powerful office in the world.
“The Mormon Candidate” was made by John Sweeney, the same British journalist who took on Scientologists in 2007′s “Scientology and Me.” While making that film, he got into shouting matches with the church’s officials, and said he was repeatedly stalked by the sect.
But despite the foreboding soundtrack, Sweeney evoked little of the same TV-ready drama from the Mormons he interviewed, a fact he warily admits toward the end of his Fleet Street treatment of Mitt Romney’s faith…
An employee of BBC Worldwide said she knows of no plans to distribute the documentary in the U.S. — something Sweeney suggested in the film is necessary.
“It’s as if because of American history, there’s an extra commandment: thou shalt not criticize another man’s religion,” he says, complaining: “There’s an unwritten law: Don’t mention Mormonism.”
In fact, there was curiousity about, and coverage of, more elements of Mormonism’s past, like polygamy, during the 2008 presidential campaign. But after four years that included two Romney candidacies, a second Mormon candidate, one Broadway musical, and a host of other cultural benchmarks, the U.S. seems to have moved on, with no law, written or unwritten, required.
- Section: News & Comment
- Topics: Campaign 2012, Mitt Romney, Mormon Watch
10 Facts Probably Left Off of Documentaries About Mormons
1. Mormons believe in a trinity of three divine persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost who are one in purpose.
2. 1832 – A runaway slave named Elija Able is baptized and ordained to the priesthood. He serves multiple missions to Canada where he would be safe from the Fugitive Slave Laws. He was probably the first black Mormon.
3. 1833 – While about half of all Mormons were residing in Missouri, a slave state, Joseph Smith received a revelation that became section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Verse 79 says “Therefore it is not right that one man should be in bondage to another.”
4. 1838 – Mormons were expelled from Missouri under threat of extermination (Executive Order 44). A petition of complaints against them made no mention of polygamy but complains that Mormons invited “free negroes and mulattoes” to join them in Missouri.
5. 1844 – Joseph Smith runs for president with a plan to free all slaves by 1850. He is murdered the same year.
6. 1852 – Utah enacts the most liberal divorce laws in the United States and possibly the world. Any woman who insists on a divorce gets one. Meanwhile, Brigham Young imposes a lineage restriction on the Aaronic and Melchezidec priesthoods; withholding them from presumed descendants of Ham.
7. 1869 – The Utah territorial legislature which was dominated by Mormons voted to give women the vote. At the time, only Wyoming had female suffrage.
8. 1887 – The federal government takes the vote away from Utah women (Edmunds-Tucker Act) .
9. 1978 – Governor Bond of Missouri officially rescinds Executive Order 44 (which had not been enforced for over a century) and formally apologizes for it. The same year Spencer W Kimball and the quorum of the twelve decided to end all lineage requirements for holding the Aaronic and Melkezidec priesthoods.
10. Mormons believe that Jesus is co-eternal and co-equal with God the Father and also believe that Jesus was begotten by the Father before the creation of all worlds.
The depth and degree of deception in anti-Mormon propaganda can be seen in Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “A Study in Scarlett”. It portrayed Mormon society as oppressive to women; one in which women were forced into polygamous marriages against their will. At the very time “A Study in Scarlett”, was written, Utah had the most liberal divorce laws in the United States and possibly the world. Since 1852, any woman who insisted on a divorce got one. Lawyers from New York and other states often obtained easy Utah divorces by claiming their clients planned to move to Utah.
By comparison, life for women in England during Arthur Conan Doyle’s life was far less liberating. The 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act allowed divorce through the law courts, instead of the slow and expensive business of a Private Act of Parliament. Under the terms of the act, the husband had only to prove his wife’s adultery, but the wife had to prove her husband had committed not just adultery but also incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion. Once divorced, the children became the man’s property and the mother could be prevented from seeing her children.
Hey look over there–it’s a straw man!
The fact that Romney is a Mormon doesn’t worry me, Doug Forbes. What worries me the most are his habitual lying; his poorly organized campaign; his lack of basic knowledge of the world and of U.S. history that a president needs to know to be successful in conducting domestic policy, diplomacy and foreign policy; his extremely secretive behavior; his arrogance in thinking that he doesn’t have to tell us anything he doesn’t want to tell us before the election; his extreme avoidance of the MSM–except for Fox News; and his reluctance to discuss his policy positions on issues that are very important to the economic survival and future of our nation and its people.
Having been a member of the Mormon church, albeit for only abit over a year; I can testify that they are a cult religion. The term brain-washing definietly applies to their methods. Their hypocritical rules are legion; owning/having interest in Las Vegas gambling, soft drink companies etc., flies in the face of all they purport to hold dear and absolute in getting to the Celestial level of Heaven. Mitt Romney will not be able to separate Church & State; he would set freedom for women back 100 years or more. Vote for a man that has offshort bank accounts; doesn’t reveal all tax records and is completely out of touch with the “common man” ie; one who doesn’t make 2M a year. Not this woman. The only reason the Mormon church allowed American Negroes in their “church hierarchy” and the reason they stopped polygamy is because it was politically expedient to do so. Not due to the fact it’s what was right. I personally care less about polygamy than I do having a President that can be a strong, intelligent leader for our country. Mitt Romney, America doesn’t want or need you.