I agree that is is refreshing and inspiring to hear that not all Mormons are self-centered Republicans and actually do espouse and live according to Christian values.........It would be equally refreshing to see more Southern "christians" live according to the Bible they carry around with them and spout passages from at bible study groups as they then go out and curse minorities and care less about their neighbors health care.

I don't really care about a candidates religion but I do care about the attempt to move this country closer to a theocracy. A candidates moral compass is more important than their religion. That said, I don't think all the spurious comments about the president not improving the economy, or digging us out of the unemployment rut that we're in, hold any water. These are things that are beyond the ability of a president to directly control.

Perhaps Obama was a community organizer but he didn't "build" a company that thrives at the expense of the community. When it comes to a comparison of the candidates relevant to WWJD Romney doesn't hold a candle to Obama. Hate filled rhetoric and repeating the "Big Lies" doesn't change that.

Obama 2012 Romney 1040 Ryan Social Security Hypocrite

Why shouldn't Mormons also embrace the inclusiveness of the Democrats, as opposed to the exclusive, aristocratic Republicans?

Although the Mormon church will time and again claim political neutrality, the reason for the sparseness of Mormon Democrats comes from very few but powerful issues. The pro-choice stance is one such issue, as is advocating homosexual marriage. Those are issues that are more moral than political, and the Mormon faith is very clear on where it stands with regard to them. That said, belonging to a political party doesn't necessitate adopting all of its views. I suspect those 17% are very conservative when those are the dominant issues being discussed.

I am glad to know there are Democratic Mormons...what a surprise!

Having grown up in the Mormon faith, I think Ms. Janis in the article provides the simplest and most profound observation: what emulates Christ best should be the driving force in a decision to support a political party. Christ's compassion, tolerance, and charity should be the standard for us all! Cutting services to the less fortunate, making education take a back seat, and benefitting those who wish to protect their wealth doesn't seem to me to follow the teachings of our Savior. As a fourth-generation Democratic, whose roots hail back to the Mormon pioneers, I swell with pride and embrace my Democratic Mormon brothers and sisters!

and Muslims flocked to Tampa to cheer on the Republicans - kind if a tit for tat kind of thing is it not?

Republican represent the real middle class not the Democrats. the Democrats are simply the party of misfits, failures in life and those too stupid, lazy or dishonest to actually hold a job or earn a living without Federal assistance or a handout. That is the real demarcation between what makes a person Republican or Democrat.

Ternan You really are making yourself look ignorant.

Ternan

Do you realize that a majority of Farmers collect some form of Federal Government Subsidy? You just kicked the largest group of Republicans under the bus. You might want to rethink your statements.

Republican represent the real middle class not the Democrats. the Democrats are simply the party of misfits, failures in life and those too stupid, lazy or dishonest to actually hold a job or earn a living without Federal assistance or a handout. That is the real demarcation between what makes a person Republican or Democrat.

And this is the type of rhetoric that makes it clear for me every single time that I will NEVER be a Republican no matter how much it might benefit me monetarily.

This sounds like something the Nazis would have said about the Jews. Such bigotry and hate.

I get it. There are "good Mormons" who are Democrats and "bad Mormons" who are Republicans". I guess the Liberals have seen their error in pushing for religious discrimination, which they have found the American People do not like, and are backtracking.

MJ: Get real the only group that has advocated anything close to class warfare has been the Democratic party under the leadership of the most corrupt and hypocritical man in american politics - obama. The NAZIs pale in comparison to the antics of this lunatic occupying the White House and his henchmen as they attempt to reshape American society to their own agenda of racial hatred, open borders, and redistribution of wealth to accommodate all of you losers that are either to stupid, ignorant or lazy to make it on your own. Now is that plain enough for you???

The real joke in American politics is for the Democratic party to call itself the party of the working man - now that is hilarious. The title working man would insinuate that a person is actually working at something called a job, earning money for their labor, paying federal personal income taxes, be a contributing member of society and care for and provide for their families - hmm wait that means those folks are actually Republicans.

Ah thats right Democrats working man party are those other folks, the ones standing in line waiting for their weekly welfare check, that appear to believe their contribution to American society is to pop out another unwanted, unloved, uncared for child to collect even larger welfare payments and then toss the kid off to be raised by their grandparents because mom and dad have crawled so deep into their drug addictions they are unfit to habitats with anything close to civilized people. Yep obama and his corrupted minions do seem to have the inside track with societies losers.

To Ternan - I've never been out of work in my life and approaching 50 years old. With a six figure income, and as a renter - I pay the highest tax rate and take no deductions other than the standard deduction. I paid close to $40,000 in income taxes last year. I know that the Republican economic agenda is disastrous, and has been ever since it embraced Reaganomics which was fated to be a disaster in the long run, encouraging the kind of disasters like the Savings and Loan debacle, the accounting scandals that led to the Enron disaster and dozens like it, and ultimately to the Banking ponzi schemes that to the current mess.

And most people who read "The NAZIs pale in comparison to the antics of this lunatic occupying the White House and his henchmen as they attempt to reshape American society to their own agenda of racial hatred, open borders, and redistribution of wealth" will know not to take anything else you say as serious or informed dialogue, even they are on the same side as you politically. The nazis "pale in comparison"?? Right, our government is picking groups of people and telling them they are only allowed to hold menial jobs. Our government is track to round people up, including toddlers, and transport them to holding pens to be either killed immediately or worked and starved to death. Our government is trying to convince its people that we are fated to rule the world and are justified in expanding our borders into Canada and Mexico and take over their governments because we are the Master Race.

How insulting and repugnant your comments must be to the remaining WWII veteran soldiers who risked their lives and watched their comrades perish fighting the evil of the Nazis. How revolting to their children and children's children must your comments be to see our government and our politics compared to the evil their fellow American soldiers fought and died fighting. THEY know how repulsive your comments are.

And, as an addendum, you clearly are ignorant of just about everything going on. "the ones standing in line waiting for their weekly welfare check," Cash assistance to those in poverty (as opposed to food stamps) has virtually disappeared. Look up the numbers. Regardless of what you think of public assistance, the image you propagate of hordes of non-working lazies picking up cash checks from the government hasn't been around for quite a while now. But, in your universe, you see these imaginary bugaboos destroying our country while the people you vote into office destroy the middle class - the heart of the strenth of this nation. There are too many like ignorant boobs like you. Oh, well - if too much of the nation follows your ignorant beliefs, it will deserve what it gets in the end.

I'm going to tell you something right now. You all need to start pulling your head out of your ass and stop buying into this bull @!$%# Obama. Don't go being a Mormon (which uhhhh yeahhhh.....strongly prohibits gay marriage and abortion in every shape and form. And then go up there, and be like, "oh I'm a little goodie girl Mormon who believes in my church and glad Romnie is in the race, but I can't vote for him because my values just can't do it! You are an idiot little girl! Here we have a man with impeccable stature and character running for President and he is one of us. He doesn't allow people to go get a hand out for free, not murder people in abortion, provide medicare which ABSOLUTELY WILL END UP LIKE RUSSIANS medicare system of government. You ever go to Mexico and get a surgery there done in Mexico Molly Mormon, well get your ass down there and do it because that's what are going to put everyone of us in because of your gay little soapbox!

As for that little terd up there telling how great it is to be in DC and be a Mormon. Go tell you bishop how you support the murdering of children, because that's the precious thing it is! Tell them how reject the bible and the book of mormon and the story of sodom and gomorah, because buddy, you are a hypocrite by saying saying you believe in the church and being a democrat.....because that sodom and gomorah story HAPPPPPENEEEEENED! hello hello! And now you support the biggest terd in the country who upholds it. I'm not a rocket scientist or a God, or a bishop, but man you shouldn't be passing the sacrement knowing that you are a murderer. Your boys the dem Gods support abortion liberally, and in the church we say, even the appearance of sin is evil spoken right out of Monson's mouth, the horse's mouth.....and this little b.s. about helping others and the tithing analogy. bull @!$%#!

Grow Up! Obama puts more people on welfare who don't need it than any other president in history. I met six of them in Texas who admitted to enjoying their free hand out lifestyle with Obama. You shouldn't even be a priesthood holder. Someone who looks at porn is more worthy than you!

If ever there was a convincing case for leaving the Republican party it is through the hate-filled rantings of the ignorant. Such vile things said with such intent to offend and to hurt. Such sound-bite mentality as if what they spew is actually true. It does conform to what they wish to believe, though the truth bears no resemblance. Honestly, it is because of these unkind, selfish, self-absorbed comments that I ceased voting Republican. I cannot stomach the war-mongering, greed, intolerance, fiscal recklessness (Oh where were the complaints when Bush ballooned the national debt?),hypocrisy, and just plain disregard for fellow human beings. Perhaps it is they who should return to their scriptures to read what Christ said about caring for the poor and the needy rather than satiate their hatred on the conservative talk show nonsense.

Hey nohead,

My Father in law IS an LDS Bishop. And he's a democrat. While Republicans are entirely intolerant of dissent in the ranks, the Democrats are not. It is actually possible to be a Democrat and pro-life (as most LDS democrats likely are.) In fact, I know many who are fine with gay marriage (as long as temples aren't required to perform them, obviously) on the idea that the government shouldn't be involved in enforcing religious ideals.

They're right. As you have demonstrated with your eloquent post, many Republicans are bitter, hateful people who drive away the more moderate. That's why this Republican party is so crazy. The Republican party in Reagan's time had moderates and could participate in governing with Democrats. The Republican party today has literally sacrificed Americans just to make sure the black guy doesn't get re-elected.

Which is why Nickolas, that the church has revelation. As a member of the church you understand that the Prophet speaks for the Lord to the Church. When the Lord speaks, it's right, whether you agree with it or not. Gay marriage is not God ordained. A woman is not denied an abortion in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. And while we don't know why people are gay, the truth is that the Lord has said that marriage is between a man and a woman. If you don't believe that, then it is time to reevaluate how you stand.

@floridamom1

I'm sure the prophet speaks for the Lord, but who does the churches leadership speak for? If one wants to be a member of the church and accept those beliefs into their lives, who am I to complain? But you don't get to take the pulpit, put it on the senate floor and tell the rest of the world what to do.

A theocracy flies in the face of everything Christ stood for, so preach, or teach, but don't force. That's not the way at all.

Hi Nicholas! This seems to be my day to appreciate you--I think I answered another one of your posts elsewhere. It seems to me that Jesus said, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto The Lord that which is His. At 69, I have come to one conclusion--without allowing love to fill and direct one's heart, mind and soul daily, all of the scripture and rhetoric are just noise and busyness to fill up space. The separation of church and state is sure looking alot more important to me these days. I think it is too bad that some issue which appear to separate people perhaps are only from a lack of discussion, experience and perhaps deeper truths. It has been encouraging to know that some Mormons are open to looking into not only their Book, but into their hearts for answers. Shalom, Nicholas

a

Nick, you weren't paying attention in church. You are probably one of the people who are a 'member' on paper, but don't live the gospel. As the ward misson leader, it's people like you that take up so much of my time. I love helping people who want the help and are willing to listen, do what is required of them, and actually put forth and effort. Those that sit on their backsides and do nothing don't deserve the blessings. Didn't Christ ask a simple thing of a leper to be healed and he wouldn't do it - untill convinced by someone else? There are so many examples in the bible that point to what should be done and how twisted the serpent made these simple truths. How blind and stiff necked people are. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.' 'Faith without works is dead.'

Jack Mormons are the ones who smoke and drink and don't go along with the beliefs of their faith. I think it was obvious that those in the photoblog are good faithful Mormons. Politics doesn't change that.

I looked it up, and found it has many meanings. The definition changed with the time period. My understanding is it could have several meanings in today’s world. Not serious church going Mormons. Mormons who are Democrats. To which are you referring. I’m wondering what the faithful call those like me. I have researched the Mormons extensively beginning with Joseph Smith finding a stone 12-15 feet down when helping a neighbor dig a well. He put the stone in his hat and buried his face into the hat. According to Smith he could see all sorts of things and glean special information from the stone. Other than the shovel, the seer’s stone in a stovepipe hat were the primary tools used in his treasure hunting company. Needless to say, I had to find more about this con man dubbed a Prophet. This curiosity leads to the Books of their faith and more about the charlatan Joseph Smith. Some of them are: The Book of Mormon, The Book Abraham, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, etc. To think Mitt Romney is a serious candidate for President is the scariest thought I’ve ever had. Before my research I knew Romney’s empathy with main stream America was shallow, but now I know it is nil, moot, nonexistent. What do the faithful call one like me? I’m sure it must be something more colorful than nonbeliever?

Wow... you would not know that the vine could be so amiable. Why it was not too long ago that Romney being a Mormon was vilified and filled with derision on this network (and vine) MMM so would it be ok if the GOP did a smimular spread showing dedicated black members of the GOP.. would it be critiqued with the same even handedness you all (now) showing the LDS Dems? It is nice to know that vine has a little "kindness" as long as it NOT the GOP... (heh)

Actually, though I support Romney, his religion is a turn off for me because of fundamental differences in doctrine (some of wich is out lined in Tommy_mpt statements) BUT I do believe he (Romney) will support the social issue as well as my fiscal concerns.

Military Spending.

Traditional Marriage.

Entitlement reform.

Pro Life

Path to balance budget. (it's going to take longer that 8 yrs to "fix" it)

Energy independence w/o killing jobs

Repeal or (most likely) modify ACA.

Though I believe that religion should not be a driving factor... for the faithful it plays a part... So I wrote an article on Voting Christian for Romney (my opinion... (respectful) comments welcome)

//flame77-71.newsvine.com/_news/2012/07/09/12583553-why-christians-should-vote-for-mitt-romney

Tommy: what do you believe in ? Do you believe in anything or anyone or do you even lack the ability to believe in yourself? You took a few minutes, scanned the web found an article or two on Mormons and their believes and suddenly your the expert and passing judgement on several millions of people - fascinating. Though I am not a Mormon, I do believe in something and its not out of fear of the unknown or a fear of what happens after death but simply a realization that everything around me can't simply be explained as the result of an entire Universe of matter and we are simply the result of a couple wayward molecules bumping in to each other. Science and religion can and do co-exist, almost every scientist is also a person that believes in something that can't be seen but can be experienced most call it religion.

tommy_mpt

Some critics of Joseph Smith charge that Joseph Smith was involved in occult practices of folk magic, divining, and using peep stones. It is common for people to think that “your religion is superstition but my belief in the suplernatural is reasonable.”

Actually, Christian scripture has been created in a very similar way. Throughout the Bible there are various ways in which God gave revelation to prophets. These range from visions, angels, hearing the voice of God, God speaking from a burning bush, seeing writing on a wall, writing on a tablet, casting lots, magic rods, magic cups, dreams, and hearing the voice of his Spirit in the heart and mind. I think God can decide for Himself how he wishes to give a prophet a revelation or a translation. Who is man that he should tell God how He can or can’t give a translation?

Nevertheless, the method in which Joseph Smith was given the text of the Book of Mormon, by the gift and power of God and not by man’s learning, is amazingly similar to other Biblical accounts of God giving written material to prophets.

For example, Daniel’s experience of seeing God’s writing on the wall is similar to Joseph Smiths experience of seeing God’s writing on a stone:

“In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.” (Daniel 5:5)

Moses struck a rock and water flowed out of it. Moses struck the ground and the Red Sea parted.

The Old Testament Joseph had a silver cup which he used to divine (Genesis 44:2, 5).

We read, for instance, that Aaron had a magical rod (Exodus 7:9-12). Jacob also used magical rods to produce speckled offspring from Laban's cattle (Genesis 30:37-39). We read that a priest could tell if a woman had committed adultery by seeing if her thigh swelled after drinking a special potion (Numbers 5: 11-13, 21)

The prophecy of John the Revelator, wherein he said that some would have a white stone which would have writing on it is amazingly similar to what actually happened to Joseph Smith:

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” (Revelations 2:17)

Note that John tells us that “no man knoweth” about the stone and the writing “saving he that receiveth it.” So, of course, critics will doubt and mock.

And, of course, we have what is probably the best known example of a prophet receiving writing from God on a stone, that of Moses:

“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”(Exodus 31:18) And also:“And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.” (Deuteronomy 9:10)

Here, God writes words on a stone tablet, very similar to words being written on the stone that Joseph used.

God can give revelation to a prophet in whatever manner He chooses. And He did use a variety of methods, some of which would look like folk magic to us today.

tommy_mpt

The Book of Mormon was published in the year 1830. At that time there was little in the way of scholarly or archeological evidence to support it. Joseph Smith (and Mormons ever since) claim that it is a true historic account that really happened. We will call this claim one.

The anti-Mormons claim that the Book of Mormon is false and that it was fabricated by Joseph Smith and/or some of Joseph’s associates. We will call this claim two. Let us, therefore, set up a very simple and common sense guideline for evaluating these two positions:

If the claim one is true, then we would expect, over time, that science and various branches of archeology, language studies, cultural studies, etc… would produce a convergence of data and evidence that supports the book. Even if there was no, or little, evidence to support the Book of Mormon in 1830, we would expect now, after 181 years, that at least some significant discoveries would have been made which verify or support different parts of the Book of Mormon. These would have to be discoveries or information that was not available to Joseph Smith in 1830 which were discovered since that time and which verify or support various parts of the Book of Mormon. These would be things that an author, who was fabricating a book, could not get right by guessing

If claim two is true then we would expect the opposite of the above. We would expect that more and more details in the Book of Mormon would be shown to be false as more discoveries in archeology and other fields are m

ade.

It turns out that the longer we go, the more evidence is discovered which confirms parts of the Book of Mormon. There are literally scores and scores, probably several hundred, Book of Mormon details that are now confirmed or supported by evidence that was not available in Joseph Smith’s time.

tommy_mpt

There is a growing body of evidence from New World archaeology that supports the Book of Mormon. Dr. John Clark of the New World Archaeological Foundation has compiled a list of sixty items mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The list includes items such as "steel swords," "barley," "cement," "thrones," and literacy.

In 1842, only eight (or 13.3%) of those sixty items were confirmed by archaeological evidence. Thus, in the mid-nineteenth century, archaeology did not generally support the claims made by the Book of Mormon. By 2005 forty-five of those sixty items (75%) have been confirmed. Therefore, as things stand at the moment, current New World archaeological evidence tends to verify the claims made by the Book of Mormon. (John Clark, "Debating the Foundations of Mormonism: Archaeology and the Book of Mormon", presentation at the 2005 FAIR Apologetics Conference (August 2005). Co-presenters, Wade Ardern and Matthew Roper. S. Kent Brown, "New Light: 'The Place That Was Called Nahom": New Light from Ancient Yemen," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 8, no. 1 (1999): 66-68.)

Mesoamerican archeologist, John Sorenson, after 60 years of research, is about to publish his “Mormon Codex” showing 420 convergences between the Book of Mormon and features of geograpy, language, and culture in Guatemala and Southern Mexico.

DNA-related attacks on the Book of Mormon misrepresent scientific findings by falsely claiming that Native American DNA originated solely from Asia. While Asia appears to be the leading source of ancient immigrants to the Americas, there is plenty of room for additional groups coming to the continent, and several studies have found evidence for non-Asian DNA that cannot be explained by modern European admixture. Some of this evidence is found in pre-Colombian burial sites with DNA connections to Europe and the Middle East.

Some critics have scoffed at finds of European, or Middle Eastern, and even Jewish DNA in American Indians. They say that these are contaminations which occurred after Columbus and do not represent pre-Columbian DNA. However, they cite no evidence for this that I have seen. Certainly there was mixture of European DNA with American Indians after Columbus. However, we cannot assume that all Old World DNA found in Native Americans is due to post-Columbus admixture. DNA testing of some pre-Colombian remains yields DNA types matching Europe and even Israel.

The evidence from mitochondrial DNA, passed on by mothers only, is supplemented by evidence from Y-chromosomes, which are passed on by fathers only. Native American Y-chromosomes show a variety of haplogroups, including haplogroups 4 and 1C (Karafet et al., 1999), which are also characteristic of Jewish peoples (Hammer et al., 2000). Haplogroup 1C is common enough in the New World that it has been proposed as a major founder haplogroup for the New World. Karafet is one of the co-authors in Hammer et al. (2000), and his 1999 paper is cited.

Haplogroup X

For some time haplogroup X, found in American Indians, did not show up in Asia. This suggested a migration to the New World from somewhere other than Asia. When X was found in the Middle East and Europe it seemed to open up the possibility of migration from the Middle East.

Haplogroup X, can be traced to Europe, and is found in North American populations, said Dr Theodore Schurr of the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Texas. Dr Schurr said: "This is one of the intriguing findings that we have come across recently. These data imply that haplogroup X was present in the New World long before Europeans first arrived in the New World, before Columbus or the Vikings or anybody else."

The find has led to speculation that ancient people crossed the Atlantic from the Old World, because evidence of the X haplogroup had not been found in Asia. Dr Schurr said: "Haplogroup X was brought to the New World by an ancient Eurasian population in a migratory event distinct from those bringing the other four lineages to the Americas."

However, a new report (Derenko, 2001) showed that haplogroup X was found in central Asia after all. This was thought to explain the X in American Indians. However, there are some problems with linking the Asian X to American Indian X.

The X DNA, found in a little pocket in central Asia called Altai, turned out to be a variant which is different from that found in the New World. X DNA in the New World contains a variant called 225A which is a major marker for the X haplogroup in American Indians (Brown et al. (1998) but it is not found in the Asian variant. The work of Reidla et al. (2003) confirms this finding. Reidla et al. state that the small pocket of haplogroup X DNA in Siberia "are more likely explained by recent gene flow from Europe or from West Asia" rather than being remnants of a group that migrated to the Americas anciently

The DNA time clock indicates that the Asian variant of X is newer that the American Indian X showing that American Indians did not get their X DNA from the Asian source. However, the 225A variant found in American Indians is also is found in the Middle East and, to some extent, in Europe. Some geneticists have shown that the most likely source of X DNA is NORTHERN ISRAEL – the very area where the tribe of Joseph lived. The Book of Mormon peoples were Josephites. The evidence still suggests that the origin of American Indian X DNA is not Asia but the Middle East (or Europe).

DNA researchers usually go out of their way to avoid any chance of post-Columbus admixture when they carry out their research. Unfortunately this means that they often reject, out-of-hand, any samples containing DNA types that match Old World DNA other than Asian. It seems to be assumed that Asian DNA is always OK but anything else must be a recent admixture. Because of this, real evidence for other migrations may be routinely rejected. Lehi, from the Book of Mormon, was from the tribe of Joseph, one of the lost ten tribes taken captive and dispersed to the north. The DNA types his party carried is unknown. The tribe of Joseph inhabited the northern part of Israel. Studies by Shlush et. Al. (The Druze: A Population Genetic Refugium of the Near East, 2008) show that the X haplogroup may have originated in the area of northern Israel (near where the tribe of Joseph resided at one time) and then spread to other parts of the earth from there. X haplogroup is found among American Indians.

Samples of American Indian DNA which match European, or Middle Eastern DNA may be the smoking gun for Lehi’s DNA but those types are always assumed to be contaminated. No doubt some are but is it scientific to assume without finding out? Even some Asian DNA may be Lehi’s DNA type. Haplogrop X is found in northern Israel and has been shown to match Native American X better than the Asian X as shown in a study by Shlush.

The haplogroup X occurs most among Algonkian-speaking groups such as the Ojibwa, and has been detected in two pre-Colombian north American populations. Today, haplogroup X is found in between two and four per cent of European populations, and in the Middle East, particularly in Israel. The complex origins of the first Americans has also been highlighted by an analysis of thousands of skulls from around the world. A team of anthropologists from the University of Michigan found that the study confirmed the complex origins of Native Americans that have been suggested by recent archeological and genetic studies. Many pre-Colombian skulls demonstrate cranial features of Europeans but not current American Indians.

According to Science Magazine: "haplogroup X was only confirmed in the genes of a smattering of living people in Europe and Asia Minor, including Italians, Finns, and certain Israelis. The team's review of published mtDNA sequences suggests that it may also be in Turks, Bulgarians, and Spaniards. Also Shlush et. Al. (The Druze: A Population Genetic Refugium of the Near East, 2008.) show that X haplogroup found in northern Israel is likely a refugium of X DNA which was more widely typical of the area in the past. The conclusion of the study includes this interesting statement: “It is thus likely that the global diversity of this haplogroup evolved in the Near East and adjacent regions of western Eurasia.”

Y Chromosome Connections of Jews and American Indians

Critics have claimed that Y chromosome research shows no connections between American Indians and modern Jews. However, more recent research shows this to be false. Douglass Forbes points out that Y chromosome SMP biallelic marker QP36, also known by the mutation marker M242, postulated by Bayar & colleges to be a founding linage group of Ashkenazi Jews is also present in Iranian and Iraqi Jews and is a founding lineage present in 31% of self identified Native American Indians in the Unites States. A branch of the QP36 lineage M323 is also found in Yemenite Jews. The QP36 lineage is ancestral to the QM3 mutation group. The QP36 and QM3 lineages which make up Haplogroup Q, is found in over 76% of Native Americans. Forbes further writes we find MQ242, another name for QP36 scattered all over central Eurasian and concentrated in Turkistan, just north of Iran. The Ten Tribes were taken captive to northwest Iran and so the M243 is found scattered just where you’d expect it to be if the legions about the Ten Tribes escaping captivity by going north are true. Other west Eurasian lineages found in Native American test subjects are R, E3B, J, F G and I. All of these are also found in modern Jews. It has not yet been determined how much of this is a result of these are recent admixture and how much is pre-Colombian.

Linguistic experts continue to find indications of Hebrew and Egyptian influence in the Americas. The Book of Mormon specifically states that the Reformed Egyptian was a result of modifications the Nephites made to their language and was unique to them. “Reformed” is used as an adjective in the Book of Mormon, not a Noun. “Reformed Egyptian” is not the name of the language the Book of Mormon peoples used; rather, it is a description of the language they used . We don't expect it to be known in other places in the world or to the scholars as a title of a known language.

Recent scholarly research suggests a possible link between Uto-Aztecan (a family of about 30 Native American languages) and Hebrew. For example, Brian Stubbs, a leading scholar on the Uto-Aztecan language family, argues for numerous parallels between Hebrew and Uto-Aztecan. Stubbs has shown that languages of that group show major similarities with Hebrew and Egyptian.

Brian Stubbs, a leading scholar on the Uto-Aztecan language family, has shown that languages of that group show major similarities with Hebrew and Egyptian. He did so preliminarily in A Few Hundred Hints of Egyptian and Two Dialects of Hebrew (or Northwest Semitic) in Uto-Aztecan, a 142-page manuscript, 2004; it is presently in revision as a book, More on Uto-Aztecan. (See earlier treatments in Brian D. Stubbs, “Looking Over vs. Overlooking Native American Languages: Let’s Void the Void,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5/1 (1996): 1–49; “Elements of Hebrew in Uto-Aztecan: A Summary of the Data” (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1988); and “Hebrew and Uto-Aztecan: Possible Linguistic Connections,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, ed. John W. Welch (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1992), 279–81.)

Stubbs concludes that the Uto-Aztecan family developed as a creole tongue formed from Hebrew, Egyptian, and a native ancestral language of central Mexico that then divided multiple times. Some, but not all, other Mesoamerican tongues show similar characteristics.

As a professional linguist, Dr. Stubbs avoids the pitfalls of amateurs who simply point at similar words between two different languages. As he points out,

Any two languages can have a few similar words by pure chance. What is called the comparative method is the linguist's tool for eliminating chance similarities and determining with confidence whether two languages are historically—that is, genetically—related. This method consists of testing for three criteria. First, consistent sound correspondences must be established, for linguists have found that sounds change in consistent patterns in related languages.

Second, related languages show parallels in specific structures of grammar and morphology, that is, in rules that govern sentence and word formation.

Third, a sizable lexicon (vocabulary list) should demonstrate these sound correspondences and grammatical parallels.

When consistent parallels of these sorts are extensively demonstrated, we can be confident that there was a sister-sister connection between the two tongues at some earlier time.

Rhodes Scholar Dr. Roger Westcott, non-LDS Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Linguistics at Drew University, has made positive comments about Dr. Stubbs' research:

Perhaps the most surprising of all Eurasian-American linguistic connections, at least in geographic terms, is that proposed by Brian Stubbs: a strong link between the Uto-Aztecan and Afro-Asiatic (or Hamito-Semitic) languages. The Uto-Aztecan languages are, or have been, spoken in western North America from Idaho to El Salvador. One would expect that, if Semites or their linguistic kinsmen from northern Africa were to reach the New World by water, their route would be trans-Atlantic. Indeed, what graphonomic evidence there is indicates exactly that: Canaanite inscriptions are found in Georgia and Tennessee as well as in Brazil; and Mediterranean coins, some Hebrew and Moroccan Arabic, are found in Kentucky as well as Venezuela [citing Cyrus Gordon].

Meanwhile, a number of other Native American languages have been shown to be connected to Old World sources, few of which had been suspected. (Bede Fahey, “Mayan: A Sino-Tibetan language? A comparative study,” Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 130 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, 2004).)

Morris Swadesh was among other linguists who feel that “it is perfectly possible that a group of people having arrived speaking a new language [in the New World] eventually was absorbed into an already established linguistic community.”( Morris Swadesh, “Linguistic Relations Across Bering Strait,” American Anthropologist 64/6 (December 1962): 1262.)

Charles William Johnson has done work similar to that of Brian Stubbs except that his work is on the Egyptian in the new world. Johnson has sown that Egyptian words appear in multiple New World native languages including Mayan dialects, the Southwestern United States, and the Gulf coast. These include Taino, Quechua (Runa Simi), Purépecha, and native languages in Louisiana.

The Book of Mormon continues to make a serious impression on non-LDS scholars. As early as 1966 Near Eastern scholar William F. Albright, though not a believer in the Book of Mormon, wrote a letter in response to an anti-Mormon critic, noting that Joseph Smith probably could not have learned Egyptian from scholars of his day, yet included some authentic Egyptian names in the Book of Mormon. "It is all the more surprising that there are two Egyptian names, Paanch[i] and Pahor[an] which appear in the Book of Mormon in close connection with a reference to the original language being 'Reformed Egyptian.'" (William F. Albright to Grant S. Heward, Baltimore, Maryland, July 25, 1966, as cited by Tvedtnes, 2001.)

The Book of Mormon added about 180 new words to the English language when it was published in 1830. Most of these are names of people and places. Now, many of these names have surfaced in ancient document discoveries in the very areas and time periods that the Book of Mormon assignes to them. This information was not available in Joseph Smith’s day. How did he get so many details right? When the archive at Elephantine, on the upper Nile River was discovered around 1900 we learned of a group of Jews who left Jerusalem not long before the time of Lehi and settled on the upper Nile river at Elephantine. It turns out that many names and words in the Elephantine archive match and verify the authenticity of the book of Mormon names No one in Joseph Smith’s time could have fabricated those names because Elephantine had not yet been discovered in Joseph Smith’s day and yet archeological evidence discovered long after Joseph Smith’s time corroborates the Book of Mormon.

A preliminary study was conducted by Peter Balk of the New World Archaeological Foundation through which he reported similarities of word comparisons between Hebrew and Zapotec. The study was conducted among the Zapotec people living in the town of Zaachila, which is located at the base of the hill where the ruins of Monte Alban are situated. Zaachila is also near the city of Oaxaca.

An additional hint of Hebrew culture at Monte Alban is derived from a four-horned incense burner that is on display in the Oaxaca Valley Room of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The urn dates to Monte Alban Period I, 500 BC to 100 BC, and is similar to the types of urns from Jerusalem dating to the same time period.

Writing was first discovered in Mesoamerica at Monte Alban. However, it is different from Maya writing and has not yet been interpreted.

Perhaps they think it's religious institutions that have crossed the line separated the state from the churches in America, or that it's not within the rights of a religious institution to dictate it's own moral guidelines to individuals affiliated with it. That it's up to them only to teach and preach, and to allow each person to make their own decisions.

Yo Capt: I do not accept the dominance of any religion over those affairs that govern our way of government - we are a democracy, a republic with certain inalienable rights guaranteed by our Constitution. That said that very same document also says that Government does not have the legal or moral right to infringe upon the beliefs of my religion or the creed and foundations of my religious institutions. My religion has existed for a whole lot longer than any government or society currently existing on the face of the earth. My religion may not be perfect but it is built upon a much firmer foundation than our current administration. My religion will continue to exist far beyond any memory of this dismal time of failed politics and failed leadership that has become the hallamark of obama and his failed administration.

That said that very same document also says that Government does not have the legal or moral right to infringe upon the beliefs of my religion or the creed and foundations of my religious institutions.

The Government has never been more lenient that it is today with regards to religion. You need to do a bit of research and stop taking for granted the rhetoric that your particular church spews. There is almost nowhere you cannot congregate to have a prayer or discuss your faith. Forty years ago you would have been thrown out of many public places if you tried to meet.

While all of you march and wail about your freedom of religion, none of you ever thinks my freedom FROM religion has any importance. The ranks of non-believers are on the rise and yet you all still hold court as if it's your inalienable right to force your club into every element of society.

Religion has fallen on very hard times here in the early 21st Century. It's become mean-spirited, greedy and narcissistic. It's no longer about the teachings of Christ but about what it wants and what it gets and how it's being treated unfairly and deserves more. It's petty and self-absorbed. It hates. It persecutes. It ostracizes. It tortures children. It blows up buildings. It denigrates political candidates. It tortures women and places them in positions of subservience. It shuts out people with the wrong skin colour. It threatens and forces. It creates it's own vision of reality that flies in the face of science. It supports and defends horrible people that do horrible things to others in it's name.

The upside for religion has become very slim. The Emperor has no clothes. With everything it will take time for many to notice, but in time they will notice.

The issue MJ is not where or how I worship but the Federal GVT infringement upon the freedom of religious institutions to exist within the foundations of their particular believes that may include deny free birth control to women or men if it violates the premise of that particular religious organization. Bottom line if you are such a total loser in life that you can't spring for your own method of birth control then you need to limit yourself to those sex acts that carry no risk of child birth or abstinence. Now I would support a GVT program of free contraception outside the forced participation of religious groups and their affiliated institutions - lord I would pay almost anything to stop you morons from breeding more losers like you.

You shouldn't be surprised. This is a different tactic, essentially saying that even Romney's own aren't completely behind him. It's designed in such a way as to continue to shake people's confidence in him, and hopefully bring a few more swing voters into the Obama camp.

It seems Obama's campaign people want to make any organization Romney is associated with portrayed in a bad light and some say some top advisers are asking media friends to write stories about Mormon Church to cost Romney votes.

I guess I wonder when people lost the thread that to be a liberal meant live and let live. What you say here makes no sense to me. It's like you live in a different world than I do.

MJ: Where did you ever develop the opinion that a premise or foundation of liberalism is a live and let live philosophy??? Nothing is further from the truth - the last thing any liberal wants to see is you live your live independent of GVT control. Your independence would translate into not being "taxed" your "Fair" share to pay for those who chose not to work for a living. Liberalism can never exist in an environment of individual freedoms and Independence from all aspects of government intrusion into all facets of your life. You need to research what liberalism is really based upon because your wearing rose-tinted glasses fogged by what ever drug your inhaling.

I totally agree.

That sounds about right since 7% of blacks are rich and 7% of Mormons are smart.

All Mormons are smart. They also are able to have differing opinions, something that the world doesn't seem to believe. Imagine that!

@mike: zing; nice one.

Mike-32658799

I hope you realize what a mouth full of Jameson's will do to a laptop's keyboard. Thank God for extended warranties and the Geek Squad.

Well I kind of doubt ALL Mormon's are smart. I'd say about a third of any group of people are smart in America, the next third can manage to do their jobs and keep their kids alive, and the rest are best kept away from the knife block and matches.

And that includes Mormons.

"the idler shall not eat the bread of the worker (Thessalonians 3:6-11)"

So you agree that CEO's shouldn't be making millions while the people who actually do the work in America are barely getting by.

Pretty sure te proper role of government in the lives of it's citizens IS by definition a social issue.

And honestly, not everyone believes it's all about the economy. Frankly I don't think the government can do much of anything regarding businesses not hiring, and certainly nothing Mitt Romney has suggested makes me believe he'd be better to deal with the economy as it would pertain to me, my meager salary, and my two kids. I do believe the government has a purpose with regards to protecting and expanding the civil liberties of it's citizens, however. With safeguarding our environment so that no individual or corporation exploits and spoils what we all have to share. That people are not taken advantage of, that we each have a voice and a way to seek recompense. Etc etc

Which is why I'm a liberal, I guess, and why I vote Democrat. Mostly. Occasionally NY will throw up a sane republican.

Yo CPT:

Thank god liberals are a declining minority in this Country. A person measures their self worth not by what they can leech off society in total but what they can contribute to the greater good of society. We were not ever intended to be a nation of has-beens, failures and misfits all living off the Federal dole but one of a people that are the best educated, the best cared for, the best fed and yes the most prosperous in the world not because someone gave it to us but because we earned through our individual efforts. The people that succeed in life are not crooks or did anything wrong - they simply took the long view of life realizing short term sacrifices led to long term success not only for themselves but their children. They realized a high school diploma was only a start not a finish for an education, they realized postponing children and not buying a new car out of HS or homes they could not afford were simply smart moves in life. They recognized that with an education, hard work, smart decisions in life lay ed the groundwork for success, comfort and happiness. That is why liberalism as a philosophy is doomed to failure in the United States we place greater value on self sacrifice and success then we do on those living on the government dole.

no we never said Romney did not believe in God....remember before he was elected as the republican nomination???????? look up the archive..it was not to far back in the future

Neither can I, but everyone has their free agency.

How delusional, how confused do you have to be to actually buy into the victim mentality?

Do you even have any clue as to why the GOP is dying as a party? Leaving aside the Reagonian merging of the religious right and the corporate elite, no matter how much those two blocs fly in each others faces, it's the rise of idiot neo-cons, completely ignorant of the origins of their party or what small government ideals even concern. You buy your news from fox, and actually believe Hannity was worth listening to at some point. The idiot loons running the party now are just cashing on your vote.

Every policy, every platform is a lesson in crystal clear hypocrisy, a keening roar of self-loathing directed outward lest it destroy the bearer. Such is why I can never call myself a conservative ever again. Drop that ann coulter trash, and pick up a real book.

Pretty sure the worst language you've heard about Mormons is from Republican Evangelists.

Most liberals take offense for the ACTIONS Mormons have publicly taken (Such as their very active opposition to marriage equality - guess what, that matters), and the initiatives Mitt Romney has endorsed. I don't see how that's racist, hateful, violent OR discriminatory. They are being judged on the merits of the things they say, and the things they do.

What planet are you from?

South: Republicans dying as a party lol what a very short term memory you have - were you on this planet two years ago or just one more wetback illegal that snuck your way into this country? In case you forgot the Republican party regained control of the House of Representatives by an overwhelming majority, they also pulled within 3 seats of capturing the Senate. The bottom line is most "working" Federal income tax "paying" Americans recognize obama and his incredible record of failure as simply the failed philosophy of the radical left liberal wing of the know-nothing do-nothing union corrupted Democratic party. Now how do you like those Apples - see a little history lesson for your drug adled brain to try to absorb.

"wetback"

Yea, that's very Christian of you.

Agreed, you can't ban Shria law one session and institute your own in the next. The only reason anyone SHOULD need for separation of church and state is that there ARE other religions. And if no one can be conscientious of other's rights, then I don't see how we can even whisper about religion in government.

Perhaps last week they were talking about fringe RNC wackos?

Has it occurred to you that "Mormon" can mean different things to different people? Crazy, "liberal" talk, I know, but just consider it.

• Obama belonged to the Black Liberation Theology church...a belief system wherein Black Pride and Black Power takes precedence over the figure of God – a belief system rooted in the works of James Cone, author of Black Theology and Black Power, that in 1969 stated the following: "The time has come for white America to be silent and listen to black people…Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man 'the devil".
• Cone went on to declare White society as an extension of the Anti-Christ, and all "White" churches as being inherently racist. This is the church upon whose teachings Barack and Michelle Obama both attended for over 20 years.
• I didn't see NBC, ABC, CBS nor CNN even attempt to research the teachings of the Black Liberation Theology church. Maybe I missed it. But it didn't take them very long to take a wack at the Mormon religion. Now who is it again that's just happens to be a Mormon? Just consider the extreme prejudice and media bias as well. After all, Chris Mathews did have a tingling feeling running up and down his leg. I think that it was really Anderson Cooper under the table copping a feel.....who knows????

Abortion by choice is their platform, and if you as a Christian can recognize that not everyone else in America is, or even that others might not act as you'd act, then you can very well be a Democrat and Pro Choice. The platform is bigger than abortion, and the GOP is un-Christ it's not even funny.

Jim-1165189

You claim to be a Mormon (LDS). Do you really believe in the supernatural? I mean really? I don't. Nevertheless, you should consider who will protect the 1st Amendment and your right to worship or not to worship: a secular America (Obama), not a theocratic (Republican) one. Cheers.

God is not supernatural. He is very real and expects us to be the same.

Jim-1165189,

Do you believe in miracles? Times when God suspends the natural order and allows for events that defy reason?

Of course you do. So stop the ducking the question about your belief in the supernatural. Own it. And then of course, prepare to have those ideas ridiculed! Mind you, not you, just your ideas.

Miracles are natural phenomena employed by God that man either does not understand or has no way of explaining it immediately. Yes, I believe in miracles. I've encountered some. All were brought about by very natural means for which we do not have an immediate explanation. Understanding that, I realize that mankind has much more to understand about God. Prophets help a lot.

DANITE, it's nice to see your heart is so filled with love and empathy for your fellow man. I'm deeply moved by your words of compassionate conservatism. LOL

As for Democrats taking you "religious freedom" you have little to fear from us on the Left. Rathers, it's the nutcase, far Reich Wing Evangelicals who absolutely, positively DETEST MORMONS and consider them to be anti Christian are the folks I'd recommend keeping your eye on.

BTW, what lie did Harry Reid tell, that Willard is too gutless to release his tax returns, thus confirming what we already know, namely that while his myriad of offshore accounts may not be criminal, they sure as hell are unethical and dare I say downright unpatriotic.

Enjoy the raging, devouring hate that so clearly consumes you and have a pleasant evening.

Danite, Do you believe that you are a good Mormon? A good Mormon would not label a entire group or even a single person in the hateful manner that you do. You need to go see you bishop, let him read your post and have a heart to heart talk with him about your hatefulness. I'll bet you won't!!! I'll pray for you!