U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney is reaching out to the evangelical community here in the U.S. and there’s a stem cell connection. Apparently he’s been doing this for a half dozen years….
How’s that going?
What do they talk about?
Romney, himself of the Mormon faith, has been working hard to convince American evangelicals that he’s their buddy and they should vote for him. I don’t know why there’s this idea that evangelicals should somehow be afraid of Mormons, which to me seems unfathomable. I have no issue with the Mormon religion.
So what happens when Romney breaks bread with evangelicals?
David Brody, Chief Political Consultant for the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), home to the 700 Club and ultra-right wing news, reports a scoop of sorts (according to him) today that he has unique insight into the goings on at such meetings.
Brody writes about current efforts by Romney to court evangelicals, but also importantly he reports on one particularly important meeting that reportedly occurred at Romney’s home in 2006.
The quote that stands out the most to me about this particular meeting is that Romney and evangelicals sat in a circle and ate sandwiches while discussing:
“the fight against radical Islam, stem cell research, and Romney’s Mormon faith”
Wow.
I can’t imagine how offended the radical Islam folks must be to be mentioned together with stem cell research, huh?
I have no doubt that if elected President, Romney would be extremely unfriendly to stem cell research and to science more generally. I also do not doubt that he would have little if any backbone in standing up to those trying to tell him what to do as President even if he disagreed with them, particularly with standing up to those who gave him lots of money or votes.
A Romney presidential victory would be just part of a “perfect storm” severely threatening the stem cell field that I talked about in a past blog post. If you care about stem cells, don’t count on research into them still being legal after this autumn.
10 Facts You Should Know About Mormon History and Belief before Shooting Your Mouth Off
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.
If you read the post carefully you’ll see I was not negative about Mormonism at all.
I do not think the fight against radical Islam was a fight against stem cells or the Mormon faith of Romney. They were all topics discussed and not as a fight against stem cells. Why not get some direct quotes from Romney now before any election about his position on stem cell research and let him know it would make a lot of people happy to see a reasonable presidential candidate. Maybe Bernie could get his position for the summit and televise it along with the response of laureates and other well respected science giants. Either way it could be used as a good instrument in the right hands.
It would be also to get a statement from President Obama and why not from both sides get a commitment for FDA reform with specifics and accountability and to examine the other side of user fees and allowing non USA research trials that are not following HSS ethics.
We would want more than some tired quote about the Belmont report . Lets go for restitution for injured trial participants and RCTs taking medical responsibility.
If we are held to a higher standard but results from anywhere are accepted, industry will just go elsewhere, it is cheaper and faster without ethics and certainly without regulatory hold ups. How can anyone be expected to stand for ethics and follow standards if all it takes is a trip offshore to do whatever.
During a campaign season just a few months before the election, realistically I don’t think Obama (who I will vote for BTW) will be talking about stem cells any time soon.
You make some good points, Amy. However, given his track record and the fact that he has been asked numerous times basically refusing to answer, I do not believe that Romney would take a clearly defined position on stem cells. The only statement I’ve seen is he’s against ES cells, but is there a statement from Romney on adult stem cell research? I support both personally.