Mitt Romney – Mormon

Mitt Romney contributes monies, above taxes, to the Church of Jesus Christ

ABC broke the news–not surprising–that Mitt Romney has made significant contributions to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on a personal level.  From Andrea Saul, one of Mitt’s spokespersons, we read:

Mitt Romney has publicly stated that he regularly tithes to his church. Some of those church contributions have come through the Tyler Foundation. Others have been donations of stock through Bain. Any shares donated by Mitt Romney are personal shares owned by him.

Saul also notes not all the shares that appear on Bain securities filings can be attributed to Romney, “as there are other Mormon members of the firm who may also have been making donations to the church of personal shares owned by them.”

Others, unfamiliar with the Mormon faith, may wonder:

So where does all of this money go that Mitt Romney (Mormon) and others pass on to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Does he tithe? Yes. Does he pay other offerings? Yes. Why?…. And to what end? What do Mormons believe about their financial responsibilities and giving to the Lord and to the poor and needy? Find a brief response to these questions below, from an everyday Latter-day Saint. Read the rest…

On January 23, 2012, Mitt Romney released his tax information for 2010-2011, showing himself to be one of the richest men ever to run for president of the United States.   Fifteen percent of his income went to charitable donations, mostly to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often erroneously called the “Mormon Church.”  The LDS Church is known for its financial soundness, the result of wise financial practices, impeccable ethics, and no debt.  The Church of Jesus Christ even pays for its temples in cash.

Mitt Romney’s Tithing

Mitt Romney is a member in good standing in the LDS Church.  He is worthy to enter a holy Mormon temple to make higher covenants there.  That means he is a “full tithe payer.”  The paying of tithing (meaning ten percent of one’s increase) is an ancient biblical practice, as sacrifice is a foundational principle of the gospel.  In Old Testament times, people offered animal sacrifices, but they also paid tithing, often in kind (from their flocks and fields, rather than with money).

And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps (2 Chronicles 31:6).

Thus, ten percent of Mitt Romney’s income would have gone to the Church of Jesus Christ as tithes.  Tithing is paid confidentially in the LDS Church; there are no collection plates passed around at church meetings.  There are no plaques on the walls of meetinghouses or temples showing who made donations to build the edifices.

Although one must be a full tithe-payer to enter a holy Mormon temple, this is determined by the member making a statement to the bishop (leader of the congregation).  The bishop accepts this statement as truth.  Tithing is paid voluntarily.   No one is forced to pay.  Mitt Romney pays the same amount of tithing as the poorest member of the Church of Jesus Christ — ten percent.

But Mitt Romney has given more than ten percent of his income to the Church of Jesus Christ.  Why is that?  First, there are other voluntary offerings besides tithing.

Mitt Romney’s other Donations

The first Sunday of every month, Mormons fast for two meals and donate the money they would have spent on food to the poor and needy.  These funds first go to help those in the local congregation.  The excess goes to the Church.  The Church of Jesus Christ has a remarkable welfare system designed to increase the self-reliance of those who use it.  Using “fast offerings” and the volunteer labor of the Latter-day Saints, the Church produces foodstuffs and distributes them through “Bishop’s Storehouses.”  Employment counseling and other helps are also provided by the Church.

Other specific funds exist in the Church to which one may donate:

• The Ward Missionary Fund helps support missionaries from one’s home congregation.
• The General Missionary Fund helps support missionaries from all over the Church.  (Missionaries pay their own way when they serve, but some are unable.)
• The Book of Mormon fund purchases Books of Mormon for missionaries to distribute.
• The Temple Construction Fund aids in building temples.
• The Perpetual Education Fund helps to educate youth from poorer countries who have served missions for the Church.
• The Humanitarian Aid Fund finances the humanitarian efforts of the Church.

Mormon Humanitarian Aid

Virtually 100% of donations to the Mormon Humanitarian Aid Fund go to actual humanitarian aid, making it a wise choice for philanthropic giving.  Mormon aid is often the first to arrive when a disaster occurs, and Mormon humanitarian aid workers are often the last to leave after a disaster, giving ongoing aid with a view to reconstruction.  The LDS Church also has many ongoing charitable projects.   The Church of Jesus Christ has donated $1.3 Billion worth of assistance since 1985.

Is the LDS Church Wealthy?

Although The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest religion in the United States and is now a world-wide church, it is still relatively small with over 14 million members (2011).  However, its sound financial practices have made it very financially stable.  Read about LDS Church finances here.

See also Mormon Money.

See also Mormons in Business.

See also Tithing.

In South Carolina, the third U.S. state to hold a vote for Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich took 41% of the vote to Romney’s 27%.  Rick Santorum had 17 percent of the vote and Ron Paul  had 13 percent. Romney is still projected to come out ahead in number of delegates to the upcoming Republican convention.  Still, Gingrich garnered 23 delegates from South Carolina to Romney’s two.  Some had predicted that if Romney took South Carolina, the primaries would be all but over, and he would be the shoe-in candidate for the presidency.  Ginrich’s South Carolina triumph extends the race, possibly for months.

Two reasons for the victory posed by the press are Romney’s moderate leanings and his Mormon faith.

Since the 1980 election, every Republican candidate who won the South Carolina primary has gone on to capture the party nomination.

The U.S. media touted Mitt Romney, saying he had cemented his place as the frontrunner in the Republican primaries to choose a 2012 presidential candidate with his decisive win in New Hampshire on January 10th.  Romney ran 16% ahead of his nearest competitor, Ron Paul, with 39% of the vote.  Paul garnered 23% of the vote, and Jon Huntsman was third, with 17%.  Shortly after, Huntsman dropped out of the race and backed Romney.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was slightly ahead of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum for fourth place in New Hampshire; each had about 9 percent of the vote. [1]

From the New Hampshire primary, Romney garnered 7 delegates, and Ron Paul won three, Jon Huntsman winning none.

A film financed by Gingrich backers and set for release in South Carolina today attacks Romney as a child of privilege who is “more ruthless than Wall Street.”

The film relates the stories of people who say they lost their jobs after their companies were taken over by Bain, without naming the workers. The video, while often relying on news accounts, at times stretches the truth and takes some reports out of context or selectively edits them, a review by Bloomberg News shows. [1]

Gingrich later called a stop to the attacks over Romney’s management at Bain Capital.

By Amy Choate-Nielsen

Deseret News
Published: Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 7:00 p.m. MST

David Letterman knows how to get a laugh. Like most comics, he riffs on the day’s news, deadpans the camera and revels in audacity.”Oh, did you hear about this?” the host of CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman asked his audience recently. “A campaign staffer on the Newt Gingrich campaign was fired because he was making negative comments about Mormons. I thought, now, wait a minute — isn’t Newt in favor of multiple wives?”
Laughter rumbled from the audience followed by applause. The polygamy punch line is a familiar one when it comes to poking fun at Mormons — as though Mormons and polygamy are synonymous in mainstream media. Ironically, the practice that’s most linked to Mormons is a practice most Mormons oppose, according to a groundbreaking new study of

Mormons in America released Thursday by the Pew Research Center‘s Forum on Religion and Public Life.

According to the study, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally reject polygamy — only 2 percent said the practice is morally acceptable — evidence of a yawning gap in what Mormons believe and how they are perceived. Mormons’ opinions are overwhelmingly conservative, the study shows, but in many ways, their views are also surprising — especially when it comes to opinions on moral issues, divorce, homosexuality and polygamy.

Morality

Mormons also take a significant stance on moral issues in other areas, such as divorce, sex outside of marriage and consumption of alcohol.
Although teachings from the LDS Church emphasize the importance and eternal nature of the family, only 25 percent of Mormons surveyed said divorce is morally wrong, according to the study. That means Mormons are slightly less morally opposed to divorce than the general public. Read the rest…

The Pew Foundation survey of Mormons released this past week confirms that U.S. Mormons are more conservative (66 percent) compared to the general public (37 percent), and on most issues, they closely track white evangelicals. But immigration is one issue that sets Mormons apart from their evangelical counterparts.

Asked whether immigrants are a strength or a burden, 59 percent of white evangelicals said they were a burden, while only 41 percent of Mormons felt the same, compared to 44 percent of the general public. The result is surprising given how staunchly conservative Mormons are on nearly every measure. Interestingly, 50 percent of white mainline Protestants and 49 percent of white Catholics also tilt against immigration, though neither group is as uniformly conservative as evangelicals or Mormons on other measures.

Dan Cox, Research Director at the Public Religion Research Institute in Washington, D.C. sees several reasons for the surprising result. He points first to demographics to explain why Mormons are more open to immigrants than are white evangelicals. “White evangelicals are significantly lower on the socioeconomic scale than most other religious groups. Those who are more economically vulnerable are more likely to see newcomers as threats,” he says.

The Pew results validate the socioeconomic explanation. The key is a strong link between Mormon religious commitment and socioeconomic status. Eighty-four percent of Mormon college graduates are highly committed to the Church, but just 50 percent of those with high school education share that same level of commitment. This socioeconomic gap also translates to immigration: 50 percent of less committed Mormons see immigrants as a burden, against 36 percent of highly committed Mormons. Read the rest…

Of all the numbers in the Pew Research Center’s recently released survey of “Mormons in America,” the highest, most overwhelming numbers are these: 98 percent of respondents said they believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and 97 percent say their church is a Christian religion.

This comes on the heels of earlier surveys indicating that 32 percent of non-LDS U.S. adults say the LDS Church is not a Christian religion, and an additional 17 percent are unsure of LDS Christianity. The theological and semantic reasons for this can be complex, but for the 1,019 self-identified Mormons who participated in the Pew survey, their theological position is clear: Mormons believe in Jesus Christ, and they consider themselves to be Christian. Read the rest…

SMITHFIELD — After dinner, three baths, four bedtime stories and a half-a-dozen goodnight kisses for 2-year-old twins Brock and Isaac and 6-year-old Ellie, Erin and Brian Thompson finally sink into the couch with weary smiles.

Being parents is just what they always wanted. And they love it.

“Of course we have our crazy moments,” Thompson says, “but for the most part we just try to find the good things in the day and remember that they’re only going to be little for so long.”

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Thompsons believe that maintaining a strong marriage and raising and teaching children are essential keys to happiness and their most important responsibilities on earth.

In fact, 81 percent of Mormons say being a good parent is “one of the most important things in life,” according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life — the first survey of Mormons about Mormons, by a non-LDS research organization.

The survey of more than 1,000 self-identified Latter-day Saints from across the country asked how accepted Mormons feel in American culture, as well as their thoughts on religious practices, political issues and family roles.

The survey showed that Mormons are more likely to be married than the general population, 67 percent of the sample size compared to 52 percent of the general public. Read the rest…

As the “Mormon moment” extends into 2012, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life today released a groundbreaking new survey, the first ever published by a non-LDS research organization to focus exclusively on members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their beliefs, values, perceptions and political preferences.

Entitled “Mormons in America: Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society,” the survey was conducted between Oct. 25 and Nov. 16, 2011 among a national sample of 1,019 respondents who identified themselves as Mormons. The results validate a number of long-held stereotypes (most American Mormons are white, well-educated, politically conservative and religiously observant) while providing a few interesting surprises (care for the poor and needy is high on the list of LDS priorities, while drinking coffee and watching R-rated movies aren’t as taboo among the rank and file as you might think).

“While this survey comes amid a contentious election campaign, it is not solely or even chiefly about politics,” said Luis Lugo, Pew Research Center director, in the published survey’s preface. “Rather, we hope that it will contribute to a broader public understanding of Mormons and Mormonism at a time of great interest in both.”

For example, in one very interesting section of the new survey, respondents were asked several questions about what is essential to being a good Mormon. According to the survey, 80 percent said “believing Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ” is essential to being a good Mormon, 73 percent said “working to help the poor,” 51 percent said “regular Family Home Evenings,” 49 percent said “not drinking coffee and tea” and 32 percent said “not watching R-rated movies. Read the rest…

Ann Lois Davies Romney was born on April 16, 1949, in Michigan.

Mrs. Romney’s grandfather David Davies was a  coal miner who worked down the Coegnant Colliery close to his home in the village of Nantyffyllon, near Maesteg, South Wales. [1]   After an injury at the mine, he moved  to the United States in 1929,  soon earning enough money to send for his family, which consisted of his wife, Annie, and his son, Edward. 

The Davies’ eventually had five children, but could only afford to send one to college.  That was Edward, who attended General Motors Institute of Technology in Flint, Michigan.   Edward met with success, and he eventually settled his family in a wealthy Detroit suburb.  He became mayor of Bloomfield Hills.  The Romneys have been described as elitist, but Ann Romney took her sons into a Welsh mine to remind them of their roots.  

Ann Davies was fifteen when she began dating eighteen-year-old Mitt Romney.  Partly because of his influence she converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (erroneously called the “Mormon Church” by the press) in 1966.  After attending Brigham Young University and enjoying a semester abroad in Grenoble, France, she married Mitt Romney in 1969 in a civil ceremony and then immediately afterwards in the Salt Lake Mormon Temple.  She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard Extension University in 1975.

Ann Romney is involved with a number of charities and is an expert horsewoman.

Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis

Ann Romney was diagnosed with Mulitple Sclerosis in 1998, but has the syndrome under control and has been able to keep a busy schedule in support of her husband’s presidential bid.

She told of how he had supported her when she found out she had multiple sclerosis, and how he helped get her out of what she called a “deep dark hole” after her diagnosis.

“Not only do I have the absolute conviction that he would be a fantastic president. But I also know that he would have the character and the integrity.”

“He gave me permission really to just accept where I was and to let me move past so I could fight this disease,” said Ann Romney, who has recovered since her 1998 diagnosis through a combination of horseback riding, drugs and alternative therapy. [2]

Ann  is a board member for the New England chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and has been given the MS Society’s Annual Hope Award. [3]

Ann Romney campaigning for Mitt

Ann Romney has emphasized her husband’s strong values and the fact that he can be counted on at a time of crisis.  She was first lady of Massachusetts while Mitt Romney was governor, and campaigned actively for with him during his 2008 bid for the U.S. presidency.  In May 2008, she shared with her husband the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for “refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith” during the campaign.

While Massachusetts First Lady, she was active in teenage pregnancy prevention efforts.  In 2005, the governor appointed her as head of a new special office whose purpose was to help the state’s faith-based groups gain more federal monies in association with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. [3]