Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Part II: Mitt Romney's Faith & Economic Leadership

Many people know that Mitt Romney is a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some people view his faith as a hindrance to him in both the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections. However, I see it as asset for him in this election. 
As strange as this may sound, Romney's faith gives him an edge over other Republican contenders and Obama when it comes to the economy.  It is a well known fact that LDS people generally make good business leaders. The reason is because the LDS Church provides its members with opportunities in missionary work and in ecclesiastical positions that are ideal to learning important skills that are essential in both the  private and public sector, especially when it comes to business and governance. 
It is well known that Mormons who serve a mission learn valuable skills that help them to become successful in business, politics, law and medicine. Watch below as CNBC provides a glimpse into how being an LDS missionary helps Mormons become successful in business: 
LDS men and women are not required to serve missions. Its a personal decision. Some people decide to go proselyte for the Church while others don't.
Mitt Romney volunteered to serve as a missionary for the LDS Church in France
France was a troubled place when Romney arrived there and provided some unnerving experiences for a young American man. There were riots, disrupted communication, and a government near collapse. Romney, who faced the hardship of trying to teach religion in a country filled with chaos, prepared later in his mission for a new challenge as assistant to his mission president. Even then he was consistently a leader. He worked hard and got results. He was ready for leadership.
Things were not perfect on his mission, however. As Romney was driving the mission president, the mission president’s wife, and Romney’s missionary companion to an appointment, another car came speeding around a curve, missed a turn and swerved into their lane, hitting them. Romney was pronounced dead by police. Though he did survive, Romney had to overcome some injuries, not the least of which were pyschological and emotional: the mission president’s wife did die. Romney’s grief was intense. 
However, despite grief and the physical pains of the accident, Romney was not allowed much time to recover. His mission president left for a time to take his wife’s body home. Romney, who was only 21 years old, and his companion found themselves in charge of an entire mission, a task normally assigned only to much older men. They were responsible for overseeing 200 missionaries and assist in serving 3,000 church members. Another mission president, assigned to Geneva, was sent in to provide emergency training and support, but he quickly found the young men knew what to do, so he returned to his own mission. He said they were quite capable. Romney pushed aside his grief and pain and focused on the task in front of him. He was excited by the opportunity to learn to do something extremely difficult under difficult circumstances. 
The expectation was that Romney and his companion would do the minimum required to keep things functioning, a tremendous task in itself. However, Romney was not then—as he is not nowcontent with doing the minimum. He decided that although they’d only baptized 70 people the first half of the year, they’d baptize a total of 200 for the entire year. He went around the mission, speaking to the young missionaries and getting them excited about this new goal. He learned to speak to large audiences, a skill which has benefited him greatly in his secular life.
Being a missionary wasn't the only voluntary service he rendered for the Mormon Church. He later served as an LDS Bishop in Belmont, Massachusetts. Sometime thereafter, he was promoted to be a Stake President in the Boston area.
The reason why Mormons tend to be successful in business, law, and politics is because they're taught to be leaders and assume responsibiliites at a young age: 
Mormon boys enter the priesthood at age 12, taking the title of deacon. At 14 they become a “teacher”, then a full priest at 16. Each title, and each progression, comes with new responsibilities, and at each stage a smaller number become leaders among their own age-group.
That progression of leadership and responsibilities continues on into adulthood and doesn't end when you become a certain age. LDS members continue to serve in various positions even as they retire from their profession.
Its worth noting that serving in various positions in the LDS Church, including serving a mission, has helped many Mormon women in many areas of employment. There are a lot of successful LDS women in business and many of them are apart of the LDS Business Women's Association (LDSBWA). For a lively discussion about women who have served a mission and become successful in the business field, Mormon Feminist Housewives has an blog on the same subject.
The reason why I believe Romney's faith will be an asset rather than a liability is because people are looking for a leader who has experience in creating jobs and knows how the economy works both on a national and international level. 
Leadership, like almost everything else, is a skill that can be learned and applied to many areas of life both personally and professionally. By accepting these positions in the LDS Church at an early age, he began to learn valuable leadership skills. These early life lessons, followed by decades of service in the LDS Church as well in the private and public made him the successful leader he is today. 
A candidate's religion is just one factor out of many things a voter uses to determine whither or not that candidate will get the voters support. Its important to note a candidate's values and not the theology of his religion, is what matters the most when deciding who to vote for in the upcoming elections. Its also important to consider how the candidate's religion has influenced his personal and professional life.
Tune in tomorrow as we look at how Mitt Romney became successful in the business world.  

10 comments:

  1. I am sorry but Mormonism is the one place he can be aattacked because it is indeed a loony cult. If he pushed Mormonism, I could not support him. But he doesnt. Are you kidding me? Magic Underwear? God was once a man that worked his way into being a God? Jesus is the brother of Lucifer? The list is long. It is also proven that the book of Mormon was written by another person called Manuscript lost. It is his biggest hurdle to overcome this disastrous comic book beliefs. beliefs that change like the wind when you point out their own writings. Mormons are the King of spin

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    1. You think Mormons (people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) are a cult. What is your definition of cult? Jim Jones, David Koresh? They were perverted, so-called leaders/self-pro-claimed prophets that were perverted, raped their women and children, held their "congregants" hostage, told them lies, kept them economically and socially dependent on them. Do you know any LDS people? When was the last time you saw one out of the "cult"? You do not have a whole understanding of what they are about. Living lives that are about God, family, community. They try to live moral upstanding lives, they study, they work hard, they tithe. I could go on. They are the first ones to any disaster anywhere in the world. They quietly help their brothers and sisters of this world without looking to the media for applause. Find an LDS person, have a talk, learn more, Dennis.

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  2. Mitt Romney will not promote his faith in any way shape or form while working as President if he becomes elected.

    As for your many claims about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...it is not a cult and the Book of Mormon was not plagiarized from any other book.

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  3. For those who think Mormonism is a loony cult: Mormons believe in Christ. I would recommend a book called "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage, to really understand Mormon doctrine and how is based on Biblical scripture.

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  4. Mormons say they believe in Christ. However, their definitions of God, Jesus and salvation are totally different than those of the Christian. Any faith that has a ritual like the temple endowment is lunacy! As a temple Mormon Rpmney has sworn an oath that puts his commitment to LDS above all. He also believes he will go to the 3rd level of heaven ( there's only one) where he will be a God, procreate and have his own planet. Mormonism is polytheistic, but there is only one true God and will never be others

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    1. Do you know the bible? Did Solomon not have a temple? Didn't Jesus go into a temple and throw out the money changers? Hmmmm? Why not today have temples for his people? Is that such a stretch?

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  5. Anonymous,

    Mormons are Christians. Also, the LDS endowment is a way for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to make a commitment to following the Savior.

    However, as President, Mitt Romney will be committed to the U.S.A. before his Church.

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  6. Anoynmous and Dennis,

    If you believe that Mormonism is a "looney cult" or that Latter Day Saints are not Christians then I would be interested to learn about your feelings concerning the ideas of the many early Christian apologists, philosophers, and clergymen whose views on Christianity varied dramatically from each other.

    By definition, canon law is as follows: "the body of laws made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church (both Latin Rite and Eastern Catholic Churches), the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of churches. The way that such church law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally a rule adopted by a council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law."

    My research indicates Mormons are indeed Christians. Hopefully you will delve a little deeper into the theology of Christinity than you currently have and you will also soon come to understand this as I have.

    ~Nathaniel

    PS If you believe that we are all sons and daughters of a loving heavenly Father, then you too believe that Lucifer and Jesus were brothers. It's not too difficult when you take off your hate goggles for a minute.

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  7. I would also like to know how everyone defines "cult".
    Are you thinking David Koresh, Jim Jones cult? If that's the case, the LDS people are far from that. They believe in families, living moral lives, being part of and building community. As you know Jim Jones and David Koresh did none of those. They were perverse and kept their congregants closed in, they were abusive to the women and children. they controlled every aspect of their lives and then they convince people to die for them. That's not the LDS. They believe in Jesus Christ. Why would they put his name on the outside of their buildings? They speak of Christ, they try to live as Christ, they teach their children of Christ and their children speak of Christ. Hmmmmm, Christian! Have you ever met a devout Mormon? Do they seem like they just walked out of a cult? (you know cult members can't do that). Delve a little deeper and you may see that they are good people trying to do what's right. Do they always get it right? NO. Do you?

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  8. Isn't America great? Where we can believe the religion we choose? There are many Chritian churches and as I can tell many view points on what that means to each Christian religion. After the dark ages there were many who weighed in and wrote their idea of what that means. It got watered down. What about patterning the church like it was when Jesus was alive? Jesus is central, he had the twelve apostles. It makes sense to follow Jesus and how he conducted his church and life. Let's try to understand rather than criticize. As I see it, if someone is trying to live like Jesus did, trying to be kind and loving, that's what really counts. And of course being Christian is loving one another regardless of religion or race. It's great to live in America!!

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