Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 11:32:02 AM
On the way to work today, Barry Young on KFYI, reported on a Gallup poll about people’s voting preferences. Since we now have two LDS candidates that have announced for President, the poll is of immense interest. The Gallup poll has been taken every year since 1967. It was started in 1967 because of George Romney, Mitt’s father, running for President.
The results of the poll have been generally consistent since 1967. The poll asks:”If your party nominated an otherwise generally qualified candidate for President, would you vote for that person if he/she were a Mormon?” Since 1967, the results have varied between 75 and 76% saying they would have no problem voting for a Mormon. The interesting part of the poll is the part that said they would have a problem. In 1967, the percentage of people that would not vote for a Mormon under any circumstances was 16%. Today that number is 22%. Even though the percentage of people that would have a problem voting for a Mormon has not really changed in over 40 years, the percentage of people that are more bigoted has increased.
Barry Young also said that if a candidate were “gay”, the percentage not voting for them was 32%. If the candidate was an atheist, the percentage not voting for them was 50%. All the other minority groups get percentages between 5 and 10%.
In my opinion, the reason that the percentage of people having a problem with Mormons is so high is because of certain religious leaders/groups that actively preach anti-Mormon propaganda. The religious groups that preach anti-Mormon propaganda promulgate the falsehood that Mormons are not Christians. They even go so far as to sometimes insinuate that Mormons do not even believe in God. In other words, they are akin to being atheists. Since people will not vote for atheists, the percentage not voting for Mormons goes up. No matter that the name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. People discount that and say the real name is Mormon.
The amount of ignorance about the LDS Church is mind boggling. I am constantly astounded at how little people know of what the church believes. What they think we believe is usually completely false. One of the usual stories is that we worship Joseph Smith. That is not true. He was the first Prophet of this dispensation. As such, he deserves reverence. But, we do not pray to him. In fact, you can go to church for weeks and not hear his name mentioned. You cannot go to church for very long and not hear Jesus Christ mentioned. We pray to God the Father through Jesus Christ.
One other part of the church that people get wrong is the general meetings, open to the public, held in a chapel and the more sacred meetings held in the temple. Every meeting held in a chapel is open to the public meaning anyone can attend. Temple sessions are sacred and only worthy members can attend. The reason for this restriction is that more sacred things are discussed. The things done in the temple are not “secret”. They are “sacred”. Because they are sacred you do not discuss them as a general rule outside of the temple. But, anything discussed in the temple can be found in the scriptures by a person who knows where to look. So there is not really anything “new” taught in the temple, it is just presented in a different way to help understanding.
If there was less ignorance about the LDS church, the percentage of people that would not vote for a Mormon would go down. How long that will take I do not know. But, I have decided that I will never vote for one of the bigoted ones who would never vote for a Mormon, like Mike Huckabee.