ROMNEY NOT TELLING THE TRUTH

Benson, Ex-Mormon Cartoonist, Says Romney Not Telling Truth

By Dave Astor

December 20, 2007

NEW YORK As an ex-Mormon, Arizona Republic editorial cartoonist Steve

Benson has strong opinions about current Mormon Mitt Romney. He said

the Republican candidate's recent speech on religion should not be

trusted by media people and other Americans.

In his talk, Romney said "I believe in my Mormon faith" while also

noting that the church's "teachings" would not influence his decisions

if elected president.

"Yeah, right," responded Benson, adding that "Romney also believes in

misrepresenting what his Mormon Church actually espouses."

Benson is the grandson of former Mormon leader Ezra Taft Benson.

He told E&P that, in his view, a Mormon believer is required by church

doctrine (as dictated by the church's "living prophet") to "obey God's

commands" over anything else. He said "Romney, like all 'temple

Mormons,' made his secret vows using Masonic-derived handshakes,

passwords, and symbolic death oaths that he promised in the temple

never to reveal to the outside world" -- and that Romney also secretly

vowed to devote his "time, talents" and more "to the building of the

Mormon religion on earth."

So, said Benson, the only way Romney could be truly independent of the

church as U.S. president would be to disavow Mormon doctrine. "He

hasn't done that," said the Creators Syndicate-distributed cartoonist.

"When Mitt says he belongs to a church that doesn't tell him what to

do, that's false; it's a 24/7, do-what-you're-told-to-do church,"

asserted Benson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning

in 1993.

That was the year Benson left what he calls the "Mormon cult." One

reason for his decision was disgust with the way Mormon officials

tried to fool church members and the general public into believing

that Ezra Taft Benson -- Steve's then-94-year-old grandfather and

church president -- was still capable of leading the church. "He was

not mentally or physically in a place where he could make any

meaningful decisions," recalled Benson. "I know it because I saw his

condition with my own eyes."

Benson -- who was contacted by E&P for this story -- said journalists

have basically given Romney a free pass on the "fundamental

contradiction" between being an observant Mormon and a U.S. president.

"Most journalists don't know about actual Mormon teachings and

practices," noted the cartoonist, adding that they instead see the

religion as perhaps "strange" but "rather benign."

Romney "needs to face an informed member of the media with 'cojones'

who has a working and perhaps personal experience with Mormonism,"

said Benson. "It would be harder for Romney to do his well-practiced

duck and dodge."

Benson himself drew a post-Romney speech cartoon that pictured John F.

Kennedy saying "Ask not what your country can do for you..." followed

by Romney saying "...do whatever it takes for me to win Iowa." (Many

people believe Romney gave what he hoped would be a JFK-like speech on

religion because he was losing support in Iowa.) But Benson said he

hasn't heavily focused on Romney's Mormonism in other cartoons.

"Religious issues are very touchy," he said. "I do what I can, but I

pick my battles."

Another reason Benson distrusts the words in Romney's speech is

because the candidate has changed his public positions on issues such

as abortion and gay rights to woo conservative GOP voters in states

like Iowa rather than the more liberal voters he once courted to

become governor of Massachusetts. "He flips and flops like Jesus is

coming tomorrow," said the cartoonist. "It's like Romney is reading

from the Mormon Church playbook."

Benson explained his last comment by noting that the Mormon Church has

also "publicly flipped 180 degrees when it feels it's necessary for

its image, for its financial solvency, and for political expediency."

He mentioned, by way of example, that black Mormons weren't allowed

into the priesthood until 1978. And while polygamy has been publicly

disavowed by the Mormon Church, Benson said "the church still holds

that it will be practiced as a matter of eternal doctrine in heaven.

The church also currently performs polygamist marriage 'sealings' in

its temples around the world."

Benson predicted that Romney will not win the Republican presidential

nomination. If Romney is nominated, added the cartoonist, he will not

defeat his Democratic opponent.

Voters, said Benson, "are not ready for someone in the Oval Office who

has committed to absolute obedience to a religion they feel is

extremely odd and not in the American mainstream. I trust the rational

U.S. electorate, not the weird Mormon God."

http://www.truthandgrace.com/Mormon.htm