Saturday, January 31, 2015

Merton at 100


Thomas Merton: Alive at Fourth & Walnut, a one man, one hour performance at Ursuline College by James Nagle. This needs to be filmed and aired. Anyone out there from PBS (local affiliate WVIZ) or EWTN?  I think James has been performing this for six years. 

A couple of the vignettes were among my favorites: The priest who baptised Thomas, told him to go in the church and imagine Jesus telling you "Do not be afraid" and tell Him your greatest fear; When one enters religious life, a new name is given. Thomas became Louis, after the sainted king of the French. Thomas' favorite quote of St. Louis was, "I think more of the place where I was baptized than of Rheims Cathedral where I was crowned. It is a greater thing to be a child of God than to be the ruler of a Kingdom. This last I shall lose at death but the other will be my passport to an everlasting glory."

part of some 270 in attendance
Fourth and Walnut is in Louisville Kentucky, it was there that Merton had a moment of realisation/revelation on 18 March 1958, that he loved all people and they were "walking around shining like the sun".

Monday, January 26, 2015

more on mormonism

 
I have come across the best argument for atheism—mormonism. The fraudulency and duplicity of mormonism is so overwhelming, that, it suggests all religions are dubious. I am surprised, that, so many non-mormons give it respect; i am quite convinced, if the majority of mormons were Democrats then mormonism would garner far fewer friends in this country. How many centuries would have to pass before the foundations of mormon belief/theology/creation myth would be nebulous enough to be within the bounds of ridiculosity? The Book of Mormon (not the Broadway play) is a plagiarised fantasy novel in the conceit of Jacobean language. It makes anthropological, archaeological, genetic, and historical claims that would be silly for comic books; but as in comic books of many issues, the 'religion' has had so many changes to have script continuity strained to tatters. There is not one Superman, or Batman, but several; each has his own universe. After Joseph Smith wrote the novel and then founded the religion, he continued adding elements. As long as he lived, its corpus grew steadily. Smith's last lecture [April 7, 1844], the King Follett Discourse, reflected on the science fiction other worlds pre-history [...God himself was once as we are now...In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods...]. After the dust settled over succession, and the trunk branch dominated, the religion changed whenever the president/prophet decided. Some of the Brigham Young's inventions are not to be discussed*. More sacred writings may come to exist, in addition to any number of revelations that may occur.
15th President/Prophet, Gordon Bitner Hinckley March 12, 1995 – January 27, 2008
Mormons get offended easily. The hypocrisy is unbounded. They claim from their existence that all other religions are corrupted and invalid, Christianity died within hours of Jesus's departure. Not until the inventions of Joseph Smith, in 1830, did it appear again. The temple is secret, not because it has sacred ceremonies; but secret because it has idiotic ceremonies†, and mormons do not appreciate being laughed at. The laughter would melt them.

Moslems are closer to Christianity than mormonism, and Smith is their Mahomet, and Mahomet was his model. Mahomet was the better general. Smith was killed in battle (jailbreak), after crying out the Masonic desperation plea‡, but as was with Richard III§, he died in defeat without the saving aid requested.

It is easy to see why Mormons can succeed in American business, where the functioning of 'progressive revelation' has new dictates over ride previous ones, and the corporate atmosphere reinforces the memory hole and obedient conformity. Everything is perfect, including constant revision; dissent is not permitted, and only 'faith promoting' talk is permitted; and if one needs to lie to promote, that is alright. So few mormons know their full history (outside of the hardships they overcame) and theology, so that their authority can remain unquestioned.

There is currently a pre-announcement jostling of prospective Republican candidates for the presidency. Brigham Young [president/prophet 1844-77] mentions Smith's White Horse Prophecy and when the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the "Mormon" Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it.‖ Whenever Glenn Beck, or another mormon, mentions the Constitution¶ hanging by a thread, what is meant is a mormon presidency of the United States. It is to be remembered that Joseph Smith was a candidate for the office. Practically all Mormon men have 'priestly authority' to make revelations; this affords them the comfort of certainty and destiny.  Remember earlier i wrote that all of mormonism was pulled out of a hat, well hat is an euphemism, and it is bottomless.
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* such as Adam, who is Jehovah, physically impregnated Mary and fathered Jesus
† some verbatim copies of freemasonry
Oh, Lord, my God, is there no help for the widow’s son! —  the masonic Grand Hailing Sign of Distress
§A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! — Richard III, V. iv. 7.
‖ A Discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, Feb. 18, 1855. Journal of Discourses, Volume 2.
Mormon leaders have repeatedly proclaimed the importance: “The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of the Constitution were inspired from on high to do that work.” — Brigham Young, July 4, 1854
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postscriptum: noon 30 January 2015: Willard Romney says he will not run for the presidency of the United States. He may still become president of the Mormon church. Ezra Taft Benson was United States Secretary of Agriculture  January 21, 1953 – January 20, 1961; and in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from October 7, 1943 – November 10, 1985. Benson was the church's president/prophet from November 10, 1985 – May 30, 1994. Marion George Romney [cousin to Geo., father of Willard] was President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles November 10, 1985 – May 20, 1988.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

ice ohio

Driving about in search of a foto safari, i went past television eight filming. The other night, Ohio State won the big game against Oregon in football. The station had this commissioned for game night. On some of the weather reports, the broadcaster stands in front of this sculpture. The ice sits in front of the front door. The property is fenced and gated, and the proletarian, plebeian public is prohibited entry. One can foto from the adjoining property.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Garmie behaviour is not normal

I was trying to find funny stuff about American cults. Many were the creation of XIXth century America. They all have the American 'exceptionalism' incorporated. To those outside these religions there is much to laugh at on account of their beliefs and behaviours. But beside that, and experiential weirdness, humour is hard to find.

The two biggest cults are the Jehovah's Witnesses (Bible Students, Russelites, Watchtower), and the Mormons (Latter Day Saints). Of the two, the former are very depressing; the enforced madness looks very unhappy from the outside. The latter is far goofier [it is not surprising that there are many Mormon science fiction writers, Battlestar Galactica plagarises the religion], but has moments of lightness. Some things they share: they recruit and assimilate members like Star Trek's Borg; they have profound contempt for Christians, while considering themselves the restored, original church; they control members' lives, and to be shunned/disfellowed is made a fearful ostracisation. It is easy to consider all religions cultish and strange. Some beyond bizarre beliefs, and impossible contradictions [in Hollywood this is called script continuity problems] to logic, history, and its own mythology. They reject everything they do not control. As a person, one is cut off from non-members (the rest of humanity).

Saint Augustine wrote the very long, 'City of God'. He makes a dichotomy of the Cities of God, and Man. A Christian can live in the latter without being a part of it, and be a citizen of the former. The way most would define the modern cult would have to say they only really live in the world of the cult. If one were to give the cult equal standing with more accepted religions, one could say they live in the(ir) City of God, but are only present in the City of Man as an alien, or hostage, or double agent.

What ex-Mormons, and Mormons, comfortable in revealing, remark as the thing 'Gentiles' question the most is the underwear; 'the garment' as they call it. Now many Mormons believe that it has a protective quality. Joseph Smith (their prophet, creator) died in a shootout. He was not wearing the garment, a fatal error. Other Mormons believe that the underwear saved their lives in wartime, in car wrecks, and so on. Gentiles (non-Mormons) have called it 'magic underwear'.

The Indians of the Mormon areas produced the Ghost Dance, and the Ghost Shirt. The Paiute Prophet, Wovoka, believed the dance would bring peace, prosperity, and unity to the Indians and reunite the dead with living.  In 1889-90 it spread through the West. Different Indians added their own elements; for the Lakota Sioux, the shirt would stop bullets. A great fear came over the non-Indians, and government agencies. Some of the Lakota Sioux accepted the new religion, and it strengthened their resistance to the army. They danced, wore the shirts, and were massacred (mostly women and children) at Wounded Knee. James Mooney, an anthropologist, who lived amongst many Indians thought the source of the Ghost Shirt was the Mormon Temple Garment [which was a Masonic Garment]. Mormons living in Utah recognised elements of the religion as familiar.

I, immediately, thought the Ghost Shirt came from the Mormons because of the shared geography. How much co-incidence is there? and then more study of their beliefs, and i felt more certainty. Now, the creators of Superman were two Jewish boys from Cleveland's Glenville; i wonder what they read. Superman's underwear and cloak were underneath Clark Kent's clothes, and bullets would bounce off the diamond 'S'. From 1978 to 2013 'underoos' were made for children. In 2014 a licensing agreement was made for adult sizes. Well, one of the few funny lines i found while reading was "Garmie behavior is not normal". The writer had left Mormonism and had that to get it off her chest. On the chat board her interlocutor wrote, "I think it out-weirds JWs by a million gazillion miles".  Isn't that half the distance to Kolob [the home planet or star of God the Father/Adam/Elohim/sometimes Michael]? Superman came from Krypton.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

knock, knock

A pair of Jehovah Witnesses rang my doorbell. Near the steps, there is a statue of Saint Anthony of  Lisbon and Padua. The lead woman made reference. This has happened before. They do not give a fig about Saint Anthony of Padua [click]. It is a hook into conversation, and none is to be about Anthony. These porch hoppers are evangelisers, they are Protestants outside Christianity. They in their way, invite; but it is very programmed, and therefore devious. It is in the manner at work, and school, and elsewhere; it is not an open discussion, but a leading, directed discussion thoroughly created to only promote their point. This sort of salesmanship is thoroughly American, and i thoroughly dislike it.

They are a pushy cult. They are ridiculous. By their own logic, they should stop. The group used to call itself 'Bible Students', they claim like some other Protestants to be strict 'Bible believing'. They used to refer to themselves as 'colporteurs' (book salesmen), and now 'publishers'. They have a huge printing facility in Brooklyn. They have a never ending production of new literature. And of their beliefs: 144,000 will get to heaven. They have a multi-million membership. They had expected the last day a century ago, the dates changed. They continue to recruit. Why???? Have not all the tickets been claimed? What if the new recruits are of that number, and the recruiter is not? Over booking, wasted effort.

Other than the annoyance factor, they are like property taxes, they must get you twice a year, they are not that bad to others. They do have their own terminology for others, which is truly demeaning, that few know about. Total frankness is not their policy, in 'theocratic warfare' one lies.

It is good that they are apolitical pacifists, of course that gets them abuse, and persecution. The Hitlerites sent them to the camps over that. Other than proselytising, they seclude themselves from society. They are not involved in politics, they do not vote, they do not take jobs where they can kill. Many who were children, did not find the faith enjoyable, and leave when they leave their parents; but so do people from other faiths.

One who left the childhood faith was Dwight Eisenhower. He went to West Point Military Academy. After retiring as a general, he became President of Columbia University. None of that would be expected of a Jehovah Witness.

President Harry Truman wanted Eisenhower to be the next Democratic presidential nominee. In 1951, he declared as a Republican. Neither major party nominee for the presidency in 1952 was a Christian. Eisenhower was not baptised until after he became President. Adlai Stevenson was an Unitarian.

Of the things that Jehovah Witnesses do not do are:  salute the flag, pledge allegiance to the flag, sing the national anthem. In 1948 there began a movement to insert the words "under God". This came to the attention of Eisenhower in 1954, and he and Congress had this done. Ironic Ike.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Handicapping the anti-Democratic field of 2016

☐ John (Jeb) Bush--Father was president, helped his brother "win" Florida so to become worst "president" in history
☐ Ben Carson--Black neurosurgeon on Fox
☐ Chris Christie--Temperament of a bullying ass
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz--(foreign born) Complete ass
☐ Mike Huckabee--Fox employee until a few hours ago
☐ John Kasich--Arrogant and graceless 
☐ Rand(al) Paul--Father wanted to be president, loon, Ayn Randian
☐ Willard (Mitt) Romney--Lost to Obama, previously lost to the guy that lost to Obama; father was foreign born presidential candidate
☐ Marco Rubio--Opportunistic fraud
☐ Scott Walker--Mean-spirited idiot

Some of these have questionable religious ties: Cruz is a Dominionist (Baptist), his father is a teevee evangelist with Benny Hinn's wife.  Romney is a Mormon, formerly a 'bishop'. Rubio was a Mormon, and a Catholic, and is now a Baptist.  Kasich is an ex-Catholic, who also makes his denomination ambiguous.  Paul is a convert to his wife's Presbyterianism.  Bush is a convert to his wife's Catholicism.  Christie is Catholic.  Huckabee is a Baptist preacher.  Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, son of a divorced preacher.  Walker is the son of a Baptist preacher. 

Of course they have a deep bench of crazies to come out of their clown car, certainly it has not been emptied. Politically, they extend from the very conservative, to the insanely conservative into fascism and psychosis.
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postscriptum 26 January: these idiots are considering it:  Donald Trump, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina, Sarah Palin, Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal. The first three were momentary front runners four years ago, and fell flat. Fiorina was fired as CEO from Hewlett-Packard, she was part of the McCain campaign of '08 and defended Palin, she then lost a Senate race in California. Palin, well, complete idiot and bitch; but as dumb as she is, she believes the exact same crap as all the other Republicans. Jindal had an impressive academic vita, but remarkably even when a Republican has such credentials, he still is an idiot, an ass. How? They all are fine with the plutocracy.

postscriptum 6 July: Someone wrote truthfully about Kasich [click]:
" It's one thing to embellish one's own record; Kasich is a master at that. It's borderline despicable to twist the facts to disparage those who held the same office."
"Reports of Kasich mistreating people — especially those whose stations in life might not be as lofty — have been out there for years."

postscriptum 6 July: the revised list of Republicans wanting to be president (minus those of national notice):
☐ John (Jeb) Bush
☐ Ben Carson
☐ Chris Christie
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz
☐ Carly Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed)

☐ Lindsey Graham
☐ Mike Huckabee
☐ Piyush (Bobby) Jindal
☐ John Kasich
☐ George Pataki

☐ Rand(al) Paul
☐ Rick Perry
☐ Marco Rubio
☐ Rick Santorum
☐ Donald Trump

☐ Scott Walker

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Je suis Charlie, or blood atonement for Mahomet

 
 
 
 
 
Blood atonement for Mahomet, Moslems claim to be monotheists. They call Mahomet their prophet, but worship him as a god. They have made his book, the Koran, a like idol to worship, to defend, to kill for. Whenever some random Moslem feels the compulsion to kill so he can scream his pet religious slogan, as these French Algerian Moslems did in Paris «Nous avons vengé le prophète (we have avenged the prophet)», he tells the world how much will not be tolerated by him.

jihadi—Every Moslem can consider himself an avenging warrior, a Moslem Danite, a double nought vigilante.

The worshippers of the god Mahomet (or Muhammad...or choose your spelling from his hundred names) exercised their vengeance in Paris yesterday. They killed five cartoonists, and five other employees of the paper, and two police. Will that give them a gold crescent moon medal from their jihadi assassin cell?

It is quite true, that over one billion Moslems did not engage in this demonic bloodlust. It is also true that non-Moslems have the same bloodlust. Anders Behring Breivik complained of the Islamisation of western Europe. 22 July 2011 he bombed government buildings in Oslo killing eight people, then he went to a Norwegian Labour Party youth camp and killed sixty-nine more people. In America, on 19 April 1995 Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols  killed 168 people bombing the federal building in Oklahoma. It is also quite true, that non-Moslems are endangered in every country where there is a majority of Moslems, or an active Moslem guerrilla presence.

Anytime a public utterance, writing, or cartoon is done that is found offensive to some Moslems, a retaliatory reprisal in human killing(s) can occur anywhere else in the world. A Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published a dozen cartoons on 30 September 2005. Several other papers published them. The French paper, Charlie Hebdo, which was attacked yesterday, also published those cartoons. Over an hundred people were killed in Nigeria, Christians were murdered in churches, western targets (NATO, embassies) were attacked and some people murdered there over those same cartoons.
Comedy Central, on cable television, censored one of their own programmes after death threats were received over depicting 'him who can not be depicted'. In response, a cartoonist on 20 April 2010 drew a cartoon, and proclaimed "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" for 20 May. She is now in hiding, under a new identity.
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postscriptum 11.15 a.m. 17 January 2015: Charlie Hebdo printed again, and the moslems have let the blood flow again:
http://www.france24.com/en/20150117-charlie-hebdo-protests-niger-pakistan-algiers-zinder-france/

"...The unrest came a day after four people were killed and at least 45 others were injured in protests in Niger's second city of Zinder, with demonstrators ransacking three churches and torching the French cultural centre. ...

...There was also bloodshed in Karachi, Pakistan, where three people were injured when protesters clashed with police outside the French consulate, officials said. Among them was an AFP photographer, who was shot in the back. ..."

Friday, January 2, 2015

What do Mormons do at coffee break?

Stumped Google, it did. My nephew said it sounds like the beginning of a joke, there is very little Mormon humour. There is plenty to make fun of.

I remember someone telling me they had worked in Las Vegas during one of the building booms. Southern and eastern Nevada has many Mormons. He was recounting a discussion at coffee break. I mentioned that Mormons do not drink coffee. He did not pay attention to it in Vegas. Well, what do they do at coffee break?

Mormons and the internet: it is faster than the library book stacks, but still not that quick. One thing that the Mormons have in common with the Masons is being successful to keep a secret. But the internet is defeating them [click], and diminishing them. They are also very testy about non-admirers whom seek accurate answers. Now, such close examination might be applied to many (or all) religions; certainly many atheists would think so. “New religious movement” is a euphemism for cult, both terms have been applied to Mormonism; so have they been to other ‘restoration religions’ (Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, et cetera). Another thing they share with some Protestants is tithing, and strictly so.
“... It is chloroform in print. ...The book seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history, with the Old Testament for a model; followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. ...The Mormon Bible is rather stupid and tiresome to read...” — Mark Twain
Humour is where you find it. Part of the Mormon mythology, as presented in their book, is that Jesus preached in America. Some [3rd president/prophet, John Taylor] Mormons believe that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus*. The Book of Ether is the penultimate book within the Book of Mormon. Ether is a prophet of the Jaredites. Ether is the grandson of king Moron [sic]. Much of the Book of Mormon is written in the manner of the King James Version of the Bible (some pages are duplicated). Why would “reformed Egyptian” translate this way in nineteenth century America? Why would ancient Hebrew immigrants to America write in “reformed Egyptian”, when the Old Testament was mostly in Hebrew? Why is no other record, anywhere, in “reformed Egyptian”?
“And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants, and cureloms, and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants, and cureloms, and cumoms” — Ether ix.19.  
The historical†, anthropological, and geological record in the Americas do not suggest any of these animals lived in the Americas in the years after Jesus (or Abraham). By sentence form there seems to be an equine group (horse and ass), and an elephantidae/proboscidae (animals with trunks) group. What is a curelom, or a cumom? Mammoths, mastodons, snuffelupagi? The only snuffelupagus i know of is Aloysius on Sesame Street, Bird is his friend.







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*Pity the history teachers of Mormon students. Can a non-Mormon keep the job at a Mormon school? How many Mormons are there on the schoolboards?  Mark Twain also wrote, “In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards.”

nota bene: t-shirt design found at Rocky Davies
†Zarahemla is the previous Mormon name of the small village, Blanchardville Wisconsin. It was named after a mythical capital destroyed by lightning by Jesus, who also destroyed a number of cities after his Crucifixion. The supposed site has been suggested to be in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, or western New York, or Chile, and recently Malaya.

Also presented is a huge Hebrew/Israelite population that was destroyed by beyond massive internecine armored battle. The last was by the Hill of Cumorah which was fought by numbers never seen again until World War I. Of the hundreds of thousands of Nephites, only twenty-four survived (and they were hunted down), the last being, Mormon, the writer of the last book of Mormon. Of the victors, the Lamanites, there is no note in 'Gentile' records, history, archaeology, et cetera. Mormons say they are Indians, possibly Polynesians.

In Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and other places in the near East digging a road, a foundation, planting a tree results in new archaeological finds that make world press. Mormon archaeologists find no artifacts in their diggings.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

...out of a hat

The saying, or phrase, "...out of a hat" with the verb "pulled" or "came" should be familiar enough. Usually it suggests randomness, or magic...some sort of surprise, in ancient theatre, "Deus ex machina". In the trade, we vulgarised the expression, by substituting 'ass' for hat, when by hyperbole a solution or completion of work is demanded, expected, or completed under tight circumstances or time. Generally, a slip of paper/card with some name, or a rabbit comes out of the hat; but in America, a religion came out of a hat.

In the early history of the Republic, there was the sense of the new. The United States was a new country, with a new form of government, in a new land. In religion there was the confluence of the Second Great Awakening on the frontier, the forward and expanding new world. A form of the phenomena was the camp meeting, or revival. One area, western New York, had so many of these that it was referred to as 'Burned Over'. English speaking America was a Protestant country. Protestantism was several different (often continuing) reformations/restructurings of western Christianity (Catholicism). Many of these American phenomenon were 'Restorationists'; they described their movements as restoring true original Christianity. Most confined themselves to promoting private interpretations of the Bible, and church governance. A few incorporated other influences, and diverged outside of Christianity. Foremost was Mormonism.

Joseph Smith produced a translation of a true gospel of Jesus, the book of Mormon [published 1830] from the 'reformed Egyptian'. How did he do this? By putting his face into a hat, containing a seer stone and reading the spontaneous line, after line while scribes took dictation. One of the three witnesses listed in the publication of the book is David Whitmer. Whitmer told the story often, and he wrote:
"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."
Now, Mormonism does not currently focus on this. Throughout their history, they tend to drop embarrassing items. They can do this because their scripture is not closed, but is inclusive of continuing addition and revelation. Now, this not a surprise. Smith was a fraud, and a convicted con man, from a family that engaged in divination for pay. Smith grew in his ambitions, becoming amongst other things, a presidential candidate.  America has a history of flim-flam. And such people are very thin skinned with examination, and sharp with detractors. The boy that sees AND SAYS the emperor is naked is a grave threat. Mormons consider any questioning as anti-Mormon.

The use of seer (or peep) stones was common then in the occult. Smith was a syncretist; besides Christianity, he borrowed much from Freemasonry. Freemasonry is a necessary precursor to Mormonism. The temple ceremonies are masonic ritual. The 'garment', or magic underwear, is masonic. It was cut, and now stitched, with emblems of freemasonry. Mormonism covets respectability, and when something becomes too embarrassing, a revelation happens and doctrine changes. Many members are ignorant of past practice, and belief; because they are not emphasised or mentioned any longer.

I noticed the last Republican presidential candidate was a Mormon, and one very much part of the group. He got the nomination, because he was the establishment's candidate, and not amongst the many outhouse rat crazy candidates of the Republicans. He had no problem sweeping the Evangelical Protestant vote and 'bible belt'. There was very little discussion of his religion. In 1960 the Democracy ran a Catholic, and it was very much a contentious point. Catholic Republicans would snap at Catholics that wanted to discuss Mormonism in 2012, and would defend Mormonism. Perhaps America changed, or there is a difference in standards between the two political parties and America's opinion on different religions. Barack Obama is a mainstream Protestant, but had been accused (and considered) first as an extreme politically Black Protestant, and then a Moslem.

There is a 'Mormon Corridor' centering on Utah that shares the same culture, but overall there is very little of Mormonism that has entered the broad stream of American culture. There are a few items that they share, or reinforce in folklore*. There are successful Mormons, but they are self contained culturally.
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*Cain, son of Adam, did not die. He walks the earth. He is tall, naked, and hairy. Compare Sasquatch and Bigfoot.