Mitt Romney and his Faith Speech

First of all, if you haven't heard his speech, you can hear it here:
http://podcast.1010wins.com/wins/788372.mp3
or read it here:
http://www.mittromney.com/News/Speeches/Faith_In_America

I think he gave a good speech, but I am concerned that he may have needed to say more. But then again, I don't know what he could have said. What people say their concerns are with him being a Mormon and what their actual concerns are, are probably not the same. I have read articles with various outspoken people stating that if Romney can believe in Mormonism, then he isn't very bright. I don't know what would bring anyone to say that. Doesn't any religion require an element of "faith" in things that you can't prove, but can accept and believe? Yet saying that someone isn't bright because of their chosen faith makes it sound like religion is purely a logical choice. So, I don't think I can take the hecklers at face value. There is a pure and simple prejudice there. (I'm hearing a big 'well... duh' in my head as I write this.) So what could somebody say to put that behind them?

Years ago, JFK wrote and gave a somewhat similar speech because he was then running for President, and was a Catholic. At that time, no Catholic had ever been elected. I believe his speech was ingenious. He called a spade a spade. You can read it here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600
What he did, that was brilliant to me, was that he made out any American who voted against him because of his religion as an anti-American. In other words, he made people feel guilty about their concerns. And if they heard his speech and listened to it, it wouldn't surprise me if they had come away from that deciding that they should vote for him just to prove him wrong about their anti-Catholic sentiments.

Romney echoed some of those same ideas, but it didn't come off the same way. He made it clear that religion is important, but that the details of the candidate's beliefs are not. With most of the Republican candidates touting to be religious and one of them a former minister, what he said did not make Romney stand out at all. It allowed him to blend into the background with all the others. I don't think the speech will score him many points, although I thought it was a good speech, and enjoyed it.

I don't know what I would have done if I were in his shoes. I can think of only two things. Do what JFK did, or get up there and really defend your faith. I think he may have done better if he gave the reasons why he believes in Mormonism. Show people what you are all about, and then tell them that faith is important in the Presidency and that he would rely on it to know how to handle the day to day situations that he would face. But that's probably why he is running for president and not me. But still... he did take the safe road. But will the safe road get him the presidency? Some how, I don't think so. I think he needs to do more than that. But I am probably not the person to say what.

The Golden Compass

First of all, I know my family most likely already knows about this, but there are other readers here that may not know about this. The Golden Compass in my opinion is not worthy of our money. For reasons why, you may read this website, and you can see for yourself what I'm talking about: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Snopes.com is not really anything but a rumor validator. When somebody rails on a movie and the email gets passed around (for example), eventually somebody submits it to snopes which then tries to separate the fact from the fiction. In this case the originator of the email was validated. The movie is based on an anti-religious book. It is meant to be the antithesis of "The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe". Instead of encourage faith in Christ with a fun children's story, the author of these books state "My books are about killing God."

I realize the author of the books will likely care very little whether or not you or I see the movie. He probably make nothing more than a few pennies off of what we spend at the theater. All the same, I have no interest in supporting him, or the movie industry in a production like this.

The movie (being a realist here) is likely safe enough. The books are the concern. And I wish to make a statement to Hollywood that I don't approve of anti-religious themes in their movies. They have more than enough of that already. And I'm tempted to go purchase "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" just to make my statement all the stronger.

Anyways, that's my thought on the subject. Thanks to Dani for sending me that email. The movie opened today, and I most likely would have seen it sooner or later.

Lights at Temple Square

Rochelle and I took Dhananjay up to see the lights at Temple Square. My, it was pretty. We had long talks about religion too. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few photos that I took. Nothing too fancy, but not having a tripod with me, I was happy any of them turned out ok. I just love being up there when the lights are on though... it is so pretty. I love listening to the narrator tell the Christmas story, and looking at the displays. I love seeing all the lights. It's one of the many times I feel like no matter how good I ever get with my camera, I'll never be able to convey the feelings that are there through the lens.

Baby Makes Three

The time has come! We are officially going to be parents! I am just over 2 months pregnant, and we expect the baby to come sometime in July. We are very excited to finally be starting our family! I have had some morning sickness, but I am doing ok. The semester is almost done for me, and all I have left is my capstone semester. I have been tentatively assigned to work in Labor and Delivery at a smaller local hospital- the same hospital, in fact, that I have chosen to use for myself! So I'm feeling good about that.

~~BJ'S TURN~~
So... I guess I don't have a whole lot to add except that I'm going to be a daddy! Yea! And now it is my goal to sleep as much as possible now, because I won't have another chance to until I'm 64. Aside from that, we are really very pleased. Rochelle is looking forward to buying maternity clothes. She has already named our first 6 children (in order, and let's just hope the genders match up)... and if any of you steal our names... well, you will have to take it up with her. Rochelle is currently going through the lovely morning sickness stages, and is enjoying that very much. ;-) We told our families in the past week or two. And now we tell the world! So what more do I have to say? Not much I guess. Just looking forward to all the fun times ahead (and preparing to go gray).

This picture represents the physical proof we currently
possess of our good news!