As Mitt Romney edges closer to the being the Republican nominee in the U.S. Presidential race, alot of comparisons are being made how Mormonism is similar to Scientology.

"Sweeney's hour-long documentary is understood to make a series of claims about the Mormons, including suggestions that some members of the church have been brainwashed. He interviewed a number of ex-Mormons who claim the church is a cult. One of the people interviewed is the cousin of US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, Park Romney, who says the church engages in "brainwashing".

PR reps for the LDS Church personally delivered a complaint to BBC Offices last week.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/ma ... NTCMP=SRCH

Mormons ‘invade’ where Scientologists fear to tread -

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/lond ... 93034.html

"Mitt Romney's cousin, Park Romney, has publicly denounced the Mormon religion as a "fraud". Formerly a Mormon high priest, Park told the BBC: "There's compelling evidence that the Mormon Church leaders knowingly and wilfully misrepresent the historical truth of their origins and of the church for the purpose of deceiving their members into a state of mind that renders them exploitable."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ma ... NTCMP=SRCH

This is a powerful documentary... there are comparisons to be found between Mormonism & Scientology...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EVtPkafbcQ

Sweeney is very good at getting answers...

In Part 4.. he interviews a top leader in the LDS Church about the oath Mitt Romney took in the Temple, where he pledged to slit his throat from ear to ear and disembowel himself before giving up any secrets he learned in the Temple. (The oath was abandoned in 1990 after word of it got out and put the church in a very bad PR light).. Sweeney says this doesn't negate the fact that Mitt Romney, who could end up being the most powerful man in the world, as U.S. President, willingly took this oath before 1990.

At 2:28, Sweeney says.. "The issue is not about what Mormons believe in.. whether you believe Jesus walked on water, space aliens (Scientology) or nothing.. it's your right," before revealing the practice of disconnection in Mormonism. Like Scientology, Mormons practice disconnection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLRzdeKEEII&feature=relmfu

Sweeney, in Part 6: "Many critics says Mormonism is a cult like Scientology, but smarter & more powerful."

Another huge decision for Americans, as if the last election wasn't difficult enough...the first black man or the first woman in the white house (don't get me wrong here, I vote according to the persons merits or when that fails I vote for the lesser of the evils)
Obama is not very popular right now. So I can imagine it will be something like the man that ruined our economy or a cult member (again, don't get me wrong. I knew when Bush left his office it would take at least two terms to straighten up the economy)
But I can say that when I watched the video I did fall off my chair when the church elder referred to our President as Osama before correcting himself and named him Obama. I really did fall off my chair!
PLEASE AMERICA...no cult members in the White House!!! Cults that believe in disconnection....well I don't have to tell the people here how destructive disconnection is.

Myself and many others don't like Mittens even before we consider the fact that he's a Mormon. I see him as another version of W, only in a Ken doll body.

But I'm glad there's another very good reason to believe he's unsuitable for the presidency, a reason that can easily be exposed.

Romney had a bishop-type position in the Mormon Church in Massachusetts, so he is not just a member; he was in the inner circle of leadership.

Thank you for not moving this thread to the Dust Bin as mods have recklessly done with other threads on the Mormon Church. The LDS are comparable on many levels to Scientology in the way of "religious" practice & abuse. Scientologists seen their cult as the only legitimate "religion" that can save this planet; the Mormons believe they are members of the only true church which gives it's leaders the inherent right to decieve, manipulate & abuse it's members.

John Sweeney was brilliant in revealing the special committee in the Mormon Church that's similar to Scientology's OSA: it follows members & ex-members & takes actions to enforce the policies of the LDS, including ordering disconnection of family members that have swayed from the church.

As Mitt Romney advances as the GOP nominee, expect more attention to be paid on the Mormon Church, and for the LDS hierarchy to work overtime in drastic PR moves, evading questions on church policies that hurt & destroy families.

60 Minutes Mike Wallace interviewed LDS Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley years ago. Listen at 6:27 how he arrogantly explains away the official LDS policy against African-Americans... "look, it's behind us.. don't worry about those little fits of history".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJD17YyK ... re=related

What President Hinckley doesn't reveal is that, even though the policy to exclude blacks ended in 1978, every member of the top LDS hierarchy to date has been Causasian.

John Sweeney did a valiant job of showing how the Mormons operate, I probably found this footage easier to understand as it wasn't the cult I grew up in.

When John Sweeney did his panoramas of Scientology, I can't help but feel slightly betrayed, he gave the Independent Scientologist the upper hand, those of us who were there at the beginning of the Sea Org as children are second class to the leaders of Scientology and that appears to reflect in the publicity that these long term Scientologist thugs of Scientology crave and get, because ? Because they are good at manipulation and are scam artists.

Of course L. Ron Hubbard was such a valiant crusader in all things humanitarian, and what am I, a mere 'ant', not even a cockroach, or maybe just an amoeba.

No, forget life on earth, let's go to the bottom of the sea, plankton.

In part 4 there's a meeting of ex-Mormons, and it sure sounds a lot like Scientology. Ex members are separated from their families. They can't attend the weddings of the children in the temple. The are investigated by the church, and there is even a department within the church that searches for information on exes, and sends them mail or sends missionaries to their houses. Some in the group thought they were even being investigated for being polygamous (none were).

imho it's dangerous to compare Mormons and Scientology.
Observed with the glasses of a Scientology critic some of the practices of the Mormon church come across as similar to e.g. disconnection, fair game, etc.
But I don't think they are on the same level by a long shot.
Evidently Scientology took some aspects in the design of its religious cloaking from the LDS book, but the cons of John Smith are imho on a different character and scale than the super evil personality psycho-invasion of Hubbard's invention.
There is no "religion" in Scientology really, it is just an image so people don't mind the strangeness so much... because they can compare it to things like the LDS that are also weird.
Mormonism is a weird and potentially dangerous religious organization, no doubt.
But Scientology is not a religion at all, it is a bag of lies and deception from start to end, basically a psycho-mafia that directly preys on the vulnerable and goes for their vallets directly.

But of course it's important that people know about this before someone is made the most powerful man in the world who is directly a member of a freemason-like secret society with unclear ties to the secret service and the government.

I have no idea who Sweeney is, and, dare I say, I know practically nothing about the Mormons. But Romney seems like a reasonable man to me, although he is opposed to the abortion (at least this is what he is saying now). I still have not decided if I will vote for him. He might drop his opposition to the abortion, which would be enough to bring me into his camp.

Many controversial and-or top-down-dictating religions like to support CoS because the "ministerial exception" and non-reporting to the IRS is convenient to them, too. You're not going to see the Nation of Islam, or the Unification Church (Moonies) call for CoS to reveal its overseas bank stashes, or its spending on private investigators. Even U.S religions with clean reputations might be embarassed by the dirt revealed if they, too, had to file the standard charity annual report, Form 990, to the IRS. Every non-profit is supposed to maintain its 501(c)3 tax-deductibe status by filing a Form 990, but religions are magically exempt. And how do you get to be a religion? You file a Form 1023 stating how you're a real religion, and not a money-grubbing scam. Once the IRS approves, you can revert to being a cloaked-in-secrecy abuse factory. Part of the Church of Scientology International's Form 1023 is http://www.xenu-directory.net/documents ... ions-2.pdf

The idea of Mitt Romney being president of the United States scares the piss out of me.

I have to disagree with you. I was born into & raised Mormon, recieved my endowments in the Temple, went on a full time mission, was a Stake Missionary for several years monitoring the progress of full time missionaries in the field and was a Ward Youth Leader... all before I became a Scientologist.

There are definite cultic similarities between the two in terms of manipulation & deception of the masses, and abusive behavior, especially toward members that stray from the fold. Their are similarities, too, in the official histories of both groups & it's founders.

You claim Scientology is not a religion, like Mormonism. Alot of Scilons do believe Scientology is their religion.

As a genealogy buff, I really appreciate all the Mormon volunteers who have microfilmed records and made them available. I see on familysearch.org that some of my Lutheran ancestors have been baptized, to let them choose to be Mormons in the afterlife, but I don't mind fantasy baptisms. Anyway, Stephen Colbert un-baptized them.

Thanks for your reply Smurf!
That is very interesting that you have inside perspectives on both organizations! I hope I can hear more about that at some point.

When I visited the temple square in Salt Lake City several years back I did notice a definite "cult" vibe - the whole place was very tightly security/camera controlled and a "handler" was immediately dispatched to show me around and make sure I would not accidently attempt to enter the temple.

BTW... another parallel.: When Jesus descends from the sky in America in the book of Mormon I did have to chuckle a little as it reminded me so much of the Science-Fiction of the day. Jules Verne etc!
Basically I shouldn't even have a book of Mormon since I was never visited by the home missionaries they send out to you to introduce you, but I managed to get one anyway out of interest.

What I wanted to say though is that I find the things Scientology is pulling off so outrageous that I am cautious not to get into an area where it sounds like "oh... it's just like another one of those crazy religions...".
There is just something aggressive, inhumane and anti-social radiating from Scientology that deserves a special singular status.

But I totally respect your experience and I'm very curious about it.