A candidate's religious beliefs (well, Christian religious beliefs anyway) have been declared off-limits, and any questions surrounding "personal faith" are considered badgering. This works out well for Romney, who holds a leadership position in an organization that openly strives to install a theocracy.

A stake is closer to a parish than a Catholic diocese. Perhaps y'all ought to actually consult actual Mormons. A diocese generally has 250,000 to 1,000,000 members among all its congregations. A stake is around 5,000.

And is there any allegations of abuse regarding the LDS church in Boston while Romney was president? If so, the question is valid. But you can't say "well, catholics have sex abuse problems and they're a religion and so is LDS, so we need to know if Romney stopped molesting Catholic children or not."

I agree with the two comments above. Do some research first, and IF anything substantial turns up, THEN ask questions.

If too many questions are asked about things that turn out to be frivolous, the independent voters/undecideds, will think the dems are desperate and grasping at straws.

Church leaders all must be held accountable. And Rmoney no less. The oppositon has repeatedly tried to make an issue of Mr. Obama's religion. It' Emperor Mitt's turn.

I agree that a Catholic Bishop is an entirely different thing than a Mormon Bishop.

OTOH, I know of four people who received considerable settlements from the LDS Church for the sexual abuse they suffered as children, and I'm assuming that there must be some involvement on the part of the Bishops in deciding who gets what.

Interestingly enough, I don't personally know any Catholics who were abused - or at least who have admitted to it - but the diocese I grew up in has so far been fairly clean when it comes to that.

Yeah, it sure the hell is - and how about the contemptible positions the Mormon Church promoted during the failed Equal Rights Amendment campaign?

Is it OK if I inject some facts here?

Mormons have an unpaid lay clergy at the local level. A Mormon's bishop's term is usually around five years. A bishop leads a ward, which is just what Mormons call a congregation that covers a certain territory. There can be multiple wards that meet in the same church building, each ward has its own bishop. Multiple wards & churches make up a stake, which is lead by a stake president.

Romney has been both a bishop and a stake president. Stake president is higher up on the food chain but everyone just mentions bishop because... people are ignorant? Words are hard?

Hi Paul,

“And I think that if a Catholic were running at the top of the ticket in a general election, he or she should definitely be asked about child sexual abuse and the church, regardless of whether he or she was in a position of power in the church.”

I’m searching for the hard hitting Stranger articles and Slog entries demanding that John Kerry and Joe Biden explain their continuing affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church in light of its outrageous child sexual abuse scandals, but can’t seem to find them… Would you kindly direct me to them?

Thanks!

And before you all start the great Mormon witch hunt, you may want to consult with your man Harry Reid, who delivered a speech at Brigham Young University to about 20,000 students on October 9, 2007, in which he expressed his opinion that Democratic values mirror Mormon values.

A lot of you seem to be confusing asking questions about Romney's past actions as a Mormon church leader with accusing Romney of doing terrible things as a Mormon church leader.

Information is not a bad thing. Unless you're afraid of facts getting in the way of your ideology...

Sorry Paul, but @2 nailed it. This is a especially poor journalism, not expected from you.