Mormon Monuments at the U.S. Capitol and Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

[Cross posted from Sixteen Small Stones]

Statue of Lady Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol BuildingMy family visited Washington D.C. for a vacation this October. We had a wonderful time exploring the National Monuments and Smithsonian Museums. There is so much to learn, think about, and do, and never enough time for all of it. It was also a great time to talk with our children about our country, its history, and its founding documents and principles.

I want to highlight a couple of unexpected encounters with Mormonism and LDS related ideas we had while there, with photos I took myself.

LDS visitors to Washington D.C. may be interested in going out of their way to see some of these Mormon monuments. And should Mitt Romney be successful in winning the election for President of the United States, interest in some of these may increase among those who are not members of the LDS church as well.

The U.S. Capitol Building is beautiful. The room where the House of Representatives used to meet from 1819 to 1857 is now the National Statuary Hall, where they display statues of prominent Americans. Each state of the Union is allowed to send two statues, of either bronze or marble, to be displayed at the Capitol, many in the statuary hall. Continue reading

A Few Thoughts on the Republican Candidate

I was reading this article about how Evangelical Christians (or 1/3 of them anyhow) are still too prejudice against Mormons to ever consider electing a Mormon. It also mentioned that 50% of Democrats say they would have concerns about a Mormon president. This number is much higher than how they feel about Evangelical Presidents, so we know this isn’t just related to the fact that democracts are significantly less religious then Republicans. However, we also know that Democrat’s concerns with Mormons are primarily political and that a politically liberal Mormon (like Harry Reid) suffers little or no prejudice from Democrats.

Frankly, I really don’t see how a Mormon could win as president. Even though Romney is the ‘last candidate left standing’ I’m still half expecting the prejudice of the Evangelicals to oust him in some way. Continue reading