Remember Bill Keller, who told his parishoners that “a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan“?  While I’m not sure he REALLY thinks that Governor Mitt Romney is Satan, he is quite clear that he thinks we are hellish creatures who, along with those who refuse to join his jihad, should be straightway sent to hell, where we belong.  And, if his web site is any indication, given even the flimsiest of chances, he would personally dispatch us there.

While Keller is obviously malicious, like other venomous anti-Mormons, I find the candor and consistency in his hatred to be most refreshing.  Too often, after hearing a laundry list of untrue evils that we Latter-day Saints are supposedly guilty, I hear the accuser complain with words to the effect of, “But I’m NOT an anti-Mormon!  I LOVE Mormons!”

Sorry, Ace, but spreading untruths about people is NOT a sign of love toward them!

Keller, on the other hand eschews that ingenuousness.  He is adamant that we Latter-day Saints are demons from hell, and non-anti-Mormons are Judases–neither of which merit any love or consideration whatsoever.  I don’t like his malevolent stance, but at least he does us the courtesy of leaving no doubt at all where we stand.  I really do respect that.

Moreover, Keller’s attitude is in refreshing contrast to anti-Mormons who call us demons, but do not advocate the only just punishment for such threats.  CS Lewis (2002) leaves no doubt that those in league with the devil are threats to be exterminated:

If … we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather, surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did. [Mere Christianity.  Scanned from 1952 edition.  Retrieved 26 October 2009 from http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF%20Books/Mere%20Christianity%20-%20Lewis.pdf, 16]

It irritates me whenever somebody accuses others of serious offences, but advocate unserious remedies.  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for example, accuses doubters of global warming of treason, but doesn’t advocate the death penalty.  Either Kennedy is unaware of the gravity of treason, or he misuses the word.

Bill Keller has no such problem.  Neither does Ed Decker, from whom Keller apparently gets his information.  Dr. Dean Helland (1990) (PhD, Oral Roberts University) tells of his break with Ed Decker after anti-Mormon violence incited by Decker spilled over to members of Helland’s denomination [Meeting the Book of Mormon Challenge in Chile.  Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.  116-130, 198-214]