Achieving a Celestial Marriage: What Mitt and Ann Romney believe about God, marriage, and working moms

What does Mitt Romney believe about working mothers?

Well, as with most things Mitt Romney says, it depends on when you ask. Lately he says  that "all moms are working moms"; a few months ago he said that "even if you have a child two years of age, you need to go to work." But the apparent inconsistency is easily resolved: the first statement referred to wealthy moms (like his wife, Ann) and the latter statement to everyone else.

So what does Mitt Romney really believe about working moms? To find out, we need to see what the Mormon church teaches about God, marriage, and working mothers.

Fortunately, it's all laid out in Achieving a Celestial Marriage, the LDS Church's official manual for instructing  young Mormons about marriage.

Here are some excerpts. (Emphasis in the original)

First, about God.

GOD WAS ONCE A MORTAL MAN

(1-2) He Lived on an Earth Like Our Own

"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!" Joseph Smith, Teachings, p. 345 

(1-3) He Experienced Conditions Similar to Our Own and Advanced Step by Step

GOD IS NOW AN EXALTED MAN WITH POWERS OF ETERNAL INCREASE

(1-4) Our Father in Heaven Lives in an Exalted Marriage Relationship

(1-5) We are Literal Children of God, Part of His Family Unit

(1-6) We Lived with Our Heavenly Parents Prior to Coming to Earth

WE ARE GODS IN EMBRYO

(1-7) We Have the Potential to Become like Our Heavenly Parents

About Marriage

 EXALTATION IS ATTAINABLE ONLY IN FAMILY UNITS

ONLY THROUGH CELESTIAL MARRIAGE CAN A PERSON BECOME LIKE GOD

(1-12) The Lord Commands Marriage

(1-13) Exaltation is Based on Celestial Marriage

 "No man shall receive the fulness of eternity, of exaltation, alone, no woman shall receive that blessing alone; but man and wife, when they receive the sealing power in the temple of the Lord, if they thereafter keep all the commandments, shall pass on to exaltation, and shall continue and become like the Lord." ( Joseph Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:43-44)

(1-14) "Then Shall They Be Gods, Because They Have No End"

(1-15) Only Resurrected and Glorified Geings May Become Parents of Spirit Offspring

 (1-19) Celestial Marriage Makes it Possible for Us to Claim Our Mortal Children in Eternity As Well As to Propagate Ourselves Throughout Eternity

"We will become gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and they worlds will be peopled by our own offspring." (Joseph Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:43-44, 48)

About Contraception and Birth Control

BIRTH CONTROL -- THE CHURCH'S STAND

(16-6) Those Who Practice Birth Control Will Reap Disappointment

(16-8) The Root Reasons for Birth Control

"... in most cases the desire not to have children has its birth in vanity, passion, and selfishness."

(16-10) Unwillingness to Have Children -- an Onslaught Against the Home 

GOSPEL ANSWERS TO THE POPULATION EXPLOSION PROBLEM

 "The precepts of men would have you believe that by limiting the population of the world, we can have peace and plenty. That is the doctrine of the devil." (Ezra Taft Benson in CR, Apr. 1969, p. 12

And, finally, about working moms

THE WOMAN: WIFE, HELPMEET, AND MOTHER

(14-8) Present-Day Allurements Versus the True Responsibilities and Influence of Women

"It is of great concern to all who understand this glorious concept that Satan and his cohorts are using scientific arguments and nefarious propaganda to lure women away from their primary responsibilities as wives, mothers, and homemakers. We hear so much about emancipatioon, independence, sexuual liberation, birth control, abortion, and other insidious propaganda belittling the role of motherhood, all of which is Satan's way of destroying woman, the hom, and the famliy -- the basic unit of society. . . ."

(14-14) It is Seldom Justifiable for Mothers to Work

"How can mothers justify their abandonmnet of home when they are needed so much by their offspring? Rationalization must take over as they justfy themselves in leaving home and children." Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, pp. 116-17.)

So there you have it. That is what Mitt and Ann Romney believe about working moms. They believe that there shouldn't be any (Except for "working moms" like Ann Romney).