Political/religious insiders on the SLOC Board of Trustees selected the CEO (Mitt Romney) and the COO (Fraser Bullock) to manage the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games, in part because they were perceived to bring a "squeaky clean" image to the clean-up.
Mitt Romney is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and claims that his Olympic experience is proof of competence to supervise the nation's economy, which includes supervision of all executive branch agencies, including education, energy, environmental, and healthcare policy.
We are witnessing an erosion of science based policy as the separation of the church and state seems to be crumbling all across the nation, both in local and state political races AND in the enactment of policy.
If presidential candidate Mitt Romney credits divine intervention in Salt Lake City's weather during the 2002 Olympics, will he also expect that God can/will intervene in natural disasters? Will God also be expected to mitigate the mass extinctions caused by global warming?
Voters have a legitimate right to ask whether past explanations given for natural weather events, indicate whether Mitt Romney will be willing to rely on science or his personal faith when it comes to global warming and science education.
When evidence of Global warming piles up too high to be ignored, will an expectation of miracles or fulfillment of prophecy be included in policy decisions?
Until Mitt Romney has outlined whether and how his policies will rely on scientific analysis and evidence collected from around the world, these are legitimate questions.
Mitt Romney and Fraser Bullock credit “a divine hand” for the delayed arrival of nasty weather after the closing ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games.
A 'divine hand' in Games?
By Jeffrey P. Haney
Deseret News staff writer, Oct. 2 2002
http://www.deseretnews.com/...
"During the Games I am certain, absolutely certain, we had a divine hand with us," said Fraser Bullock, president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
…
Bullock, who rose from chief financial officer to CEO after fellow church member Mitt Romney quit to run for governor of Massachusetts, threw public-relations cautions to the wind Tuesday at Brigham Young University's weekly devotional.
…
Bullock, a graduate of the LDS Church-owned private school, reminded students that early church leader Brigham Young made this proclamation to Utah's pioneers: "Kings and emperors and the noble and wise of the Earth will visit us here."
"During the Games we had over 140 dignitaries from around the world, in addition to our own president, vice president and almost all of his Cabinet," Bullock said. In a church conference a few months after the Games, Bullock recalled, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said that "we have witnessed the fulfillment of that prophecy in these recent days."
...
Organizers were particularly worried about a wicked windstorm from the west that was forecast to hit Rice-Eccles Stadium "right at the heart" of closing ceremonies, he said.
…
According to CEO (Mitt Romney) and COO (Fraser Bullock), God was in charge of the perfect weather during the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Just 15 minutes after the stadium emptied, Bullock said, the windstorm hit with ferocity. "Mitt Romney and I watched this and commented that this was like a divine punctuation mark of who is really in charge."
…
"These Games were important for our community and for the church." [emphasis mine]
Note to readers: The diarist believes there should be NO RELIGIOUS TEST for political office. This diary is not snark. No offense is intended toward persons of religious faith.
The diarist is attempting to highlight the potential intersection of church/state/public policy that might occur if Mitt Romney is elected POTUS.
A future diary will examine published evidence that religious affirmative action was in practice, when the SLOC Board of Trustees rubber-stamped a back-door selection of two "squeaky clean" businessmen in their efforts to save Utah and the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints from an embarrassing bid-rigging scandal.
UPDATE:
Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 12:02 AM PT: I went back to consult Diaries on Mormon Prophecy in the past 6 months, and am now convinced we've already been hearing a lot of "coded" religious speech that passes without notice by those who don't speak the language.
We have a right to inquire about Romney's beliefs PRECISELY because the separation of church and state is under attack in so many ways. Erosion of that boundary is a fundamental disrespect for the rule of law.
See discussions of Mormonism and Prophecy from back to January this year.
Mitt Romney & The Mormon Kingdom of God
by Jon Staffor
When the Constitution "hangs by a thread
by azrefugee
Google "White Horse Prophesyb
by aaraujo
Is Romney your Savior?
by Orcas George
Please feel free to suggest additional diaries on the subject of Mormon prophecy, especially any that deal with predictions about the environment in the "end times."
I will collect them here in an update.