Romney troubled by Mormonism's polygamous past

[Vegas]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070510/pl_nm/usa_politics_romney_dc;_ylt=AlZ6lAVOhsGFOY1PrPee7V oa.3QA

BOSTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said his Mormon religious faith's history of polygamy could trouble American voters but that he too is bothered by it.
The former Massachusetts governor, whose great-grandfather had five wives and whose great-great-grandfather had a dozen, said in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday that the practice banned by the Mormon church in 1890 was "awful."

"That's part of the history of the church's past that I understand is troubling to people," he said, according to comments to be aired on the CBS network's "60 Minutes" television program. Excerpts were released on Thursday.

"I have a great-great grandfather. They were trying to build a generation out there in the desert and so he took additional wives as he was told to do. And I must admit, I can't imagine anything more awful than polygamy," he said.

Romney has raised the most money among Republican candidates but opinion polls show him trailing former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), as well as Sen. Fred Thompson, who has not formally entered the race.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the faith is formally known, distances itself from 30,000 to 60,000 breakaway Mormons in Utah and nearby states who practice polygamy illegally, as well as the many excommunicated Mormons in polygamous marriages who still identify with the faith.

Joseph Smith, founder of the once-isolated sect based in Salt Lake City, Utah, took at least two dozen wives, say historians. His successor, Brigham Young, had about 20.

The practice was officially banned when Washington, angered by its spread, threatened to deny statehood to Utah.

Romney, 60, who has previously called polygamy "bizarre," does not drink, smoke or swear. He is married to his high school sweetheart, which sits better with conservative Christians than Giuliani's two failed marriages and McCain's divorce.

But as he seeks to become the first Mormon U.S. president, he has faced a challenge in courting conservative Christians who often dismiss his religion as a cult but now could decide his political fate.

On Wednesday, he dismissed as "bigoted" comments by civil rights activist
Al Sharpton who said on Monday that "those of us who believe in God" will defeat Romney.

Romney is the fifth Mormon to seek the White House. His father, former Michigan governor George Romney, ran in 1968 and the church's founder, Joseph Smith, was shot to death by a mob during his 1844 presidential campaign.

[Iron Jaw]

I remember when George Romney ran for president in the primaries against Nixon and a host of others in 1968. Of course, at the time the issue wasn't so much polygamy (though it was mentioned) but the fact that The Latter Day Saints at the time did not allow black people into the priesthood.....they were allowed to become Mormons, and even minor clergy, but not priests (though some of the breakoffs allowed it). And remembering the times, just a year after George Romney ran for president, several black members of the University of Wyoming football team were tossed from the squad because they wanted to wear black armbands to protest the priest issue during a game with Brigham Young. The Wyoming coach denied the initial request, and when the black players decided to do it anyway, he threw all protesters off the squad. In 1978, the Mormons changed their rule and began to allow black priests. The priesthood rule lasted from 1848 through 1978.

There was an old joke about that of course. Someone suggested that Coach Lavell Edwards needed quicker wide receivers at BYU and the church decided it was a pretty good idea. :p One never knows in this football mad society.

One key fact about Joseph Smith though. The founder of the Latter Day Saints not only befriended black people in the 1830's, he allowed them into his church and to become priests. Joseph Smith ordained free black men to the Priesthood, and wanted blacks freed, educated, and given equal rights. He invited people "of every color" to join the Church and worship in the Nauvoo Temple (Times & Seasons, 12 Oct. 1840). In fact, Joseph Smith had an adopted brother who was black named Elijah Abel. But Joseph Smith was killed in 1844 when he was running for president by an anti-Mormon mob. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, under their new leader Brigham Young, fled Illinois and resettled in Utah.

Blacks who were already ordained priests joined the primary breakoff group, called the Reorganized Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who's base remained in Independence, Illinois.

I'm not a member of LDS (actually, I'm an Anglican married to a Roman Catholic). However, over the years I've learned quite a bit about them. several roommates of mine during my college years were members of LDS in the Mormon infested area of SW Colorado. And, many of my colleagues in the U.S. Border Patrol are members of LDS. The LDS has one of the best language schools in the world and trains it's missionaries to speak the language of the country they are assigned to. Thus, there are many Spanish speaking Mormons who find the Patrol an attractive career. One of the guys at the station did his missionary work in Taiwan, and speaks almost fluent Chinese. His brother, also in the Patrol, speaks the Tagalog of the Philippines.