I read a letter in The Tribune recently in which a Mormon man was lamenting that some people wouldn’t respect their new preferred title of Latter-day Saints, instead of Mormons, their discarded former identity. I’ll tell you why.
It used to be that a “saint” was someone who went above and beyond and did something extraordinary for mankind in the name of their religion. It seems all Mormons have to do to become Saints is join the Mormon church. They can remain bigoted and hateful and ignorant and arrogant and do nothing extraordinary but are saints nevertheless. They’ve stripped the word of all its meaning. Their revered prophet, Brigham Young, was a perfect example when he noted that, “we just as well make a bill here for mules to vote as Negroes or Indians.” What an enlightened prophet. What a saint.
When Young decided that Utah would abide by the 14th Amendment and end slavery in the territory, they didn’t free their slaves, they sold them off.
When “the church” decided to allow Blacks the priesthood, it wasn’t due to a revelation from God. It was because they didn’t want to lose their tax exempt status for openly practicing racial discrimination.
I’m an old man, and if I proclaimed, without offering any evidence, that I talk to God and God listens to me, and God talks to me and tells me what to do, you would label me psychotic and throw me in a looney bin. But if another old man sitting in the church office building proclaims, without offering any evidence, that he talks to God and God listens to him, and God talks to him and tells him what to do, you call him a prophet and do whatever he says. Go figure.
I mentioned arrogance. Mormons claim theirs is the only true religion. While it’s true that it’s a religion, it, like every other religion, is false because all religions are based on the same fiction.
The Book of Mormon is a work of fiction. There’s no evidence of the great civilization mentioned in the book in the fossil record. Where did it go?
Believe what you will, but don’t expect others to validate your fantasies.
Manny Garcia, Salt Lake City
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