> <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238&page=3>
>
> In her look at Gov. Mitt Romney's (R-MA) Mormon religion, the Los
> Angeles Times' Elizabeth Mehren gets Ted Haggard, president of the
> National Association of Evangelicals, to say that evangelicals are
> "appalled" by customs such as marrying people after they have died
> and converting the dead. LINK
>
> More Haggard: "We evangelicals view Mormons as a Christian cult
> group. A cult group is a group that claims exclusive revelation. And
> typically, it's hard to get out of these cult groups. And so
> Mormonism qualifies as that."
>
In a world of wacky religions, the Utah Mormons really do stand out a bit-- the special underwear; the secret rooms in the temples; the unvarnished racism in the Book of Mormon; the battle of good and evil between the spirit-babies in heaven; and, not least, the notion that good Mormon men get to be God of their own planets someday.
Were I a conspiracy fan, I would think that Mormons invented Scientology, perhaps the only religion to involve hydrogen bombs in its creation myths, to make their own religion seem a bit saner.
--tim francis-wright