Mitt the Mormon

Mormons ae generally nice people -- hard-working, energetic, and clean-cut. Romney is no exception, and seems to have done a good job of being Governor. Successive governors and legislators in Utah also seem to have done pretty well.

The religion is to giggle at, however -- a collection of every sort of early 19th Century silliness, plopped on top of a basically Presbyterian ethos. The Book of Mormon is the second most successful religious novel of the 19th Century -- after Ben Hur.

Meso-American archaeology in the 20th Century was largely supported by well-off Mormon businessmen, seeking validation of Joseph Smith's fairy-tales of an Iron-age culture in the Americas. What was found, instead, were numerous High Neolithic cultures. No iron, very little, if any, bronze, and lots of feathers.

As to Mormonism being a cult -- NAAHH, They are too mainstream, and unlike most cults (Jehovah's Witless, for example), they don't try to cut you off from your family -- they want you to recruit them -- both the live ones and the dead ones. :)

Mormons aren't Christian -- they fail the first test: "I believe in _ONE_ God . . ." -- they believe in innumerable gods, and every Mormon boy (not girls, mind you :) has a chance to become a god. Not being Christian doesn't make them a cult -- "Christian Science" is neither Christian nor science, but is perfectly respectable, if a bit dull. The same goes for Unitarianism.

What it all comes down to is that I'd be willing to vote for Romney for President, unless some REAL scandal appears, or the Democrats run someone more reasonable. Then, too, some of the FunDUHmentalists screaming about Romney look a lot more cultish than the LDS.