The campaigns by Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. for the GOP presidential nomination, along with the popular and profane Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon,” are putting Mormons in the public eye. But common caricatures — not to mention some of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ public relations efforts — create confusion about this 14 million-strong religion. So let’s unpack some misunderstandings about how this faith can engage the world, whether on a mission or in the White House.
Five Myths
A feature from The Post’s Outlook section that dismantles myths, clarifies common misconceptions and makes you think again about what you thought you already knew.
1. Mormons practice polygamy.
Mainstream Mormons do not practice polygamy today, but it remains part of our history and theology. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, married at least 33 women (often without the consent of his first wife, Emma) and preached that polygamy was divinely sanctioned. In 1890, more than four decades after Smith’s death, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the mainstream Mormon Church — yielded to political pressure and phased out the practice. Today, members who marry more than one spouse are excommunicated, but ultra-orthodox splinter groups continue the practice.
Polygamy remains a source of tension for mainstream Mormons. Mormon public figures routinely play down our polygamous history, saying that only a tiny percentage of 19th-century Mormon families were polygamous. (Historians say it was 20 to 30 percent.) But the LDS Church, which teaches that marriages — or “sealings” — performed in its temples are eternal, has never disavowed elements of Mormon theology suggesting that polygamy will be practiced in heaven. Church policy permits widowed and some divorced men to be sealed for all eternity to more than one wife, while Mormon women may not be sealed to more than one husband. Consequently, some mainstream LDS Church members anticipate polygamy as part of eternity, while others reject it.
2. Mormons aren’t Christians.
A few weeks ago, an anchor on Fox News stated that Mitt Romney is “obviously not . . . a Christian.” Yet that same Sunday morning, millions of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world prayed in the name of Jesus Christ, received a bread-and-water sacrament memorializing the body and blood of Christ, and discussed Christ’s teachings in Sunday school.
We Mormons view ourselves as Christians. Many Christian pastors and scholars, however, point to theological technicalities that disqualify us from the mainline tradition. Some evangelicals do not see us as Christians for reasons rooted in antiquated anti-Mormon prejudice. And Mormons distance ourselves from other Christians by claiming that our faith offers a “restoration” of doctrines lost to mainstream Christendom.
Growing up in California, I frequently heard that I belonged to a cult; local churches screened anti-Mormon films; and classmates taped anti-Mormon notes in my locker. Some people will never see Mormons as Christians. But ask my Jewish husband if he thinks his Christmas-celebrating, New Testament-reading Mormon wife is Christian, and his answer will be absolutely yes.
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