Mormons Makin' Trouble

Bush shakes hands with the head of the Mormon cult, vicious bigot Thomas Monson

Dan Wentzel reported a bus driver, a homophobic bigot, to the L.A. Transit Authority after he insulted gay protesters. Dan feels guilty. He's all torn up. "The driver has a right to free speech and is entitled to his beliefs and opinions-- and his bigotry-- just like everyone else. However, he was a public employee in uniform, on the clock... I found myself with a moral dilemma. What if this person was fired as a result of my complaint? These are tough economic times. Would he find another job? What if he was just having a really bad day?" He spent 2 days going back and forth trying to decide what to do. Finally he made up his mind to report the bigot.

What if he was fired? Isn't that the whole point? What if he can't find another job? What if he can't pay his rent and gets evicted? What if he starves? Revolutions that succeed don't let these kinds of things get in the way, not to the point of inaction. Dan did the right thing. He didn't pull out a gun and shoot the bigot. He didn't follow him home and set his house on fire.

Today's Washington Post has another story about standing up to homophobia-- but to the organized, institutionalized kind: the filthy Mormon cult which has used tens of millions of dollars-- perhaps some of it illegally-- to spew its obsessive, crazed hatred. Long ago Mormon zombies started seeping out of Utah and infecting other states in the West, particularly Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona and California. And wherever they go, they strive to grasp political power for their bizarre satanic cult. Americans barely beat back an attempt by one of them, Mitt Romney, to take over the White House this year.

Ironically, the Mormons in political office are not all of one mind. Sure, most are dangerous reactionary scum, but there are also decent progressive officials who were born into-- or even adopted-- Mormonism and who have been a force for good. There will be 2 less Mormons in Congress in 2008 than there were in 2006. The Senate was a wash, where Mormon Gordon Smith (R-OR) was defeated for re-election by Jeff Merkley but where progressive Democrat (and Mormon) Tom Udall replaced conservative non-Mormon Pete Domenici in New Mexico. Of the other 4 senatorial Mormons, 3 are far right extremist Republicans-- Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID)-- and one is a moderate Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

The net loss for Mormons comes in the House, where New Mexico's Udall was replaced by Ben Lujan, and where another Mormon, John Doolittle (R-CA) was indicted on bribery charges and forced to resign. The only new Mormon elected is a lunatic fringe wingnut, Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) who replaced a more mainstream conservative Chris Cannon, also a Mormon, of course. Although it isn't official, only Mormons can be elected to high office in backward, theocratic Utah. The other two House members from Utah are far right Rob Bishop (R) and conservative Jim Matheson (D). The other 5 Mormon members of the House are all extreme right-wing Republicans, Mike Simpson (R-ID), Dean Heller (R-NV), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Wally Herger (R-CA), and Buck McKeon (R-CA). Their voting records are almost identical: rubber stamp Republican extremists, reflecting a hard core, intolerant Mormon perspective rather than an American one.

The Mormons were the driving force behind the viciously homophobic and anti-American Prop 8 that they managed to narrowly pass in California, targeting gay families for unbearable Nazi-like discrimination. Now they're whining that gays are acting mean towards them. Yet no one has bombed any of their cult centers or perpetrated any violence towards them. Gay leaders are unanimously urging angry victims of Mormon bigotry and hatred to focus on love and compassion and to never turn towards violence. Gays are always reminded-- and rightfully so-- that it is only the evil Cult leaders and their brainwashed believers and not all Mormons who are the progenitors of the bigotry. There are Mormons who fought against the divisive proposition. As the Post reminds us, "There are Mormons so upset they're thinking of renouncing their church membership as well as Mormons who wholeheartedly supported the initiative."

It's unusual for an institution to shrink from responsibility for a victory at the ballot box. But being Mormon isn't quite like being, say, Southern Baptist. The highly centralized LDS church makes a lot of Americans nervous, and it has done so since Joseph Smith founded the movement, which was driven out of state after state before settling in the Salt Lake Valley. Where some see an efficient religious organization that requires unusual devotion from its members, others see conspiracy, even cult.

It's an impression that has its roots in, among other things, the church's practice of polygamy in the 19th century, and it has been self-reinforcing since. Non-Mormons see the church as outside the mainstream; Mormons feel under attack, which fosters a tight communalism within their congregations, and they try to avoid confrontation. Hence [cult spokesman Michael] Otterson doing his best to play down the role church members had in the victory of Proposition 8 in the face of throngs demonstrating in front of temples.

Mormons all over the world are complaining that their cult's interference in California has been a PR disaster and that potential converts are slamming the doors in the faces of the 52,000 brain-sucking zombies the Mormons send out to recruit new members into the cult. Still, the top cult leaders, particularly the newly installed foul chief Mormon who instigated the whole thing, Thomas Monson, say the whole disgraceful episode was a net plus because they were able to bond with other extremist religionist groups, groups that have traditionally targeted the Mormons for their anti-Christian practices.

The Mormons have never come to grips with their own vile history. It defines what they are today: