Long ago, when I was 18, a friend at work asked me to go to a Mormon meeting with her. The meetings were held in a house near her home and she was curious. We went, and continued to attend those meetings for over a year. Why? We were welcomed, it was all new to us, the meetings were followed by family games which we enjoyed, we made new friends, refreshments did not include caffeine or liquor, and no one hit on us — right away. (Mormon missionaries were supposed to only  date Mormons.) All in all, it was innocent pleasure and even educational.

In all truth, I should add that the first man ever to hold my hand was a Mormon named Glen, whom I really, really liked. At that very point his employer transferred him to Oak Ridge TN (leaving me in Connecticut) and he eventually married a Mormon.

I have always held Mormons in high esteem for their devotion to family life, clean living, tithing, and the way they provided for those in need. During those meetings they asked me to give a talk about why I was still a Catholic. The gist of my talk was that Catholics had produced the Bible, which I likened to the golden egg. Mormonism, to me, was just another sect that had run off with the golden egg — and ignored the goose that laid it!

Today Mormonism is receiving unusual attention in that Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck both profess to be Latter Day Saints.  Romney’s Mormonism is described as his “biggest political hurdle.”  Romney, in reply, says, “Most people in South Carolina want a person of faith as their leader” … “But they don’t care what brand of faith that is … I believe Jesus Christ is my savior. I believe in God. I’m a person of faith and I believe that’s the type of person Americans want.”

Then there’s Glenn Beck, known as a Mormon, who has recently rocketed into political prominence. In this clip Beck says he became a Mormon because his Mormon girlfriend wouldn’t have married him otherwise, but that he later embraced that religion. Mark Dice calls Beck evil and manipulative, sold out to the establishment.

In my humble opinion the following video is the most devastating thing that has ever been aimed at the Latter Day Saints. Toward the end Simon Southerton, Ph.D., a former LDS bishop and plant molecular biologist, considers the DNA evidence that Joseph Smith was a “false prophet” and that the Indians in North America could not possibly have had a Hebrew origin (as stated in the Book of Mormon) but rather originated from Northeast Asia or Siberia. He describes his difficulty in having to abandon Mormonism in the face the scientific DNA evidence which he was fully equipped to understand, not to mention the archeological and linguistic evidence.

Sometime soon Romney and Beck will have to respond to the DNA data. How staunch is their faith? How reasonable is their faith? What will be the outcome? Stay tuned.

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But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned! — Galatians 1:8