The American Spectator

br> — Anonymous /p> p> STRICTLY NEUTRAL br> Re: The Washington Prowler’s Mormonism in the Spotlight and Kim Farah’s letter (under “Strictly Neutral”) in Reader Mail’s Season’s Jottings : /p>

Let a fool leap in where Saints fear to tread. Although the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is not planning an information campaign, and maintains a strict political neutrality, it is clear that misconceptions about Mormons abound. For example, Mormons are classed in a different category than Protestants, yet Mormonism is a Protestant Christian religion. Yes, George Romney, Mitt’s father, lived in Mexico as a child, where a Mormon colony was established (Colonia Juarez) in the 19th century, and Mormons who practiced polygamy went there to escape prosecution in the U.S. Mormons still live there, and run prosperous farms, but no longer officially practice polygamy. Many left Mexico during the time of Pancho Villa. Romney headed American Motors, and was credited with rescuing the company at one point, as Lee Iacocca later did for Chrysler, with his emphasis on the Rambler compact.

Interestingly, another Mormon from the Mexican enclave, a contemporary of George Romney, was Henry Eyring, one of the greatest physical chemists of the 20th century, who got a Ph.D. from Berkley, worked with the great Ferrington Daniels in Wisconsin, did further training at the Kaiser Wilhelm lab (now the Max Planck Institute) between the wars, authored the “green bible” of Quantum physical chemistry and Statistical Thermodynamics, trained a generation of stellar physical chemists as a faculty member and contemporary of Einstein at Princeton, and was the first to show chemical reaction rates could be predicted (a feat that should have earned him the Nobel Prize, but the Nobel committee didn’t know what to make of a first rate scientist who was also an extremely devout Mormon — see his book, Faith of a Scientist).

Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, was also a Mormon. Jack Anderson, the muckraking Washington journalist, was a Mormon. Bay Buchanan is a Mormon. Of course, J. Willard Marriot is a Mormon. A former Director of the CDC was a Mormon. Mormons, believe it or not, even founded Las Vegas (the 150th anniversary of that founding, led by William A. Bringhurst, under the direction of Brigham Young, along with the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the city, was celebrated last year).

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, is arguably the most creative religious figure since Martin Luther, or perhaps of the last 2,000 years. Even Harold Bloom cannot figure out how this un-tutored early 19th century American frontier farm boy came up with the concepts and writings he did, simultaneously advancing highly original notions of Christianity while appearing to tap into an ancient mystical Judaism. One letter noted the idea of God as a man, and indeed, this is the foundation of the very fundamental Mormon concept of “Eternal Progression.” This idea vastly outstrips the notions of current “Progressives.” His was a vision that bound, irrevocably, all humans who have ever lived in truly a “Great Chain of Being,” with the planet, the biosphere, and the Cosmos. And it placed infinite value on human life and existence, not to mention the rest of the biosphere. No religion or philosopher has valued humans, the planet, or the biosphere more, or given a more powerful reason for their existence. This is Evolution writ large and with an infinite perspective.