As Ex-Mormon, I Cannot Agree With LDS President

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney may be a great human being for all I know. He may be an intellectual giant capable of operating at the strospheric heights of geopolitics that our next president will need to be able to do. Even though he's a conservative and would therefore never get my vote in any event, it would never have occurred to me in the past to suggest he be disqualified because of his religion.

But I must do so, based on deep personal experience.

Many years ago, I was an active member of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City. Anyone who thinks the LDS church is more like the Catholic church than it is like a secret sect when it comes to expectations of its adherents is simply wrong. Recall that when JFK ran for president, many people questioned whether a man who practiced loyalty to a religious leader who claimed infallibility in matters of religion, could lead the country independent of that influence. Kennedy proved that was possible.

But the Mormons are not the Catholics. Don't let yourself be fooled. Members of what people in Salt Lake City refer to baldly as "The Church" must toe the line not only religiously but socially and politically to remain in good standing. I know. I refused to do so and was excommunicated (with my whole-hearted cooperation) as a result.

"The Church" decided, for example, that it would be wrong for me to appear as a protester against the death penalty in the case of Gary Mark Gilmore. I was warned that if I showed up to protest his execution, I would be guilty of violating church edicts and would be disciplined. I went anyway.

"The Church" later decided it was more important to "save" mature adults from exposure to sex in the form of adult theaters downtown than it was to protect society from the violence of capital punishment. I was directed to picket one of the local theaters. I declined.

Make no mistake about it. The Mormon Church exerts a far more powerful and direct and pervasive influence and control over its members than any other near-mainstream religious body of which I am aware. Anyone who is a member in good standing of that church ought by that very membership be considered disqualified to hold national office.

This was a difficult post for me to write. I am by foundational belief an interfaith spiritual teacher, coach, writer and speaker. I do not mean to disparage Mormonism. As a religion, it has much to recommend it. As a social system, it is praiseworthy on many levels. But its insistence on mind control over its members -- at least as evidenced by my own personal experience -- dictates that it cannot be trusted to allow a Mormon President to function independently of the Church's extremely reactionary politics and social practices.