This is from November but it's just now come to my attention through a website dedicated to helping victims of "fundamentalist" Mormon polygamists.
Mitt Romney to BYU students: Most important work is serving others, God
By LEE DAVIDSON | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Nov 18 2014 11:57AM
Provo • Mitt Romney says life's greatest work isn't something like running for president of the United States, but instead focusing on others and God.
He told Brigham Young University students Tuesday that life's most important work is "to lift others, to lift your spouse and family if you marry, and to remain true and faithful to the Almighty."
Romney, a BYU alumnus, addressed wildly cheering students and faculty packed into the LDS Church-owned school's vast Marriott Center, outlining lessons from his runs for president. He often focused on the spiritual side of what he's learned.
For example, he said, he has learned a bit how God works, even though, "I know, that's way above my pay grade."
But he said, "God does not always interfere in the affairs of men to make things work out the way we would like them to." Still, he said, too many people think God will help their business be profitable, help them win a promotion or get rich.
"More often than not, our secular affairs are up to us," Romney said. "Don't count on God to save you from the consequences of your decisions or to arrange earthly affairs to work in your favor."
He told his fellow Mormons that they may sometimes feel their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a burden, but the blessings outweigh the problems.
"Some folks will think you're not Christian. Some may be insulted that you don't drink, and others will think you're trying to be better than them by not swearing," he said. But "your fellow members of the church will be a blessing that far more than compensates. They will bless you when you are sick, lift you up when you fall, help when you raise a teenager, counsel you about a job, and, yes, even move your unpacked junk."
He said he once needed a big audience to impress the news media at a rally in New Hampshire. "You can imagine how relieved I was to step onto the stage and see a large and enthusiastic crowd."
On closer examination, he saw that it was largely an LDS congregation from nearby Wolfeboro, where he owned a summer home. ... [snip]
He also quipped about how different BYU is now from when he was a student there. Back then, he said, Emma was Joseph Smith's only wife.
The jest referred to a recent controversial essay on the LDS Church website acknowledging that the faith's founder had as many as 40 wives.
One student also yelled from the audience, "Are you running for president." Romney replied simply, "I did that, actually."
The response from
the anti-polygamy site, Polygamy.org, which was not amused by the quip:
An Open Letter to Mormon Leaders and Members
Recently Mitt Romney spoke at Brigham Young University during a devotional, and in his introduction he made a joke about the changes that have occurred since he went to school there, which included Joseph Smith having one wife compared to being a polygamist (alluding to the recent public Mormon essay about Joseph Smith and polygamy) — Romney’s B. Y. U. audience laughed.
Polygamy is YOUR INSIDE JOKE, not ours.
At the time we wrote our response to your essay on early Mormon polygamy, it was too early to read opinions, Facebook posts, and comments throughout the media from distraught members of your church who never knew that Joseph Smith had plural wives; let alone married teenage girls, took other men’s wives, while he kept marriages hidden from his loyal wife Emma.
Reading posts from around the world from your members, who have now learned that their religious leaders, whom they trusted, deceived them by keeping important facts about their founding leader out of missionary lessons, and church publications, is NO JOKE.
Individuals and families become members of your faith based on the information they receive from missionary lessons, and when information is purposely withheld, it is no different than the slimy salesman selling a lemon (yes, there are lemon laws!), who neglect providing the buyer with important facts because all he really wants is their money. In Mormonism, membership is the product being sold, and to be a member in good standing tithing is a requirement (the monetary exchange for temple worthiness).
If the L.D.S. business was not cloaked in religion, you would have fraud charges filed against your church for deception, and the JOKE WOULD BE ON YOU!
If you do not have a legal duty (which we believe you do) to be honest, then you certainly have a moral duty to be honest in your dealings. Not only did you hide important facts about polygamy, and continue to do so, you have not apologized for your deception.
The second Mormon missionary lesson is based on the “Plan of Salvation” and the importance of free-agency. According to this missionary lesson, “Agency, or the ability to choose, is one of God’s greatest gifts to His children. Our eternal progression depends on how we use this gift. We must choose whether to follow Jesus Christ or follow Satan.”
If free-agency is so important than why are you using deception by purposely hiding information to gain and keep members, instead of allowing them their free-agency to learn about the “fullness of the gospel” and then decide whether they want to support it, or not? $$
In the past, Latter-day members have been dis-fellowshipped, excommunicated or ostracized for investigating the facts behind polygamy, and now you are presenting some of these same facts and expecting members to be happy when reading the punchline to your (not-so) funny joke about polygamy.
We were members who did our own research, and found out for ourselves that the Mormon Church had “changed” or “hidden” many of its gospel principles, including polygamy. We were cast out for knowing the punchline beforehand. We believe other members who “question” your polygamy joke will be marginalized for being offended, and not laughing.
There continues to be no apology from you (church officials) about hiding important historical facts about polygamy. Your lack of compassion and lack of accountability, and not reaching out to frustrated and angry members of your church, indicate you are as sick as your inside joke.
Shamefully, this recent news about Joseph Smith didn’t come from the First Presidency or from the pulpit to its members; instead it was posted quietly on a website, and the media exposed it—similar to finding out through the grapevine that your husband has cheated on you with someone else. (Oh, let us not forget, that is how J.S.’s polygamy works!)
Now it will be up to your members to figure out their testimony and decide whether or not they want to continue paying their tithes to show their allegiance and obedience to a church that believes similar to their Founder—that the privileged male can lie, cheat and deceive the “wife of his youth” and all those around him.
Sincerely,
Polygamy.org Administrators
Former L.D.S. members/ex-plural-wives
