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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://deseretnews.com:80/article/content/mobile/0,5223,695236447,00.html","20071219144319","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1198075399"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <title>Deseret Morning News | Election sparks spirited debate about Mormonism</title> <meta name="copyright" content="漏 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company"/> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="/web/20071219144319js_/http://deseretnews.com/js/no-frames.js"></script> <style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <h1> <a href="/web/20071219144319/http://deseretnews.com/home/1,5125,,00.html"><img src="/web/20071219144319im_/http://deseretnews.com/img/mobile-header-article-2.png" style="width:600px;height:63px;margin:7px auto 0 auto;" alt="Deseret Morning News"></a> </h1> </div> <div id="storyContent"> <h2> Election sparks spirited debate about Mormonism </h2> <div id="byline"> <font face="Verdana,Helvetica,Arial"><b>By Ron Grossman and Manya A. Brachear</b></font><br> <font face="Verdana,Helvetica,Arial" size="2">Chicago Tribune</font> </div> <div id="timestamp"> Published: December 16, 2007 </div> <div id="storyText"> CHICAGO  A presidential campaign focused on war, immigration and health care took a theological turn last week, raising questions more often debated in seminaries.<p> "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?" asked Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, in an interview to be published today in The New York Times.<p> Huckabee quickly apologized, but he already had thrown the spotlight back on Republican Mitt Romney, a Mormon, who said Thursday, "I think attacking someone's religion is really going too far."<p> Typically Americans like their leaders to be people of faith, without concerning themselves much about the details.<p> But as they encounter a faith that is little understood, comparatively new and growing fast, voters have expressed a sustained curiosity about what Mormons really do believe.<p> So what about the devil? According to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Huckabee's barb is a sound-bite reduction of a complex story.<p> Jesus and Satan do indeed have the same Heavenly Father, the church says. But during something of a family squabble, a spiritual war that took place before humanity came into existence, Satan rebelled  and Jesus was chosen to be the savior, given life on Earth.<p> "Lucifer will never experience mortality. He surrendered that when he chose to be disobedient and was cast out," said Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the church's Council of the Twelve Apostles.<p> Still, Mormons believe the devil is very much with us  especially in the first stage of our eternal journey. Mormons believe that humans are God's "spiritual children," creatures whose time on Earth is prefaced and followed by a different stages in heavenly career described in great detail in Mormon scriptures.<p> Instead of the conventional Christian picture of heaven and hell, Mormons believe there will be three degrees of glory after the resurrection. Humans will inherit their place in one, depending on their level of devotion.<p> Christopher Kimball Bigelow, a Mormon and co-author of "Mormonism for Dummies," notes that those who reach the highest level will share in God's creative powers  perhaps even creating other planets and life.<p> "God gives his children who pass the test with an A-plus all the power he has," Bigelow said. "He makes you a full partner in the family business."<p> That might sound strange to non-Mormon ears, but Kathleen Flake, a Mormon and associate professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University said some of the concepts of a spiritual life outside our earthly experience date back to early Christianity.<p> "Early church fathers taught of an early pre-mortal existence," Flake said. Joseph Smith's "revelation is catalyzed by his reading of the Bible in every instant."<p> Scholars note that Joseph Smith revised the King James version of the Bible  crossing out some passages, expanding others. He also produced the Book of Mormon, covering 1,000 years of history.<p> Because Mormons believe God continues to reveal himself, new revelations are compiled in a volume titled "Doctrines and Covenants." Another book, "The Pearl of Great Price," is also considered part of the church's scriptural canon.<p> Mormons believe in Jesus' resurrection, with a uniquely American twist: Smith taught that after Jesus' resurrection he had a mission in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. will be a focal point after the Second Coming.<p> "The city of Zion, spoken of by David in the 102nd Psalm, will be built upon the land of America," Smith wrote in 1833.<p> Mormons tried to build a temple in Independence, Mo. before they relocated to Nauvoo, Ill., the site of their first temple. After Smith was killed by a lynch mob, Brigham Young led the Mormons west, settling in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, where the church is centered today.<p> It is the temples which spark so much curiosity, even fears, among non-Mormons. Once dedicated, temples are generally closed to all but worthy Mormons.<p> Even among themselves, Mormons try not to speak about temple ceremonies outside the building itself. Mormons do not consider this secrecy, but reverence.<p> "For Mormons there is no language to describe the experience they have in a temple," said Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp, associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "Voices are kept very hushed in there  certain ritual things said. An encounter with God that Mormons have in the temple that is beyond words, they leave it that way."<p> Mormons are grateful for their new visibility. But they wish it came through true conversation, not political banter.<p> "If you don't contextualize these one-liners they'll never make sense," Flake said of Huckabee's question. "People of goodwill generally assume that believers have a basic rationality to their religious convictions. Politics doesn't lend itself to that kind of goodwill."<p> </i> </div> <div id="copyright"> © 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved </div> </div>  <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20071219144319js_/http://deseretnews.com/js/s_code_H10.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"></script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071219144319/http://www.omniture.com/" title="Web Analytics"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20071219144319im_/http://mngidmn.112.2o7.net/b/ss/mngidmn/1/H.10--NS/0" height="1" width="1" border="0" alt=""/></a></noscript> </body> </html>