Editor:

I am writing in response to the Oct. 12 letter to the editor, “Why so much anti-Mormon literature?”

Kellen Wilson, of “women shouldn’t dress like sluts” and “liberals rape dogs” fame, now takes a sudden interest in defamatory statements. Well, suck it up. Just because the subject is your religion doesn’t entitle you to a free pass from hearing things you’re uncomfortable with.

A statement like “the Mormon religion and its leaders have espoused racist doctrines” is not necessarily defaming the Mormon Church. It’s an argument that refers to specific statements and text in the religion.

Statements like 2 Nephi 5:21, where it is explained that the Lamanites, or American Indians as the rest of us call them, were once white, but then they sinned so God cursed them with dark skin.

But not to worry, 2 Nephi 30:6 assures us they’ll be white again. Why, Spencer Kimball even saw it in action and talked about it in a General Conference Report, October, 1960.

“The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the 20 Lamanite missionaries, 15 of the 20 were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.”

Now, it’s true that there’s parts of LDS doctrine I take exception to, but it sure is nice that Mormons give others a chance to become white.

Gordon Swift

Junior, Chemistry