It makes sense that a candidate seeking to be the first Mormon president would be hesitant to talk about his faith. More than 100 years after it outlawed polygamy, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remains an object of mystery and ridicule for many in the country. In the new Newsweek Poll, only 45 percent of registered Iowa Republicans say America is ready for a Mormon president—in spite of the fact that he's the front runner in the state. Romney's candidacy will be many voters' first glimpse into the world of Mormonism, a world that embraces American ideals of hard work, frugality, self-reliance and optimism, as well as more off-putting aspects—such as a zeal for evangelism, an image that some see as overly wholesome and plastic, and secret temple rituals like baptisms for the dead. Romney's biography is fully Mormon. When asked by Newsweek if he has done baptisms for the dead—in which Mormons find the names of dead people of all faiths and baptize them, as an LDS spokesperson says, to "open the door" to the highest heaven—he looked slightly startled and answered, "I have in my life, but I haven't recently." The awareness of how odd this will sound to many Americans is what makes Romney hesitant to elaborate on the Mormon question.
Now how would that work, exactly? Don't you need a body for a baptism, or at the very least, a head? I'm sure the Mormons don't dig up dead bodies, so how do they go about baptizing dead people? Is it as simple as finding someone's obituary in the newspaper, lighting a few candles and saying some prayers? That doesn't sound so hard. (Almost sounds like cheating.)
Aren't there enough Mormon babies to baptize?
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