Mormons saddle up for Bush's second coming but hope for a little humility

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1393627,00.html

George Bush never campaigned in Utah. He did not need to. Without showing up, he won 71% of the vote here in November, the biggest majority in any state. This is the land of the faithful in more ways than one. The church of the Latter-day Saints dominates public and private life from its multi-steepled white stone temple in Salt Lake City, and its influence is spreading wider with every passing year.

The Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons, believe that America was first peopled by a lost tribe of Israelites and then visited by Jesus. Now they have shrugged off their polygamous past and represent the country's fastest growing religion with more than 4 million members. Their church is bigger than some of the "mainstream" Protestant denominations including the Presbyterians and Episcopalians. In President Bush's America, the Mormons are the mainstream and nearly 90% of them voted to re-elect him.

Asked about their decision to re-elect the president, a lot of Utah Mormons, like Christian conservatives in general, will say they knew in their gut he was a man of God, on whom they could rely. But when it comes to policies many of them are queasy.

"I voted for Bush. I thought Kerry was dishonest. He was evil almost," said Julie Smith, out shopping in the prosperous and devout suburb of Bountiful, just outside Salt Lake City. "I like Bush because he's a good man and I think he's got wonderful ideas, but I don't think it's worked out the way he thought it would." Ms Smith, a retired teacher, has particular distaste for the president's flagship education policy, but she is also unnerved by the downward spiral of events in Iraq particularly as it affects the local boys from the Utah national guard. "I like the idealism but I don't like what's happening. But at least he'll try," she said hopefully of the president's second term.