I like what U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said the other day when asked by a Salt Lake Tribune reporter if he thinks George W. Bush should follow up his apology to the Catholics with an apology to the Mormons.
Nah, said Bennett, it's no big deal.At issue is Bush's visit to Bob Jones University, a conservative school in South Carolina where Mormons, Catholics and other religious denominations are filed away somewhere between Satan and Madonna.
Bob Jones University, or BJU, is run by Dr. Bob Jones III, grandson of the original Dr. Bob Jones, an evangelist who started the school in 1927 as an alternative to America's existing schools of higher learning. Schools that, in Dr. Jones' estimation, tend to ruin faith and morals.
At BJU, you are not going to find "American Beauty" playing in the campus cinema, no coed dorms and no tattoos or earrings unless they're on girls.
If you squint, you'd think you were at BYU, although at BJU they say y'all, don't have a football team and allow Coca Cola.
But BJU is not high on BYU, or Notre Dame for that matter, because, as it says in the Bob Jones college creed, their guide is "whatever the Bible says is so," and as they read it, the Bible doesn't say what the Catholics say, or the Mormons.
At debate is the same thing that's been dividing Christians for centuries -- namely, what is it that gets you into heaven?
Works, faith or rites?
At Bob Jones, they say faith and only faith.
Catholics go with all three, heavy on the rites. Mormons also come down strongly on the side of all three.
Old news, of course. Very old news. Until the presidential campaign revved it back up.
Presidential contender Bush quickly apologized for not distancing himself from any anti-Catholic sentiments, which brought up the "What about the Mormons?" question.
Should George W. Bush be an equal opportunity apologizer?
The answer: What Bob Bennett said.
"Don't bother."
No apology necessary.
What sleight?
Hey, I'm a Mormon, and the only rise it would get out of me is if somebody told me it got a rise out of me.
I don't think it will affect the Mormon vote, if that's what anybody's thinking.
Although this is contrary to what a writer named Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report suggested.
As quoted in the Tribune article, Bedard wrote, "Mormons tell us they'll vote their anger (against Bush) in the March 10 Utah primary."
What anger?
Say what you want collectively about Mormons, but -- and I think I speak here for the vast majority -- we tend to reserve our anger for basketball.
We do not shine playing basketball, in church leagues especially, and even watching it we are capable of a fairly decent Latrell Sprewell imitation.
We also are pretty average, road rage-wise, on the highways. Especially the past couple of years. For this, we need to repent.
And many BYU Mormons will probably never be able to forgive Bryant Gumbel for that "Bo Diddley" comment even if they try all their lives.
But for the most part, the Mormon culture is fairly laid-back, particularly when it comes to grudges, vengeance and political outrage.
Where you've been, who you've talked to, hey, it's your life.
If Bush doesn't win here Friday it won't be because he visited Bob Jones University and members of Utah's majority religious denomination are upset. It will be because people think he's a crummy politician. Or at least crummier than John McCain.
Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Send e-mail to benson@desnews.com, fax 801-237-2527.