No, we have nothing against Mormons or Mormonism. They are part of the great fabric of believers and non-believers in a country that allows the freedom to worship as one wishes -- or not to worship at all.

But as a homegrown American religion it has had an interesting history to say the least. As a condition of the state of Utah entering the Union, the Mormon Church had to renounce the practice of polygamy.

However, old traditions die hard and polygamy is still practiced in the Southwest states. Prosecutors tend to let it thrive, as long as it doesn't become a public relations headache for them, as it did in the case of Warren Jeffs.

BuzzFlash even recalls an article a few years back from a Utah daily involving Orrin Hatch. At a town meeting, some citizens complained that local polygamists were forcing young women to marry men into polygamous families. Hatch became indignant and -- we are not making this up -- asserted that all the polygamists he knew were good people and that if anyone had any proof of young women being abused that they should bring it to him. Yeah, right.

All that brings us to Mitt Romney and questions raised about his Mormon faith.

A good place to start looking into the Church of the LDS is this engrossing book by bestselling author Jon Krakauer, who uses as a ritual murder carried out by Mormon fundamentalists as a point of departure for exploring the religion and its history.

The New York Times:

In collecting evidence, Mr. Krakauer ventures out to a lunatic fringe of polygamous self-appointed prophets, where the Mormons and the Martians are almost interchangeable. — Janet Maslin

The Washington Post:

Under the Banner of Heaven is not likely to be popular in Utah or other LDS sanctuaries. Perhaps it will inspire backlash books highlighting the violent and tawdry details of Gentile (non-Mormon) faiths. None has a pristine history. This is a chilling book, slowed occasionally by the sheer number of names to recall and relationships to connect, and the somewhat awkward juxtaposition of current events and remote history -- not a beach book but rather a tour de force that must be read carefully and savored.

Kirkus Reviews:

The jarring story of a double murder committed by fundamentalist Mormons, told with raw narrative force and tight focus. Yet this is far more than just the retelling of a grisly murder, for Krakauer (Into Thin Air, 1997) would like to know what was going on in the heads of the men, Dan and Ron Lafferty, when they killed Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica (who happened to be their sister-in-law and niece, respectively), and why Dan, in particular, could be so equi-poised when talking of the event as to display an utter lack of remorse. Finding out requires an extended journey through the world of Mormonism, its history and schisms, and by extension the history of its expansion over the western half of the country. Fundamentalist Mormons differ from mainstream Latter-day Saints in many ways, but their practice of polygamy, notions of blood atonement (revenge), and belief in the importance of personal revelation-their listening to that "still small voice" of God, once a hallmark of Joseph Smith's religion, until he realized it would compromise his authority in matters of church doctrine-made them outlaws in the eyes of the establishment Mormons. Dan's "yearning to return to the mythical order and perfection of the original church," one that had been corrupted by the church hierarchy for years now, led him to fundamentalism, which in turn led him to believe his brother Ron's revelations: that Brenda and Erica must die for the good of the Lord's work (that Brenda encouraged Ron's wife to leave him may have played, let's say, a small role in the revelation). Krakauer worms deeply into the Mormon religious experience, its fractures, violence, and fight against the growing powerof the central government. At the moment "when religious fanaticism supplants ratiocination," then "all bets are suddenly off." Krakauer lays the portent on beautifully, building his tales carefully from the ground up until they irresistibly, spookily combust.