Paul Grondahl's Oct. 8 article on Mormon religious views informed us that there are more than 55,000 Mormon missionaries serving two-year terms around the world and that Mormons have become the fastest growing religion in 26 states across the United States.
However, the article did not inform us that during the Civil War, the Mormons' sympathies lay with the South because the Mormons treated women as human chattel and Mormon founder Joseph Smith had several dozen wives and that his youngest wife was only 14 years old; Brigham Young, who succeeded Joseph Smith, had as many as 56 wives, according to church records. It was not until 1890 that the Mormons renounced the practice of polygamy and it was not until 1978, when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was 31 years old, that the Mormon Church allowed black people to join the priesthood.
More information on Mormon religious views is available in the Sept. 17, 2012, Newsweek article titled "On God, Money, and What's Wrong with the GOP?" by Martin Amis.
PETER G. SOKARIS
Albany