Archive/File: people/g/gritz.bo gritz.003
Last-Modified: 1994/10/26

From: Dan Yurman 

/* Written  8:25 PM  Oct 21, 1994 by dyurman in igc:gen.right */
This is the latest reports on human rights and environmental
issues from Eastern Idaho, America's empty quarter.  Today's date
is October 21, 1994.
 
GRITZ LEAVING MORMON CHURCH
 
The Associated Press reported this week that James "Bo" Gritz
asked that he and his family be striken from Mormon Church
membership rolls.  Gritz and his family have been members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the past 10
years.  The former third-party presidential candiate now says
that he no longer wants to be part of a faith that, "appears to
be more controlled by the government than God."  Gritz told the
news media this week that hehad made the request in writing to
the church's governing First Presidency.
 
Gritz says his decision to leave the LDS church came after his
stake president refused to renew his "temple recommend" because
Gritz did not file a 1993 income-tax return.  A "recmmend" is a
document signed by a stake president and a bishop attesting to a
member's faithfulness to Mormon strictures.  It is required for
entry into the church's temples.
 
Gritz told the news media, "My question is - where in the
equation of salvation does the Internal Revenue Service fit?  He
told me he was withholding the blessings ofthe church until he
saw a 1040 form from me."
 
This is not the first time the Mormon Church and Gritz have
tangled.  In December 1992 the Mormon Church warned its
membership not to accept Gritz's teachings on politics nor his
criticisms of the Federal government.
 
Gritz has since retreated an enclave of 200 acres near Kamiah,
Idaho, (near Lewiston) which he and his followers call a
"Christian Covenant Community."

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