In article <May.9.05.41.46.1993.27571@athos.rutgers.edu> erh0362@tesla.njit.edu   writes: >  >     Could anyone enlighten me on how the Mormon church views  > children born out of wedlock?  In particular I'm interested to know if any  > stigma is attached to the children as opposed to the parents.  I'm especially  > keen to learn if there is or is not any prohibition in the Mormon faith on  > bastards entering heaven or having their names entered in the big   genealogical  > book the Mormons keep in Salt Lake City.  If this is an issue on which the  > "official" position has changed over time, I'm interested in learning both   old  > and new beliefs.  E-mail or posting is fine.  All information or pointers are  > appreciated. >   Well, since my wife is (in your gentle term) a "bastard", I can probably speak with a bit of authority on this. Any "stigma" associated with children conceived and/or born out of wedlock rests solely upon the parents--they've committed a sexual transgression for which they should repent. The child itself has no a priori limitations on him or her; indeed, the concept of blaming the child for the parents' sins is one most Mormons would find appalling; note that LDS theology rejects original sin, as the term is usually defined, and the subsequent need for infant baptism (cf. Moroni 8 in the Book of Mormon).  Indeed, LDS doctrine goes one step further and in some cases holds parents responsible for their children's sins if they have failed to bring them up properly (cf. D&C 68:25-28; note that this passage applies it only to members of the LDS Church).  Also note that there is no "big genealogical book in Salt Lake City". The LDS Church has a massive storage facility in the nearby mountains containing (on microfilm) vital statistic records (birth, christening, baptism, marriage, death) gathered from all over the entire world. I may be misremembering, but I believe they have records for some 2 billion people in that vault. At the same time, the LDS Church is building up an on-line genealogical database. In neither case is there some kind of "worthiness screening" as to whether someone can be entered in. The only potential issue is that of establishing who the parents were, and that would apply only in the case of the database. ..bruce..  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce F. Webster             |  I love the Constitution of this land, CTO, Pages Software Inc      |  but I hate the damned rascals that bwebster@pages.com           |  administer it.  #import <pages/disclaimer.h> |            -- attributed to Brigham Young -------------------------------------------------------------------------------  [The following arrived as a separate posting --clh]  A follow-up to my own follow-up--lest anyone misunderstand, the term "bastard" is one which I have never in 25 years of LDS Church membership heard applied, formally or informally, to a child born out of wedlock, and indeed would (rightly) be considered a vulgar, offensive term. I would not have echoed the expression in my reply, except in hopes that the poster would recognize the offensive nature of the word in the given context. Unfortunately, after posting my reply, I remembered that subtle points are often lost on the 'net, and figured I'd better spell it out.  ..bruce..