Bennett tests his faith in the Book of Mormon

When Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, was public relations director for the late billionaire Howard Hughes and his corporation, he was tasked to prove that both an autobiography and a will attributed to Hughes were forgeries.

What he learned about forgers has led him to write a new book, "Leap of Faith," published by the LDS Church's Deseret Book, looking at whether the Book of Mormon may have been written by someone other than ancient prophets, as the church says.

Of course, it also allows him to show the world that he is a faithful Mormon at a time when several conservatives in his own party are challenging him for his seat. He says the timing of the book was coincidental, and that the book was actually designed to come out now before he expected his race would be challenged.

Still, "I'm not going to complain if it convinces some of the (state Republican convention) delegates that I'm not in league with the devil," he conceded this week.

Bennett said work on the book started in 2001, when press coverage leading up to the 2002 Olympics in Utah sometimes disparaged the Book of Mormon, in his words, "as a fabrication, one whose claims and history were so bizarre that no one with any common sense could believe it be authentic."

Bennett said he writes for relaxation — while waiting for Senate votes and during travel — so he started writing a response to the criticism. It became more and more involved as questions arose, and he did more research. Over a few years, it turned into a book.

Its framework uses what he learned looking into the Hughes forgeries, and what he said are signs that signal a forgery.

That includes looking at whether a work is consistent with itself or has any loose ends; if there is external evidence to back what the book claims, or if it contains anachronisms; what motive someone would have to make a forgery; and the relevance of the message by the supposed authors.

Bennett said, for example, that by using such evaluations, he knew "within 30 minutes" that a supposedly handwritten will by Hughes giving much of his fortune to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a forgery.

"A forger always reflects the time in which he is writing," and Bennett said the fake will reflected stories about Hughes in newspapers when he died. For example, it made longtime Hughes chief executive Noah Dietrich the will's executor, and gave the "Spruce Goose" airplane to the city of Long Beach.

But "Hughes fired Dietrich in a bitter, bitter fight — hated him. Dietrich is the last person Hughes would have named as executor of his will," Bennett said.