I guess we can forget about all the 12th Article of Faith, then

That spinning sound you hear coming from the Avenues in Salt Lake City is Brigham Young, rolling in his grave. Two BYU students just won an "ethics" contest by arguing that it's perfectly fine and even desirable for banks to offer mortgages to illegal immigrants.

This from a school that requires its students to sign a personal "honor code" certifying that they will uphold the standards of the church, which standards include the admonition of "obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law".

I might be wrong, but isn't a social security number required to get a mortgage nowadays? And don't most illegal immigrants use either fake -- or worse -- stolen SSNs? So how is it "ethical" and "good business sense" to help someone commit identity theft? How is ruining an innocent person's credit rating a good thing?

I got an idea for a contest. Let's have the students at BYU's J. Rueben Clark School of Law answer this question: Are banks that knowingly lend money to someone who uses a stolen social security number liable for any damages to the owner's credit rating, reputation, and pocketbook?

Because I know if an illegal immigrant gets a mortgage from a bank by using the SSNs of myself or anyone in my family, I'm going to hire a good lawyer and answer that question in court.

If any bankers are reading this, consider yourself warned.