Mormon Life - What They're Saying About "Us"

New York Times forum raises questions about Mormonism

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:14:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: Writers invited by the New York Times to write for a debate forum this week titled "What is it about Mormons?" are using the forum to "bash" the LDS Church. Too much money, too perfect, too happy, too disconnected with the real world.

Is it Mitt Romney people are bothered with, or the Mormon Church?

Despite Romney's attempts to persuade the American public to vote for him on record and not religion, voters in South Carolina showed how skeptical some people still are to accept the Mormon candidate. According to exit polls charted by Christianity Today, Romney especially struggled among born-again/evangelical Christians who threw most of their support behind a thrice-married Catholic rather than back Romney, even though he earlier got more than 50 percent of the same voters in New Hampshire.

Rick Santorum-backing pastor plays the 'Mormon cult' card

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:18:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: Again, seriously? An evangelical pastor supporting a rival Republican presidential candidate is attacking Mitt Romney by calling The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a "cult."

And this time neither Robert Jeffress nor Rick Perry are involved.

"I know there have been many people who said they'd hold their nose and vote for Romney if he gets the nomination, but I'm not [one of them], I won't vote for him," Rev. Huey Mills, head of the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools, told The Hill blog site.

Is America ready for a Mormon President?

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:11:00 -0700

source: cbsnews.com

Mormon Life says: Romney finally makes a blunt statement about his LDS beliefs. Mitt Romney faced down the question of whether America is ready for a Mormon President on Friday night in Hilton Head, South Carolina. During a town meeting, supporter Betty Treen took the microphone to ask the former Massachusetts Governor point blank about his faith.

"I am for you, but I need to ask you a personal question: Do you believe in the divine saving grace of Jesus Christ?" A murmur could be heard in the crowd in the few seconds it took Romney to get the microphone back.

"Yes, I do," Romney began, as the crowd erupted into applause led by home state governor Nikki Haley, who was on stage with the candidate she has endorsed.

The Mormon conversation America needs

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:25:00 -0700

source: washingtonpost.com

Mormon Life says: I like what this author has to say. He suggests increased exposure means short-term pain but a long-term gain in greater understanding and knowledge about the Mormon faith. There is a tension--mostly healthy--within contemporary Mormonism. Mormons both want to be distinctive and to find full acceptance within American society. Striking that balance has proven difficult. For the most part, Mormons have been distinguished by their distinctiveness.

Mormons are distinct in some big ways. They have a unique theology, new scripture, and on at least some issues, hold opinions that are far from the norm. According to the new survey of Mormons by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 94 percent of Mormons believe that the president of the LDS Church is a prophet of God, and 91 percent believe that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets and translated by Joseph Smith.

Differences aside, evangelicals see LDS as political allies

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:51:00 -0700

source: sltrib.com

Mormon Life says: Really interesting results from a poll about how different voting groups view Mormons. Evangelicals may grouse about Mormons calling themselves Christians. But a new national poll by The Salt Lake Tribune shows that most of them still view Mormons as like-minded political allies on such social issues as abortion and gay rights.

That may be why the same poll, as previously reported, shows big majorities of white evangelicals and Republicans say they would feel comfortable voting for a Mormon for president — although a still-sizable minority of about a quarter of all evangelicals say they would feel uncomfortable.

That minority is big enough that it could hurt Mitt Romney, a Mormon, in GOP primaries — where most GOP candidates have similar social views, so evangelicals could easily opt instead for someone with religious views more similar to their own.

For Mormons, polygamy remains a PR stumbling block

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:48:00 -0700

source: sltrib.com

Polygamy still clings to the LDS Church’s image — even though the Utah-based faith abandoned the practice more than a century ago.

It was the No. 1 negative quality cited by 28 percent of respondents in a national Salt Lake Tribune poll who were “uncomfortable” with voting for a Mormon for U.S. president.

Evangelicals warm, cool to Mormon president

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:09:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Franklin Graham, the fourth of Billy Graham's five children and president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told the Christian Broadcasting Network recently that Mitt Romney's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should not be a factor in his campaign for the presidency of the United States.

"The fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon doesn't bother me," Graham said when CBN reporter George Thomas asked him if a Christian could vote for a Mormon for president. "I think when we are voting for president we need to get the person who is absolutely the most qualified. You can have the nicest guy and he can be a Christian and just wonderful but have absolutely no clue as to how to run a country — you don't want that. You want somebody who understands Washington, understands government, who understands how to bring people together so that we can move this country forward."

2011: The Year of the Mormon

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:36:00 -0700

source: bycommonconsent.com

Mormon Life says: This blogger lists all the people, events, and things that made this year big for the LDS Church. What a wild year it’s been. Never has Mormonism been so culturally relevant, and never has the undulating curve of popular opinion shifted so wildly, so quickly. As the year draws to a close, I think we’re safe in naming 2011 “The Year of the Mormon.” The BCC permas have picked out a few reasons why:

Writers ponder Mormonism's 'theological weirdness'

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:44:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: The article makes a good point: people don't reduce Hinduism to cow worshiping, or Islam to jihadist martyrs, so why do they do it with Mormonism? In the midst of all of the attention lavished on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during what has been called "the Mormon moment," one of the most intriguing — and disturbing — elements of media coverage has focused on what one writer calls the "supposed theological weirdness" of LDS doctrine.

Writing on the Religion Dispatches magazine website, Max Perry Mueller, the Eccles Foundation Mormon Studies Fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah, references the pithy, prosaic musings of "celebrated pundits and public intellectuals" like Harold Bloom, Michael Ruse and Maureen Dowd as he observes that "casual assertions of knowledge about Mormon theology have dismayed longtime scholars of Mormonism."

Jews can learn a lot from Mormons, editor says

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:24:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: I love what he says about the LDS Church's response to The Book of Mormon musical: "Brilliant, with a restraint we seem incapable of." Whether or not Mitt Romney becomes president of the United States, the editor of The Jewish Week in New York says there is a lot Jews can learn from the Mormons.

"For the most part, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) takes a decidedly, and admirably low-key approach to negativity in the media and elsewhere, focusing on its mission," wrote Gary Rosenblatt, The Jewish Week editor and publisher. "And in that, and other ways, there is much the American Jewish establishment can learn from the Mormons."

Commentary: Yale professor warns of Mormon theocracy in NY Times

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:43:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: The NY Times article is incredibly biased and speaks negatively of the Church. So disappointing. Mormons are somewhat fond of quoting Yale professor Harold Bloom when he refers to the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an "authentic religious genius."

He even repeated this in a recent interview with the Deseret News where he not only said Joseph Smith was a religious genius, but that "Had I been a nineteenth-century American and not Jewish I would probably have become a Mormon . . . "

But Mormons are not as likely to quote Bloom's opinion piece in the New York Times on Saturday titled, "Will This Election Be the Mormon Breakthrough?" where he calls the LDS Church a "knowledge-hungry religious zealotry" and its leaders "plutocratic oligarchs."

Mormon practices applauded

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:30:00 -0700

source: times-herald.com

Mormon Life says: This letter to the editor comes from a woman who is not LDS but has a lot of good things to say about members. In response to the letter "Mormonism and Christianity," I thought the freedom to practice our beliefs was one of the major reasons we are here in the United States. Isn't that one of the main reasons our soldiers are fighting -- to keep that right and freedom for us?

If not, someone needs to explain to some families why their father, brother, mother, sister, son or daughter dies for no reason.

The Mormons, excuse me, Latter Day Saints, believe in keeping and teaching their children to stay pure and a virgin until they wed.

Comparative polling suggests public shift in comfort with a Mormon president

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:30:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

A new national public opinion poll suggests that a significant shift may be taking place among Americans relative to their comfort with seeing a Mormon in the White House.

And as far as backers of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. are concerned, it's not a good shift.

According to a new public opinion poll released early Tuesday by the Public Religion Research Institute, "a majority of voters (53 percent) said they were somewhat or very comfortable with a Mormon president, while 42 percent said a Mormon president would make them somewhat or very uncomfortable," wrote Dan Merica for CNN.

CNN Poll: Mormon candidate not a problem for most Americans

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:14:00 -0600

source: cnn.com

Mormon Life says: After all that's been said, it's nice to hear poll numbers from this point of view. Americans overwhelmingly say a presidential candidate being Mormon wouldn't affect their vote, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday.

The survey, which was taken after a controversial pastor said Mormonism was a "cult" and that GOP voters should support a "competent Christian," also shows a majority of Americans believe Mormons are Christians.

Eighty percent of respondents in the survey said a candidate's Mormonism wouldn't make a difference in their selection process, while 17% said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who was Mormon. Three percent said they would be more likely to select a Mormon candidate.

With Romney In Spotlight, His Church Steps Up Ads

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:11:00 -0600

source: npr.org

Just as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tries to overcome unease about his Mormon faith in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, a new ad campaign promoting the religion is drawing attention.

"I'm a Mormon" billboards and television commercials aimed at improving the religious group's public image have surfaced over the past week in states almost certain to be battlegrounds for next year's presidential contest.

But don't expect to see Romney in a commercial proclaiming "I'm a Mormon."

Mormon Missionary look becoming hot Halloween costume

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:07:00 -0600

source: abc4.com

Mormon Life says: What do you think? Cool or disrespectful? This Halloween a lot of people will be dressing up as Mormons. In fact, being a Mormon missionary for Halloween made Time magazine's top ten topical costume list. The magazine says its a great way to tap into the 2011 Mormon phenomenon. Plus, the editors say its easy to do. The magazine even provides a checklist: White shirt, Necktie, Name tag, Book of Mormon, Slacks and Bike helmet (which is optional).

However, not everyone likes the idea of a missionary costume. Sue Perdue said, "It would be like dressing up as a Muslim - I think it would be in bad taste."

Recent coverage of the LDS Church provides much for which to be grateful

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:16:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

What a remarkable few weeks it has been for LDS coverage.

First, there has been an outpouring of generous thought toward Latter-day Saints in the wake of the remarkable remarks by a Dallas-area pastor who dribbled the “cult” word in reference to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more than a few times at the Value Voters Summit in his support for Rick Perry.

His comments weren’t surprising, even if they were a little depressing. (However, as it turns out, I do think they helped Mitt Romney’s long-term election chances.)

Many of you might have seen these articles, but here are several worth reading.

Daily Mail: The rise of Mormon 'modesty blogs'

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:46:00 -0600

source: dailymail.co.uk

Mormon Life says: Interesting that Mormon modesty blogs have become mainstream enough that the UK's Daily Mail is doing a story on them. Their advice, sartorially speaking, is spot-on: Respect your body, love the clothes you wear and remember, less is more.

They also refuse above-the-knee skirts, very high heels, spaghetti straps and low-cut tops.

Welcome to a growing breed of unconventional fashion voices: The Mormon modesty bloggers.

The far-from-pushy sites are mushrooming across America and further afield, giving a platform to many young women who may be on the end of oft-maligned preconceptions of the religious group.

Mormon gospel not money gospel: A reply to new essay on Mormonism from Harper's Magazine

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:17:00 -0600

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: The Harper's essay presents a factually inaccurate account of Mormon doctrine--read this columnist's reaction to it. In 1910 an influential national periodical, Person's Magazine, published an article accusing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of having engaged in nefarious dealings with various politicians, including former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

In a searing reply, Roosevelt denounced the article and defended the character of the Latter-day Saints.

Refuting the report "point by point," Roosevelt wrote that the false accusations against the Mormons "brand with infamy the man who made them and also the magazine editor who published them."

A century later prominent magazines are still selling copies by sticking the word "Mormon" in headlines — the nationally influential Harper's Magazine is only the most recent to try its hand at a Mormon feature with its new October edition.

The Book of Mormon: Real Life in the Little Falls Flood Zone

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:27:00 -0600

source: baristanet.com

Mormon Life says: Some of the statements seem a little off, but overall, a nice piece about the good missionaries do. In the Broadway hit “Book of Mormon,” Elder Price, waiting for his missionary assignment, really, really wants to be sent to Orlando. He gets assigned to AIDS-ravaged Uganda instead.

Maybe in the sequel, he’ll be sent to New Jersey.

Yesterday, a cluster of yellow-shirted Mormon missionaries, including Elder Devan Munk of Idaho and Daren Montierth of Arizona, were walking the streets of Little Falls on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.