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15 June 2012
Mormonism 101: FAQ
June 15, 2012
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be found at every level of society — in business and charity, education and the sciences, political parties and government, the entertainment industry and news media.
Describing the character of Latter-day Saints, Newsweek magazine wrote: “No matter where Mormons live, they find themselves part of a network of mutual concern; in Mormon theology everyone is a minister of a kind, everyone is empowered in some way to do good to others, and to have good done unto them: it is a 21st century covenant of caring. This caring is not limited to Church members alone, but extends far beyond.”
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-101
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Mormon Missionaries: The Joy of Finding Self in Sacrifice
June 14, 2012
Daniel Burke of Religion News Service provides valuable insight into how Mormon missionaries are impacted by their choice to sacrifice 18 to 24 months of their lives to serve others.
Former missionaries tell Burke that their “faith flourished during the mission, as they discovered a genuine joy in sharing the gospel and encountered one of spirituality’s central paradoxes: by sacrificing the self, you find it.”
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-missionaries-joy-sacrifice-religion-news-service
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Booklet teaches Mormon parents how to help their gay children
June 14, 2012
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
Now, researchers say, there are techniques to ensure that the destructive pattern can be broken — without giving up LDS teachings or gay self-esteem.
“Parents’ attitudes can have a dramatic impact on their gay and transgender children’s lives,” reads a just-released booklet titled “Supportive Families, Healthy Children: Helping Latter-day Saint Families With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Children.” “Parents and caregivers who are capable of even a little change — being a little less rejecting and a little more supportive — can make an important difference in reducing their adolescent’s risk for serious health problems, including suicide and HIV.”
The booklet was written by Caitlin Ryan, a researcher at San Francisco State University, and Robert Rees, a former Mormon bishop who has worked extensively with his church’s gay population. It outlines the results of Ryan’s decades of studying LGBT young people and their relationships with family members and their church community. It offers helpful suggestions for responding to a gay child with love, even while possibly disapproving of some of their behavior.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/faith/54308683-142/gay-lgbt-child-family.html.csp
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Liberals increasingly wary of Mormons in office, study shows
June 15, 2012
Fox News
The GOP’s all-important social conservatives may be getting more comfortable with Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith — but liberals are increasingly wary about the candidate’s religion in the run-up to November, according to a new study.
The study found anti-Mormon attitudes have increased since Romney’s 2008 presidential bid and are highest among liberal and non-religious voters. Their discomfort could pose a problem for the Republican candidate in November.
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Romney, guarded about his Mormonism, faces the Lieberman challenge
June 15, 2012
Arizona Jewish Post
By contrast Romney, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, seems to prefer silence in handling his Mormonism in public. It’s a stark contrast to both Lieberman and Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic who in 1960 famously said he would not take political guidance from the Vatican.
“It’s clear his campaign made a decision that it is not interested in talking about his Mormonism, not its doctrines or theology, his experiences as a church leader, how it shaped his family,” said Patrick Mason, the chair of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Calif. “He’s always said ‘I’m not running to be pastor in chief.’ ”
http://azjewishpost.com/2012/romney-guarded-about-his-mormonism-faces-the-lieberman-challenge/
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Mitt Romney, Mormon: This I know
June 14, 2012
Washington Post
I would like to see a more substantial national conversation about the diverse ways contemporary Mormons–including a potential future President of the United States–live our faith. Yet, whether by dint of his pragmatic personality or official campaign strategy, candidate Romney continues to studiously avoid discussion of his religion, preferring instead to stress only the elements of his faith that align with campaign priorities. Asking what impact Mitt Romney’s practice of Mormonism would have on his presidency is a legitimate question Mormons and non-Mormons alike should want to know.
This I know: Mitt Romney is the product of a time in Mormon history when the faith completed its transition from regional upstart to global corporate church. The late 20th century LDS Church culture that formed and rewarded Romney strongly emphasized disciplined messaging, individual obedience, allegiance to hierarchy, and cultural conservatism in the service of institutional growth. This corporate-institutional Mormonism discouraged and sometimes stigmatized critical inquiry and free expression.
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It’s Mormon in America
June 15, 2012
Chicago Tribune (Illinois)
Voters are likely to know two things about Mitt Romney: that he’s rich and that he’s a Mormon. At the same time, more than one-fifth of Americans tell pollsters they won’t vote for a Mormon for president. Yet if Americans understood Mormonism a little better, they might begin to think of Romney’s faith as a feature, not a bug, in his candidacy. If anything, Romney’s religion may be the best offset to the isolation from ordinary people imposed by his wealth.
It was Romney’s faith that sent him knocking on doors as a missionary — even as his governor father campaigned for the presidency of the United States.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-perspec-0615-mormon-20120615,0,6198341.story
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Revealed: The chance encounter in Lancashire that led the Romney family into Mormonism (and how Mitt’s great-great-grandfather married 11 dead women)
June 14, 2012
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)
While not many people would associate the LDS Church with Great Britain, in fact English converts to Mormonism were crucial in upholding the faith during its darkest days in the 19th century.
Two of those converts were Miles and Elizabeth Romney, a carpenter and his wife from Preston in the north of England – and Mitt Romney’s great-great-grandparents, as revealed by the BBC.
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Mormons are ‘first converts’ during missions
June 14, 2012
Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
Today, some 57,000 Mormon missionaries march across the globe, proselytizing in public squares, knocking on doors and handing out religious tracts, often for nine or 10 hours a day, in fair weather and foul.
More than a million Mormons have served missions since Joseph Smith founded the church in 1830, LDS leaders say.
Most Mormon missionaries endure a grueling regimen of prayer, study and proselytizing. They put careers and college on hold and move to mission fields where rejection is the norm. Some have been beaten, mocked, caught in gang crossfire, even killed. Romney himself was in a serious car accident and roughed up by a team of soused rugby players.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/06/14/3317613/mormons-are-first-converts-during.html
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Op-Ed: Mitt Romney’s proposed career path — President, then God
June 15, 2012
Digital Journal
Mitt Romney’s Earthly goals seem to mesh nicely with his goals as a high priest in the Mormon church. But why don’t we pretend to let the presumptive GOP candidate tell us himself, which he would if he were interested in discussing his religion.
Hello. I’m Mitt Romney. I am a Temple Mormon, a High Priest, and as such I have sworn blood oaths of sacrifice, obedience and consecration to the church and the “Kingdom of God.” My perfect obedience to these laws will allow me to become a god in the next life, the literal father of the peoples of a new and different earth. I am truly a Presidential candidate with an actual, definable god complex. What I say about politics are things I have actually said. What I say about Mormonism is compiled from official Mormon texts and websites.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/326740
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Devout Mormon Declares: I’m Not a Christian
June 15, 2012
Christian Post
His “I’m a Mormon, not a Christian” statement was made in response to the rising debate on Mormonism and whether it’s accurate to label members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of the Christian community.
The spotlight on Mormonism intensified with Mitt Romney becoming the first Mormon nominee of a major party in a presidential election.
Evangelicals, in large part, do not consider Mormons to be Christians. The LDS doctrines on God, Jesus, and salvation are vastly different from that of historic Christianity, they contend.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/devout-mormon-declares-im-not-a-christian-76694/
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Mitt Romney and Mormon Socialism
June 15, 2012
Dissident Voice
This blind allegiance to conservative values has not always been the case. In fact, looking at Mormon doctrine no better quote summarizes Mormon egalitarianism than the words of Joseph Smith from the Mormon text Doctrine and Covenants when he states “if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things” (D&C 78:6). Moreover, Joseph Smith was a declared presidential candidate in 1844. The LDS founder ran as an independent on a broad-minded and reformist platform calling for upholding First Amendment religious rights (to protect his own followers), purchasing freedom for slaves, emptying the jails, and overhauling the economy in a populist mode.2 Ultimately, assassination prevented Smith from appearing on the ballot in that election. However, the tenor of his platform indicates a progressive rather than a conservative agenda.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/06/mitt-romney-and-mormon-socialism/
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Alleged thief busted in Arizona Book of Mormon disappearance
June 15, 2012
Los Angeles Times (California)
Authorities have arrested a man who is alleged to be responsible for the theft of a first-edition Book of Mormon. The book, which was housed in an Arizona bookstore near a Mormon temple, had become something of a destination for the faithful interested in taking a look at its pages.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/06/alleged-book-of-mormon-thief-busted.html
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Rare book’s theft a symptom of ‘Mormonia’
June 15, 2012
San Francisco Chronicle (California)
The theft and arrest spotlighted the market for “Mormonia” – memorabilia about Mormonism – that has been thriving as Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy, television shows and a Broadway play have stoked interest in the faith.
Mormonism teaches that the text is God’s word, which was written on gold plates, buried in Upstate New York and found by a prophet named Joseph Smith, who translated them into English.
“For Mormons, the Book of Mormon has become the holy grail of collecting. It’s like an old-school big-game hunter goes and bags their Book of Mormon,” Sanders said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/14/MN311P1LPN.DTL
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FBI recovers rare first-edition of the Book of Mormon
June 14, 2012
CNN
Law enforcement agents have recovered a rare first-edition copy of the Book of Mormon that was reported stolen from a Mesa, Arizona, bookstore in late May.
The FBI announced Thursday the religious book, first published in 1830 in New York, was located two days ago in Herndon, Virginia, and a suspect was arrested.
The Book of Mormon is considered scripture by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, on par with the Bible.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/14/fbi-recovers-rare-first-edition-of-the-book-of-mormon/
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Stolen Book Of Mormon recovered in D.C.
June 14, 2012
Hindustan Times (India)
The Book of Mormon is a foundational, holy text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published by church founder Joseph Smith. He claimed the manuscript came from his translation of an ancient “reformed Egyptian” text engraved on golden plates he found buried, with the guidance of an angel, in a stone box near his home in New York state.
http://books.hindustantimes.com/2012/06/stolen-book-of-mormon-recovered-in-d-c/
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Theft, intrigue and the Book of Mormon
June 15, 2012
Get Religion
Are Asian Mormons really sending missionaries to Mesa, Arizona? That would be a great story in and of itself. The other thing I found interesting was that Schlie claims she was once Mitt Romney’s Sunday School teacher. I think many reporters would have led with that claim but I rather liked how it was tucked in at the end.
Just all in all, a fascinating story with great religious touches and fun style. It did also remind me of the intense world of Mormon memorabilia revealed by this scandalous story about counterfeiting, forgery and murder. Dunh dunh dunh!
http://www.getreligion.org/2012/06/theft-intrigue-and-the-book-of-mormon/
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Mormons reconciling gay rights and faith
June 15, 2012
MSNBC
While the Latter-Day Saints Church officially refers to being gay as, quote: “Same-Gender Attraction,” several hundred LDS Church members with a group called Mormons Building Bridges marched in unity with the LGBT community in Salt Lake City’s gay pride parade earlier this month. And that comes less than four years after the LDS Church stepped into the Prop 8 debate in California, campaigning against marriage equality.
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‘HAPPILY MARRIED’ GAY MORMON ACTUALLY EX-GAY THERAPIST
June 15, 2012
Think Progress
Earlier this week, Josh Weed made headlines for describing how he is a gay Mormon who is “happily married” to a woman with whom he has “an extremely healthy and robust sex life.” It turns out that he is actually an ex-gay therapist, attempting to shame other gay men into denying their identities and living false or chaste lives. Weed may very well love his wife and experience happiness, but fostering internalized homophobia in others proves that he is no ally to the LGBT community and calls into question his entire narrative.
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SFSU Pamphlet Aims To Create Harmony For LGBT Youth, Mormon Church
June 15, 2012
CBS San Francisco (California)
San Francisco State project that aims to improve acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth has created a new handbook to help reconcile the teachings of the Mormon Church with the needs of an LGBT adolescent.
The Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University issued the text as part of its goal to decrease health-related risks for LGBT youth such as suicide, substance abuse, HIV and homelessness.
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New booklet seeks to reconcile Mormon faith with gay youth
June 14, 2012
Chicago Tribune (Illinois)
Lori said she found church-based resources for coping with the challenges of raising her son, who is now 13, to be unsatisfactory. But a newly published guidebook, co-written by a former church bishop with input from Mormon families and congregational leaders, may offer families like hers new hope and support for reconciling their faith’s teachings with needs of their children.
“Supportive Families, Healthy Children: Helping Latter-day Saint Families with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Children,” is the first faith-based volume to emerge from a series of similar publications produced by the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University.
University social scientist Caitlin Ryan launched her research for the cross-cultural, cross-denominational project in 2002, seeking to understand the impact of acceptance on the well-being of gay and gender-variant youth.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-mormon-gaysbre85e00g-20120614,0,3567649.story
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A Way Out: Preventing Suicide and Homelessness for LGBTQ Mormon Youth
June 14, 2012
Huffington Post
I am not your typical gay man. Nor am I your typical Mormon. For the past nine months, I have served as the executive secretary in the bishopric (the religious leadership) of my home ward in San Francisco, Calif., as my authentic-self — an openly gay, active Latter-day Saint.
For years, I’d been writing about my experiences as an openly gay Mormon and accepted this calling in a way that honors both my orientation and my faith. As with all callings in the Mormon faith, mine is both a duty and a privilege. It provides me with an opportunity — and a responsibility — to be of service to both the Mormon and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) communities, and help those around me better integrate deep and often conflicted parts of their lives.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitch-mayne/lgbt-morman-youth_b_1597617.html
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Gay Mormon Man Announces Sexuality in Blog, Stays Married to Wife
June 14, 2012
EDGE Boston (Massachusetts)
In the blog entry the devote Mormon, from Auburn, Wash., admits to never having sex with a man and says that he is gay and not bisexual.
“Some might assume that because I’m married to a woman, I must be bisexual. Sexual orientation is defined by attraction, not by experience,” he wrote. “In my case, I am attracted sexually to men. Period. I’ve never been turned on by a Victoria’s Secret commercial in my entire life.”
He also says he knew he was gay when he was around 11 or 12 years old and told his wife that he was gay on their first date — he was just 16. Nevertheless, his wife wrote in the blog that she loved Josh for who he was as a person.
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Is it possible to be both gay and a member of the Mormon church?
June 14, 2012
89.3 KPCC (California)
This week, Slate Magazine featured two LDS men who identify themselves as gay but in happy heterosexual temple marriages. On the flip side, there are many who feel the church and its tenets don’t garner a very welcoming environment for members of the LGBT community.
Greg Prince, author and historian specializing in the history of the Latter Day Saint Movement, said that there’s been substantial oscillation in the Mormon Church’s stance on homosexuality in the past 30 years.
“Prior to the 1970s, this was not on virtually any radar screen,” he explained. “When the Mormon Church first took a position on it, that position was that being homosexual was the sin, and that was significant grounds for excommunication. Fortunately, we have gotten past that now, and being homosexual is no longer considered sinful, and in fact, young men and young women, who are openly gay, as long as they’re celibate, can now serve as full time proselytizing missionaries, something that was unheard of just a few years ago.”
http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2012/06/14/26973/homosexuality-and-the-mormon-church/
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Why — And How — We Accept Our Gay Son As Devout Mormon Parents
June 15, 2012
Huffington Post
Sometimes we, as active LDS members, don’t really know how to support LGBT children. We love them so much but often hear conflicting messages. We get confused about which way to go with our kids. Oftentimes, it feels like we are being forced to make one of two impossible choices: support our kids and leave the church, or stay in the church and risk sending our children the message that their very existence is wrong because they are LGBT — and we are well aware the harm that can cause to them.
Nearly every day as active LDS people, we feel as if we are living a double life. Somehow we continually find ourselves needing to justify supporting our child. As parents, we think this pamphlet could be the bridge between these two impossible choices — a bridge that connects the LDS church to information that could save the lives of LDS kids like Will, in a way that is accessible and meets LDS families where they are, instead of from a place of judgment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-and-bob/mormon-parents-gay-son_b_1595027.html
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New Resource for Mormon Families with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Children Released, First “Best Practice” Resource for Suicide Prevention in Mormon Church
June 16, 2012
PR Web
Written by FAP Director Dr. Caitlin Ryan, a clinical social worker with nearly 40 years of research and practice experience on LGBT health and mental health, and Dr. Bob Rees, a former Mormon Bishop who teaches Mormon Studies at Graduate Theological Union, this is the first research-based educational resource to help Mormon families support their LGBT children. As with other family education booklets from the Family Acceptance Project, Supportive Families, Healthy Children has been designated as the 1st “Best Practice” resource for suicide prevention for LGBT people by the national Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention and is the only such resource for Latter-day Saint (Mormon) families. The Best Practices Registry, coordinated by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), maintains an expert-reviewed compendium of approved “best practices” to prevent suicide that
address specific aims of the national suicide prevention plan and have met objective review criteria.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9607411.htm
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Glenn Beck calls for unity between Christian conservatives, Mormons
June 15, 2012
CBS News
At the Faith and Freedom Conference, a gathering of religious conservatives in Washington, D.C., media personality Glenn Beck attempted on Friday to displace fears that Christian conservatives might have about supporting a Mormon for president.
Beck, who is a member of the LDS church, did not specifically mention presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, but said it is absurd that “we can’t stand together because you don’t go to my church and I don’t go to your church.”
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Pulling together: Youths trek 14 miles while pulling handcarts to celebrate Mormon heritage
June 16, 2012
Cherokee Tribune (Georgia)
When the youth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered to celebrate their pioneer heritage by trekking 14 miles on foot while pulling handcarts up a mountain, some local teens were excited to take the challenge.
“The hardest part was having to push the handcarts up the hills. It was heavy, and you had to learn how to work together with your family,” said Steven Driscoll, who is a rising junior at Cherokee High School. “There was a huge hill that we called ‘the beast’ that we had to go up. It was a lot of loose rocks and really steep.”
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Jabari Parker Says He’s No LeBron James
June 15, 2012
Atlanta Black Star (Georgia)
There’s another blatant difference between Parker and James, the three-time NBA MVP who is seeking his first professional championship: Parker is a devout Mormon.
And as a Mormon, he is required to take a two-year mission once he turns 19. All Mormon young men are expected to delay school/careers to participate in the mission, but not all do. NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young and former NBA star Danny Ainge are two high-profile Mormons who passed on the mission to pursue their athletic careers.
http://atlantablackstar.com/2012/06/15/jabari-parker-says-hes-no-lebron-james/
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Waiting for the Mormons
June 16, 2012
Huffington Post (United Kingdom)
I hate feeling like I’m missing out on something, especially if it’s something from a world that I love. In this case it’s the world of musical theatre and I seem to be missing out on the biggest musical comedy sensation for years, The Book Of Mormon, and I’m missing it out of my own free will.
I love musical theatre, I simply adore it. I’m never happier than when I’m sat in the theatre watching something with everyone experiencing the same emotions and feelings at the same time. If you look at my iPod it is full of musical theatre soundtracks but The Book Of Mormon is missing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-cox/waiting-for-the-mormons_b_1589948.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
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Mormons on mission in Lehigh
June 15, 2012
Lehigh Acres Citizen (Florida)
Don’t ask the four young Mormon men who are in Lehigh Acres on a mission for their church if Mitt Romney, a fellow Mormon, might win the presidential election in November.
The four men say they were assigned to this area, Lehigh Acres and some surrounding areas, and they have not had any time to see TV or listen to the radio news and besides, they don’t talk politics when they are on assigned missions for the church.
Two of the men, who are called “elders” are 19 and two are 20. They did not know each other when assigned to do their mission in Lehigh, but have become good friends and are enjoying Lehigh and meeting the people here.
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NOTE: This is posted for those who are interested in keeping abreast what is being said around the world about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. MormonVoices cannot and does not guarantee the validity or truthfulness of any information reported. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of this information lies with the reader. As all information comes from other news sources and has not been independently verified, MormonVoices cannot guarantee or be responsible for the security of links in the clipping service. MormonVoices will attempt as much as possible to exclude news articles containing strongly offensive language or which lead to offensive images, but cannot guarantee that some will not slip through.
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