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15 August 2012
Delayed Mormon mission leads Damarcus Harrison to leave BYU for Clemson
August 15, 2012
Yahoo Sports
Had Damarcus Harrison been able to begin his two-year Mormon mission this fall as he originally planned, the 6-foot-5 rising sophomore almost certainly would have resumed his basketball career at BYU when he returned.
Once the church decided last week he needed to delay his mission a full year, however, it threw his life into chaos.
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Slate’s Explainer: Mormons vs. Catholics
August 15, 2012
Standard Examiner (Utah)
Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential candidate makes 2012 the first time in American history that a major party has run a ticket without a Protestant on it: Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Ryan is a Roman Catholic.
Have Mormons and Catholics always gotten along as well as the Republican running mates appear to?
No. The root of the conflict is doctrinal. The premise of the Book of Mormon is that the Bible is a corrupt and incomplete account of God’s revelation – an implicit criticism of Catholic doctrine. The Book of Mormon also makes reference to an evil “church which is most abominable above all other churches,” described more colorfully as “the mother of harlots.” Though the Book of Mormon does not identify this evil institution as the Catholic Church, many Mormons have believed the two to be one and the same since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830.
http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/08/15/slate-s-explainer-mormons-vs-catholics
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In presidential race, the religious test that wasn’t
August 15, 2012
Chillicothe Gazette (Ohio)
Only 60 percent of voters are aware Romney is a Mormon, 9 percent percent think he is something else and 32 percent can’t identify his faith, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center released July 26.
Of the people who correctly identify Romney as a Mormon, 60 percent say they are comfortable with his practicing that faith and another 21 percent say it doesn’t matter. Only 19 percent claim to be “uncomfortable” with the Mormon connection.
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Inside the First Amendment column: Religion not a test in presidential race
August 14, 2012
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Only 60 percent of voters are aware that Romney is a Mormon, 9 percent percent think he is something else and 32 percent can’t identify his faith, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center released July 26.
Of the people who correctly identify Romney as a Mormon, 60 percent say they are comfortable with his practicing that faith, and another 21 percent say it doesn’t matter. Only 19 percent claim to be “uncomfortable” with the Mormon connection.
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Douthat: Romney’s Mormon story
August 14, 2012
Longview News-Journal (Texas)
Of course, a visit to Mormon country also provides reminders of why Romney has been wary of talking about his religious background. There’s the Mormon Temple, whose interior can be viewed in scale-model form but not actually entered; the defensiveness that surfaces around issues like polygamy and race; the fine line Mormon society walks between a healthy solidarity and an unhealthy conformism — and hanging over everything, the burden of defending Joseph Smith’s revelation, which offers not only bold metaphysical claims (as all religions do) but an entire counterhistory of the Americas, which no archaeologist has yet managed to confirm.
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Mormons trek West had Ohio stop
August 15, 2012
Middletown Journal (Ohio)
Joseph Smith came to believe that he was chosen by God to establish Christ’s Church. According to Mormon traditions, Smith was led by God to an ancient record that he was to translate into English and use along with the Bible to spread his beliefs. On April 6, 1830, in Fayette, New York, he formally organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became the church’s first prophet. He wrote the “Book of Mormon” as a guild for the people of his beliefs.
Persecution because of perceived commercial, political and religious threats to their neighbors led the Mormons to continuously move to the west. They built their temples, did missionary work and built thriving cities, but were always on the move towards the west, until finding the Salt Lake where they built a city , today known as Salt Lake City.
http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/news/local/mormons-trek-west-had-ohio-stop/nRCMM/
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Atheists Say Billboard Bosses Played God Over Mormon-Bashing Ad
August 15, 2012
International Business Times
But did the group cross the line when it tried to mock Mormonism at the site of the upcoming Republican National Convention? Some sales executives in Tampa, Fla., thinks it did, at least according to American Atheists President David Silverman.
“We were turned away by local bosses at three different companies,” Silverman said in a phone interview. “They didn’t like that we challenged Mormonism or ‘attacked’ it, if you want to use that word.”
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Atheists target presidential candidates’ faith with billboards
August 15, 2012
Digital Journal
Another ad slams Mormonism, showing a man in white underwear (temple garments, sometimes derided as “magic underwear,” that Mormon folklore says protect the wearer from evil) with the caption “God is a Space Alien, Baptizes Dead People, Big Money, Big Bigotry.”
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/330855
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Mitt, The Mormons & Me Page 1
August 15, 2012
Salt Lake City Weekly (Utah)
Not long after the scandal broke, one of my top sources told me there were concerns at the very highest levels of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about my Olympic reporting.
According to this source, the question being asked was, “Why couldn’t Vanocur have just kept the letter to himself?”
I’ve never confirmed that any leaders of the LDS Church actually said this. I am not sure I would have been able to. But the tip came from one of my best sources, and I have always believed it to be true.
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-169-16347-mitt-the-mormons-me-by-chris-vanocur.html
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AJC, Mormons Hold Historic Dialogue
August 15, 2012
Market Watch
An AJC delegation met this week with senior leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) at the church’s world headquarters in Salt Lake City. The two-day visit included a VIP tour of a newly completed LDS Church Temple and a high-level briefing on advances in mitigating Jewish concerns regarding the issue of posthumous baptism of Holocaust victims. Additionally, AJC and LDS leadership discussed Jewish and Mormon approaches to preserving religious identity in an age of secularization and advocacy in behalf of religious freedom.
“AJC’s longstanding relationship with the LDS Church is based on mutual understanding as a foundation for cooperation and respect. In approaching faith communities, AJC makes every effort to understand them as they understand themselves,” said Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations. “Visiting Salt Lake City advances our leadership’s knowledge of the LDS Church. We were warmly received by LDS Church leaders with remarkable hospitality.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ajc-mormons-hold-historic-dialogue-2012-08-15
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Is the Ryan VP Pick Good for Mormonism?
August 15, 2012
Religion Dispatches
Exactly. Mormonism is a winner in the Ryan pick in terms of moving off center stage. Because most Mormons–even enthusiastic Romney supporters–have been ambivalent about the spotlight. Would you agree?
They’ve been ambivalent about the sort of details the spotlight has focused on. Mormons love attention as long as it’s the sort of attention they prefer. The Romney campaign attention has been half-minded. We like the fact that he’s successful, but we don’t appreciate talking so much about how he is who he is. He is so obviously the product of LDS priesthood leadership culture that comments about his inability to connect with minorities and his awkwardness reminds us of stuff we don’t like to think about in connection with our own culture.
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Atheism Puts Scientology, Mormonism, and Other Faiths on the Equal Ground They Deserve
August 15, 2012
Policy Mic
Mormonism too, suffers from its relative newness. Having been created by a conman named Joseph Smith in the 1830s, the only thing more ridiculous than his account of meeting an angel named Moroni who gave him plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon was the credulity of his willing dupes. Among religions, Mormonism will gain more legitimacy as the incredibly suspect tale of its origins fades further from memory, as is typical.
Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and other, older faiths, are well-established enough to the point where they are essentially beyond the sort of ridicule lobbed at Scientology and Mormonism. Interfaith conflict is of course commonplace, but commonly we hear older religions referred to as the “world’s great religions,” and there is a certain degree of respect afforded them when there really shouldn’t be.
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Do you want a Pastor-in-Chief?
August 15, 2012
Albany Times Union (New York)
With the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate, religious history was made. Some historians believe this is the first presidential major party ticket that does not feature a protestant running for president or vice-president. Romney is Mormon and Ryan is Catholic. Other historians have made the case that Eisenhower and Lincoln did not officially belong to a protestant church when they ran. Regardless of how candidates affiliated themselves with a religion, the 2012 election is different.
http://blog.timesunion.com/rudnick/do-you-want-a-pastor-in-chief/2889/
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Five siblings from the Waldie family in Arizona say ‘I do’ on the same day
August 15, 2012
Herald Sun (Australia)
The Waldie siblings married on Friday in a “mega wedding” at a Mormon church in Mesa, Arizona.
”They think we’re crazy or that it’s the greatest thing on earth,” dad Doug Waldie told Fox News.
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Romney is not a non-Christian
August 15, 2012
Springfield News-Leader (Missouri)
In his Voice of the Day column (“Don’t use religion to sway voters,” July 19), Ted Salveter pulled a slick fast one. He casually mentions that Mormons are non-Christians and that this creates a dilemma because the other candidate is a Christian. As a devout Democrat, I suppose this is Ted’s way of saying if you are a Christian, you must not vote for a non-Christian.
I know Ted, and he is a good person, but he needs to look up the meaning of Christian before declaring Romney a non-Christian. According to the World Book Millennium 2000, a Christian is one who believes in Christ and follows His teachings. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a Christian is one who professes belief in Christ’s teachings.
In other words, it’s not what church you attend (Obama has five times in three and a half years), but whether or not you follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Mormons, or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they prefer, have Jesus Christ in the name of their church, and his name appears many times in the Book of Mormon. A disclaimer: I am not a Mormon.
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120815/OPINIONS03/308150031/mitt-romney-religion-christianity
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