Welcome to MormonVoices. Our volunteers respond to public discussions and comments from public figures that misrepresent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We encourage and direct Mormons to get involved in online discussions and thereby help shape the public understanding and perceptions of the Church. Please join your voice with ours, and become a member of MormonVoices.
MormonVoices is an independent organization that is supportive of, but not
controlled by or affiliated with, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
search the site
28 August 2012
Ben Witherington on Whether Mormons Are Christians
August 28, 2012
FAIR Blog
So, over at Patheos Ben Witherington has a blog post titled “Why Mormonism Is Not Christianity-The Issue of Christology,” which you may read here. I’m familiar with Witherington from his articles in Biblical Archaeology Review (I’m a subscriber), which I generally enjoy. But I suppose it should come as no surprise that I thought this blog post was weak sauce.
In general I didn’t have too much of a problem with his catalog of differences between Evangelical and Mormon thought. It is true that Mormons reject an ontological Trinity (he poisons the well by characterizing this position as “polytheism”); it is true that Mormons believe in an embodied God (I wonder whether he realizes how many people historically he just kicked out of Christianity by making this a standard); guilty as charged on our rejection of biblical inerrancy.
But I was surprised at his lack of historical sense and sophistication. He portrays Mormonism as evolving, which is certainly true, but he is blind to the evolution of thought over the centuries in historical Christianity.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
‘Romney’s Racist’ Sign: Steven Showers’ 14-Foot, Neon Monument Calls Mormonism Racist (VIDEO)
August 28, 2012
Huffington Post
At least one Republican is very concerned about Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith.
Steven Showers, 59, has erected a 14-foot-high, neon sign saying that Romney is a racist who will doom the GOP. The flashing monument on Showers’ Southern California front lawn pleads with passerbys to “Save the GOP” from “Romney’s racist heart.”
Showers, who lives in Newbury Park, said that after Romney became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, he researched Mormonism and was shocked by what he found. “I was stunned to find out that the Mormon religion is a white supremacist, anti-black, racist ideology,” he said to the Ventura County Star.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Mormons’ Joe Lieberman Moment
August 28, 2012
The Jewish Week (New York)
A member of the Mormon faith compared Mitt Romney’s acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination here to Joe Lieberman’s acceptance of the Democratic Party’s nomination as vice president in 2000.
“Much like Joe Lieberman’s nomination was unique in the sense that it made the Jewish community proud, we see the same thing,” explained Gregory Smith, a former pro-Israel activist at Brigham Young University, referring to Romney’s Mormon faith. “We feel emboldened as Mormons. We don’t care which political party he is. … Whenever members of our faith do something spectacular, we are proud. … We are very proud a Mormon is on the ticket. It is something I am proud of on a personal level, and feel that America at large is more accepting of my faith.”
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national-news/mormons-joe-lieberman-moment
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I met a black Mormon birther Ron Paul delegate
August 28, 2012
Washington Post
Dressed in the Texas delegation’s uniform of blue jeans, a cowboy hat and a shirt that resembled the Lone Star State’s flag, Johnson is a black Mormon birther Ron Paul delegate from the Austin area. He said he did not support Romney because “he’s too much like Obama and when he changes away from that on key issues I will be glad to support him.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mia Love, Black, Mormon, Woman, Republican Running For Congress In Utah, Prepares For RNC Speech
August 28, 2012
Huffington Post
That Love captured the Republican nomination was a surprise both in and out of Utah. A Tea Party darling, she is now seen as representing the strongest chance in a decade for Republicans to push Matheson, the lone Democrat in Utah’s congressional delegation and a fellow Mormon, out of office.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/mia-love-rnc-speech_n_1835839.html
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Utah NBC affiliate owned by Mormon church won’t air ‘The New Normal,’ show featuring gay couple
August 28, 2012
New York Daily News
A Mormon church-owned NBC affiliate in Utah won’t air an upcoming sitcom about a gay couple that invites a surrogate mother into their home as they try to have a baby because the station deems the content inappropriate for its audience.
“The New Normal” is set to debut Sept. 11 on NBC.
“For our brand, this program simply feels inappropriate on several dimensions, especially during family viewing time,” Jeff Simpson, CEO of KSL’s parent company, Bonneville International, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a statement.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mormon-owned Utah TV station decides not to air ‘New Normal’ because of gay characters
August 27, 2012
God Discussion
KSLTV, a NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah, has decided not to air “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy’s new sitcom, “The New Normal,” because of what it calls “offensive characterization.” The show is about a woman who decides to become a surrogate for a gay couple.
Buzz:60′s Patrick Jones says that the Mormon church owns KSLTV.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meet Mia Love: Black, Mormon, Republican, And A Star In The Making
August 28, 2012
International Business Times
The Republican Party is set to showcase one of its rising young stars with a Tuesday speech by Love, a black Mormon woman whose candidacy has begun drawing national notice. She is taking on incumbent Democrat Jim Matheson for a chance to be the first black Republican woman elected to the House of Representatives.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/378251/20120828/mia-love-rnc-utah-who-black-mormon.htm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Debunking five myths about Mormons
August 28, 2012
Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
Much has been written about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s religion. According to a recent Pew Research poll, nearly two-thirds of non-Mormons said they find his faith very different from their own. Which is curious, considering another survey concluded fewer than 17 percent know much about what Latter-day Saints believe.
Conversations I have overheard during my 41 years in New Jersey demonstrate this confusion regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I have always welcomed questions about my beliefs. Typically, those questions are about one of the following five myths, which, as the leader of the 2,600 Latter-day Saints in northwestern New Jersey, I’d like to address.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/08/debunking_five_myths_about_mor.html
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fox Valley Mormon church creates another congregation
August 28, 2012
Kane County Chronicle (Illinois)
More people are choosing to worship at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Geneva to the point that, for the first time in 24 years, it created another English-speaking congregation.
“We were at a point where we were out of our chapel area pushing into some overflow,” said K.C. Brown, bishop of the Geneva congregation. “Nobody felt it was so big, but it was easy for someone to move in and go unnoticed. … Now if you walked in on Sunday and sat in the congregation, I would recognize there’s someone I don’t know.”
Two English-speaking congregations – the St. Charles and Geneva wards – and the Aurora Spanish ward share the church at 429 Old Kirk Road.
http://www.kcchronicle.com/2012/08/27/fox-valley-mormon-church-creates-another-congregation/aalce1f/
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Donny Osmond On Fellow Mormon Mitt Romney: Star Not Swayed By Candidate’s Religion
August 28, 2012
Huffington Post
Donny Osmond is currently recording his 60th album and has launched the website Donny.com. And although one of the world’s most famous Mormons has suddenly found his religion thrust center-stage with Mitt Romney’s run for the presidency, the singer says he’s happy to stay out of the political spotlight.
“I’m a singer. Some people have those [political] aspirations. I don’t. I’m an entertainer. I get up on stage and I try to make people enjoy my music, and that political arena — I’m going to stay out of it, right out,” Donny told me. “I’m glad some people like it, but it’s just not for me. My political ideas and things like that, even my religion, I try to keep close to me because it’s a personal thing, and I don’t shove it down people’s throats. I don’t condemn any artist that wants to do that, like the Baldwins. That’s their choice. But in my world, I’m just an entertainer.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Christians, Mormons, and Polytheism
August 28, 2012
Patheos
Romney’s ascendancy creates a tension for the evangelical power-players, because they know they have to support him, and they also know many of their supporters simply won’t , often because they themselves labeled his religion a cult. However, terms like “polytheism”, and “cult”, are going to keep losing their impact as we move into a post-Christian era, and eventually electing a Mormon, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist, or a Wiccan, will be based on their policies and stances, not their theology. Until then, Christians are going to have to wrestle with Mormon “polytheism” at the polls come November.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2012/08/christians-mormons-and-polytheism.html
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Emergency in Louisiana : Mormons storming the White House
August 27, 2012
The Christian Post
It is perhaps likely that the Mormons will be downplaying their presence at the convention. Enough has been said that Mormonism represents more than significant distortion of Christian beliefs and traditional orthodoxy (Read Al Mohler’s article) … still Christians will be forgiven to assume that a Romney Presidency will embrace the more traditional moral ideals of the faith than Obama seems to care about. The storm of Obama’s bold new liberalism came like Katrina sweeping everything in its wake, leaving evangelicals gaping shockingly at what was left after the most brutal ravaging of cherished ideals. Still, storm warnings are highly precautionary, and have been known to be overdone, but in a few cases … they completely underestimated the deluge ahead.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Evangelical Leader Sees Romney as Latest Convert
August 28, 2012
US News and World Report
Just hours before Mitt Romney was officially nominated to be the Republican presidential candidate here, conservative leader Ralph Reed told Whispers Mitt Romney has become a “hero” among evangelical voters.
During the fall presidential primaries, the conservative right was resistant to Romney and his Mormon faith, and a November Pew poll found only a third of white evangelicals considered Mormonism to be a Christian faith.
But Reed says Romney’s speech at Liberty University–the world’s largest Christian college–was the turning point for evangelical voters. In the speech, Romney defended traditional marriage and said Mormons and conservative Christians share common ground.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Those Secretive Mormons (Who Never Shut Up about Their Church)
August 28, 2012
American Thinker
One such interview was NBC’s sit-down with the lovely, polite, and relatively uninformed Abby Huntsman, daughter of former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. Asked why the general public doesn’t know much about Mormonism, Abby Huntsman (no longer a practicing Mormon) responded, “I don’t think [Mormons have] done a good enough job opening up. They’ve been very secretive.”
The secrecy mantra was prominent in both the ABC and NBC reports. Those familiar with the LDS Church and its member might take occasion to ask, “Have these people ever met a Mormon?” Anyone who wishes (and some who aren’t careful) can, at a moment’s notice, have a gaggle of Mormons willing to discuss their religion for days on end.
Mormons have tens of thousands of missionaries who go door to door all day, every day, all over the world, pleading for opportunities to tell the public about their faith. Those who have ever had a pair of LDS missionaries knock on their door at an inconvenient time probably wish Mormons were much more “secretive.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LDS missionaries witness car crash, after driver flips them off
August 28, 2012
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
The DePauw, the campus newspaper at DePauw University, reports that a driver paid for his decision to “flip the bird” at a pair of Mormon missionaries. Immediately after extending the universal digit of disdain, his northbound silver Honda Civic hit a curb, climbed the support cable of a power pole, launched into the air and landed on its top in Greencastle, Ind.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54779083-78/driver-depauw-missionaries-car.html.csp
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Driver flips off LDS missionaries, and his car is flipped
August 28, 2012
Tucson Citizen (Arizona)
It was in Greencastle, Indiana, a small city southwest of Indianapolis, and the home of DePauw University. Elder Scott Brezenski and Elder Myles Anderton, Mormon missionaries, were walking on the sidewalk when the driver of a silver Honda Civic, who had been drinking, stuck his hand out the window and flipped them the bird. Whereupon the right side of his car hit the curb, then ramped up the wire of a telephone pole, launching the car.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The GOP’s Mormon Darling
August 28, 2012
Tablet Magazine
I’m also very much looking forward to today’s speech by the Mormon mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, Mia Love. A rising star in the Republican Party, Love is a remarkably charismatic and self-assured politician: She once tried to hit up BuzzFeed reporters for campaign contributions after they interviewed her. She’s also female and African-American, and if she wins in her November race against Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson in Utah’s 4th Congressional District, Love will be the first black Republican woman in Congress. (It will be interesting to see how–or if–she references her Mormonism.)
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/110460/the-gops-mormon-darling
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Amy Adams scared to offend Mormon family in The Master
August 28, 2012
The Fighter star was brought up a Mormon, but her parents eventually left the church and divorced.
However, because of her childhood past, Adams admits she tip-toed into the role of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s obedient and oppressed lover, Sue Dodd, since she did not want to make light of the plight suffered by so many women in her family.
She tells New York Magazine, “I definitely did see, growing up, a lot of women that were meant to be quiet and pleasant, and if you had something mean to say it’s probably best to keep a journal…
“I’m always careful, because I still have relatives I care very much about who are involved (with the Mormon church).”
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Amy_Adams_scared_to_offend_Mormon_family_in_The_Master/38159643
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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.
Journalists
