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24 February 2012
“On Faith” Blog: What Baptism for the Dead Means to Mormons
February 23, 2012
Michael R. Otterson, managing director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), wrote on the “On Faith” blog today about the Latter-day Saint practice of baptism for the dead:
This entire labor of love, as Mormons view it, rests on the premise that those who have passed on have the choice to accept or reject the gesture. I knew when I performed the proxy baptism for my father that he was a devout Christian, christened as a baby in the rites of the established Church of England. My gesture in his behalf took nothing away from him, the life he lived and who he was at his core. If there is an afterlife — a belief clearly shared by both of us — then I added opportunity to the goodness of a short but purpose-filled and worthy life.
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/baptism-for-the-dead-mormons-otterson-on-faith
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What baptism for the dead means to Mormons
February 23, 2012
Washington Post
Four years after he returned from the deprivations and hardships of war, at 37 and with most of his life seemingly ahead of him, he was thrown from his motorbike on a Welsh country road and killed. I was just nine months old. Through my childhood, my mother would occasionally share stories of my father, but I grew up with no personal memory of him — only a vague sense of loose ends and unanswered questions.
The temple experience, however, changed all of that. Leaving the temple that day in 1970 started me on a quest to learn all I could about my father. I conducted interviews, discovered letters and journals and found memorabilia. I retraced his footsteps in Germany from the time his POW camp was liberated. I know the title of every one of the dozens of books he read during his captivity. No longer a cipher or question mark, he has become for me a real person, and my love for him has become every bit as real as for that of the mother with whom I grew up.
For me and Latter-day Saints like me, these deeply held feelings are not just the consequences of a highly developed hobby. They reflect a key practice in our faith and are rooted in biblical teachings. They are fulfillment of the prophetic writings found at the end of the Old Testament, in the very last verses of the Book of Malachi.
“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers….”
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Exclusive: Marco Rubio’s Mormon Roots
February 23, 2012
BuzzFeed
In the compelling personal narrative that has helped propel Florida Senator Marco Rubio to national political stardom, one chapter has gone completely untold: Rubio spent his childhood as a faithful Mormon.
Rubio was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his family at around the age of eight, and remained active in the faith for a number of years during his early youth, family members told BuzzFeed.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant confirmed the story to BuzzFeed, and said Rubio returned to the Catholic church a few years later with his family, receiving his first communion on Christmas day in 1984 at the age of 13.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots
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Why Marco Rubio’s Mormon past doesn’t matter
February 23, 2012
Washington Post
BuzzFeed broke the story Thursday morning — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), an outspoken Catholic, was for a few short years of his life a Mormon.
Rubio was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at age eight, and his family was active in their local Nevada church community. His returned to the Catholic Church a few years later, by the time he was 12, and subsequently moved to Miami.*
While he mentions his Catholicism frequently, Rubio also attends a non-denominational church.
Despite his frequent protests, Rubio is on every vice-presidential short list. But would former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, be less willing to choose a running mate with Mormonism in his past? Probably not.
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New York Times Columnist Mocks Romney’s ‘Magic Underwear’
February 23, 2012
National Review
One of your columnists responds to a comment he does not like, from a Mormon presidential candidate, and responds, “Stick that in your magic underwear.”
(Lest you are unfamiliar with this particular practice of the Mormon faith, see here.)
We just witnessed ESPN firing an employee for using the phrase “chink in the armor” in a headline about the New York Knicks’ Jeremy Lin. While no one could prove a desire to mock Lin’s ethnic heritage, and the employee expressed great regret for what he insisted was an unthinking lapse, it was deemed unacceptable even as an honest mistake. Regardless of what one thinks of ESPN’s reaction, one is left to marvel at the contrast before us. Would the New York Times find it acceptable if one of their columnists chose to mock Muslim religious practices? Jewish faith practices?
But mocking some religions is okay? Doesn’t run afoul of any standards of the paper?
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Exclusive: Marco Rubio’s Mormon Roots
February 23, 2012
BuzzFeed
In the compelling personal narrative that has helped propel Florida Senator Marco Rubio to national political stardom, one chapter has gone completely untold: Rubio spent his childhood as a faithful Mormon.
Rubio was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his family at around the age of eight, and remained active in the faith for a number of years during his early youth, family members told BuzzFeed.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant confirmed the story to BuzzFeed, and said Rubio returned to the Catholic church a few years later with his family, receiving his first communion on Christmas day in 1984 at the age of 13.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots
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Sen. Marco Rubio’s Mormon past comes to light
February 23, 2012
Miami Herald (Florida)
News broke Thursday that U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was baptized as a Mormon at age 8, when his family lived in Las Vegas. A few years later, he converted to Catholicism.
Yet Rubio’s religious profile is even more complicated than that, given his close ties to an evangelical church in Miami.
It’s a mix — a “faith journey,” as his office put it — that has some wondering whether the rising Republican is trying to be all things to all people, and what other surprises may be in his past.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/23/2657517/sen-rubios-mormon-past-comes-to.html
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Tween Marco Rubio Was a Mormon, But Does Anyone Really Care?
February 23, 2012
Miami New Times (Florida)
No, he used to be a Mormon for a few years when he was a tweenager living in Nevada. Wait, do we really care what God-loving social club Rubio belonged to as a mere child?
BuzzFeed, which recently hired away former Politico star reporter Ben Smith to edit the site, leans on the recollection of two of Rubio’s first cousins, Mo Denis, a Democratic State Senator in Nevada, and Michelle Denis, to fill us in on Rubio’s Mormon past.
Despite being born in Miami, Rubio’s family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, for a while when he was 8. Rubio’s aunt (the Denis’s mother) lived in the same neighborhood. While the Rubios, like most Cuban immigrant families, had belonged to the Catholic church in Miami, the Denises had become Mormons. While Roman Catholicism is the largest religious denomination by attendance in Nevada, Mormonism is second. It seems natural enough to us that the Rubios, new to the area, would attend church with their family in the area.
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/02/tween_marco_rubios_was_a_mormo.php
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Sen. Marco Rubio’s religious journey: Catholic to Mormon to Catholic to Baptist and Catholic
February 23, 2012
CNN
A new wrinkle emerged Thursday in the autobiography of a rising Republican star: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, was once a Mormon. Rubio, a Cuban-American who has played up his Catholic roots on the campaign trail and today attends Catholic churches as well as a Southern Baptist megachurch, was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young boy.
Rubio’s attendance in the church was little-known and made a splash when details of a forthcoming memoir were reported Thursday by the Miami Herald and the website BuzzFeed.
Thursday afternoon, Rubio’s spokesman elaborated on his complex journey of faith.
“He had already planned on discussing his faith journey in his memoir,” Alex Conant said. “His faith journey was part of the pitch to the publishers.”
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Marco Rubio’s autobiography reveals Mormon past
February 24, 2012
Kansas City Star (Missouri)
When Marco was 8 years old and living in Las Vegas, the Rubio family attended a Mormon church for a few years.
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/24/3448862/marco-rubios-autobiography-reveals.html
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Rubio’s Mormon past revealed
February 23, 2012
MSNBC
When Rubio’s family moved to a suburb of Las Vegas, near cousins who were Mormon, many in his immediate family (but not his father) converted, including Marco. Rubio was baptized in the church when he was 8 and enthusiastically participated in the religion, according to the report.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant tells First Read BuzzFeed is incorrect that “Rubio’s steadfast participation in the Mormon church continued for several years–until his parents decided to move them to Miami.” (*** UPDATE *** BuzzFeed has clarified: “The cousins said Rubio’s participation in the Mormon church continued for several years, until his parents decided to move them to Miami–though Conant said the family left the church before leaving Nevada.”)
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/23/10487879-rubios-mormon-past-revealed
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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was reportedly baptized as a Mormon in his youth
February 23, 2012
Fox News
Florida Senator and rising GOP star Marco Rubio was baptized as a Mormon during his childhood along with other members of his immediate family, according to a new report Thursday.
The report on BuzzFeed, a social media website, came after The Miami Herald published tidbits from Rubio’s upcoming memoir “American Son,” revealing that the Rubio family attended a Mormon church in the Las Vegas area for a few years around the time the senator was eight years old.
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Marco Rubio’s faith, a timeline.
February 23, 2012
Miami Herald (Florida)
The timeline of Sen. Marco Rubio’s “faith journey” as provided by his office, which says it will be part of his upcoming book.
His family moved to Las Vegas in 1979 and joined the Mormon church when Marco was about 8 years old.
While still in Las Vegas, by the time he was 12, he and his family left the church and resumed attending Catholic services.
He received his first communion at the age of 13 in December 1984 in Las Vegas.
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/marco-rubios-faith-a-timeline.html
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Sen. Marco Rubio’s religious journey: Catholic to Mormon to Catholic to Baptist and Catholic
February 23, 2012
CNN
A new wrinkle emerged Thursday in the autobiography of a rising Republican star: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, was once a Mormon. Rubio, a Cuban-American who has played up his Catholic roots on the campaign trail and today attends Catholic churches as well as a Southern Baptist megachurch, was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young boy.
Rubio’s attendance in the church was little-known and made a splash when details of a forthcoming memoir were reported Thursday by the Miami Herald and the website BuzzFeed.
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Marco Rubio’s youthful encounter with Mormonism
February 23, 2012
Atlanta Journal Constitution (Georgia)
The chances of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., becoming Mitt Romney’s vice presidential pick for a GOP ticket just got complicated. A stunner from Buzzfeed:
In the compelling personal narrative that has helped propel Florida Senator Marco Rubio to national political stardom, one chapter has gone completely untold: Rubio spent his childhood as a faithful Mormon.
Rubio was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his family at around the age of eight, and remained active in the faith for a number of years during his early youth, family members told BuzzFeed.
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In Book, Rubio Reveals Brief Mormon Past
February 23, 2012
New York Times
Senator Marco Rubio is known in Washington as a rising Republican star, short-listed in the vice-presidential sweepstakes and a crucial player in his party’s plans for winning his home state of Florida in November.
Now he has a new tag: former Mormon.
Mr. Rubio’s coming book, “An American Son,” will detail his brief conversion, when he was about 8, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his return to Catholicism at 12.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/in-book-rubio-reveals-brief-mormon-past/
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Sen. Marco Rubio has Mormon roots
February 23, 2012
USA Today
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was set to reveal in his upcoming October memoir An American Son that he spent several years of his childhood in the Mormon faith before he returned to Catholicism when he was 13.
On Thursday, the website Buzzfeed.com beat him to it.
According to interviews with family members, the lawmaker was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was 8 years old, and he was an active member of the faith until his family returned to Catholicism in 1984, when Rubio received his First Communion on Christmas Day.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/02/marco-rubio-mormon/1#.T0eX9ocgfd4
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Mormons allegedly baptized Anne Frank posthumously
February 24, 2012
CBC News (Canada)
A new claim has surfaced that the Mormon Church has posthumously baptized another Holocaust victim, this time Anne Frank.
The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/24/anne-frank-mormon-baptism.html
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Mormons and Baptism by Proxy
February 24, 2012
Wall Street Journal
Both Mr. Wiesel and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have denounced the proxy baptisms of Holocaust victims as an outrage, with Mr. Wiesel specifically calling upon Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to “speak to his church and say they should stop.” Actually, Mr. Romney should ignore this controversy.
Baptism by proxy has its roots in early Mormonism, when adherents were troubled by the fact that their ancestors had died before the 1830 founding of what became the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Mormon prophet Joseph Smith taught that baptism was necessary for salvation and that only those baptisms performed by the true, restored church counted. That left the vast bulk of humanity on the outside looking in.
Smith wanted to offer a second chance to those who had died. Bringing to life an obscure New Testament passage about believers being “baptized for the dead,” he announced that his followers could seek baptism on behalf of their departed kin.
Early Mormons, then in Illinois before their exodus to Utah, embraced this teaching with great enthusiasm. Even before the completion of a temple font, Mormons plunged into the muddy waters of the Mississippi River to bring salvation to their dead.
Over time, the doctrine of baptism for the dead turned the Mormons into fanatical genealogists. It also created a desire to save other deceased persons beyond direct ancestors.
Only in recent years has the church more strictly emphasized that members should submit only the names of their own ancestors for baptism. Thus it is not surprising that Mormons have been baptized for everyone from Anne Frank to Adolf Hitler. Theologically, it would have been quite callous for the Mormons to exclude any group.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577240982269172786.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Mormon Baptism For the Dead: History and Explanation of an Unusual Ritual
February 23, 2012
Huffington Post
Mormon baptism for the dead is at least two things.
First, it is a solution to what some scholars call Christianity’s “scandal of particularity.” By this they mean that Christianity claims that salvation comes only through Christ. If that is true, though, what about those who had no conceivable way to hear of Christ, let alone to confess him? What justice is there in a Gospel that arbitrarily denies heaven to people merely by token of their place of birth? Joseph Smith and his Latter-day Saints answered emphatically, “None.” The Mormon solution to the scandal of particularity was not that Christ is unnecessary, but that Christ can be brought to everyone in the afterlife. While the notion offends many modern ears, the solution has a sort of ambitious coherence.
Second, baptism for the dead is a reflection of early Mormon ideas about the nature of family and human relationships. Though in the 20th century Mormons emphasized a more Victorian interpretation of these beliefs, early Mormon beliefs about family were stunningly universal. The family of heaven encompassed essentially every human being in early Mormon belief. Mormons understood baptism as the mechanism by which individuals were adopted into that vast family of heaven. On this view, baptism for the dead represents the hope that all of humanity will be united in the afterlife as one harmonious family. Mormons, rather than looking down at the damned with pious glee, are exploring every possible avenue to get the supposedly damned into heaven. That they employ the very physical rite of baptism to unite the human family reflects more than anything the assiduously literal and physical bent of Mormon thought.
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When Mormons intrude on Jewish practices
February 24, 2012
Ha’aretz (Israel)
I will never forget the interfaith trip that I took to the Mormon Temple in New York City as a part of a rabbinical school group in 2009. Most of us had enjoyed positive experiences with other Christian dialogue groups from across the denominational spectrum and were intrigued by the potential of this visit. Recalling a past visit to the Mormon Tabernacle Church in Utah as a member of a youth group summer program, I remembered having been taught that Jews were among friends with Mormons. As Mormons considered themselves to be descendants of the House of Israel, and Jews were considered by Mormons to be the “original Israelites,” Jews were to be respected–while not being Mormons themselves–for their beliefs as a similarly covenanted people.
Unfortunately, both of my visits to Mormon sites (ten years apart from one another) left me disappointed. In Utah, our group of Jewish teenagers was led into a “special room” with a talking Jesus statue intended to inspire us to convert, as we were told free copies of the Book of Mormon in almost every language including Hebrew were available on the way out. After exchanging pleasantries with us (and pointing out how similar Judaism and Mormonism were, in particular, with our long prayer services) during our New York City visit our speaker presented us with a book from under the lectern entitled, “So How Come a Nice Jewish Boy Became a Mormon,” and encouraged our group of future rabbis to read the book.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/when-mormons-intrude-on-jewish-practices-1.414573
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Anne Frank ‘posthumously baptised as a Mormon’
February 24, 2012
Telegraph (United Kingdom)
The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologised when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptised by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
Mormon researcher Helen Radkey, who revealed the Wiesenthal baptisms, said this week she found Anne Frank’s name in proxy baptism records dated Feb 18, showing the ritual was performed in the Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic.
The Mormon church almost immediately issued a statement, though it didn’t mention Frank by name.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9102688/Anne-Frank-posthumously-baptised-as-a-Mormon.html
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Was Anne Frank baptized by Mormons?
February 23, 2012
Toronto Star (Canada)
A new claim has surfaced that the Mormon church has posthumously baptized another Holocaust victim: this time Anne Frank.
The allegations come just a week after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
Researcher Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who revealed the Wiesenthal baptisms, said this week she found Frank’s name in proxy baptism records dated Feb. 18, showing the ritual was performed in the Dominican Republic.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1136091–was-anne-frank-baptized-by-mormons
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Claim surfaces of Anne Frank baptism by Mormons
February 23, 2012
San Francisco Chronicle (California)
A new claim has surfaced that the Mormon church has posthumously baptized a Holocaust victim, this time Anne Frank.
The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
Researcher Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who revealed the Wiesenthal baptisms, said this week she found Frank’s name in proxy baptism records dated Feb. 18, showing the ritual was performed in the Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/23/national/a145517S69.DTL&tsp=1
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Arizona’s Mormons give Romney the edge, but all is not lost for Santorum
February 23, 2012
The Guardian (United Kingdom)
Just a few weeks ago, Mitt Romney’s campaign team, looking at the schedule of primaries and caucuses, could be forgiven for considering Arizona to be in the bag. Romney had a double-digit poll lead over his nearest rival, a strong organisation in place, the backing of state senator and Republican elder statesman John McCain, and the advantage of a large Mormon population.
Not all Mormons automatically vote for their co-religionist, but in other places where Romney has stood with big Mormon populations they have tended to vote en masse for him: the possibility of a first Mormon president is too big a temptation.
Although Mormons only comprise about 6% of the population of Arizona – though even this is a large enough bloc to make a difference – they make up an even bigger proportion of the Republican party.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/23/arizona-mormons-romney-edge-santorum
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Donations from Mesa, Gilbert fuel Romney’s fundraising edge in Arizona
February 23, 2012
Arizona Capitol Times
“It’s probably a fair assumption to say that there’s some sort of what you call Mormon pride at play in terms of where the money is coming from in regards to Mitt Romney,” said Shane Wikfors, communications director for the Arizona Republican Party.
“What it really tells me is that Romney has a stronger organization than anyone else here,” said Bruce Merrill, a political scientist and pollster with Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy.
“There’s a lot of Mormons here, a lot of prominent, well-to-do Mormons, and so to me it simply shows that Romney has had a much larger and stronger organization,” Merrill added.
Three Mormon state lawmakers from Mesa, Republican Reps. Cecil P. Ash and Steve Court and Republican Sen. Rich Crandall, donated $2,400, $250 and $250, respectively, to Romney’s campaign. Records also showed that Romney received $2,000 from former ASU and current Arizona Cardinals tight end Todd Heap, who is a Mormon from Mesa.
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Letter: Mormon, Jew, gay, my question: Will that comrade have your back?
February 24, 2012
TC Palm (Florida)
If a Mormon can’t be president, then we ought not ask Mormon sons and daughters to fight, and sometimes die for our country.
After my second tour in Vietnam I returned somewhat befuddled as many of my soldier buddies did. I went so far as joining up with the Mormons for a short while until one of my Air Force Mormon friends took me aside and said, “Had I not been born a Mormon, I probably wouldn’t be one. You don’t have to do this,” he said, “just try and be as good a Catholic as you can.”
A few years later I was brought before a military court-martial stemming from a midair collision in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 9, 1983. Throughout the course of my trial a major sat in the back of the courtroom daily praying for a just outcome to my trial. He was a Mormon. Why he did that I have no idea, but he did.
I may not vote for a Mormon for president, but as my Mormon friend advised me, “Just go be as good a whatever as God gives you the grace to be, “and let your conscience be your guide when you vote.”
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/feb/24/letter-mormon-jew-gay-my-question-will-that-have/
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Elizabeth Smart Marries Scottish Prince Charming in Dream Hawaii Wedding
February 24, 2012
Daily Beast
Smart met her dream man more than a year ago while both were completing their Mormon missions in Paris. The 22-year-old Gilmour proposed to his older girlfriend (Smart will turn 25 in November), and she promptly said yes. “As soon as we were together, I felt he was my best friend,” Smart says in the new issue of People, for which she appears on the cover in her wedding dress. “I couldn’t imagine life without him.”
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Donations from Mesa, Gilbert fuel Romney’s fundraising edge in Arizona
February 23, 2012
College Times (Arizona)
For Chris Udall, that fact that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a fellow Mormon was “just the icing on the cake” when he decided to donate $250 to his campaign.
“I talk to a lot of friends of mine and relatives who are really into other candidates, so we’re not a homogenous bunch and don’t support someone strictly because of religion,” said Udall, a Mesa resident who is executive director of the Agri-Business Council of Arizona. “My first reason for supporting Governor Romney is because of his private sector experience. I think we need a private sector president.”
While fundraising has tightened of late, Romney has a strong lead so far among Arizonans who have opened their wallets in support. And donations from residents of Mesa and Gilbert, cities with large Mormon populations, are a big part of that, according to a Cronkite News Service review of Federal Election Commission data.
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LDS church bishop set for trial on charges of witness tampering, failure to report sex abuse
February 23, 2012
The Republic (Indiana)
A Mormon bishop is set for trial June 1 on charges of witness tampering and failing to report a teen girl’s complaint of sexual abuse.
Prosecutors say 43-year-old Gordon Lamont Moon advised the 16-year-old girl last July not to report an alleged assault to authorities.
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/21bc2c7e02be4b6984e077a30750e4ca/UT–Mormon-Bishop-Charged/
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Trial date set for Duchesne LDS Church bishop in failure-to-report case
February 23, 2012
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
A June trial date has been set for a Mormon bishop accused of failing to report allegations of child abuse after meeting with a girl in his Duchesne congregation.
Gordon Lamont Moon, 43, will stand trial June 1 on a third-degree felony count of tampering with a witness and a class B misdemeanor of failure to report child abuse.
According to a court document, the 17-year-old girl was sexually abused by a younger teen in July. The girl’s father later asked Moon to speak with the girl.
“[Moon] said that I need to think about what [the teen boy] is going through, and I don’t need to start telling the cops or anything because he’s already going to have to go through a bunch of repentance and all that stuff,” the girl later told police, according to court documents.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53578240-78/girl-moon-police-report.html.csp
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Stephen Colbert Tackles Posthumous Mormon Baptisms By Converting All The Dead Mormons To Judaism
February 24, 2012
Mediaite
On Thursday’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert tackled the kerfuffle surrounding the controversial practice of posthumously baptizing deceased Holocaust victims in the Mormon church, which Elie Wiesel has called upon Mitt Romney to renounce.
“What business is it of yours, Elie?” Colbert incredulously excliamed. “I did some research and it turns out those 600,000 Jews are now Mormons!”
“Unfortunately for Mitt, this controversy just seems like it will not die,” Colbert observed. “And if it did, the Mormons would’ve posthumously baptized it!”
Colbert described the unorthodox practice as a kind of, “hot tub time machine.”
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Mormonism’s Faustian Pact
February 23, 2012
Blogcritics
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) should perhaps take it as a compliment that Rabbi Abraham Cooper thinks that LDS’s own brand of malevolence falls short of the Evil One’s trailblazing adoption of the capitalist mode of wealth creation. You see, according to Cooper, when the LDS wants your soul it does not buy it or exchange it for material benefits but rather, more mundanely, simply steals it. Or, more precisely, it ‘hijacks’ one’s soul. Seriously. These are Cooper’s own words as reported by The Telegraph concerning the baptism by proxy of some Holocaust victims.
I certainly don’t want to be misunderstood – the LDS has many things to be sorry for. Off the top of my head: there is the Mountain Meadows Massacre in which approximately 120 individuals, including children, were murdered; there is the horrid (albeit nuanced) history of female subjugation in the practice of polygamy and its continued perpetuation amongst dissident Mormon (non LDS) groups for which LDS owe a continued responsibility, and even the doctrine of celestial marriage is, in my view, a recipe for domestic spousal abuse; there is the history of racism up until 1978; and finally there is Mitt Romney (the last one is – mostly – said in jest).
But there is one thing that the LDS does not have to apologise for, and that is for practising their faith in a manner that does not impinge on the freedom of others – and that is all I can see as happening here. In fact, and I did think how else I could word this but nothing short of bluntness seemed appropriate, Rabbi Cooper’s words of condemnation are nothing less than pure idiocy, particularly given their provenance from a human rights organisation campaigning for tolerance.
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/mormonisms-faustian-pact/
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Gonzaga students taking hate out of hoops
February 24, 2012
News Tribune (Washington)
A group of Gonzaga students promoted sportsmanship at Thursday night’s basketball game against BYU with a “Take the Hate Out of Hoops” campaign against Mormon slurs.
The campaign included handing out bracelets with the “Take the Hate Out of Hoops” message.
KREM reports ( http://is.gd/pVO5Jc) the campaign was created by students from a Hate Studies class who organized to fight offensive comments some students posted about the Mormon religion after an earlier game against BYU.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/24/2039559/gonzaga-students-taking-hate-out.html
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“Hate Out of Hoops” promoting sportsmanship at GU
February 23, 2012
NWCN (Washington)
A group of students at Gonzaga is working to improve the behavior of the school’s student section at basketball games.
The group is called “Take the Hate Out of Hoops” and was created by students from a Hate Studies class.
After the school’s last matchup with BYU some students posted derogatory comments about the school; directed both at the Mormon lifestyle and the Mormon religion. The comments were so offensive it moved some students in the class to try and make a change.
The group is handing out bracelets and spreading a message of kindness that they hope will inspire a change on campus and in the community.
Recently some Gonzaga students created a Facebook page encouraging students to make fun of BYU that has since been deleted.
http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=140241503&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10222
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Theocracy and Its Discontents
February 23, 2012
New York Times
Then let’s look west, beyond the Wasatch Mountains in the 19th century, where Brigham Young built a Mormon empire in which church rule and civil law were one and the same — the press, a military brigade and the courts all controlled by the Seer and Revelator of a homegrown religion. Oops, wrong founders again.
American political bedrock — God’s house and the people’s government guiding separate worlds — wasn’t always in place. Reason ultimately won out. But theocracy certainly had its colonies and its advocates; it might have prevailed but for a few outstanding voices.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/theocracy-and-its-discontents/
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Mormon-Spotting Is the New Jew-Spotting
February 23, 2012
Gawker
Back in 2009, media critic Jack Shafer noted The New York Times’ penchant for “Jew-spotting,” publishing articles about “Jews living in strange places.” Examples are here, here, here, here, here.
Three years later, “The Mormon Moment” is upon us, and we are spotting Mormons. Mormon-spotting and Jew-spotting are two sides of the same coin: Whereas Jews in rural, isolated locations dazzle journalists, we expect to find indefatigable Mormon evangelists in farflung locales. But Mormons in glamorous settings and positions of power are, for some reason, preoccupying. Sen. Marco Rubio was once a Mormon. Mali’s next president may be a Mormon. These cool guys in bands are Mormons. These 23 famous people are Mormons. There are Mormons on Pinterest. (Spot the Gawker article.) Anne Frank might be a Mormon.
Even the official LDS church has joined the Mormon-spotting frenzy with its “I’m a Mormon” PR campaign. A cynic would wonder whether all Mormon-spotting weren’t the triumphant result of a sustained publicity push from LDS’s PR wing.
http://gawker.com/5887672/mormon+spotting-is-the-new-jew+spotting
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Claim surfaces of Anne Frank baptism by Mormons
February 23, 2012
NewsOK (Oklahoma)
A new claim has surfaced that the Mormon church has posthumously baptized a Holocaust victim, this time Anne Frank.
The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
Researcher Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who revealed the Wiesenthal baptisms, said this week she found Frank’s name in proxy baptism records dated Feb. 18, showing the ritual was performed in the Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic.
http://newsok.com/claim-surfaces-of-anne-frank-baptism-by-mormons/article/feed/351789
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Building a bigger tent
February 25, 2012
The Economist
MORMONS are outing themselves. In 2010 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched a multi-million-dollar campaign to counter “misconceptions” about the religion, and last October it was vastly expanded. Billboards have now gone up in a dozen American cities, featuring real members. “I’m a Mormon,” say lawyers, scientists and surfers, smilingly directing viewers to the church website. There the curious can chat with a missionary, or browse some 80,000 profiles to find Mormons who are like them. Over the past year, according to the church, people have initiated about 1m chats via the site, often asking about the Mormon record on gay rights, or other controversial things. And since the launch of the October campaign there have been 30,000 more Mormon profiles to look at.
Some might think this unnecessary. In 2010 the church added some 400,000 converts and babies, pushing worldwide membership above 14m. If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, there may be a Mormon president soon enough. In a January poll of Mormons from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 63% reckoned that acceptance of their religion is rising.
http://www.economist.com/node/21548247
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The GOP’s other nomination headache
February 24, 2012
Salon
And then there’s Marco Rubio, who many have seen as the runaway favorite for the No. 2 slot. He’s a charismatic speaker with potential appeal to Hispanic voters, a crucial fall constituency, and he represents a giant swing state that Obama barely carried four years ago, Florida. He also is something of a rock star on the Tea Party right.
But now comes news that he was actually baptized as a Mormon and was an enthusiastic member of the church in his formative years. It may sound ridiculous to consider the political implications of someone’s church membership at age 12, but for a significant chunk of the Republican Party base, Mormonism isn’t just any other religion. Romney’s sustained struggles in the South, where LDS suspicion is particularly pronounces among Pentecostals and Southern Baptists, testify to this. Would a general election ticket with one full-fledged Mormon and one baptized Mormon who later converted to Catholicism be too much for these voters?
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/24/the_gop%E2%80%99s_other_nomination_headache/singleton/
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The timeline of Rubio’s faith
February 23, 2012
Politico
After the interest sparked by the Miami Herald and Buzzfeed pieces on Marco Rubio’s time spent in the Mormon church as a child, his office put together a timeline to clarify his background, which he’d planned to deal with himself in his upcoming memoir:
His family moved to Las Vegas in 1979 and joined the Mormon church when Marco was about 8 years old.
While still in Las Vegas, by the time he was 12, he and his family left the church and resumed attending Catholic services.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/02/the-timeline-of-rubios-faith-115368.html
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Political Lessons, From a Mother’s Losing Run
February 24, 2012
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
“I am not for destroying life,” she told an interviewer then, describing her response when the question came up during speeches on college campuses. “And then I ask them, if later, they would want to kill all the old or abandoned people in the world.”Lenore LaFount first met George Romney in Utah in 1924, and always seemed just a little bit out of his reach. They were classmates at a Mormon high school. She was 15, a slender, pale brunette whose father, a headphone manufacturer, was later appointed to a radio commission by President Calvin Coolidge. George Romney was 17, born in Mexico in a colony of Mormons, to parents who were in debt.
Much as Mitt Romney would later pursue his wife, Ann, George Romney pursued Lenore relentlessly. When he went to England as a Mormon missionary, he insisted she “promise never to kiss anybody” else, she told T. George Harris, a George Romney biographer. Later, he followed her family to Washington, where she earned an English degree at George Washington University in just three years. He signed up for classes but dropped out; he wanted to marry Lenore and needed to support himself.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12055/1212371-84.stm
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