Free Republic

For at least half a century, the party of Lincoln has battled charges that it is racist, sexist and anti-immigrant. Today, voters from a conservative state made those arguments a little bit harder to make. In Utah, Mia Love became the first black Republican woman — and first Haitian American — elected to Congress. For the GOP — a house divided that faces significant demographic hurdles to winning the White House in 2016 even as it celebrates President Obama’s shellacking — this was huge. A party threatened with extinction among African Americans and immigrants now has someone to brag about...

Even her name is media friendly. Mia Love instantly became the darling of the Republican Party on Wednesday, after being elected as its first black female member of Congress -- and a Mormon to boot. And she has also rapidly drawn comparisons with Barack Obama, not least since she wowed her party's 2012 national convention with a tale of rags-to-political riches, much like the young Senator Obama did in 2004. "Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect, a black Republican LDS woman to Congress," she said at her victory rally, referring to the Church of...

Mia Love, bidding to become the first black Republican woman to win a congressional seat in 160 years of the Grand Old Party, was trailing Democrat Doug Owens in early unofficial returns Tuesday evening in Utah’s 4th District race.

This is my response to the Plural Marriage in Kirkland and Nauvoo essay posted last week to LDS.org. A couple of years ago I was talking to my 16-17 year old Sunday School class about polygamy. They raised it – not me. Our conversation was about the early practice of Mormon polygamy and how it came about. The girls in the class turned up their noses and looked aghast while one boy responded to Joseph Smith’s revelation on polygamy with a snort, and a, ‘Yeah right! That’s convenient!’ To say that polygamy has been a singular nuisance to the...

A Mormon mother of three secured her place in American history as the first black female Republican elected to Congress. "Tonight you have made history!" Utah's Mia Love told supporters after winning the state's 4th House district. "Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black Republican LDS (Latter Day Saint) woman to Congress. Not only did we do it, we were the first to do it!" Love, 38, who also will be the first Haitian-American to serve in the Capital, was surrounded by her husband, Jason, and their kids: Alessa, 14; Abigail, 11; and...

Among Republicans, the numbers are even more dramatic: 59 percent said that they believe that churches should speak out on the political issues of the day; 53 percent don’t believe that political leaders spend enough time talking about their faith; and 72 percent believe that it is important that members of Congress have strong religious beliefs. Clearly, they want to get a better sense of the faith that animates a politician’s values and how grounded they are in their faith. Many Americans have come to understand that if you know about a candidate’s faith then you can get a pretty...

...FOR FAITHFUL LATTER-DAY SAINTS, the temple endowment ceremony is one of the most...powerful ordinances received in mortality. One authoritative source called it the temporal stepping stone which all people must pass to achieve exaltation with God the Father and Jesus Christ...1 ... 1 Gospel Essentials, rev. ed., sunday school manual (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), 1979, 247. [SNIP] Another element of literalism disappeared in 1927 when kissing over the altar during vicarious sealings for the dead was abolished.129 Probably the greatest twentieth-century catalyst to increase the number of vicarious endowments was Heber J. Grant's emphasis...

I recently listened to an interesting podcast episode of Buddhist Geeks called “Creating Living Ritual” included a critique of modern Buddhism’s “dead” ritualism. The discussion included some thoughts about what modern ritual should include to be successful and ironically, many of those suggestions Joseph Smith included in the first endowment ceremony which have recently been removed or altered. It got me wondering: did Joseph Smith create better ritualistic practices than we have today? He goes on to lament that “Buddhist rituals, definitely including most Tantric Buddhist rituals, are nothing like that. They are dead, zombie rituals.” (emphasis mine) He also...

Baptisms for the dead often involve young people, ages twelve to seventeen. By appointment, they will spend two to three hours in the temple baptistery area, each person being baptized typically, for a score or more deceased persons. They dress in all-white baptismal clothing, attend a brief worship service, and then participate in the proxy baptisms. Those performing the baptism often include the adult male supervisors traveling with the group. It is understood that in the spirit world all persons for whom temple work by proxy is performed will have heard of the gospel and its ordinances

It’s Halloween week (though perhaps you already celebrated with a ToT), so Steve and I figured that it would only be appropriate to have a super-spooky ranking! This is some scary stuff! As always, these rankings are authoritative. 10. Cain/Bigfoot 9. BYU Honor Code Office Representative 8. Post-Manifesto Polygamist 7. Intellectual Feminist 6. Single Man Over 27 5. The Bible Dictionary 4. Non-intellectual Feminist 3. Steve Evans 2. Idolatrous God of Elkenah 1. Missionary who served, came home, and then got called back 4 years later like in that nightmare I have every 6 weeks

1: 'Lucifer was one of us...' The so-called 'premortal' world Mormons claim they had as alien spirits on a distant planet, supposedly located near the star they call "Kolob": Joseph Fielding Smith, 10th "prophet" of the Mormon Church: "Before the foundations of this earth were laid, WE were ALL in the presence of the Father as spiritual children. Lucifer was one of us..." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., Religious Truths Defined: A comparison of Religious Faiths with the Restored Gospel, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, p. 67, 1959/1962) 2. Per a Mormon Seminary and Institute teacher in Salt Lake City, the so-called...

In the past six or so years I’ve written countless articles on many subjects regarding Mormonism, but there are a few subjects that continue to show up for another view and additional insight. The subject of this article is my case in point. The first time I wrote on this subject I received many horrible reviews – all by members of the Church. The reviews that were favorable of course were from the Christians. At the request of former Mormons and Christians I was asked to write a sequel so I acquiesced – that was three years ago. Now I’m...

Over five years ago I wrote an article entitled ‘Demonic and Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon’. Since then I have been asked by numerous people to write more on this particular subject so here it is! Back by popular demand I went through my old notes and found some other names that I think would be of interest to the Mormon and non-Mormon alike. There were more than 50 names of people and/or places that contradict what the Biblical accounts report. Here are just a few of them. ChemishThe name of Chemish so closely resembles the name of...

While studying some points of interest in Masonry, I came across some names within their books that sounded familiar to me. The familiarity became abundantly clear when I opened the Book of Mormon. I began researching some of the names in the Book of Mormon and their meanings. I compared them with the Bible, bible dictionaries and even Webster’s dictionary. I found 57 names of people and places that are demonic or names of false gods and their derivatives, however I have chosen to narrow this down to three names that I thought was most relevant. Someone mentioned to me...

SALT LAKE CITY – A new church essay reveals Mormon church founder Joseph Smith had an underage bride and was married to other men's wives during the early days of the faith when polygamy was practiced. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says most of Smith's wives were adults, but one was a 14-year-old girl who was the daughter of Smith's close friends. Research shows the marriage might not have involved sex.

Hilarious video from the point of view of a Lutheran Pastor. Among the highlights is this exchange: "You can know the Mormon church is the One True Church, because we always have twelve living Apostles!" "Let me get this straight...according to the Mormon church, the Apostle John never died and is fact still roaming this Earth?" "According to Section 7 of Doctrines and Covenants, that is correct." "Patrick - is St. John the Evangelist currently an Apostle in the Mormon church? You're telling me that, after eighteen hundred years with no church to worship in, no fellow believers to gather...

The Mormon church is addressing the mystery that has long surrounded undergarments worn by its faithful with a new video explaining the practice in-depth while admonishing ridicule from outsiders about what it considers a symbol of Latter-day Saints' devotion to God. The four-minute video on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' website compares the white, two-piece cotton "temple garments" to holy vestments worn in other religious faiths such as a Catholic nun's habit or a Muslim skullcap.

When: September 18, 2014 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pmWhere: Albrecht Auditorium Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Colleges,925 North Dartmouth Avenue,Claremont,CA 91711 USA Title: “Zombies, Vampires, and the Book of Mormon” Abstract: Zombies and vampires bend the rules of time. Death arrives for them but, even after its arrival, their lives continue. They die but, rather than passing on to the next world, they continue in this one. In this sense, zombies and vampires model an important aspect of Christian life: the Christian’s preemptive abandonment of their own life (their willingness to be crucified with Christ), in order to begin...

...Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books...featuring atypical vampires and werewolf champions are allegories...a re-telling of the Garden of Eden drama—with a Mormon twist. Here, the Fall is a good thing, even the key to salvation and divinization, just as Joseph Smith...the Latter-day Saint prophet, said it was... The key word in...Meyer’s dream is not “vampire”...but “meadow.”...“Mountain Meadows,”...means something much less pastoral and positive and much more visceral and painful to...LDS. ...2003 saw the publication of three books...focused on the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which...Mormon faithful in Southern Utah executed...120 men, women, and children on their way to California from Arkansas. All...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Court decisions this week paving the way for same-sex marriage to become legal in dozens of states, including Mormon strongholds like Utah, Idaho and Nevada, have emboldened a growing group of Latter-day Saints who are pushing the conservative church to become more accepting of gay members. The church's stance toward gays has softened considerably since it was one of the leading forces behind California's ban on gay marriage in 2008, but high-ranking leaders have reiterated time and again the faith's opposition to same-sex unions....