Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY -- A gay rights group says it is securing Republican support in the Utah state Legislature for anti-discrimination laws. The Deseret News reports members of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian political group, say two bills granting gays extra rights in Utah will have GOP sponsors when they go before the Legislature in the 2010 session. The group is not saying who those sponsors are. One of the measures is similar to an ordinance approved in Salt Lake City that states gay workers can't be fired because of their sexuality. The Deseret News reports...

Below is an informative piece by my friend Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan about the awful decision by the LDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to support legislation granting legal protections based on homosexuality. Gary of AFA-Michigan writes: A Shocker from Salt Lake City: The LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church now officially endorses so-called “gay rights” laws, specifically a Salt Lake City law prohibiting “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation” (homosexual behavior) and “gender identity” (cross-dressing). From the official LDS Church website: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-supports-nondiscrimination-ordinances ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Mormons throw support...

Gay rights legislation in Salt Lake City receives its first ever endorsement by the Mormon church. Salt Lake City, Utah (WiredPRNews.com) - The passage of gay rights legislation in Salt Lake City, Utah was supported for the first time by the Mormon church. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the church announced its support of laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing and employment prior to a vote on the legislation Tuesday. Michael Otterson, the director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is quoted by the AP...

Salt Lake OKs Gay Rights Ordinances Mormon church — which opposes same-sex marriage — backs laws SALT LAKE CITY - With a historic endorsement from the Mormon church, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously passed a pair of ordinances making it illegal to discriminate against gays. Tuesday's action was the first time the Utah-based church — which has been steadfast in its opposition to gay marriage — has publicly supported gay rights legislation. "The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage," Michael Otterson, the director of public...

For the first time in 105 years, non-Mormons mounted the pulpit at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on Nov. 14. The event, dubbed an "Evening of Friendship," was organized by Standing Together, a network of 100 evangelical churches trying to improve relations with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Historical animosity dating back to the founding of the LDS Church has heightened in recent years between the two groups, particularly in the 1990s, when high-profile evangelical leaders said that Mormons are not Christians and the Southern Baptist Convention held one of its annual meetings...

In a meeting with gay-rights activists last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized the LDS Church for backing a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in California, saying the leaders of his faith should have stayed out of the contentious political fight. Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, is the highest ranking elected official who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.-SNIP-Marchers in Sunday's equality rally, which drew tens of thousands to the U.S. Capitol, repeatedly referenced the Prop 8 defeat in signs, statements and even face paint. But when organizers sat down with Reid,...

More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) outlawed the practice of polygamy. LDS records, however, indicate that early Mormon leaders, Joseph Smith Jr. and Brigham Young, have both been “sealed” (married) for eternity to hundreds of wives. Despite its current temporal ban on polygamy, the LDS Church promotes polygamy on a perpetual basis. Polygamous unions, mainly on behalf of the dead, using living Mormons as proxies, are routinely performed in LDS temples. Mormon fundamentalists — representing the sects of Mormonism which embrace early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of...

Mormons: The Most Conservative Religious Group In America That's according to a new report from Pew, released today and based on data from the group's 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. More Mormons (60 percent) identify themselves as conservatives than any other religious group; they also lead every other group in GOP party identification (at 65 percent)--much higher than the general population in both categories

You might think that the Mormon people celebrate Christmas like a good Christian denomination would. But a doctrinal issue broods over the Mormon people, a historic issue that prevents many Mormons from appreciating the Christian meaning of Christmas. Indeed, it is an issue that prevents Mormons from having a saving relationship with the real Jesus Christ. Just who is that Jesus in the manger? How was he conceived? And what kind of salvation does he freely offer to those who want eternal life and the forgiveness of sins?One of the fundamental tenets of Christianity is that Christ was born of...

ORANGEVALE, Calif. -- A 15-year-old girl who allegedly worships Satan was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of lighting a fire at her Orangevale church. The blaze occurred at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the corner of Hazel and Cherry avenues. Christian Pebbles of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said the teen made it clear why she started the blaze, which damaged church pews. “She hates the church and she worships the devil,” Pebbles said. “That’s the reason why.” Pebbles said the teen was taken into custody on suspicion of felony arson. “Well, you know, kids sometimes don’t always...

ORANGEVALE, Calif. -- A 15-year-old girl who allegedly worships Satan was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of lighting a fire at her Orangevale church. The blaze occurred at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the corner of Hazel and Cherry avenues. Christian Pebbles of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said the teen made it clear why she started the blaze, which damaged church pews. "She hates the church and she worships the devil," Pebbles said. "That's the reason why." Pebbles said the teen was taken into custody on suspicion of felony arson. "Well, you know, kids sometimes don't always...

In 1916 a church asked the Salt Lake City Council to allow them to build a huge cross, "the symbol of Christianity," on Ensign Peak. "We would like to construct it of cement, re-enforced with steel, of sufficient dimensions that it can be readily seen from every part of the city," the request read. That request came from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The cross was to honor the Mormon pioneers. Even though the proposal was approved by the City Council, the monument was never built. Today, there are no crosses on Mormon temples. Yet two are...

I want to talk...about the reliability of Mormon history produced by the Church. I think there has been in years past the sentiment that the Church hedged on the way that it did business; that it was not forthright in what was published; that it was afraid of its past and unwilling to hold our heritage and our historical past up to the kind of scrutiny that other disciplines were subjected to. [SNIP] (Q:1) A major recurring criticism we see is that the church doesn't discuss difficult or controversial historical events in classroom manuals and even, for example, discourages the...

When I was growing up in Utah, Calvin Rampton and Scott Matheson were our Governors, Frank Moss was one of our Senators, and Gunn McKay was our Congressman. All were Mormon Democrats. My father was a steelworker who believed that the Democrats were the party that ended the Depression, won the War, and fought for the rights of working people. Evidently many Utah Mormons agreed with him. It was not until the mid- to late-1970s that the Democratic party fell out of favor among Utah Mormon voters. That shift resulted, I believe, because the public debate about morality became more...

There is a serious threat against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It has a name. The name is Andrew Price. He belongs to an evangelistic group that goes about teaching against all other churches. This group has a website and on this website you can click on a myriad of different religions and read what this church teaches against any specific religion. The name of the online church is being withheld because this article will not be used as a forum for that church. Several different ministers, preachers, pastors,in other words, paid clergy for that church...

SALT LAKE CITY -The Mormon church's vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide "kiss-in" Saturday. The event comes after gay couples here and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing. In Utah, the July 9 trespassing incident occurred after a couple were observed by security guards on a downtown park-like plaza owned by the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The court...

The LDS Church reached a milestone last week when we ordained our first black African general authority. Elder Joseph W. Sitati of Nairobi, Kenya, was admitted to the First Quorum of Seventy. During General Conference, Sitati was presented for a sustaining vote of the entire church membership, including those of us watching from home with a bag of Doritos. It was such a momentous occasion that I thought a second vote was required. "All those who can sustain the idea that this sort of thing was about dang time, please manifest by ..." Sorry. That was irreverent, I know. It's...

OREM, Utah -- Kirk Jowers has an answer for whether Mitt Romney's presidential bid was lost because of Mormonism: "I can unequivocally tell you that the answer is 'yes, no and maybe.'" owers' comment elicited laughter at the "Mormonism in the Public Mind" conference on Friday, April 3, at Utah Valley University. He is director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah and associate director of the Institute of Public and International Affairs. According to Jowers, in October 2007 many pundits were saying Romney was on his way to winning. He had focused on the early...

SALT LAKE CITY -- With Proposition 8, the show "Big Love," temples and political candidates, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been high-profile nationally in the last six months. On the eve of the Church's annual General Conference, that national attention isn't likely to go away any time soon. Shortly after the end of October's General Conference came the General Election and reaction to the passage of California's Proposition 8. Huge protests in that state and in Utah targeted Latter-day Saints' organized, heavy participation in the gay marriage issue. This put the faith on the front page....

Greetings from Orem, Utah, where I'm attending a conference on "Mormonism in the Public Mind" at Utah Valley University. I'm here because I was the keynote speaker yesterday, talking about Mormonism and the media, and I'll have more to say about that, and some of my travels through Mormondom this week, a bit later. But first, some liveblogging. This morning, a panel of three scholars took a look at Mormonism and politics, trying to extract lessons from three episodes -- the Romney campaign for president, the Proposition 8 campaign in California, and the quixotic campaign of a Utah Valley University...

The first time she was ever called the most offensive of racial slurs, Tamu Smith was in the Salt Lake LDS temple. An elderly man spied Smith, a new bride, and asked aloud what a [racial epithet] was doing there. Instead of reprimanding him, temple workers defended him, saying he didn't know better. Smith didn't leave the LDS Church over such hurtful language then, and she remains faithful, but frustrated, nearly 15 years later. She will join other Mormons this week to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the June 8, 1978, revelation that opened the church's priesthood to "all worthy...

Full disclosure: I am a big fan of "Big Love." And I find the LDS (Latter-day Saints, aka Mormon) faith fairly baffling. That said, I thought this was an interesting, detailed and reasonable take on the whole HBO vs. the Mormons controversy. (And if this sounds a little like a press release, the author owns a PR agency; he probably can't help it.) [EDITED TO ADD: I've posted a LDS-sanctioned video, "Why Mormons Build Temples." Equal voice and all that. Thanks to commenter HiveRadical for the suggestion.] Dear Daily Variety and Daily Variety Readers: As a devout member of the...

Subject: 200,000 Gay Protestors to Disrupt General Conference I was speaking with a good friend today who's dad works for the Salt Lake City Police Department. My friend asked him how things were going for him at work and he said that he'd been putting in extra hours doing riot control training. He asked what on earth were they doing that for, and he told him that the entire police force was going through an additional 10 hours of mandatory riot control training because the city is bracing for an influx of 10,000 to 200,000 Gay protesters that want to...

Tegucigalpa, Jan 30, 2009 / 10:59 am (CNA).- The decision by the Mormon Church to build an enormous temple in front of the most popular Marian shrine in Honduras, Our Lady of Suyapa, has unleashed a wave of criticism and protest, according to Honduran media. Protestors say the construction of the temple would block the famous view of the shrine of Our Lady of Suyapa as it is approached from a distance. According to the Honduran daily La Tribuna, “Many Hondurans are concerned because they see an imminent danger that the view that the country has enjoyed of the main...

Public fears that a "gigantic temple" would block the view of one of Honduras' most famous Catholic basilicas has led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to look for a new location for the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple. The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple was announced June 9, 2006, and ground was broken a year later at a site that is about 2,000 feet away from the Our Lady of Suyapa Basilica. The LDS Church purchased the land about 15 years ago, according to a local church leader, Luis Duarte, who was quoted in an article in the Honduran daily...

Public fears that a "gigantic temple" would block the view of one of Honduras' most famous Catholic basilicas has led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to look for a new location for the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple. The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple was announced June 9, 2006, and ground was broken a year later at a site that is about 2,000 feet away from the Our Lady of Suyapa Basilica. The LDS Church purchased the land about 15 years ago, according to a local church leader, Luis Duarte, who was quoted in an article in the Honduran daily newspaper...

If 2002 was Mormonism's debutante ball, 2008 may go down as its first semester of college. The Utah-based church made new friends, endured back-stabbing from would-be friends, joined some clubs, got a taste of fame and had a few wrenching exams. From the possibility of a Mormon in the White House to a stream of Latter-day Saints on reality television, from being attacked as belonging to a cult (or mistaken for a polygamous sect in Texas) to participating in California's bitter battle for traditional marriage, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would see their faith in...

In 1844, there were approximately 26,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet, when W.W. Phelps penned a song of tribute to his beloved, fallen prophet, he promised that "millions shall know Brother Joseph again." Those words were truly prophetic, says Mack Wilberg, conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which will be releasing a special Joseph Smith tribute album, "Praise to the Man," on Tuesday, the 203rd anniversary of the prophet's birth. Now known not only to the millions of members of the LDS Church, but also by countless more around the world, Joseph Smith has...

To paraphrase the famous saying, hell hath no fury like a TV animator scorned. Specifically Trey Parker, who can't seem to get over his first girlfriend. Parker and Matt Stone have gone out of their way to lampoon the LDS Church in every artistic medium they've explored, from their student film in college to their huge success with the animated sitcom "South Park" to the just-announced "Mormon Musical" set for Broadway next year — all of which apparently stems from Parker having dated a Mormon girl in his youth. Whenever interviewers ask why Parker and Stone repeatedly skewer The Church...

Stephen Schwartz finds Mormon organizational zeal on behalf of California's Proposition 8 to be "reprehensible," but the award-winning composer of hits such as "Wicked" has no plans to withhold his works from Utah or LDS-related singing groups. For more than a week, Mormons in show business have shared rumors that Schwartz might punish Mormons for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' involvement in passing a California initiative establishing marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. On Wednesday, KTVX Channel 4 news had a story out of Provo, in which former Mormon Jon Powell called on the...

San Francisco's Roman Catholic archbishop says he invited leaders of the Mormon Church to get involved in the campaign to pass a gay marriage ban in California this year at the request of his fellow bishops. Archbishop George Niederauer wrote in a column to be published in a diocesan newspaper Friday that he wanted to address the "many misunderstandings and hard feelings" resulting from Proposition 8's adoption. It's the first time the archbishop has commented on how churches organized to help push through the initiative, which overturned the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex nuptials. Mormon leaders had given...

Declaring "no mob veto," a full-page ad in the New York Times on Friday denounced the "violence and intimidation" directed at members of the LDS Church who supported California's ban on gay marriage. "When thugs ... terrorize any place of worship, especially those of a religious minority, responsible voices need to speak clearly: Religious wars are wrong; they are also dangerous," reads the advertisement paid for by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, based in Washington, D.C. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come under fire from gay rights activists across the country since coming out in...

An Ugly Attack on Mormons The easiest targets for an organized campaign against religious freedom of conscience. By Jonah Goldberg Did you catch the political ad in which two Jews ring the doorbell of a nice working-class family? They barge in and rifle through the wife’s purse and then the man’s wallet for any cash. Cackling, they smash the daughter’s piggy bank and pinch every penny. “We need it for the Wall Street bailout!” they exclaim. No? Maybe you saw the one with the two swarthy Muslims who knock on the door of a nice Jewish family and then blow...

In the nearly four weeks since Election Day, gay activists and thousands of their supporters have rallied outside Mormon temples around the country, protesting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' support for California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to make same-sex marriage illegal in the Golden State.There have been calls to boycott the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah; some activists have called for a boycott of the entire state of Utah. Protesters have defaced some church buildings, and in Arapaho County, Colo., the Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible hate crime — the torching...

Prop. 8 Thank You Petition An online petition has been posted here where individuals can express solidarity and thanks to the Mormon Church for strongly supporting California’s Proposition 8. The ballot initiative was approved by California voters Nov. 4, thereby amending the state constitution to define marriage as a one-man, one-woman institution. Since the initiative was passed this month, homosexual activists have conducted hostile demonstrations outside Mormon churches and some homosexual leaders have called for retribution against Mormons who supported Proposition 8. The thank-you petition states, “Anyone who participated in this process has come to admire the competence, diligence and...

More than 3,000 people, including longtime Mormon critic James Dobson of Focus on the Family, have signed an online petition thanking the LDS Church for its efforts on behalf of California's traditional marriage initiative known as Proposition 8. "Anyone who participated in this process has come to admire the competence, diligence and moral courage that so many members of your faith community displayed as part of this coalition effort -- as Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons and people of other faith communities all came together to fight this great battle for marriage," says the petition, which is addressed to LDS President Thomas...

Ever since a slim majority outlawed gay marriage in California, opponents have waged national protests and petitions, urging the judicial system to reconsider the results of the Nov. 4 referendum. (Proposition 8 overturned an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.) While the court weighs whether or not to get back into the fray, the civil unrest ignited by the ban shows no sign of abating. A national protest against Prop. 8 organized by JoinTheImpact.com is scheduled for today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to...

Mormons have a reason to be nervous. I didn't fully appreciate it two years ago, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first came under an intense political spotlight. In 2006, Mormon officials had begun making the media rounds, prepping for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's expected try for the Republican presidential nomination. This protective measure stood out. No evangelical contingents were giving theological primers in anticipation of Mike Huckabee's run. Few officials were warning Catholics to not do as Rudy Giuliani does on abortion before his run. Why did the Mormons need to do advance work? We...

The State of California is investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints because they helped to defend true marriage as between one man and one woman. The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) was created by the Political Reform Act of 1974, itself a ballot initiative passed by California voters as Proposition 9. It is now being used as a tool to persecute those who defend marriage, wielded by a savvy ex political consultant who does not like the position taken by the Church or the results of the latest Proposition 8 initiative...“Californians Against Hate was established in...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is becoming a potent political force. Last year's story was that Mormons had risen to some of the highest offices in America -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid belongs to the church, as does former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. This year's headline is that, with the encouragement of their religious leaders, Mormons gave loads of money and man-hours to pass Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage in the state. Indeed, they were probably the most organized and consequential force behind the measure's passage. But in the face of post-election protests...

It's a good thing Trey Parker and Matt Stone like controversy because it sounds like they're in for quite a lot of it with their newest project - a Broadway musical based on the lives and loves of Mormons!

Demonstrators gathered in front of a Mormon temple in Newport Beach on Sunday to protest passage of Proposition 8. They were targeting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many members of which poured money into the campaign for passage of the proposition. "We're not asking churches to sanctify marriages," said Ron Fichter of Laguna Beach. "To me it's just basic human rights." ... The approximately 300 protesters, according to police estimates, carried signs and chanted sayings while walking along the public sidewalks in front of the Newport Beach stake of the church. The demonstration began about 10 a.m....

Click on source link in header above ... The poll question is to the left on the page, under the video box. In case the link isn't active (it should be), here is the address: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/10/MN4E141B3P.DTL

SACRAMENTO — Less than two weeks before Election Day, the chief strategist behind a ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California called an emergency meeting here. “We’re going to lose this campaign if we don’t get more money,” the strategist, Frank Schubert, recalled telling leaders of Protect Marriage, the main group behind the ban. The campaign issued an urgent appeal, and in a matter of days, it raised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church. The money allowed the drive to intensify a sharp-elbowed...

Preliminary results have come back on a suspicious white powder found at the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FBI officials say they aren't sure exactly what it is, but they know it's not toxic. The FBI says the substance was tested for known hazardous biological agents and toxins, and all tests were negative. Lab tests will continue to determine exactly what the substance is, and those results are expected sometime next week. Three employees inside the temple office were decontaminated as a precaution, and a hazardous material crew cleared the office of any...

SALT LAKE CITY14 November 2008 Five months ago, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent a letter to members of the Church in California, encouraging them to join the millions of other Californians from many religious denominations, ethnic groups and political persuasions in a broad coalition to defend marriage as it has been defined for millennia. During the election campaign, both sides of the argument on Proposition 8 had ample opportunities to express their viewpoint. The result was conclusively in favor of traditional marriage. More than 40 states in the United States have now...

While acknowledging that he is a Mormon, Bill Marriott said this week that neither he nor his company, Marriott International, contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8, a California ballot measure that would define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. Gay-rights activists urged their supporters to boycott Marriott hotels around the world because of Marriott's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which raised about $22 million for the initiative that passed Nov. 4. For the past 20 years, Marriott International has had domestic-partner benefits and has earned a perfect score on the...

.. a large crowd of gay-marriage supporters gathered outside a Mormon temple to protest the church's endorsement of a same-sex marriage ban in California. ... Church spokesman Michael Otterson said that while citizens have the right to protest, he was "puzzled" and "disturbed" by the gathering since the majority of California's voters had approved the amendment. "This was a very broad-based coalition that defended traditional marriage in a free and democratic election," Otterson said, referring to the numerous religious and social conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8. Organizers of the rally estimated at least 10,000 people participated. Police said they...

Californians Against Hate ... upped the ante against the LDS Church today. The group filed a complaint with California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), claiming The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints failed to report nonmonetary contributions that helped pass the measure ... The advocacy organization's founder, Fred Karger, wrote in a letter - to the FPPC and Attorneys General Edmund G. Brown Jr., of California, and Utah's Mark Shurtleff - that the church "has been highly secretive about its massive involvement in the campaign, but we managed to piece together evidence of some of their more visible activities...

WESTWOOD -- The Los Angeles Mormon Temple in Westwood was closed Thursday afternoon, after temple employees received an envelope containing an unidentified white powdery substance. A hazardous-materials team was sent around 3:30 p.m. to the temple at Santa Monica and Overland boulevards, said Richard French of the Los Angeles Police Department. The FBI also went to the scene. "We're treating it as any other hazardous materials situation," French said. The Westwood temple was the target of recent protests by opponents of Proposition 8. A similar envelope was delivered this afternoon to the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple, according to Ronald...