Free Republic

Mia Love in Utah makes history, becomes first African American republican elected to US Congress

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.

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...

White, white, white. In nearly every room Love enters as she stumps her way across Utah’s 4th District on a quest to become the first black female Republican in Congress, she is not just the only black person there. She’s the only person of any color, unless you count farmer tans. This 39-year-old, Brooklyn-born daughter of Haitian immigrants and former mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, seems completely at home in a crowd of mostly old white dudes. What’s more, she gets a warmer reception here than when she made a speech at the University of Chicago Law School in 2013....

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...

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.

...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...

A Mormon St. Peter’s in RomeA new Latter-day Saints temple looms large on the Roman horizon, and the Vatican’s prelates, truth to tell, are not too enthusiastic about what they see. ROME, Italy — On the outskirts of Rome along the ancient Catholic pilgrim route known as the Via Francigena and not far from a giant shopping center featuring a massive IKEA and the French do-it-yourself Mecca called Leroy Merlin, cranes are hoisting giant spires onto the top of a Baroque-revival-style church. But unlike most of the religious edifices erected in Catholic Rome, this Roman temple is being built by...

In student papers, year after year, I’ve seen the same mechanical errors repeated and, year after year, I’ve felt compelled to correct them and to explain why they’re wrong. I’ve devoted entire class periods to subject-verb agreement, the use of apostrophes, consistency in verb tenses and lists, and fundamental logical fallacies. Unfortunately, having to address such simple but important mistakes steals valuable time from the actual topics of my classes on Islam and the Middle East. So I was delighted, several years ago, to reread William Strunk and E.B. White’s little classic, “The Elements of Style,” and to realize that...

According to Latter-Day Saints (LDS, Mormon) President Orson Hyde, Jesus was married to several women, including Mary Magdalene, and had biological children. "..[In John 2,] Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee, and he told them what to do. Now there was actually a marriage; and if Jesus was not the bridegroom on that occasion, please tell who was. ... We say it was Jesus Christ who was married, to be brought into the relation whereby he could see his seed, before he was crucified. ... I do not despise to be called a son of...

The Gospel For Mormons Who Reject It A review of Starting at the Finish Line by John B. Wallace, a devout Mormon who ended up getting “burned out” by Mormon doctrine and practice. Written by Shane Lems | Wednesday, July 30, 2014 The bulk of the book really talks about grace – the fact that Jesus came into the world to die for wicked sinners and give them the gift of eternal salvation by faith alone (not by works). Time and time again Wallace explains how he was very works oriented in the Mormon religion. He shows many quotes and...

Mormons have some really weird beliefs. For example, many (all) Mormons believe they (males only) can take a cooking/salad oil, pour just a small drop on the crown of your head and their god will heal them of almost anything. Mormons believe that by wearing ugly underwear bought from a specific company, their god will protect them from harm. Mormons believe that by wearing a really weird looking costume they are taught secret ways to touch angels so after they die, the angels will let Mormons get into heaven quicker. Mormons believe their god requires women to not wear outer...

Stunned by the execution-style killings of six of its members - four of them minors - members of a north Houston Mormon congregation are struggling to begin the process of healing. On Thursday, they sent helium-filled balloons heavenward in memory of Katie and Stephen Stay and their four slain children, ages 4 to 13. On Friday, they planned a trust fund to benefit the victims' relatives. This weekend, part of the regular Sunday service at the Mormon church in Spring will be devoted to assuaging the congregation's grief by putting the Wednesday night tragedy into perspective. "It won't be a...

Ogden • A Plain City man accused of beating a fellow churchgoer last year at a Mormon baby blessing and mission farewell was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail. Wayne Dodge, 52, pleaded guilty last month in Ogden’s 2nd District Court to one count of class B misdemeanor assault. One charge of felony aggravated assault was dismissed, according to court records. Judge W. Brent West ordered Dodge to complete an anger management class as part of a 12-month probation. The judge also ordered Dodge to pay a $550 fine and have no contact with the victim. Dodge, who faced...

From The Salt Lake Tribune: To any guilt-prone women, the annual idealization of motherhood that sweeps across the country at this time of year can be agonizing.The image in the mirror seems less qualified, less nurturing, less altruistic, less crafty, less organized, less patient, less self-assured or wise or adventurous than the one these moms see portrayed in greeting cards, TV ads, and on YouTube.But Mother’s Day may be most painful to Bible-believing women — whether Mormon, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish — who cannot have children.After all, God’s first commandment to the first couple in that holy book was to...

Last week I wrote about Glenn Beck’s recent sermon at Liberty University. In that post, I pointed out that Beck referred to the colored cloth triangles that the Nazis made concentration camp inmates wear to identify the reason for imprisonment. The last triangle he displayed to his audience was a purple triangle...

PALM SPRINGS – A lawsuit filed Friday against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church bishop and a missionary, claims a woman was repeatedly sexually abused when she was a teenager in Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, and it was covered up. The lawsuit, which was filed in Riverside County Superior Court in Palm Springs, contends that from July to November 1985, Jacqueline Tyler, then 13, was repeatedly abused by a missionary and that after a church bishop learned of the alleged abuse, her family was told to stay quiet and the bishop "made advance payment or...

A fledgling Mormon dating site reports that IRI, the intellectual property rights arm of the LDS Church, is attempting to shutter the planned launch of Mormon Match because of its use of the word “Mormon” and its appropriation of an image of the Salt Lake Temple.Here’s what the front page of the site-in-progress looks like now:For a good discussion of the issues involved, see Holly Welker’s post in Religion Dispatches. (I don’t think RD’s headline is quite accurate, though; as far as I know, the Church has not filed a lawsuit but applied pressure and commenced an “opposition proceeding.” According...