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One day while serving as a mission president, I was talking on the phone to our oldest son. He was on his way to the hospital where he worked as a physician. When he arrived at the hospital, he said, “Nice talking to you, Dad, but now I’ve got to get out of my car and go save some lives.� Our son treats children with life-threatening illnesses. When he is able to diagnose a disease properly and give the right treatment, he can save a child’s life. I told our missionaries that their work is also to help save lives—the...

A Campaign of IntimidationCOLLEEN CARROLL CAMPBELLSt. Louis Catholics heading into the Cathedral Basilica for Mass last Sunday got a taste of what their counterparts in California experienced last fall: protests intended to shame churchgoers for their church's opposition to gay marriage. Archbishop Robert Carlson Like the gay-rights activists who heckled and chanted outside Catholic, evangelical and Mormon houses of worship after California voters approved Proposition 8, those who demonstrated outside the Cathedral last weekend were incensed about the role that religious leaders played in defeating another state's push for same-sex marriage. The target of activist ire in this case...

PROVO, Utah -- Significant misperceptions shape the LDS church's image and standing in America, said a church apostle Friday. Speaking during Women's Conference at Brigham Young University, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Quorum of the Twelve, asked more than 16,000 women gathered in the BYU Marriott Center to dedicate themselves to strengthening the image of the church. SNIP Offering the conference's closing general address, Elder Perry said that church leaders have been looking at the church's image to better understand how the organization approaches its missionary efforts. "We have employed some professional...

For 27 years I have had the opportunity to visit vast and varied regions of the world because of my employment with an airline. I can travel virtually free anywhere my airline goes, and practically free on most other carriers because of generous reciprocal agreements. This perk has afforded me the opportunity to be an ambassador for my country and my "peculiar" state. No matter where in the world I go, when people ask me where I come from and I tell them Utah, the next words out of their mouths are almost always the same: "So you must be...

SALT LAKE CITY 3 December 2009 Since the launch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Mormon Messages channel on YouTube in August 2008, its influence has grown to reach millions. Situated among the endless variety of videos available on YouTube, the dozens of videos currently available on Mormon Messages have been viewed a total of 7.5 million times. During the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, the Church posted a Mormon Messages video showing random people on the streets of New York City sharing a variety of responses to one simple question: “What are you thankful for?”...

As we continue our discussion about the Book of Mormon translation, some members may be troubled that the process doesn't match their conceptions of how they thought the process worked. For members who were unaware of the seer stone in the hat, at least two questions or concerns may arise: 1) Is it strange that Joseph used a stone in a hat? 2) Why have we have always been told that Joseph used the Urim and Thummim? To answer the first question we might also ask: Is it strange that a man could rise from the dead, walk on water,...

Helen Radkey sits in her tiny Millcreek apartment amid images of Buddha and Egyptian sun gods, good-luck charms, sacred texts, tarot cards and a makeshift shrine to a Catholic saint, complete with a relic. Her refrigerator is awash in photos of children, grandchildren and friends from around the country and across the globe. Both bedrooms are piled high with box after box of file folders, evidence of her decadeslong drive to undermine the LDS Church's temple ritual in which living Mormons are baptized for a person who has died. Each folder contains the name and personal information of an individual...

The LDS Church now has in place a computer program it believes may halt -- or at least slow -- the submission of incorrect, inappropriate or dubious information into its massive collection of genealogical records. "The new version of FamilySearch is a technological deterrent to improper submissions," LDS spokesman Scott Trotter said Thursday. "For example, users must certify that the names they are submitting are of family members." Mormons submit the lion's share of the historical data, either from private or public sources, typed singly or "extracted" from a list. Thousands of names are entered into the system every day...

The love put forth by sports fans can change to hate faster than a team can score a touchdown -- or give one up. It's a conditional business, BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall acknowledges. But it might go without saying that what happened to Cougar defensive coordinator Jaime Hill over the weekend of Oct. 24 is unconditionally wrong. Hill found himself filing a police report and scrubbing eggshells and crusted yolk off his car. Yes, it happened in polite Provo. And Hill is angry. "It's actually good there was no one in the house around," Hill said. "It could...

Provo » Max Hall was ticked off. No, he was pissed off. Royally (blue) pissed off. If that language offends you, just wait a paragraph or two, you haven't read anything yet, especially if you favor in any way the University of Utah. Hall had a postgame message for all of you: He "hates" you. He thinks you, your football program, your school is "classless." The senior BYU quarterback made no bones about that, and no apologies for it. After throwing the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime to beat Utah by the count of 26-23 on Saturday night at LaVell...

Brian David Mitchell and a murderous polygamous family patriarch shared many similar traits and operated in very similar ways, an expert on religious cults and their members who commit crimes testified Wednesday. Richard Forbes, a retired law enforcer for both Salt Lake and Los Angeles counties, investigated killers Ervil LeBaron and Charles Manson during his career. Forbes is an expert on LeBaron and his followers. During the third day of Mitchell's competency hearing in federal court, Forbes compared the man accused of kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart to LeBaron and other religious cult leaders. Both men used revelation as a...

I am not surprised that the BYU-Utah football rivalry caused BYU quarterback Max Hall to go all Three Mile Island on us last Saturday. Such a meltdown has been brewing for years. SNIP I am also not surprised that the Mountain West Conference publicly reprimanded Hall for violating its sportsmanship standards, i.e. disparaging and criticizing another school... What does surprise me is that BYU didn't do anything. No reprimand, no sanction, no comment, other than to note that Hall, on his own initiative, offered a public apology — a rather selective mea culpa, at that, in which he got specific...

REXBURG -- A large media campaign involving billboards and mass mailings has been launched in eastern Idaho. Its goal is to draw women away from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The "Speaking the Truth in Love to Mormons" campaign was started by the Truth in Love Ministry in Nampa, and its focus is on "witnessing to Mormons" and showing them the "truth of God's words" through "loving means." This week a billboard was placed at the intersection of Yellowstone Highway and Seventh South in Rexburg showing a woman holding her head next to the words "Feeling Worthy?"...

Most Mormons have long suspected what three political science professors have confirmed: Increased knowledge about Mormons and their faith helps remove stigma attached to them. That news comes as the nation's highest-ranking Mormon risks his political future on heath care reform. Writing in USA Today, Professors David E. Campbell, John C. Green and J. Quin Monson, wrote "Americans still have a bias against Republican Mitt Romney, according to a study conducted during last year's election. Not a political bias, but a religious one. The good news: When people understood his Mormon faith, the bias melted away. The trio teach political...

RomneyCare is big government forcing its will on a formerly free people. It's anti-American, anti-free-markets, anti-Liberty and unconstitutional. Listen to the Reagan tape. RomneyCare is the socialism he's talking about. RomneyCare = ObamaCare. No difference. Government is not the solution, it IS the problem!! Free Republic will not support gun grabbing, abortion pushing, gay rights pushing, big government socialist RINOS!! In fact we will actively campaign AGAINST them!! Free Republic is a pro-Life & Liberty small government conservative site for pro-Life & Liberty small government conservatives!! Take a freaking hike if you don't like it. RINOS be damned!! Hope this...

Many years ago I walked at dawn through the narrow cobblestone streets of Cusco, Peru, high in the Andes Mountains. I saw a man from a local indigenous group walking down one of the streets. He was not a big man physically, but he carried an immense load of firewood in a huge burlap sack on his back. The sack seemed to be as big as he was. The load must have weighed as much as he did. He steadied it with a rope that looped under the bottom of the sack and circled up around his forehead. He gripped...

NAMPA - Becki Detro said she was married to the church for 28 years of her life. Constant feelings of unworthiness caused her to leave her faith. "It was very hard," she said. "It's a hard thing when your whole family..." she couldn't continue and was visibly emotional. She's now joining an effort to help other followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who want to leave the church, but still have a place to worship. "I see a concern that LDS people are leaving because they are not receiving the healing balm of His forgiveness,"...

The glib answer to this is to suggest that she'd do the party a great service by not running at all. Yesterday I wrote that she's a "wrecker not a uniter" and that she could hijack the primary season to disastrous effect. That's clearly one possibility. But there are others, including some which might actually help the GOP and not merely by demonstrating the limits of Palinism and, consequently, lancing that particular boil. Though I think he under-estimates Palin's fund-raising potential, Daniel Larison runs through some of the [reasons?] that make it most unlikely that Palin can actually win the...

I’ll just leave this here… Before a defense of any kind of religious discrimination, one ought to make all of the necessary disclaimers: of course I oppose government-sponsored discrimination, and I certainly would not support the kind of absurd treatment described by Steven Reinhart in his piece featured below. That being said, there is a legitimate case to be made for judging any candidate for office by his religious convictions. In late 2007, Mitt Romney made his somewhat-famous speech on religion, where he spoke the following words: “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of...

(CNN) -- Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical Christian leaders last week issued a bold political statement. They intended to target the Obama administration. Inadvertently, they may have also hit probable Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney ought to rank atop the Republican candidates for president in 2012. He finished second in votes cast in the primaries of 2008. He is a candidate with immense private-sector economic expertise in a time of urgent economic debate. But Romney has a political problem: his Mormon religious faith. A Gallup survey in December 2007 found that 18 percent of Republicans would not vote for...

Is Mormonism Christian? Richard John Neuhaus TAKEN FROM: WWW.FIRSTTHINGS.COM That is not the only interesting question, but it is probably the most important. Most non–Mormons have little occasion to think about Mormonism, and those who do tend toward distinctly negative thoughts. Although there is this curious thing of recent years that many conservative Christians warmly welcome Mormons as allies in various cultural tasks. To cite but one recent instance, it was an alliance of Catholics, evangelicals, and Mormons that was instrumental in persuading the people of Hawaii to reject same–sex marriage. Yet a few issues ago we published an article...

With the LDS church’s recent endorsement of a gay rights ordinance in Salt Lake City, many have begun speculating that the church is on its way to changing its policy on same-sex marriage. Not so, say BYU professors of religion and political science. Last week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly endorsed a city ordinance that bans housing and employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The BYU professors interviewed said that although the church supports tolerance and equality, it does not approve of homosexuality. Kent Jackson, associate dean of Religious Education, said the church is...

Video: 'Mormon Muffin' mom heats debate

Last week we talked about the frontier treasure-digging environment in which Joseph Smith lived and how his own pre-prophet world view was shaped by that environment. As we've discussed in past articles, Joseph -- like any other prophet -- was a fallible human with preconceived ideas, opinions, and assumptions, who was divinely called to an important role. Worldviews don't change immediately or all at once. God reveals his word, line upon line, and those who listen can enlarge their understanding of truth a little here and there as they are willing to grasp new concepts. In approximately 1819, Joseph borrowed...

Yesterday on Daily RFT we had a couple bones to pick with a misleading headline in the local daily and the bible-thumping defenders of Burrell E. Mohler Sr. Along with his brother and four sons, the 74-year-old Independence, Missouri, native is accused of repeatedly raping his elementary school-aged granddaughters. Turns out the article in the Post was cribbed from a much longer and much more compelling piece that led Sunday's Kansas City Star. The latter feature lays out the Mohler family tree, details all of the disgusting deeds in question and sets it all against the backdrop of the family's...

More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages. Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity. Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl is one of the signatories. "Throughout the centuries, Christianity has taught...

We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image.... While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including...

Vicki F. Matsumori Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency We can help others become more familiar with the promptings of the Spirit when we share our testimony of the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives.At the end of the day, a pair of missionaries starts toward home when one suddenly turns to the other and says, “I feel we need to stop at this one last place.� A home teacher is prompted to call one of the families he visited just a few days before. A young woman plans on attending a school friend’s party yet feels...

OREM, Utah -- Boyd J. Petersen told the Utah Valley University conference on "outmigration" about how Hugh Nibley -- and other Mormons -- coped with the divided sense of self that minorities often experience in the larger society. Petersen, author of "Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life," spoke on Nov. 6 about how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live with contradictory public images. "They are both revered and reviled, feared and revered," Petersen said. Outmigrants, those Mormons who have left Utah, "have this divided sense of ourselves." Mormons have their own sense of themselves and their...

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...

(RNS) With the passage Tuesday (Nov. 10) of nondiscrimination laws in Salt Lake City that expand gay rights, Mormon officials and gay activists have found a patch of common ground. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gay organizations both advocated for the laws, which prevent discrimination in housing and employment. SNIP The Sutherland Institute, a Salt Lake City-based conservative think tank, expressed disappointment in the church's action. "As a public relations opportunity, the LDS church's statement before the Salt Lake City Council may assuage the minds and soften the hearts of advocates of 'gay rights' in Utah,"...

The Osmond Family is the Mormon Church’s version of the Manson Family. Mormons wear magical underwear, and Joseph Smith was killed because he forgot to put his on. The Mormon religion tells its followers that there are planets ruled by gods who were once human; therefore, you can be a god too. These are just three of the more than 200 online comments that were posted on the MySA Community News Web site in response to the Northwest Weekly’s report this past month about the planned construction of a Mormon church in Helotes. Though there is a wide variety of...

Salt Lake City has become the first Utah city to offer housing and employment protections for gays and lesbians — an action supported by the Mormon Church. The City Council, in a unanimous vote Tuesday, passed a pair of nondiscrimination ordinances that would bar landlords and employers from discriminating based on sexuality — a protection not currently afforded under state or federal laws. In a rare public appearance before local lawmakers, a representative from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints read a supporting statement at a public hearing before the Salt Lake City Council regarding the ordinances proposed...

An April trial has been set for former Lone Peak High School LDS seminary principal Michael Jay Pratt, who is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student earlier this year. Pratt, 37, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 15 felonies: one count of rape, eight counts of forcible sodomy and five counts of object rape, all first-degree felonies, and one count of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. Fourth District Judge Christine Johnson scheduled Pratt's trial to begin April 12. During an October preliminary hearing, the alleged victim, now 17, testified that her relationship with "Brother Pratt" started...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah has seen a recent rash of serious and expensive white-collar crime. In just the past seven years, the state has ordered companies and individuals to pay back more than $204 million to victims of securities schemes, and untold millions more have been lost in cases not prosecuted. KSL News investigated the role of what's called "affinity fraud." In many cases, that means the cost of mixing faith and fortune. The pitch sounds perfect: a low-risk investment that can lead to a better lifestyle. It might sound too good to be true, but what if someone...

I always vote. I could say it's because I am a responsible citizen who believes wholeheartedly in the democratic process, but I'd be lying. It probably has more to do with being naturally contrary. Voting is the one sure way in Utah to prove you're different. Almost nobody around here does it. On Tuesday, voter turnout in Salt Lake County was only 18 percent of registered voters. That's pathetic given the fact that most eligible voters don't even bother to register. Last year, the "Behind State" had the lowest voter turnout in America. Demographically, Utahns made it to the polls...

Mormon Stumpers In your discussions with Mormons, they will most often wish to direct the topics presented into those areas where they feel most informed and comfortable. Whether they are the young missionaries at your door or friends or colleagues, they have all been taught several lines of approach and have been drilled in making their points. We suggest that you take charge of such conversations. Besides acquainting yourself with the basics of Mormon teaching (in addition, of course, to the fundamentals of the Catholic faith), consider presenting the Mormon apologist with a few "stumpers." "We don’t bash your church,...

In the April 23, 2008 online-edition of The New York Times, Timothy Egan wrote a post on the Outposts blog claiming that the way polygamy is practiced today by members of the FLDS sect in Eldorado, Texas is the same as it was practiced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in the 19th century. While most people know that Mormons abandoned the practice of polygamy at the end of the 19th century, it's also important to understand that the conditions surrounding the practice of polygamy in Texas today bear little resemblance to the plural...

When it comes to the controversial mixing of religion and politics in the LDS world, much of the discussion has focused on national campaigns and high-profile ballot initiatives. But perhaps we should be more concerned by how some in our church may be using their membership to influence local elections. This problem only recently came to my attention when I heard about a vicious e-mail circulating around a Utah County town, attacking one of the mayoral candidates there. I obtained a copy of the e-mail -- which, of course, was written anonymously -- and the more I read, the more...

LARAMIE - Forty years ago, 14 black University of Wyoming football players were kicked off the team for wanting to wear black armbands to protest The Jesus Christ Church of Latter-day Saints' policy of not calling black men into its priesthood. But on Tuesday, members of the "Black 14," as well as others involved in the situation, returned to Laramie for a panel discussion to both remember and teach about an incident that's little known among young people and is still a sore subject among many who lived through it. On Oct. 17, 1969, on the eve of the Cowboys'...

Last night, by a comfortable margin of 53-47%, the citizens of Maine became the 31st state to vote down gay marriage (as has every single state that has given its citizens a chance to vote on the issue). Not surprisingly, the mainstream liberal press is beside itself with frustration, especially because it drives yet another nail in the "inevitability" and "wrong side of history" arguments we are often fed. As I wrote on National Review this morning, Maine voted for traditional marriage "despite it being a liberal state, despite a 2-1 funding disadvantage, despite aggressive legal action against traditional-marriage...

A recent convert recounted a conversation he had in his shop. It went something like this: A friend came in and said, "Hey, I hear you're a Mormon now." "Yep." "So, you worship Joseph Smith?" "Nope." "But other Mormons do, right?" "Nope. Not a one of 'em." The convert explained that Joseph needed a Savior like the rest of us do. He was "just a prophet." "Just a prophet?" "Yep. But a really great one." "How so?" "Had a big job on hand, putting things back that were lost for, like, centuries. Had to do it all before he died...

Forty years ago, BYU and Wyoming met at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyo., for a football game that turned out to be much more than a game. It was October, 1969 -- a turbulent time in American history, with demonstrations and protests abounding around the country, sparked by the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. So when 14 black Wyoming football players decided to wear black armbands for the game against BYU -- to protest what they considered to be "racist practices" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and operates BYU -- and...

Eldorado, Texas » Attorneys will hear closing arguments Thursday in the trial of a polygamous sect member whom the state alleges sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 2004. Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther told jurors Wednesday that "we are getting very close" to the final stage of Raymond Merril Jessop's trial and asked them to bring a packed suitcase in case lengthy deliberations require them to be sequestered. The state is expected to recall at least one witness -- a Texas Ranger who was the lead investigator in April 2008 when authorities raided the Yearning For Zion Ranch and uncovered...

A think tank has compiled and analyzed reports of the harassment, intimidation, and “gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry” shown in reaction to the successful passage of Proposition 8. If partisans of marriage redefinition continue to increase in power, the analysis warns, those who seek the preservation of marriage as a union of man and wife may risk paying a price legally, socially and economically. The Heritage Foundation’s Oct. 22 report “The Price of Prop 8,” authored by researcher Thomas M. Messner, said that many individuals and institutions who defend the nature of marriage as a union between a man and...

Abstract: Supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry. Arguments for same-sex marriage are based fundamentally on the idea that limiting marriage to the union of husband and wife is a form of bigotry, irrational prejudice, and even hatred against homosexual persons. As this ideology seeps into the culture more generally, individuals and institutions that support marriage as the union of husband and wife risk paying a price for that belief in many...

Robert Millet would do things differently if he were carefully strategizing how fellow Mormons could best pursue interfaith contacts. "I probably wouldn't have started with evangelicals," said the Brigham Young University (BYU) professor, considering the antagonism between the two groups since Mormonism's beginnings. "If we can have more civil and respectful relations with evangelicals, we can do it with anyone."

PROVO — Mormons are a peculiar people — not only in their religious beliefs, but in the political arena as well... SNIP BYU assistant political science Chris Karpowitz...unique findings were...Mormons are still peculiar... The study surveyed 35,000 Americans, including 250 Latter-day Saints, and the rough data showed that Mormons are more conservative than self-proclaimed, born-again Christians in some areas and less conservative in other areas. "The finding is … Mormons and evangelicals may appear to be politically sympathetic, but it's wrong to infer that these two groups are always in sync," Karpowitz said. For example, it's evangelicals, not Mormons, who...

Q. One of my Bible study students asked about present day prophets. Since prophecy is one of the spiritual gifts given to believers, shouldn't we have prophets today? If so, HOW would we know if they are true prophets of God? A. There is hardly a biblical terminology that has captured man's religious concepts and imaginations more than the word prophecy, prophesying or prophets. Strong's Concordance has these three words respectively: #4394, Greek propheteia (prophecy), #4395, propheteuo (prophesying) and # 4396, prophetes (prophet). A number of Scriptures make reference to this subject which is not always crystal clear. In...

It was, for its day, as big a book-selling phenomenon as Harry Potter. For decades it was a No. 1 best-selling phenomenon unlike anything seen before in America. And Joseph Smith loved it. Or did he?