Posted on 01/11/2010 8:04:06 PM PST by delacoert
The staff of a popular Mormon blog announced Monday it has chosen embattled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the 2009 Mormon of the Year, even as several top Republicans called for his resignation.
During the past year, Reid was the "most visible and influential Mormon politician in the world," Kent Larsen III, organizer of the annual conference at timesandseasons.org, said in a phone interview. "What most made Harry Reid Mormon of the Year was his overall presence in the news and issues that affect peoples lives."
While Reid's faith is not always discussed as much as that of other Mormon politicians, he remains an active member of his LDS congregation, Larsen noted. In recent years Reid has helped The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on some crucial issues, including helping broker a compromise between the church and the BLM over access to Martin's Cove. A fixture in Nevada politics who has dedicated his life to public service for decades, Reid has long advocated that one can consistently be a Democrat and a Mormon.
A firestorm erupted in recent weeks, however, over Reid's 2008 description of then-candidate Barack Obama as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
Reid, D-Nev., apologized to Obama on Saturday, the Associated Press reported, and the president issued a statement accepting the apology and saying the matter was closed. That didn't stop GOP Chairman Michael Steele and other Republicans from demanding that Reid step down as majority leader.
Nor did it alter the outcome of timesandseasons' choice.
"The Mormon of the Year designation is a recognition of the effect that the person or group of persons has had during the past year. It is not a prize or award, so nothing of value is being given to anyone as a result of this designation," Larsen said. He did caution, however, that "this recognition should not be seen as an endorsement of his political positions or aspirations."
As in previous years, the blog's 12 staff members made the selection, though they did invite readers to offer their own opinions. This year's contest attracted nearly 2,000 votes, Larsen said, with the top slots going to Fox talk show host Glenn Beck, former Utah governor and now U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr., and Reed Cowen, a filmmaker who documented the LDS Church's involvement in California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
"Reed [Cowen] won the popular vote, but we didn't choose him because his film is just getting out," said Larsen, a New York City book publisher and one of a dozen timesandseasons permabloggers. "It has not had much of an effect yet."
Other nominees included: Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, songwriting Sen. Orrin Hatch, kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart, and frontman for the rock band The Killers, Brandon Flowers,
The contest rules purposely excluded the LDS Church's First Presidency (including the prophet) and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles because, Larsen said, "their overwhelming influence would guarantee their selection every year."
For complete contest results, go to http://timesandseasons.org
This is choice....thanks for the laugh!
Maybe they meant “Moron Of The Year”.
This is just to rich! LOL
Would’ve been even funnier if they voted him the Most Pro-Negro Mormon of 2009.
if I was a mormon I would have picked glen beck because he is one of the few in this country that is actually doing something to save it and making a difference...
That’s what I thought it said at first glance...
Wonder why they didn’t choose Mitt Romney? (Even writing that makes me laugh.)
There’s one too many “M’s” there.
didn’t Mormons bar blacks as members until very recently?
ping
This toooo funny ROFL
http://www.gallup.com/poll/125021/Mormons-Conservative-Major-Religious-Group.aspx
I've never heard of these bloggers. Apparently, neither have most Mormons.
Is someone here actually trying to say this group represents most Mormons?
That was the first thought that went thru my mind too. If this was true, then Beck should have gotten the nod.
Reading the comments............This is great. Thanks Times and Seasons for giving voice to the disparate voices in Mormonism.
Let them tear each other apart for all the world to see. It’s pretty fantastic!
didnt Mormons bar blacks as members until very recently?
- - - —
They could be members but could not hold the LDS “priesthood” (which is required for salvation) until 1978.
1978 was when mormons allowed blacks to become priests. They could attend mormon churchs before. The importance of priesthood has to do with the mormon doctrine that man can become a god. However, the only way they can get there is to become a priest and be allowed into their temples to perform "sacred" (read secret) ceremonies and endowments. Before this, at best according to mormon teaching, the blacks would be servants of these white mormon gods.
However, the mormon scriptures they based this racist doctrine are still in print and not revoked -NOR has the Lds president offered an apology for the practice.
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