But that means you have found incomplete truth in Catholicism. Isn’t that bigotted?
I have a book written by Leon Skousen that lists all the Hollywood stars and all British Royalty and many great and influential people who have received copies of the Book of Mormon, yet NONE of them converted to Mormonism.
Just because a couple of people (as published by your LDS Meridian magazine) think Mormons are “nice,” doesn’t mean that they are. I wonder what the survivors of the Fancher party thought of Mormons.
It’s great when you can show your “good” face to the world like you did during the Olympics, but that is a far cry from the day to day realities and the history of Mormonism taken as a whole.
Posting faith promoting stories like Doyle’s and Dicken’s actually doesn’t mean a thing....except to some mormons who tout every “famous” Mormon they can think of. It is just more public relations BS. Let’s see we’ve been told that Gladys Knight, the Osmonds, Glenn Beck and Thurl Bailey (WHO??) are Mormons. And that Doyle and Dickens had some nice things to say. So what?
Unless you want to spam the thread and possibly kill it???? That might work. ;)
I'm watching though, and if it dies, I will try a little CPRT..."Christian Practical Resuscitation of a Thread".
It does show that Mormons were just as good in the 1800’s as they are now. The horror stories of Mormons are mostly are result of this bigotry. I can share newspaper editorials which called for public executions of Mormons.
Nowadays, no one (almost) would ask for an execution, but they do call for daily the assination of their moral character and reasoning. Thankfully in a free country I can live with that hate, but it is disturbing nonetheless.
And you have some unkind things to say. In your words, “So what?”
“I wonder what the survivors of the Fancher party thought of Mormons.”
I saw this months ago and never forgot it.
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I grew up hearing about the Massacre at Mountain Meadows from age four on. It was an expected topic at every Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine\’s Day, summer potluck, fall harvest, winter hearth fire, and spring fling. My six siblings and I, along with a pack of cousins, drew straws for who would have to stay and listen while the others snuck off to play. We were drilled with the details so we would never forget. But then, I\’m a Fancher descendant with blood ties to 29 of the massacre victims. My grandfather (who held court) grew up in Arkansas with memories of the aging surviving children. His life has been a quest to resolve the dispute of blame and extract an open apology from the Mormon Church.
My generation has wrestled with the question of respecting the dead, who can not rest peacefully under a banner of truth until the church admits to an orchestrated crime and cover up; while at the same time wanting to have a life and devote ourselves to our own families and future. We wanted to play soccer, ride horses, eat ice cream, fall in love, get married, and snuggle our babies. I grew up frustrated that the issues of the dead stole joy from the living, and frustrated that a church that claimed to seek and share the truth couldn\’t just TELL THE TRUTH, however ugly, and let the little bird that told it fly us all to freedom from the shadow of evil.
I was in New York (age 30) during 911. I served at Ground Zero for six weeks and my perspective about my grandfather shifted. I was separated from my close net family (living on the West Coast) by a huge gulf, in that; they thought they knew what I knew because they \”saw it on the news.\” I was often speechless to explain but driven to try. They could not know. I went to places no cameras dared desecrate. I breathed in the very dust of the people we were looking for, and felt the horror of guilt when I coughed them up again in blackened spittle.
Then I began to better understand my grandfather. He heard first hand testimony from surviving victims, as I did. I now shared his burden to help others to know and to remember. I also realized how impossible it would have been for Americans to get past this event and heal from 911, if a lone pilot had been blamed and Osama bin Laden built a University of higher moral education. And how would any of us move on if the very earth at Ground Zero were owned by followers of bin Laden? How would we ever get closure?
When Hinkley stated at the memorial service in 1999, \”\”That which we have done here must never be construed as an acknowledgment of the part of the church of any complicity in the occurrences of that fateful day,\” my heart sank. Better described here in a clip of my PBS interview http://www.pbs.org/mormons/view/extra.html
Why is it so hard to own this one??? There is too much evidence that points to compounded cover ups. I used to be frustrated at a historical church. But this issue remains because the follow on years have not produced a leader strong enough to stand up and be publicly repugnated by that which is repugnant for fear the stench will stick if openly named.
Dallin Oaks\’ quote, at the end of the above PBS bonus video, offered the strongest apology and ownership I\’ve read, heard, or seen anywhere from a church official. He disarmed me. If more Mormons, including Hinkley, approached the topic in that tone, what would be left to be angry about? Nothing. If Mountain Meadows was surrendered by the church to be a National Monument in Federal Trust as the descendants continue to request, this history would fade into a teaching topic like so many other human events that have no direct hold over us because they are past.
The issue of Mountain Meadows persists for lack of Mormon humility and humanity. After reading this blog page, I found this group of writers does not strike me as the kind of people who glory in that perception so I thought I would pass my thoughts along.
I\’ll also leave some links for those who, like Jaynee, want to ponder the outsider takes in search for the truth. These sites also have original memoirs and findings as well as some reference material for Ardis and others looking for info on the blood atonement.
I think so much can be done in this generation to bring a rest to this divide and I glimpsed this in your sincere thread. I was most encouraged by #106 as I feared the members were still caught in evil monkey hands (hear no/see no/speak no) Until now, I\’ve had an unchallenged perception that Mormons do not know about, or do not want to talk about MMM, and they certainly will not admit anything was amiss save for a kooky JDL. Mike\’s conspiracy theory #107 gave me a hearty laugh, and we know that does a heart good!
http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=3840#comments