Why so many LDS threads?

08-May-2008 | Grig

[Grig]

I am posting this on behalf of many LDS freepers. They will post their own 'signature' to this in the comments below. --- Some of you have noticed lately a lot of LDS (ie: Mormon) threads here on FR. I'm going to tell you why.

For many years there have been several active LDS freepers here. We post to all the forums on relevant issues, and were happy to have a site where conservative values were so openly welcomed.

Those conservative values include faith in God, and freedom of religion. We fully respect the rights of all posters to express their opinions and views on religious matters, even when people choose to use those rights to express criticism of our own faith. We also support the ideas embodied in FR rules against religion bashing. There is no need for hostility and there should be no room for bigotry on FR. Every religion has it's miracles and mysteries. Every faith has things in it that are not or can not be proven, and things that run contrary to what secular science would have us believe. Someone mature and confident in their own faith generally doesn't feel the need to belittle the faith of others.

We have, to the best of our ability, conducted ourselves with civility and dignity. We do not feel that that respect has been returned by some posters (putting it mildly).

When Mormon missionaries were murdered, the moderators were kept busy pulling jubilant posts off the thread. When Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home, we contended for months with posters who appeared to be motivated by religious bigotry doing all they could to smear the family and accuse the father. Several posters openly admitted their religious motivation in opposing Mitt Romney and confessed that no matter how conservative any Mormon was, they would never vote for one for President of the USA. When the Pope died, I don't think any Mormon poster posted anything unkind, yet the thread about the passing of our President recently needed many comments removed.

Nearly every thread having any connection with Mormons, or Utah winds up being hijacked by anti-Mormon activists who copy and paste the same false accusations over and over even when it has been clearly and factually pointed out to them on multiple occasions that they are bearing false witness against our faith. Everything possible is done by these activists to make FR a hostile place for Mormons, and for at least some of them, bashing Mormonism is all they do here. Their most recent project is trying to blur the fact that the polygamous FLDS is a separate and distinct religion from ours, just as Lutherans are a separate and distinct religion from Catholicism.

In our opinion, such poster do a great disservice to FR and to their fellow freepers by spreading disinformation and promoting hostility towards a people known for walking the walk of conservative values.

Why the moderators here don't see the behavior of these anti-Mormon activists as religion bashing is a mystery to us, but it is the moderators call to make and we respect their right to do so. That doesn't mean we have to be passive however. We have all spent many hours refuting the accusations leveled at our faith, but these wind up buried deep in a flood of comments, effectively shouting us down.

Recently some of us have decided to take a more proactive approach. Rather than try to wrestle the pig into taking a bath, we are just going to hose it down. We will actively define our faith here rather than just respond to accusations.

So expect to see lots of Mormon threads, now and for as long as we see fit to keep posting them (although probably not as many as there are Catholic threads). They will be about our basic doctrines and responses to common accusations. If you want to know what our faith is about, read the articles we post. We will post them as open threads and I encourage you to compare the difference in tone and spirit between what we post and what our critics say.

[SeaHawkFan]

I haven't been around all that long, but I have NEVER pushed an abuse button on a religion thread. Have done so on a few in the main forum when I saw a few racist posts; but that's it.

I have no problem defending my beliefs.

[Grig]

“Okay....here’s some simple quotes from one of the founders of mormonism, the much honored B.Young.

Are these bashing? “

When taken out of context and used in a way to create a false impression, yes, same as Micheal Moore does with his movies. Take a biased selection of items, present them framed in a false way, and lead people to jump to conclusions that are not true.

[netmilsmom]

>>And I pray for mormons everyday.<<

Fantastic! Pray for them, don’t lecture them.

[Grig]

“I do not run to the moderators every time my belief in Christ is slandered by mormons.”

And that isn’t what we are doing either. We are simply informing you all what we are doing, and why. Seems like some people are angry about Mormon stuff being posted here, kinda says a lot about what is in (or rather, not in) their heart.

[MHGinTN]

The reply to your query is a most cogent example of why some are becoming disgusted with the many mormonism apologists spinning so actively at FR. Reminds me of the spin Obama tried to put on the comments of Jeremiah Wright ... context smontext, the comments are sickening regardless of the context.

[Saundra Duffy]

When the President of our Church - whom we consider to be a Prophet of God - died a few months ago, I learned the hard way just how vicious the anti Mormon posters could be. And the Scripture “Mourn with those who mourn” came to mind as the anti Mormons poked fun at our loss and pain. I started pushing the abuse button and had to push it several times. I will never ever forget how it felt to be pilloried during a time of grief. On the bright side, the next morning, a member of the Catholic Church said, “Oh, Saundra, I am so sorry to learn about your Church leader passing away.” She made tears come to my eyes and I really appreciated her compassion and concern. Meanwhile back at FR the Mormons haters were having a field day.

[magritte]

I’m not a Mormon, but I agree there is an uncomfortable amount of anti-Mormon hatred/paranoia on this forum. I doubt, however, that it is much more than I encounter here in SE Missouri. (Note: No ex-Mormons around...it’s fundamentalist Baptists)...magritte

[Gondring]

Did you mean 144,000—as in Jehovah’s Witness virgins who are the elect, or whatever? I think you might be getting your cults mixed up.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I would agree with you in part, but it’s a lot more than that, you can see it in the FLDS threads.

I said this when Romney was a candidate. Like it or not, conservatism is a philosophical position, NOT a religious one. We need all conservatives to work together if we want to enact a conservative agenda.

And like it or not, a vast majority of people of the Mormon faith are also largely adherents to good conservative principles. They are firm on family values, on the value of religion, the value of belief in an absolute morality, personal responsibility, individualism, and the desire for government to be limited and to stay out of people’s lives.

In our fight against abortion, a large majority of Mormons are on our side, fighting the fight with us. On religious freedom, they are by our side. On limited government, on tax cuts, on fiscal responsibility — every Mormon I work with is to the right of center (I know there are liberal Mormons, I am talking generalities here).

The Mormon voting bloc is not as big as the Evangelical bloc, but if every Mormon stayed home, we would have fewer conservatives in office today.

And yet, throughout FR, there is a concerted effort to throw the Mormons out of the “conservative party”. It’s not just Mormons, I’ve also seen a concerted effort from a small minority to remove conservative American Muslims from the “conservative movement”. To some, it seems religious purity is more important than conservative victory.

I am not a Mormon, despite those who accuse me of being so. I don’t happen to believe that the Mormon faith is Christian, although I am certain that there are Christians in the Mormon church, just as there are Christians in the Methodist church.

My Mormon friends know my position about their church, but it is always presented with respect.

Frankly, a Church with a history of evil should know better than to judge a group of people based on the bad acts of a few, even a few leaders.

This isn’t a religious apologetic — I think the response here to the anti-Mormon hatred is misguided. I’d prefer if religion stayed in the religious threads, and if the political and philosophical threads would stick to facts and reasoned opinions based on facts, rather than deteriorating to childish namecalling and vicious attacks on other people’s religious beliefs.

If I had my way, that would hold true for Athiests, Jews, Muslims, Budhists, and any other religious persuasion that may be reflected in these threads. I might have deep religious disagreements with all those religions, but if someone opposes tax increases and government solutions to what should be private problems, they are my POLITICAL ally, no matter how misguided their personal beliefs are.

[Kitten1]

I’m a Baptist who converted to Catholicism.

I have no issue with you. I’ve met many nice, decent people in my life who live within the Mormon faith. I agree on the level vitriol on this board (and not just regarding religion).

supportively signed by Kitten1

[count-your-change]

No Aztec bashing! Just say the Aztecs did heart transplant surgery and most (well, yes, all) their patients died.

[Saundra Duffy]

I know someone who left the LDS Church for 30 years and now he’s back and he’s a Bishop. So what’s your point? People are free to worship how ever they please.

[American_Centurion]

If he hasn’t created a thread for all to see, I wish he would.

I had two Mormons in my Platoon during Desert Storm, one was a 1LT, my Platoon Leader and the other was a PFC fresh out of Jump School and into our unit 1 month before deployment. I remember several times the PFC would confide in me that the LT would berate him privately for (real quote here) “...hanging out with all the drug abusers in our unit”. The LT was talking about those of us who smoked and drank alcohol and coffee, basically EVERYONE. Now, I reckon that LT expected the PFC, living in the barracks with us, to get off work and completely segregate himself from the rest of us. All that grief on that kid finally ran him off of mormonism, his parents told him not to come home if he was really leaving the church. On the bright side, he had intentions to become a “lifer”, and he was one good soldier, and I’m sure he became a good leader, score one for the Army, I guess.

[Gondring]

“LDS members are less than 7% of the population and probably more like 5%. Try to keep you posts in that range.”

I wonder what the quota is for those who don't like Mormonism.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“And yet, throughout FR, there is a concerted effort to throw the Mormons out of the “conservative party”. “

In all my years on FR, I’ve never seen a concerted effort to
throw a single mormon out of the conservative party. I welcome
all conservatives, regardless of faith - and that includes
mormons, of course.

That does not mean I agree with mormons on mormon religious
threads - or Jehovah’s Witnesses on religious threads, or
Hare Krishna’s on religious threads, or lots of FReepers on
threads of a variety of topics. If we all agreed, there wouldn’t be much of a discussion. We could all just sit
around holding hands and saying, “yep! me too!”

ampu

[netmilsmom]

>>On the bright side, the next morning, a member of the Catholic Church said, “Oh, Saundra, I am so sorry to learn about your Church leader passing away.” She made tears come to my eyes and I really appreciated her compassion and concern.<<

That wasn’t me, but I can sympathize.
It was the same for us with JPII and again when B16 came to our shores recently. The vile was suffocating.

I don’t get the idea of any FReeper telling another how to worship. I may think I’m right but I’ll let Our Lord sort out who is wrong.

I’m sorry you were treated that way.

A very nice Mormon FReeper explained to me about some of your religion. She was very sweet and did not look down on me, unlike some of the other “Christians” here who think that I am less than them because I am Catholic.

[hunter112]

I've also seen the anti-Mormon posts, and been somewhat distressed by them, I think of FR as primarily a political forum, and not one that seeks to figure out what an unseen deity tells us what to do. But then, I'm an atheist, and I see discussions of religion as fairly meaningless anyway.

I respect our LDS FReepers as fellow conservatives, and hope that as the contentuous Republican primary season recedes into memory, that those folks can find some healing from the bitterness they have experienced here. We will need them to help us restore a conservative Congress to deal with the liberalness that we will surely face after the election is all settled and done.

[Saundra Duffy]

“But I have never seen a Mormon voice a disagreement with their church.”

You apparently have never visited my Ward. Ha! And the other day, oh, I wanted a cup of coffee sooooo bad.

[Drango]

This group is full of hate
http://www.utlm.org/navaboutus.htm