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Posted on 05/08/2008 5:04:47 PM PDT by 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.
Signed (by proxy, having been given his consent) by Illbay
Thanks for the warning.
And you find that judging a person's fitness for president cannot legitimately take into account whether he believes certain things?
I will elaborate, if you wish, but I fear that you might brand any criticism as "anti-Mormon" if it is strongly worded, regardless of its validity.
This is an opinion forum. There are freepers of many denominations and even some atheist.
Signed by Sevenbak
Oh, but nobody EVER bashes them!!!
</sarc>
Self ping
I’m not a Mormon but I like Mormons as much as I like Protestants, Catholics and Jews. I think you are being overly sensitive. I too have noticed an uptick in LDS related threads casting LDS in a less than positive light. However, I took that as being due to disruptors worried about the campaign of Romney and now worried about McCain tapping Romney for VP.
That said, it appears to me that many FReepers hold an irrational hatred for Mormons which became evident after the Presidential campaign of Mitt Romney seemed viable.
I have nothing against Mormons or any other peaceful religion. However, I’m not especially thrilled by the prospect of more religious postings that have nothing to do with the news or current events - including especially the ever increasing number of daily Catholic prayers, devotionals, etc. They aren’t newsworthy IMO and while I’m sure there are many here who may enjoy reading them, I think that type of posting should go on its own board or in a different section than “News.”
Just my opinion.
Many Freepers have thrown civility out the window this election cycle in favor of rude behavior. Frankly I thought Freepers were far above throwing each under the bus but many have saved thier vitriol for their FRiends when they should have been using it on America’s foes, foreign and domestic.
This is very disapointing but it is the most bizzare election cycle I’ve ever seen and Ive seen quite a few.
We have been posting them to the religion forum. The moderators, having very similar concerns as we have, decided on their own for a time to move open LDS threads to the News section.
RM, since the News forum was affected by this, can this thread exist in both forums, or would it be ok to post it again there?
Signed by restornu
I have no quarrel with LDS folks who are honest about the teachings of their Church. It has been my experience, however, that a segment of the Mormon posters have been less than candid about the history and teachings of their faith.
As for Illbay, I didn’t know he was a Mormon. I also thought he was well and long gone.
And finally, if you all want to run a Mormon governor for president, try Huntsman - at least he’s conservative, rather than a Yankee liberal.
It’s not rude to call a lie a lie.
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.
People were happy young people were murdered? I find it sooooo hard to believe. Elizabeth / father probably because it is generally the father who does these things, not because they are lds.
I have to agree. I’m really astonished by the bigotry that has been posted on FR from time to time. For my own personal beliefs I have no preference.
There is NOTHING wrong about not voting for someone based solely on the candidates choice of religion. That’s exactly what Utah did WRT Mike Huckabee and John McCain.
Too many Mormons here who were offended that some FReepers wouldn’t vote for Mitt because he IS NOT CONSERVATIVE, repeatedly drug out the anti-mormon card in their arguments.
Keep posting, the more informed the masses are of LDS beliefs and doctrines, the better off we’ll all be. I for one don’t think you will be helping your own cause at all. We’ll see.
I do have one itching question though, why aren’t the initials COJCOLDS or CJCLDS, seems to me either one would be more accurate.
I haven’t seen this many LSD threads since Timothy Leary died.
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