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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.
What has happened to those 3 that didn’t die?
LOLOLOL!
Could be both!
Seriously I have to do the Grub-Ex thing so please don’t think I’m ignoring anyone.
My hubby will end up doing it and he works all day while I sit on FR. It wouldn’t be fair.
To me it is a godsend.
Living in Utah has forced me to confront.....yes, confront my position in relation to Mormonism. You really can’t compare this to any other situation.
Let me tell you netmilsmom, I had never heard, nor attended any other service Catholic or otherwise until I moved to Salt Lake City. I didn’t have the chance. There wasn’t any other church within 200 MILES of my home. I was exposed only to Mormonism until I was in my 30’s. (I can relate to the fLDS women in this regard)
When you have experienced that kind of closedness, and then left behind all you ever knew, then you can judge me. Until then I don’t believe you have the frame of referrence with which to do so.
BTW, I attended my first Saturday Vigil just a week ago. I was pleasantly surprised. I kinda liked it....and it was so foreign to anything I had ever experienced. I talked to the Priest afterward. It was nice.
There comes a time in life when we must chose. Do I want to believe Mormonism, Catholicism, Protestantism, or Christianity at all. Only through examination and discovery are we able to chose our paths. If we are only allowed to hear good stuff we are denied something essential to humanity, we are robbed of truth. We are all adults here, we should be allowed to discuss ideas. Freedom of speech is wonderful, the exchange of ideas is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Talking about Catholicism or Mormonism should be considered a good thing, as long as the truth comes out. Don’t you think? Even rough, course, or negative speech is protected.
There isn’t a ball in a court, you announced yourself Catholic and you will not state your churches view on Mormon baptism or if Mormons are Christians.
I think that I have learned something important from that.
Ha ha. I hate those buggers. I think they ate my tulips. Nothing came up this year.
Well, at least he’s handsome...
One of my neighbors has a lawn care business—LOL! Thanks for the tips. Love, M
That’s among the Area!
We stayed over night at the new Desert Rose Inn in Bluff last year and since the Flds thing broke, I wonder if the plans for the motel and the FLDS buildings came from the same source!
http://www.desertroseinn.com/images/front.jpg
I had always come down the dugway in daylight and the veiw from the edge made me think there was NOTHING out there for many, many miles.
Well, coming down at night (I had been exploring some little visited Anasazi ruins on Cedar Mesa late in the afternoon and had to climb out of the canyon in the dark!) was a whole different story. There were lights to be seen EVERYWHERE!
What a letdown!
Many posters do not have any animosity towards the Mormons, they do simply disagree with their beliefs....and they talk about it in a civil manner...
Then there others, who remain uncivil in their discussions...and do ‘go after’ Mormons...
Just how I see it...
Dang!
You’ve been to Thailand, too!
“Somehow, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have been persuaded by their leaders that they have always been on the receiving end of uncharitable comments and unjust accusations.”
PERSUADED?
It’s TAUGHT in their schools!!!
I know that, you know that, and the Catholic church knows it.
Now if only Catholics themselves knew what their church knows or had the courage or faith to acknowledge it and speak for their faith.
Jesus twins....lol
Calling Dan Brown.....!
Or chipmunks did!
More delightsome as the years go by!
I love how eloquent and faithful your posts are, thanks for them.
Many of you are an inspiration to those of us that are trying to learn.
Thanks for the kind words...
That was really my one and only time with contact with Mormons...once on the Mormon threads I saw someone post a picture of Ted Bundy, with the notation, that look here, Ted Bundy was a Mormon...HUH?...what was that supposed to imply?....it seems the poster wanted others to associate the killer Ted Bundy with the Mormon faith...
I have seen the same lame trick used in the Catholic threads...anti-Catholics get on there, and talk about the drunken priest in their town, or talk about some priest that molested some child that they knew...
It is as if, by pointing out the ‘crimes’ of those in certain faiths, we can then make the leap that all the others of that same faith, are tainted...
So by that weird logic, being that my only real life contact with the Mormons was through these two young fellas, I would have to conclude that all Mormons, were just as these two fellas were..
It is stupid, and a complete mistake, to point out some evil people, who happened to be members of a particular faith, and try to paint all others of that faith in the same manner...and believe me, I have seen that happen here...
My experience then would have to lead me in the opposite direction...if I were to judge all Mormons based on my only real life experience with these two fellas, I would have then have to say, that all Mormons were like them...
In truth, using just a little grain of common sense, we cannot judge any religion based solely on the actions, good or bad, of a few, who happen to be members of that religion...there are good and bad, in all religions, just as in life...
But posting a picture of Ted Bundy,with the notation, that he was a Mormon, was vile, as far as I am concerned...Ted Bundy was not vile and evil, because he was a Mormon, he was just plain evil and vile, regardless of what religion he may have been...
Thank you for your encouragement.
This has been an interesting week on FR. I am thankful to all at FReepublic who DARE to give their insights and opinions. I value all I learn here.
Please, please don’t ever let it stop. I am learning and growing so much!
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