Give me a break.
Too many Mormons try to "begin from another position" in their dialogues with people of other faith that doesn't "help" the Mormon's oft "starting point" of "Woe is me, I'm the 'persecuted and oppressed' one."
When, in fact, as Lds open their "trenchcoats" to show you what's underneath, we all see their 180-year history of "naked beliefs" of labeling ALL Christians as...
..."false" believers;
...that ONLY the Mormons constitute the supposed "true & living" church -- implying the rest of us are false & dead.
This is where true Christians of the historic faith need to distinguish between the civil tone (I love conversing with Mormons, because usually their tone is "easy" on the ears)...
...versus the content of what either they say, or their tithing $ goes on to do worldwide, which is, namely to slander the historic Christian church!!!
Hence, this is why Givens has to resort in this article talks about Mormon "schizophrenia" (his word). Indeed, a true "dichotomy" exists. Mormons are trained to be "nice." They will often say to your face, or online, that they NEVER "tear down, belittle, or bash" other beliefs. And that actually might be true of many of them via their vocal chords; but NOT via their wallets and bank accounts!!! Their tithing $ goes to:
Official church mag articles & curricula;
Web site content;
Brochures & pamphlets;
Books
Translations of their "scriptures";
multi-media productions;
...which have ALL labeled Catholics, Protestants, & Orthodox as:
..."the church of Satan" per the Book of Mormon;
...100% creedally abominable -- with nary a single creed that honors God per the Pearl of Great Price;
...a false & dead church per Doctrine & Covenants;
...a 100% "apostate" church per Mormon Doctrine;
...lacking all authority;
..."corrupt" professors -- ALL of us -- per the Pearl of Great Price;
...not worthy of joining -- NONE of us -- per the Pearl of Great Price; etc.
Lds are trained from the get-go, especially their Lds missionaries, to always link the so-called "universal apostasy" with what they call "the restoration." [Note: Everybody except Jesus' apostle, John, who supposedly has NEVER died; along with some "Nephite" disciples...who supposedly also NEVER died...anybody get any text messages from any of these guys???] The "Mormon ground zero" for any interfaith discussion MUST be that they evaluate every Christian denomination through the eyes that we are "apostates."
How does that reality transpire? Well, there can be no "restoration" unless something (the original church) was practically totally lost. The Mormon founder needed to take a scorched-earth approach to Christians, otherwise he -- and his restoration -- was 100% superflous. Either he was unnecessary, or the Christian church was...so Smith chose the Christian church to be! im. He chose the latter. He essentially tossed all Christians into one gigantic graveyard, and tried to erect a new religion on top of it. Let's face it, if Smith's "diagnosis" of Christians was wrong, that all didn't commit apostasy, then no need existed for him or his restoration-from-scratch. [Even all the Lds Bible verses they come up with on the apostasy (1) proves it wasn't to be "universal"; and (2) actually contradict it...verses like Eph. 3:21 and 1 Tim. 4:1]
They sure don't 'play' it very well on FR!