Assumption #1 in this statement...that distinct faiths are merely (roughly, more or less) the "same thing" -- only packaged differently by distinct "brands"...you know, like it's mere consumer toothpaste tastes.
Well, a given "faith" has an object of that trust. In Mormonism, the true object of that faith is self: If you go to Lds.org (URL: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=244ed0640b96b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD) -- July 1978 Ensign mag article, you can find this quote from the 12th Lds "prophet," Spencer W. Kimball:
Man can transform himself and he must. Man has in himself the seeds of godhood, which can germinate and grow and develop. As the acorn becomes the oak, the mortal man becomes a god. It is within his power to lift himself by his very bootstraps from the plane on which he finds himself to the plane on which he should be.
Christianity is NOT a self-elevated bootstraps faith.
Your #2 false assumption is that Christians and Christian leaders won't ever "join" to work together with Mormons. I've said several times on these threads that Christians and Lds work well together in Boy Scout mtgs on behalf of youth; or in food pantries on behalf of the poor; or working together to pass Prop 8 and protect marriage in CA.
But this event was a spiritually focused one -- almost like Bahai faith 2.0 version -- with Beck in the self-designated head cheerleader role. If he wants Bahai 2.0, he should be more upfront about that.
I doubt Mormons would "love" a Christian pied piper who came along and advocated to Mormons that they begin to pray directly to Jesus (Lds leaders train their adherents to NEVER pray directly to Jesus -- it's always indirectly to the Father in Jesus' name.) So what? If Mormons don't like Christians praying directly to Jesus, are you going to tell them, too, to get off their so-called "island?"
You just want to drive people apart.
Well, you wrap this up "nicely" with poor assumption #3 -- that we're somehow all cozily singing Kum ba yah -- and that somehow you think we've been doing that for 180 years.
...let's just pretend for a moment that not a single FR poster has ever said one single thing "negative" about any Mormon belief. Would that somehow muster your fantasy that we're "united???" Really?
Have you ever read Mormon "scriptures" and what they specifically said about all Christian sects?
Do the Mormons portray a "show of unity" with the Christian church?
* Is it a "peace offering" by the Mormon church for them to cite the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 14:9-10, which claims that only 2 churches exist -- the church of the Lamb (the Mormon church) -- and the church of Satan (the Christian church)?
* Is it Kum-ba-yahville for Mormons to claim that every single Christian professing believer is "corrupt" (Joseph Smith used the word "all" [applying to "all" such believers]?
* Is it "Unity Central" for Mormons to claim that 100% of Christian creeds are "an abomination" to their god?
[Note: These statements weren't just from 'overpassionate' sermons given by Smith; they were claims from the original vision of Mormonism, which a later generation of Mormons decided was worth counting as 'scripture'...look it up on Google for yourselves...just put in Joseph Smith - History + "Pearl of Great Price" ... read verses 18-20]
I mean, how ludicrous...to somehow claim somebody is trying to "divide" us when you don't utter a single phrase about what Mormons have called us Christians for 180 years -- and to boot, claimed this is what "God" thinks of us!
Do you think...that Beck, a disciple of Joseph Smith, is "honoring" the Christian church when Beck believes what Smith said in Doctrines & Covenant 1:30 -- that the Mormon church "is the ONLY true and living church on the face of the earth"???
So if the Christian church isn't "true," what choice is left in Smith's & Beck's & other Mormons' lexicon?
If the Christian church isn't "living," what choice is left in Smith's & Beck's & other Mormons' lexicon?
Is there something less than "true" that is honorable?
Is there something less than "alive" that isn't worth burying?
How is that "unifying" for two-faced Mormons to say wonderful things to our face, and then turn the other way, pull out their wallets, and pay for these above comments to be published as written slander in over 100 languages spread around the world?
...and disseminated online 24/7?
...and by person-to-person (52,000 Lds missionaries & Lds teachers using curricula as ALL of them call ALL Christians "apostates")?
So when Muslims call all Christians "infidels," we're just supposed to say, "Why, how flattering! You know our loving Mormon brothers and sisters say the same thing of us only they use the 'loving' byword of 'apostates.' Isn't that just precious? Come. Let's all join in the Kum-ba-yah refrain, lest those nasty FReepers come & try to 'divide & conquer us.'"
Your post is too long and probably too negative for me to read.
I believe that all of us of any stripe who believe we need to take back this country to what The Founders envisioned, a small, representative federal government, can do this together without worrying that we might be of differing faiths.
I guess you don’t.