Thread for Mormon discussion

[ShinShinKid]

I want to start my own PR campaign, much like the one that's going on in the US nationwide. They have a short summary of someone's life, and then they say..."...and I'm a mor(m)on". Well, I wanted to do my own, with mor(m)on personalities from the past. You know, the juicy ones...Warren Jeffs, Big Love Douche, and some names responsible for the murder of innocent pioneers.

"I made tapes of myself raping and abusing girls as young as twelve, I'm Warren Jeffs(sic), and I'm a mormon".

[MinM]

Published on Aug 12, 2011 08:58PM 125 Comments

A Virginia school board has removed a Sherlock Holmes book from its sixth-grade reading list after a parent challenged the book as derogatory toward Mormons, according to The Daily Progress.

The book, A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the first published story involving the famous character Sherlock Holmes.

The parent who first complained, Brette Stevenson, told the Albermarle County School Board on Thursday, "A Study in Scarlet has been used to introduce students to the mystery genre and into the character of Sherlock Holmes. This is our young students’ first inaccurate introduction to an American religion," according to the newspaper.

The newspaper article doesn't elaborate on what specifically was offensive to the parent about the book, but a USA Today article may provide a clue, quoting a paragraph in which a character says the idea of his daughter marrying a Mormon would be "a shame and a disgrace."

Part of the story takes place in 19th-century Utah. According to a 1994 Salt Lake Tribune article, the book bolstered the idea that "Danites, the Avenging Angels of Mormondom, were steeped in the assassination of apostates, and that polygamy was white slavery."

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaith ... g.html.csp

Peggy Fletcher Stack has been producing stories for The Salt Lake Tribune's award-winning Faith section for nearly two decades. She once spent four days following the Dalai Lama around Salt Lake City and two weeks following the late LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley around Africa. From then to now, writing about contemporary faith, rituals, and spirituality as well as religion's conflicts and cohesion has always been Stack's passion.

[Marie Laveau]

Hey, Min! I was going to mention that book. I read that after my time in the church, but when I was a right-wing fundamentalist Baptist (don't ask )

Anyway, I understand that book is quite hard to find these days, as it tends to get "removed" from a lot of libraries. If you ever get a chance to read it, it's quite something.

Also this, that most people have never heard about:

1857 Mountain Meadow Massacre

http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_mass.htm

And they STILL try to blame this on Native Americans, or say that they were in cahoots with the Mormons

[8bitagent]

I remember telling someone "What, you didn't know the LDS church orchestrated the 9/11 massacre? ...in 1857 that is!"

The suicide/attempt rate among gay and queer teens, as well as other disaffected teens in Utah has long been high. My friend who used to live there, recently was there a week to visit family and said
it felt as conservative as ever(though, I guess a rebellious art community does shine through in some areas)

The prop 8 thing was bizarre to me, as they came out of their own state to take away already legal gay rights; and as everyone knows...Mormons are in no position to judge what is "normal" with marriage or things

Btw...why are Mormon right wingers so beloved in the US by Christian conservatives? I thought they thought Mormons were heretics? In line at the grocery store I heard to middleaged women talking about how much they loved Glenn Beck. And we see Mitt Romney's media push

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Moorman

.....
Moorman was standing on grass about 2 feet (61 cm) south of the south curb of Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, directly across from the grassy knoll and the North Pergola concrete structure that Abraham Zapruder and his assistant Marilyn Sitzman were standing on, during the assassination. Moorman stated that she stepped off from the grass onto the street to take her Polaroid photo. Zapruder is seen standing on the pergola in the Moorman photograph, with the presidential limousine already having passed through the line of sight between Zapruder and Moorman.
Moorman was standing only 20 feet (6 m) behind and to the left of President Kennedy with her friend, Jean Hill, and they are clearly seen in many frames of the Zapruder film.[2]
Between Zapruder film frames Z-315 and 316, approximately one sixth of a second after President Kennedy's head was shattered at frame Z-313, Moorman took a Polaroid photograph (her fifth that day) of the presidential limousine and President Kennedy that also includes the grassy knoll area.
[edit]Controversy


Polaroid Highlander Model 80A
What was captured in the background of the photo has been a matter of contentious debate. On the grassy knoll, some claim to have identified as many as four different figures, while others dismiss these indistinct images as trees or shadows. Most often a figure is identified as the "badge man" because the figure is supposedly a uniformed police officer. Others claim to see Gordon Arnold, a man who claimed to have filmed the assassination from that area, a man in a construction hard hat, and a hatted man behind the picket fence.
Moorman stated she heard a shot as the limousine passed her, then heard another shot or two after the president's head first exploded. She stated that she could not determine where the shots came from, and that she saw no one in the area that appeared to have possibly been the assassin.[3] Moorman was interviewed by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department and the FBI. She was called by the Warren Commission to testify, but due to a sprained ankle, she was unable to be questioned. She was never contacted by them again.

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_E._Jones

Steven Earl Jones is an American physicist. For most of his career, Jones was known mainly for his work on muon-catalyzed fusion. In the fall of 2006, amid controversy surrounding his work on the collapse of the World Trade Center (which Jones believes was destroyed by controlled demolition during the September 11 attacks), he was relieved of his teaching duties and placed on paid leave from Brigham Young University. He retired on October 20, 2006 with the status of Professor Emeritus.
....
Affiliations

Jones had been co-chair of Scholars for 9/11 Truth up until December 5, 2006. Following a dispute with co-chair James Fetzer over the direction the organization was taking, Jones resigned his membership and joined Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice.
Jones is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Jones has been described as "a devout Mormon."[30]
Jones is co-editor of Journal of 9/11 Studies.[49]
....

[Marie Laveau]

Btw...why are Mormon right wingers so beloved in the US by Christian conservatives? I thought they thought Mormons were heretics? In line at the grocery store I heard to middleaged women talking about how much they loved Glenn Beck. And we see Mitt Romney's media push

Well, 8bit, you've always heard the phrase "Politics makes strange bedfellows"? There's your iron-clad example.

The LDS church, as you probably know, has a VAST media empire. I grew up in Missouri and didn't know until after I joined the church that they own KMBC in KCMO.

[ShinShinKid]

I also believe they own Fry's food stores.
The early mormons sent hordes of young men to serve in military units that were entirely made up of mormons, and of course, they by-God got things done! So many hard-working taxpaying Americans paid for mucho dinero that was funneled up to the church during the pioneer days of the US army.
I haven't done the figures in a while, but consider the amounts of money genrerated by a few thousand soldiers.

[Simulist]

You probably know a lot more about this facet of the topic than I do, ShinShinKid, but didn't the Mormons pretty much have to form separate units in the Army if they wanted to "serve" because they were not accepted in the mainstream? Much like blacks were segregated from whites for a long time in the armed forces?

[Marie Laveau]

I know that it is a good way to employ unemployed Mormon men. The work ethic is very strong in the LDS church, and the military is a perfect way to make it look like there are few non-working Mormons.

I lived in a military town when my first husband was in the Air Force, and went to a military ward (what Mormons call a church or a Parish) and there were LOADS of Mormons.

If they were ever segregated it's been a long time ago. My experience was thirty years ago, and they weren't segregated then.

Let's talk about the mormon missionaries. I've got a couple of great stories about that.

[Simulist]

I'd be interested in hearing them, Marie.

All joking aside, my heart actually goes out to some of those kids. I would think that being on a mission might turn out to be a comparatively difficult position for someone to sort of find himself in, especially if he started to "wake up" somewhere in the midst of it.

[Marie Laveau]

In the LDS Church, as most of you probably know, those who have strayed from the way are called "jack Mormons." My ex-mother-in-law lived in Salt Lake for many years, and my ex-sister-in-law still does, though neither are involved in the church anymore. My sister-in-law married into a jack-mormon family, except one of HER sisters-in-law married a man who ened up as a stake (a group of wards) president. They used to drive to Nevada all the time to drink and gamble. I guess this is quite common for those Mormons in Salt Lake. I was told by many of my LDS friends that the way Mormons outside Utah live and those inside Utah live are two very different things.

I think reading that book by Conan Doyle, even as old as it is, would give a person some idea. I had a good friend when I was in teh church that was raised LDS and she said boys leaving on their missions were terrible about trying to get girls to sleep with them. One boy outright told her the only reason he was going on a mission was to get a new car when he got back. His dad had promised him.

My sister-in-law said incest was terrible in Utah. Now, having said all of that, do I believe it's any different than any other religious group? Nope.

[Simulist]

I had a good friend when I was in teh church that was raised LDS and she said boys leaving on their missions were terrible about trying to get girls to sleep with them. One boy outright told her the only reason he was going on a mission was to get a new car when he got back. His dad had promised him.

Those Mormon boys sound a whole lot like… boys.

(Whatever the religion, the basic software is pretty similar.)

[ShinShinKid]

Well, my first cousin was due for his mission, but his foot got destroyed serving in the US military...no mission, no temple wedding, no planet, he wasn' t allowed any of it. True irony being as it is, he went from one of the most devout mormons I have met to solitary Christian (that is, he reads the new testament ardently and still practices christianity).
They are not limited to Utah. Most of Northern Arizona is dominated by these people. Actually, they come here to escape persecution for big love in Utah and Colorado. There's a town in the North of our state, called Snowflake. Some people think it's because it's cold. Nope, it was founded by the Snow's and the Flakes.
Now, my point with the military thing is, calculate 15%(i don't know the current tithe level) of an entire regiment's pay. Now do that for months and years on end, and do that for I don't remember how many regiments served.
This tithe was/ is strictly enforced as far as I know...

Of course, the last day of Sociology of Religions my professor says to us...
"The most valuable piece of information regarding religion is this: You want a job? Join the mormon church...you'll have a job by the end of the day...you'll also have an automatic withdrawal for so much every month..."

[justdrew]

and somewhat into parts of Idaho as well...