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Midweek Mormon Reddit Gazette 2010-W17
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Religious refugees in mainstream America … (r/movies)
J. Willard “Bill” Marriott. Jr., and his wife attended the dinner hosted by the largest chapter of the BYU Management Society, which has more than 6,000 members in 40 cities and 20 countries. Bill gave the evening a thumbs up. The Human Rights Campaign gives Marriott a perfect score.
The text of OSC’s keynote remarks to BYUMS-DC: Orson Scott Card on the Dismantling of America
In other news, if you need a vacation, you might want to check out Marriott’s new LGBT travel site!
I am the branch president of one of the Spanish language congregations in Mesa, Arizona … We clearly still have some knuckle dragging closet racists in the Church.
Whats up with the Mormons? Orem, Utah legislator Stephen Eric Sandstrom last week pledged to follow the lead of my friend Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce and expand the number of states with show-me-your-papers bills aiming to criminalize, jail, and deport irregular migrants. Rep. Sandstrom, who is a graduate of Brigham Young University and a former Mormon missionary to Venezuela, takes credit for co-founding a states rights organization called the Patrick Henry Caucus.
Sandstroms friend Sen. Pearce of Arizona, sponsor of the recently signed SB-1070, hails from the Mormon stronghold of Mesa and claims to be the mastermind behind Maricopa Countys infamous Tent City Jail.
Antonin Scalia schools James Bopp: For the first century of our existence, even voting was publicyou either did it raising your hand or by voice, or later, you had a ballot that was very visibly red or blue so that people knew which party you were voting for. The fact is that running a democracy takes a certain amount of civic courage. And the First Amendment does not protect you from criticism or even nasty phone calls when you exercise your political rights to legislate, or to take part in the legislative process. You are asking us to enter into a whole new field where we have never gone before.
Instead of horizontal rows, the pews will be arrayed in a fan to create a more “intimate” connection between the pulpit and congregation.
In light of the recentGallop Poll which calculates that 60% of active Mormonsself-identify asConservative or Republican and that over 60% of inactive Mormons who stillconsider themselvesMormons are self-identified Liberals or Moderates suggesting that the more liberal you are the more likely you are to go inactive; in light ofGlenn Becks recent public commentswhere the prominent Mormon declared that social justice was a code word for Communism and Nazism; and in light of the recentinvitation by a Nevada StaketoDemocratic Senator Harry Reid to speak at afireside which was met by threats of violence and canceled.
As moderate, liberal or radical Mormons, it is time to make ourvoices heard WITHIN Mormonism.
A religion ran as a corporation… say it ain’t so. Seriously, the reason that corporations and religions exist is because they get things (good and bad) done and people love being bundled up into groups; it gives them a team to cheer for and enemies to boo.
If Mormons truly regard the rest of us as Christians, they must restrict their evangelism to non-Christians.
My motivation for undertaking this wild project stems from several factors. First, I was raised in the Mormon church, which has taken the lead against equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians. Its been ten years since I left Mormonism, and I feel a particular need to stand up against the churchs well-funded opposition to marriage equality (I wonder what Mormonisms polygamous founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., and his successor, Brigham Young, would say about the Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman bumper stickers slapped on so many Mormon minivans).
I use the same cover story since I began attending ex-gay programs: From a young age, I was attracted to other guys (false); I was raised in the Mormon church (true), and served a mission (true); I married in my early 20s (true), but the marriage fell apart (true) after I fell in love with my best friend, Brian (false). After my younger brothers suicide in 2003 (true), I reevaluated my life (true) and had a religious reconversion (false). I recently joined ex-gay ministries in 2007 (true), even though I still havent found a new faith (false).
I wish you all the best of success with your Mormon-gay meetings, and with what tiny, dying, ragged shred of hope there is left in me, I wish your meetings would effect real change the kind of change that would dismantle the anti-gay Mormon monolith and make equality a reality rather than an evil to be feared and prove me dead wrong about everything.
“… I’m sure there are many members of our church who would judge her much more harshly for some of the decisions and choices she makes …”
Maybe. Maybe not. Your review is pretty friggin’ harsh (not to mention, incoherent).
Fred Karger is nationally known for his dogged pursuit of the truth about Mormon spending in the battle over Prop 8 through his website Californians Against Hate. Now, as a potential presidential candidate in the Republican Party, Fred is hitting the usual presidential stops in a very unusual way as an openly gay man. I asked him to drop me a note periodically to let me know about his experiences. Heres his first missive, received Thursday night from New Hampshire, with photos.
I find it interesting that we Mormons can cause such a ruckus over such a trivial thing [The Book of Mormon/Youtube Challenge]. Are you really worried that having our video on the Youtube homepage will help us with our plan to take over the world? (insert evil laughter)
Can I ask a question though? How is it that our Cult can be so successful for all these years with fine upstanding people like you doing all you can to expose our slanderous message? (insert more evil laughter)
Whatever else it is, the Heartland movement looks like a ripple of nativism, a twitch of insecurity among Americans in a globalizing faith. Mormons are increasingly identified with conservative politics, and in its very name the Heartland Model conjures the rights renewed rhetoric of American exceptionalism. Glenn Beck piercingly conservative but rather quietly Mormon shilled for an April conference put on by Porters company, founded to promote (and monetize) the Heartland Model.
PortlandMom1: “If you check google earth, you will see that the party was clearly held on a field near the temple that may be part of the LDS church grounds located there. For Mormons, there is a big difference between temple grounds and church grounds.”
Yeah, it’s no doubt a HUGE difference. Kinda like the difference between rich Mormons (who screw around with no consequences) and ordinary members (who get excommunicated for the same behavior).
8: The Mormon Proposition is a stirring, tragically depressing documentary about the Mormon Churchs massive efforts to support and pass Californias Proposition 8 ballot initiative … Depending on which side of the debate you stand on, you will find it either silly and pointless, or obscenely infuriating and find yourself filled with a sense of righteous fury.
Watch the new trailer here.
Pre-order the DVD here.
Subscribe to MMORG’s Youtube channel.
First upload: Local Utah Station Announces Release of 8: The Mormon Proposition:
The bumper sticker said it well: Focus on Your Own Damn Family.
8: The Mormon Proposition, reflects the efforts of those that created it and us that are in it, to hold OUR (now former) church accountable for the pain they knowingly inflicted on OUR families.
– The documentary IS NOT about disagreeing with the church’s moral standards or their right to spend their money on issues they feel are important.
– It IS about hypocrisy; how a church (that says it is all about being honest in our dealings with our fellow men), knowingly created and funded dishonest ads to promote their own moral agenda; and (by their own admissions) hid their involvement. The Church stated in their own documents, that if the voters knew the extent of the churchs involvement, it would negatively impact the vote.
– This documentary does not claim that the LDS Church did this alone, even though at its strong urging, its members (only 2% of the voters) donated over 70% of the money contributed and over 90% of the volunteer efforts.
We would hope the displeased members of other groups, be they Catholic, Protestant, African American, Latino, Baptist, would hold their leaders accountable as well.
Anyone feeling to criticize it should see it first. You will find as Variety’s review states: “8” actually spends more time trying to humanize homosexuals than to demonize those who hate them.
Opens in selected cities June 18th, and on VOD. Available on DVD July 6th.
Watch the NEW trailer: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/8themormonproposition/
Hi Linda,
You forgot to add: “Fantastic post, so much to think about!”
Remembering to add that bit is important.
Otherwise, I might get the impression that you’re copying-and-pasting a plug for 8:TMP into comments here.
Lots of fascinating stuff! It took some real will-power not to just read all of these yesterday while I was still at work. 😉
Also, this is kind of a random association, but all this talk of Orson Scott Card has reminded me of the trustworthiness of beards scale. Looks like Card is either between neutral and questionable (with a “Colonel Sanders”) or between unsavory and threatening (with a “chin tuft”).
Yeah, I’m still trying to square OSC’s facial hair history with his 8th rule for contributing to a “Strong Culture”:
I guess his unstated rule No. 9 is to never apologize for chin tuft.
how long has MSP had a twitter??
@7: Since a few days ago. I was following the tweets from the BYUMS crew that organized the DC love-fest for OSC, but then they blocked me, so I needed a new account and discovered that MainStreetPlaza was still available, so I grabbed it.
I’d like to share that MainStreetPlaza account with as many folks as would like to use it to promote their x-mo content. The more it gets used, the quicker it’ll attract a following.
Great post, gave me a lot to think about. :). I love your passion for this stuff. Keep it coming. Have you heard a rumor about one of the co-founders of “Focus on Family” It might be something for you to look into for your column. It’s an unconfirmed report (rumor) but I think it’s worth looking into.
Yeah, crazy stuff, eh? I’m not sure I’d have much to add at this point. I’m late to the party and Rekers (aka The Thinking Man’s Haggard) is already hogging everybody’s front page, e.g. http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/