FAIR trying to silence the critics on the web - Deseret News

[_LDS truthseeker]

Maybe they can baptize Tom Cruise posthumously.

You know they will eventually.

[_Stormy Waters]

So I signed up for MormonVoices out of curiosity to see how effective it would be. Here is an example of one of the e-mails I've received.

#########################################################

Dear MormonVoices volunteer,

At a recent campaign event, questions about Mormon beliefs on race sparked heavy news coverage. Specifically, the questioner accused Mormons of thinking that blacks are inferior, and that interracial marriage is sinful.

Please leave comments on as many of the following articles as you can, explaining that in Mormon theology "all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33) and that scriptures referencing "blackness" do not necessarily translate into racial distinctions as we think of them today. No matter what some interpret scriptural passages to say, none of those speculations can override the clear teaching that all are alike before God.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012 ... n-engages/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- ... ge-stance/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/20 ... town-hall/

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/art ... nav%7Chead

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/04/0 ... _news_blog

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... rmon-faith

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... Mormonism/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-hab ... 19376.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... aign-event

http://www.mediaite.com/online/romney-q ... of-mormon/


It might be helpful to you to review the following:

http://mormonvoices.org/1013/book-of-mormon-on-race

http://mormonvoices.org/19/racism

http://mormonvoices.org/1086/doctrine_mormon_church (This is important because some quote past church leaders' opinions that interracial marriage was forbidden. But such opinions are not doctrine, as Elder Christofferson also taught yesterday.)


As always, please avoid debates. Just state what is true and let your demeanor speak for itself.

Please contact email@mormonvoices.org with questions, suggestions, or ideas to recruit more great volunteers. Thanks for all that you do!

The MormonVoices Management Team

This is the only e-mail I've received so far with a lot of links. The other three just came with a one or two washington post articles. It's hard to gauge how much of a difference the MormonVoices campaign is making since I don't know how many of the Mormon commenters are coming through these e-mails.
Obviously one of the problems with this idea is that when Mormonism is in the news, it will be all over the place and spread the defenders pretty thin.

[_Drifting]

So I signed up for MormonVoices out of curiosity to see how effective it would be. Here is an example of one of the e-mails I've received.

#########################################################

Dear MormonVoices volunteer,

At a recent campaign event, questions about Mormon beliefs on race sparked heavy news coverage. Specifically, the questioner accused Mormons of thinking that blacks are inferior, and that interracial marriage is sinful.

Please leave comments on as many of the following articles as you can, explaining that in Mormon theology "all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33) and that scriptures referencing "blackness" do not necessarily translate into racial distinctions as we think of them today. No matter what some interpret scriptural passages to say, none of those speculations can override the clear teaching that all are alike before God.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012 ... n-engages/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- ... ge-stance/

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/20 ... town-hall/

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/art ... nav%7Chead

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/04/0 ... _news_blog

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... rmon-faith

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... Mormonism/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-hab ... 19376.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... aign-event

http://www.mediaite.com/online/romney-q ... of-mormon/


It might be helpful to you to review the following:

http://mormonvoices.org/1013/book-of-mormon-on-race

http://mormonvoices.org/19/racism

http://mormonvoices.org/1086/doctrine_mormon_church (This is important because some quote past church leaders' opinions that interracial marriage was forbidden. But such opinions are not doctrine, as Elder Christofferson also taught yesterday.)


As always, please avoid debates. Just state what is true and let your demeanor speak for itself.

Please contact email@mormonvoices.org with questions, suggestions, or ideas to recruit more great volunteers. Thanks for all that you do!

The MormonVoices Management Team

This is the only e-mail I've received so far with a lot of links. The other three just came with a one or two washington post articles. It's hard to gauge how much of a difference the MormonVoices campaign is making since I don't know how many of the Mormon commenters are coming through these e-mails.
Obviously one of the problems with this idea is that when Mormonism is in the news, it will be all over the place and spread the defenders pretty thin.

I wonder just how comfortable the Bretheren are with Mormon Voices' approach and activity...

[_Runtu]

So I guess that ridiculous stupidity on the TIME Lightbox blog was a trial balloon and we can expect more annoying propaganda and misdirection in other comments sections. I thought the whole thing was a disaster for the church, but I guess these guys viewed it to be a real success.

It was a disaster for the apologists and for the church by extension, at least if my non-LDS friends are in any way representative.

I linked to the photo essay from my Facebook page because I really liked the photos. I wasn't paying attention to the comments, but then I got a few emails from people asking who Daniel Peterson, William Hamblin, and (I forget the other guy's name) were, and whether most Mormons were that rude and mean-spirited.

When I checked out the comments, I was appalled. I tried not to be nasty about it, but I let them know I thought their comments were way overboard. And I let my friends know that, no, those comments didn't reflect the attitudes of most Mormons I know. I had no idea my comments would contribute to an epic battle in that comments section.

I still have no idea what they thought they were accomplishing with that. It didn't advance the cause of the church at all.

[_Kishkumen]

When I checked out the comments, I was appalled. I tried not to be nasty about it, but I let them know I thought their comments were way overboard. And I let my friends know that, no, those comments didn't reflect the attitudes of most Mormons I know. I had no idea my comments would contribute to an epic battle in that comments section.

I still have no idea what they thought they were accomplishing with that. It didn't advance the cause of the church at all.

Perhaps the apologists commenting on that article saved a few testimonies that would have been lost to the pictures of that guy's family.

[_Doctor Scratch]

That's excellent, Drifting. Please keep us up to date on their "dispatches." It would be nice to alert the other folks in the "Comments" sections of these sites as to what they are up to. I'm sure that folks would be interested to learn about things like the attacks on Bob McCue in the FAIR Wiki, or John Lynch's trolling on RfM, or Will Schryver's association with the organization. Heck, you could just link to their "Mormon Voices" Web site and let that do all the talking.

[_Kishkumen]

It amazes me how much useless rhetoric and stupidity could be saved by the Church simply apologizing for these things and moving on. Look at all of the hills that are staked out for warfare in the service of never admitting mistakes. What amazes me is that one can clearly trace the development of this racism in Mormonism and then show how it really developed its more malignant strains after Joseph Smith. So, just peg it on the failings of his successors and move on...

But to refuse to admit the possibility of error in any way?

Whatever happened to continuing revelation?

Whatever happened to line upon line, precept upon precept?

Instead, it is dig in your heels and refuse to admit any prophet or general authority ever having been in error if any outsider criticizes the teaching or policy.

The exclusion of African Americans from holding the priesthood was post-Joseph Smith, and it was wrong. End of story.

Move on, apologists.

[_harmony]

Whatever happened to continuing revelation?

The lack thereof is at the top of my ongoing and ongrowing list of disappointments.

It is simply gone, if it was ever there at all.

[_3sheets2thewind]

So I guess that ridiculous stupidity on the TIME Lightbox blog was a trial balloon and we can expect more annoying propaganda and misdirection in other comments sections. I thought the whole thing was a disaster for the church, but I guess these guys viewed it to be a real success.

It was a disaster for the apologists and for the church by extension, at least if my non-LDS friends are in any way representative.

I linked to the photo essay from my Facebook page because I really liked the photos. I wasn't paying attention to the comments, but then I got a few emails from people asking who Daniel Peterson, William Hamblin, and (I forget the other guy's name) were, and whether most Mormons were that rude and mean-spirited.

When I checked out the comments, I was appalled. I tried not to be nasty about it, but I let them know I thought their comments were way overboard. And I let my friends know that, no, those comments didn't reflect the attitudes of most Mormons I know. I had no idea my comments would contribute to an epic battle in that comments section.

I still have no idea what they thought they were accomplishing with that. It didn't advance the cause of the church at all.

Will S, seemed to shut up after someone kept asking him what derogatory term he used to describe Emma Smith. DCP the lightbox experience shows just how big a jackass DCP is.

[_Shulem]

The exclusion of African Americans from holding the priesthood was post-Joseph Smith, and it was wrong. End of story.

Move on, apologists.

It ain't over by a long shot, Kishy. The official Explanation in Facsimile No. 3 of the Book of Abraham to this day calls the Egyptian god Anubis a slave. The church has done nothing to correct this racial error. The church is guilty of slandering another religion and calling the god of another religion a slave.

It's not over. The church will be dragged through the mud over this, eventually. And I'll be there to spit and step on the church as it squeels like a pig.

Paul O