ARTICLE - YEAT IN REVIEW: 2011 ANOTHER YEAR OF PROGRESS FOR THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Year in Review: 2011 Another Year of Progress for the Church

 

27 December 2011 — Salt Lake City

In 2011 new temples were announced and others dedicated, and increased public attention was focused on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in what many journalists have called the “Mormon Moment.”
Temple Building
Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced the building of eight new temples during the Church’s general conferences in April and October. President Monson said four temples would be built internationally in Canada, France, South Africa and Colombia, while another four will be built in the United States in Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Of particular interest was the announcement that the historic Provo Tabernacle, which had been destroyed by fire in December 2010, would be rebuilt and converted to the city’s second temple.


Ground was broken in 2011 for seven temples in Phoenix, Arizona; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Trujillo, Peru; Payson, Utah; Sapporo, Japan and Fortaleza, Brazil.
President Monson rededicated the Atlanta Georgia Temple after a nearly two-year renovation including utility updates and better accessibility for disabled persons.
The San Salvador El Salvador Temple was dedicated by President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency on Sunday, 21 August 2011. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Quetzaltenango Guatemala Temple on Sunday, 11 December 2011.
Earlier in the year, Church leaders announced the Ogden Utah Temple would close for major renovation. The temple is undergoing extensive changes inside and out, and the Ogden Tabernacle, next door to the temple, will receive an architectural facelift.
The “Mormon Moment”
In what many news media have dubbed the "Mormon Moment," the Church received increased media attention in 2011. The Church emphasized that it desired to participate in the national conversation taking place about it. Addressing this attention, Public Affairs Department managing director Michael Otterson wrote a column for the Washington Post outlining facts the public should know about Latter-day Saints.


Humanitarian Aid
The Church responded to disasters around the globe. One of the greatest challenges was Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, which took thousands of lives and destroyed homes, businesses and livelihoods. The Church provided more than 250 tons of supplies, food, water, blankets, bedding, hygiene items, clothing and fuel. Church-sponsored volunteers numbering over 20,000 have donated 175,000 hours of service. Japan’s fishing industry has suffered severely. Church Humanitarian Services has worked with and continues to donate equipment and supplies to 20 of 54 fishing co-ops. The impact upon the Church was significant, with 52 meetinghouses damaged. All repairs have been completed.
President Monson, during an address at the 181st annual general conference of the Church, reported on the humanitarian aid going to Japan.
The Church reached out in other parts of the world with humanitarian aid. Besides the tragedy in Japan, several parts of the world experienced flooding, landslides, earthquakes, tornadoes and a hurricane (Irene). They occurred in Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil and the Philippines, as well as the Midwest and southern United States. Latter-day Saints in each of these areas also donated their time and efforts.
Mormon Helping Hands
From Europe to the Americas, thousands of Mormon Helping Hands volunteers marked the 75th anniversary of the Church’s welfare program. During the Church’s general conference in April, President Henry B. Eyring encouraged Latter-day Saints to help in their communities.


In Germany, 9,000 Latter-day Saints and their neighbors worked side-by-side to donate 34,000 hours in support of children battling cancer.
Members of the Church in thousands of communities across the world donated their time and efforts in service. A few examples included:
Day of Service in South Florida
Thousands of Mormon Volunteers Lend a Hand in California and Hawaii
Mormon Volunteers From Winnipeg Sacrifice to Repair Flood-Damaged Homes
Mormon Helping Hands Find Joy in Beautifying Brazil
Mormons and Provo United Church of Christ Join to Spruce Up Century-Old Chapel
Africa Mormon Helping Hands Celebrate Five Years by Volunteering
Mormon Helping Hands Paint, Garden and Clean in the UK
Mormon Helping Hands Clean and Comfort
Mormons in the Northwest United States and Canada Pitch In to Help Communities
150 Million Copies of the Book of Mormon
The 150 millionth copy of the Book of Mormon rolled off the presses early in 2011. The first volume was published in 1830. The Book of Mormon is published in 82 languages and is partially translated in 25 more.


You Choose to Change When You Follow Christ
Church president Thomas S. Monson spoke to Brigham Young University students about following the example of Jesus Christ. He cited examples in the life of the Savior and in lives of Latter-day Saints. “Remember who you are,” said President Monson. “You are a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father.”
In May, President Monson marked the centennial of Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, with a commencement address. He instructed graduates on building bridges of attitude, integrity and service. He said their lives will be fuller, richer and happier if they looked for opportunities to serve.
Religious Freedom
In a speech given at Chapman University Law School in February, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church explained why religious freedom is so vital. “This freedom,” said Elder Oaks, “is founded upon religious principles of human worth and dignity.” In September, Elder Oaks spoke to young adults at Brigham Young University on religious freedom in a talk entitled “Truth and Tolerance.”
Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, participating in BYU-Idaho’s commencement, delivered a speech to graduates regarding morality and religious freedom. He challenged students to work with their friends of others faiths to “improve the moral fabric of this nation and world.”
9/11 Reflections: Ten Years Later
President Thomas S. Monson and other religious leaders shared thoughts on the ten-year commemoration of the tragedy of September 11, 2001. “People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding,” said the world leader of more than 14 million Mormons. “By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish,” said President Monson. “We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy.”


Mormon Tabernacle Choir Tour
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir launched a summer concert tour in June on the east coast of North America. Concert sites included Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chautauqua, New York and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
One of the unique attractions of the tour included a “flash mob” in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (scroll down in the blog post to “Mormon Tabernacle Choir Participates in Flash Mob, 21 June 2011”).
Milestones in the Church
In 2001, then President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the establishment of a fund to help young people in economically challenged countries go to college, get a degree, find employment and then repay the loan. Now, at the ten-year anniversary of that announcement, the Perpetual Education Fund has helped 50,000 Latter-day Saints get an education who would not have been able to afford one, since they are living in impoverished circumstances.
With traditional songs and dances, Latter-day Saints in the Philippines celebrated 50 years of having the Church established in that nation. In Salt Lake City, a Philippines madrigal group performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during its weekly broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints achieved a major milestone in 2011 in providing people the opportunity to participate in general conference in their own language. Beginning 50 years ago with only English, Dutch, German, Samoan and Spanish, the semiannual meetings, broadcast from the Conference Center on Temple Square, are now available in 93 languages. The development of broadcast and other technology has been key to Mormons tuning in to the twice-yearly, two-day conference in remote locations.


After the Church successfully completed a solar-powered meetinghouse in Farmington, Utah, in 2010, a second building was constructed in Mesa, Arizona, earlier this year. So far, the Farmington building has saved thousands of dollars in utility costs and reduced the structure’s carbon footprint. The Church believes the earth’s inhabitants must be good stewards of its resources.
Movie Set Created to Tell Story of Christ’s Life
A new movie set representing ancient Jerusalem and other areas in which Jesus Christ lived and ministered has been created in Goshen, Utah, a small community south of Salt Lake City. Videos produced on the set help people better understand the life and ministry of the Savior. Recently, the Church released the first segments from these Bible videos. These videos, shot on the new movie set, were announced at the First Presidency’s annual Christmas devotional and given as a gift to the world.
Diversity and Strength of Women
Relief Society, the Church’s women’s organization, published Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society, which highlights the strength and diversity of Mormon women. General Relief Society president Julie Beck said, “This story that the Church is releasing now is very important, I think, for our time now, and I can’t think of a time when it’s been needed more than it’s needed today.” The book was distributed to all women in the Church 18 and over and is available on the Internet.
I’m a Mormon
In 2011 the Church selected locations around the United States and Australia to run television ads, billboards and other signage in an effort to educate the public about Mormons and introduce them to individual Mormons. Latter-day Saints throughout the world are presented in “I’m a Mormon” vignettes about why they are members of the Church and what they believe.


Church History Sites
The First Presidency announced the Church will restore a Pennsylvania historic site important to the early beginnings of the Church. The site is near the Susquehanna River. Newsroom ran a special feature this year highlighting several Church historical sites.
Thousands Enjoy Annual Christmas Concert
Concluding the year was the annual Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. This year’s guest artists were award-winning British actress, artist and author Jane Seymour and American baritone soloist Nathan Gunn. More than 80,000 people attended the free concerts.

NEWS - VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN DEFENDS ROMNEYS FAITH (Its Nice To see)

Biden defends Romney's Mormon faith

 

11-5-2011

(Reuters) Vice President Joe Biden defended Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith on Friday, saying it was "outrageous" for anyone to suggest he should not be president because of his religion.
With a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing President Barack Obama facing a tough fight for re-election next year if Romney is the Republican nominee, Biden acknowledged the former Massachusetts governor "may very well be our opponent."
Biden weighed in on the issue of Romney's Mormonism after a controversy over an evangelical Texas pastor's comments last month. The Democratic vice president also referred to opinion polls that have shown concern among some voters about Romney's faith.
"I find it preposterous that in 2011 we're debating whether or not a man is qualified or worthy of your vote based on whether or not his religion ... is a disqualifying provision," Biden told an audience at the University of Pittsburgh.
"It is not. It is embarrassing and we should be ashamed, anyone who thinks that way," he said in a long response to a student's question about how his own religious faith affected his philosophy of government.
Biden, who is Catholic, cited the prejudice John F. Kennedy faced in his run for the presidency in 1960, which he said had "totally legitimized" Catholics for high U.S. public office.
Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, a supporter of Texas Governor Rick Perry in his bid for the 2012 Republican nomination, touched off a political firestorm in early October when he said Mormons were a cult and were not Christians.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll last month showed that 66 percent of Republican primary voters felt "comfortable" with Romney's Mormon faith while 13 percent did "not feel comfortable." A Gallup poll of the broader electorate in June showed 47 percent felt comfortable with his religion while 21 percent did not.
"I think it's outrageous," Biden said about the polling data he had seen.
Romney's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon church is formally called, is one of the fastest-growing and most affluent religions. More than half of its 14.1 million members live outside the United States.

 

NEWS - MORMON CHURCH LAUNCHES MEDIA CAMPAIGN

 

Mormon Church launches media campaign

By John Stanley, The Arizona Republic

Updated 10/2/2011

PHOENIX – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will launch a new media campaign Monday in 12 major cities.

The "I'm a Mormon" campaign — mostly TV spots and billboards — will encourage people to learn about Latter-day Saints by visiting the mormon.org website, which features video profiles of thousands of Mormons from around the world.

"These are real people," said Cindy Packard, the LDS Church spokeswoman for the metropolitan Phoenix area. "There are no scripts, no fake stories, no wardrobe, just real people talking about their lives."

Visitors to the website can also chat live with representatives who can answer questions about the Mormon faith and check out a list of common questions about church doctrine, such as "Are Mormons Christians?" "Why don't Mormons drink coffee, tea or alcohol?" and "What do Mormons believe about the Bible?"

The purpose of the campaign is to make it easy for people to learn about the faith and get to know Mormons personally, Packard said.

Although there are 52,000 full-time Mormon missionaries in the world, nowadays many people prefer to seek information about the church online, she said, noting that it's an efficient and effective way to reach more people, and on their terms.

"You can come knocking on our door whenever it's convenient and learn as much as you want," she said.

A similar effort to publicize the website was launched in nine cities last year.

Both campaigns came about after church research showed that about half of all Americans say they have never met a Mormon, and that many held misconceptions about church tenets.

In the spotlight

Mormons have been the topic of much public discussion lately:

• "The Book of Mormon" Broadway show, by Robert Lopez and "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, opened in March. In June it won nine Tony Awards, including "Best Musical."

• A June Gallup poll showed that 22% of Americans (20% of Republicans and Independents, and 27% of Democrats) would not vote for a Mormon for president.

• The mid-summer sex-abuse trial and subsequent imprisonment of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, who headed the Arizona- and Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which split away from the mainstream church more than a century ago. Despite the similarity of names, there is no affiliation between the two groups.

• The ongoing quest by church members Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman for the Republican nomination for president.

'Strict neutrality'

According to several prominent Phoenix-area Mormons, though, there is no connection between the "I'm a Mormon" campaign and the candidacies of Romney and Huntsman.

"I can tell you unequivocally that this mormon.org campaign has nothing to do with the election," said Paul Gilbert, a zoning attorney who serves as the co-chair of Mitt Romney's Arizona campaign.

Gilbert is also the president of the Tempe Arizona University Stake.

"I have attended every training meeting about mormon.org (at ASU) and the presidential race has never been mentioned," he said.

He also said that he didn't think the "I'm a Mormon" campaign would have any effect — positive or negative — on Romney's candidacy.

Charles E. "Bud" Jones, former Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, said the church has always maintained a neutral stance about individual candidates. The only time the church gets involved with politics, he said, is when issues concern doctrine, such as abortion or same-sex marriage.

"But as far as political candidates and partisan politics — absolutely not," Jones said.

Any perception of a church-orchestrated effort to aid Romney or any other candidate is simply wrong, said Jones, who has served as a stake president and bishop in the church.

"The church has a policy of strict political neutrality," Packard said. "We have Harry Reid on one end (of the political spectrum) and Glenn Beck on the other. So there's lots of (political) diversity within the church, and that's the way it should be."

Early church

Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, the church was instrumental in the settlement of the American West and has grown to more than 14 million followers, with more than half of those living outside the United States.

According to church history, Smith had a series of visions around the family's home in Palmyra, N.Y. in the 1820s. In 1830 he published the Book of Mormon, which he said was a translation of a pre-Columbian history of the Americas.

Smith was murdered by a mob in a Carthage, Ill., jail, where he was awaiting trial for inciting to riot and other charges in 1844.

The church splintered after Smith's death, with the largest contingent following Brigham Young to Salt Lake City, now the church's headquarters.

Under Young's leadership, the church established settlements throughout much of the western region of the country, as well as in southern Canada and northern Mexico. Over the decades, though, disputes arose with non-Mormons over church practices, especially polygamy, which was announced as official doctrine in 1852.

Almost 40 years later, in 1890, the church reversed its policy regarding the practice. It now promotes strict monogamy and strong family values.

The "I'm a Mormon" campaign in Phoenix will continue through February 2012. Other cities in the campaign are Spokane, Wash., Seattle, Austin, Texas, San Antonio, Texas, Omaha, Neb., Lincoln, Neb., Denver, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Ind., and South Bend, Ind.

A separate "I'm a Mormon" campaign started in New York City in June.

"(The website) is just a really fun way to learn about our lifestyle and our faith," Packard said. "The diversity that is represented there will be surprising to a lot of people."

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My name is Michelle Williamson, i am an avid Blogger, and i am a Mormon. Nice to meet you! :)

MICHELLE

NEWS - MUSLIM LEADERS EXPRESS THANKS TO PRESIDENT (TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS/MORMON) UCHTORF

 * I LOVE LOVE LOVE this man...and i cant figure out why..i read his words and they resonate through me, he speaks, i listen. he  talks about subjects (as interjections into his speeches) that i have NO commonality to, yet, i listen. it will be awesome if he ever becomes our Prophet one day. 

MICHELLE

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Muslim leaders express thanks to President Uchtdorf

Pres. Uchtorf is on the far right in this image.

Published: Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011

By Steve Gilliland, For the Deseret News

Among some 800 attendees at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council to hear President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's remarks on May 25 were more than 30 Muslim leaders from Southern California.
Many of the Muslims were able to thank President Uchtdorf, the second counselor in the First Presidency, personally for the LDS Church's friendship with Muslims and the support they feel from the church in combating prejudice and fostering good will.

President Uchtdorf originally met some of the leaders following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. He was serving at that time as president of the North America West Area for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and asked to meet with Muslim leaders at a mosque in Southern California. He expressed concern for the prejudice many Muslims and their families were experiencing. He let them know that the LDS people also had to learn to cope with the sting of unjust persecution and that he, as a German, grew up being unjustly persecuted after World War II.
At the World Affairs Council dinner, the Muslim leaders expressed thanks for the LDS Church humanitarian projects in their birth countries.
"From the worst earthquake to hit Pakistan in 2005 through the most recent disastrous floods, the LDS Church has been with us helping people in our cities and out to our most remote villages," Saghir Aslam said. "We came tonight to express our thanks."
The leader of the Shura Council of Southern California, Shakeel Syed, said, "President Uchtdorf's message for mutual respect and love between the human family resonates with my Islamic values. I pray that Muslims and Mormons continue to uphold these universal values and share them with the world. We are being blessed for bringing our communities together."
Many stakes in Southern California have had joint activities with their Muslim neighbors, doing humanitarian projects, interfaith dinners, youth activities and Mosque visits. LDS members have spoken favorably of their Muslim neighbors before city councils, in interfaith gatherings, to the media and on the Internet.

NEWS - NATIONWIDE MEDIA EXPLORE WHAT MAKES MORMONS TICK

Nationwide, media explore what makes Mormons tick

Published: Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011 3:26 p.m. MDT

By Joseph Walker, Deseret News

 

With stories about Mormons and Mormonism seemingly everywhere this summer, newspapers, blogs and websites around the country are using a variety of approaches to take a look inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to see what makes Mormons tick.
One of the most interesting has been part of Beliefnet's "Project Conversion: Twelve Months of Spiritual Promiscuity," during which blogger Andrew Bowen spends a month immersing himself in different religions in an attempt to understand them by going through the conversion process. During the month of July he took LDS missionary discussions and attended LDS worship services in North Carolina. He wrote several columns about his experiences, including this one in which he is "saying good-bye to my LDS home."

"In the end, they thanked me just for giving them my time and a fair chance to explain the faith on their terms," Bowen wrote. "This reaction, of thanking me for just listening, is a common theme I find with all the faiths. People don't want to argue or convince me (well, the LDS guys tried, but I love them anyway) that every other faith is wrong, they just want people to give them a chance — to listen instead of criticize or judge. It surprises me every time it happens."
In Spokane, Wash., the Pacific Northwest Inlander takes an intimate view of the faith, with a series of five brief profiles of local Latter-day Saints. Each profile focuses on a different element of LDS living, and gives an interesting first-hand view of what Mormons are really like.
"My faith is something that is very important to me," said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovitch, who is LDS. "Your core values are what you bring to the table every day."
The story also includes thumbnail bios of nine nationally prominent Mormons.
And the Sun Chronicle near Foxboro, Mass., allowed local Latter-day Saints to explain the church to its readers, with a far-reaching story that discusses everything from presidential politics to the family, tithing and the Word of Wisdom.
"Talking about our faith is something we enjoy and welcome," one of the quoted church members said.

NEWS - HOMELESS MAN CHARGED WITH STALKING MORMON CHURCH PRESIDENT

Homeless man charged with stalking Mormon church president

July 8, 2011 

SALT LAKE CITY — A homeless man was charged Friday with stalking the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Benjamin Tucker Staples, 36, was charged with stalking, a class A misdemeanor.
Salt Lake police officers were called to the LDS Church Office Building, 50 E. North Temple, on July 5 after receiving a report of a trespasser. Officers were told Staples had been to the building about five times since June 25 asking to speak with President Thomas S. Monson.

Benjamin Tucker Staples, 36, was charged Friday with stalking LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson.

From the archive

Staples was "told on every prior appearance that he is not to return to the premises," the charges filed in 3rd District Court state. "Each prior incident, the defendant was arrested and booked into the jail."

Staples, who has the alias of "Jesus Christ" listed in the Salt Lake County Jail booking information, told officers "he intends to keep returning to the offices" until he meets President Monson, the charges state.

Each time, he refused to leave voluntarily, "choosing instead to be arrested by police," according to the charges.

"Church security is concerned for the safety of the president and those employed in the building because of defendant's persistence even after being told not to return and given a written trespass order," the charges state.

Staples is being held in jail on $25,000 bail.
— Brian West

NEWS - NATIONAL ATTENTION IN MORMON FAITH COULD DRIVE ATTENDANCE AT HILL CUMORAH PAGEANT

National interest in Mormon faith could drive attendance at Hill Cumorah Pageant

July 07, 2011

source: Democrat and Chronicle

As the actors, directors, lighting designers and production assistants prepare for the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant, which opens this weekend, they're wondering if a national "Mormon moment" will inspire more people to make the journey to Manchester, Ontario County.The pageant will go on as it has every year since 1937, but this year the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has captured national attention as two of its adherents are running for president and the Broadway musical, "The Book of Mormon," was this year's big Tony Award-winner.
"There's a lot of curiosity right now, which is kind of fun," said Heather Gist, a member of the Hill Cumorah cast who traveled from Utah to be a part of the show with her husband and four children.
If the attention, which includes a Newsweek cover story on Mormon prominence of late, brings more people to the sprawling hill with the massive stage, that's a good thing, Gist said.
"That's one of the best parts of this pageant," she said. "We get to talk to people who come for whatever reason."
The pageant's mission is to teach people about the Mormon faith, which is based on the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Mormons believe that their faith's founder, Joseph Smith, found metal plates in the hills of Palmyra in 1823, which became the Book of Mormon.
The pageant, which features a cast of more than 700 actors and draws more than 30,000 people, has become a national event for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Post-pageant surveys in 2008 found that people had traveled from 48 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Some people preparing for the pageant were effusive about the two Mormons seeking the nation's highest office, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Others said a candidate's personal religious beliefs were less important than other personal characteristics they bring to the office.
"I don't think their religious affiliation should matter," said Becky Buffum, an East Rochester resident who was coordinating activities for children in the pageant. "I think it's good that people of our faith are more prominent, just because it opens the door for (people) to ask more questions about what (it means to be) a Mormon."

Buffum and others acknowledged the public's misconceptions of their faith, notably that polygamy is still practiced. The LDS church ended the practice in 1890.It is these misconceptions and a suspicion about the faith that have prevented some evangelical Christian voters from supporting Mormon candidates. In a Republican primary, evangelical voters are highly sought after.
While 68 percent of Americans said a presidential candidate's Mormon identity wouldn't matter, 34 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 41 percent of liberal Democrats said they would be less likely to support a Mormon candidate, according to a Pew Research Center survey in May.
Though Mormons are not exclusively Republican — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is Mormon — many are, and Mormons and evangelicals share many values.
Nancy French, a writer who contributes to an "Evangelicals for Mitt" blog, said Mormons are also opposed to gay marriage and abortion, and said Mormons can be more conservative than evangelicals.
She said evangelical opposition to Mormon candidates is "identity politics at its worst."
"Just because you're an evangelical Christian doesn't mean that you have to have an evangelical Christian in the White House," she said.
Local political observers said they've heard more opposition to Romney because of his positions rather than his faith.
"I just don't see it as an issue," said conservative talk show host Bill Nojay, who added that Romney's record was more of a concern among Republicans he knows.
Monroe County Conservative Chairman Tom Cook shared that view.
"I have never had one person say they were concerned because he's a Mormon," Cook said.
Observers have noted that the economic climate is different than it was in 2008, when Romney lost the Republican nomination, and that people are thinking more about their pocketbook than about social values.
"You never want to see bad economic times but I'm sure Gov. Romney will tout that as something he can fix," said Kelly Patterson, a Brigham Young University political science professor.
Romney has attracted some local support, and made a quiet visit to Rochester last week to raise money in an event at Max at Eastman Place, organized by real estate developer and prolific Republican fundraiser David Flaum.
The Republican establishment was there, including Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, but Brooks and the local party have not made any endorsement in the race.

NEWS - MEMPHIS REPORTER MOCKS MORMON BELIEF

Memphis reporter mocks Mormon beliefs

---

7/07

Written by: Dan Metcalf Jr.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A local Fox television news reporter in Memphis recently mocked the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a "man on the street" segment.

The segment is part of a series of reports on the Mormon faith which aired on WHBQ-TV (My Fox Memphis) in the past week.

During one report, conservative talk radio show host Ben Ferguson goes out to interview random people on the street to jokingly ask if they could identify the presidential candidate who believes good people will "get their own planet."

Ferguson laughs with the people who are not able to identify Mitt Romney. Ferguson has a few good laughs with the people, and in one part, he asks a woman if she wants her own planet.

Ferguson also jokes with people who did not know that Mormons believe that the Garden of Eden was located in Missouri.

In one of the other segments, a different reporter interviews a local LDS theater director about some of the LDS beliefs referenced in the recent Broadway hit musical "The Book of Mormon."

In another report, an apostle for the Church of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is presented as a member of the mainstream LDS Church and expert authority on mainstream LDS beliefs.

Yet another report profiles two LDS missionaries in the Memphis area.

Politico blogger Ben Smith called the Ferguson report a slam against Mormons, saying, "I've been of the mind that anti-Mormon sentiment has been overstated, but this segment on the Memphis Fox affiliate shakes that view a bit."

ARTICLE - A LATTER-DAY SAINT VIEW OF THE 'BOOK OF MORMON' MUSICAL

Head of Public Affairs, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

 Michael Otterson

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A Latter-day Saint view of Book of Mormon musical

Reviews of “The Book of Mormon” musical have been all over the entertainment media in the past few weeks. According to the reviews, the play sketches the journey of two Mormon missionaries from their sheltered life in Salt Lake City to Uganda, where their training and life experience proves wholly inadequate to the realities of a continent plagued by poverty, AIDS, genital mutilation and other horrors. While extolling the musical for its originality, most reviewers also make reference to the play’s over-the-top blasphemous and offensive language.
Dealing with parody and satire is always a tricky thing for churches. We can easily appear thin-skinned or defensive, and churches sometimes are. A few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have seen this musical and blogged about it seem to have gone out of their way to show how they can take it. That’s their choice. There’s always room for different perspectives, and we can all decide what to do with our free time.
But I’m not buying what I’m reading in the reviews. Specifically, I’m not willing to spend $200 for a ticket to be sold the idea that religion moves along oblivious to real-world problems in a kind of blissful naiveté.
Somewhere I read that the show’s creators spent seven years writing and producing “The Book of Mormon” musical. As I reflected on all that time spent parodying this particular target, I also wondered what was really going on with Mormons in Africa during those same seven years.
So I checked.
•The World Health Organization estimates that 884 million people worldwide don’t have access to clean water. This is a huge problem in Africa, not only because of water-borne diseases but because kids who spend hours each day walking to and from the nearest well to fill old gasoline cans with water cannot attend school. According to church records, in the past seven years, more than four million Africans in 17 countries have gained access to clean drinking water through Mormon humanitarian efforts to sink or rehabilitate boreholes.
•More than 34,000 physically handicapped African kids now have wheelchairs through the same Mormon-sponsored humanitarian program. To see a legless child whose knuckles have become calloused through walking on his hands lifted into a wheelchair may be the best way to fully understand the liberation this brings.
•Millions of children, meanwhile, have now been vaccinated against killer diseases like measles as the church has sponsored or assisted with projects in 22 African countries.
•More than 126,000 Africans have had their sight restored or improved through Mormon partnership with African eye care professionals in providing training, equipment and supplies.
•Another 52,000 Africans have been trained to help newborns who otherwise would never take a first breath. Training in neonatal resuscitation has also been a big project for Mormons in Africa.
•Then, of course, there is the tragedy of AIDS. A couple of weeks ago I attended a dinner where the Utah AIDS Foundation honored James O. Mason, former United States Assistant Secretary of Health. When he was working for the Center for Disease Control in 1984, a project to research the epidemiology and treatment of AIDS was established at the Hospital Mama Yempo in Kinshasha, Zaire. After visiting the hospital and examining the children and adults with AIDS, Mason described the death rate and the associated infections from AIDS as “horrific.” Mason, a Mormon, knows quite a bit about AIDS and a great deal about Africa.
•None of this includes responses to multiple disasters, like the flooding in Niger, where the Church provided clothing, quits and hygiene items to 20,000 people in six inundated regions of the country.
Of course, parody isn’t reality, and it’s the very distortion that makes it appealing and often funny. The danger is not when people laugh but when they take it seriously – if they leave a theater believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion.
A couple of weeks ago a review about the musical appeared at the New York Times from a Jewish writer who simply listed himself as Levi. “As someone of Jewish faith,” he began, “I take personal offense at this show….I cannot believe that New York, MY New York, where I was born and raised, would ever do such a thing. Shame on you, New York Times, shame on Broadway, and shame on all of us who stand idly by and do nothing while the faith of others is mocked. Religious and cultural Jews need not support such bigotry.”
Levi’s point was echoed by some reviewers, but by surprisingly few. So why hasn’t there been a huge outcry from Mormons?
In my opinion, three reasons. The first is that in the great scheme of things, what Broadway does with “The Book of Mormon” musical is irrelevant to most of us. In the great sweep of history, parodies and TV dramas are blips on the radar screen that come and go. Popular culture will be whatever it will be.
The second reason is related. Jesus’s apostle Paul put it rather well when he said that Christians seek out the positive and virtuous things in life. His New Testament phraseology was adapted in the early years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this formal Article of Faith:
“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Finally, if we Mormons really do follow Jesus Christ in our lives and look to him as an example, then it’s hard for us to ignore the injunction to turn the other cheek. There were times, to be sure, when Jesus roundly criticized others, but it was almost always for hardened hypocrisy. He dismissed the criticism he received personally and told his followers: “Do good to them who despitefully use you and persecute you.”
It takes strength of character to do this, but it’s the Christian mandate. Sure, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pushes back when the record needs correcting or when legal rights need defending, but the world of popular entertainment is more likely to be met with a collective shrug than by placard-waving Mormon protesters.
Meanwhile, what of those thousands of remarkable and selfless Mormon missionaries who opted to pay their own expenses during the past seven years to serve in Africa while their peers were focused on careers or getting on with life? They have returned home, bringing with them a connection with the African people that will last a lifetime. Many will keep up their Swahili language or their Igbo dialect. They will keep in their bedrooms the flags of the nations where they served. They will look up every time they hear Africa mentioned on the evening news. Their associations with the people whose lives they touched will become lifetime friendships. And in a hundred ways they will become unofficial ambassadors for the nations they served.

Michael Otterson  | Apr 14, 2011 10:23 PM

NEWS - WHITES 'NOT NORMAL' LIFE REQUIRES FAITH, PRAYER

White's 'not normal' life requires faith, prayer

June 23, 2011

By Rhett Wilkinson, Mormon Times 

Brooke White, a Latter-day Saint singer from Mesa, Ariz., who gained fame on “American Idol” when she told former judge Simon Cowell that she had never watched an R-rated movie, is now well down the winding road of the music industry.
And it's a road she's had to navigate with faith and a music style that is less than conventional.
White will be in Utah this week speaking to aspiring musicians at the Soundcheck Series in Salt Lake City, followed by a concert in Provo the next day. She's kicking off a tour with pop rock artist Jack Matranga, with whom she recently recorded an EP called "Gemini." Future tour stops include Rexburg, Idaho, and Lake Forest, Calif.

White admits to having “a lot of issues with confidence” in the past, but success has followed her appearance on “American Idol.” Since her top-five finish in 2008, White has also produced an album with 10-year “Idol” judge Randy Jackson. The single “Hold Up My Heart" rose as high as No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This Mormon has found the music industry to be far from black and white.
"Sometimes, there’s certain things you know you do and don’t do,” White said. “In this industry, there’s situations that are not clear, where you don’t know what route to take. There are situations that are not defined in a handbook or pamphlet; it’s not like I can just Google what I should do. It takes fine-tuned spirituality to know those answers."
Whether that’s having prayed in bathroom stalls during “Idol” or on the back of buses on road trips — scripture study and meditation come, no matter what, in the morning — improvising has been part of White’s life ever since she became a hot commodity.
“I always try to make right choices based on the principles and commandments given,” said White, who has been married for seven years. “But so much more, everything has to be tailored so much as individuals and keeping an open thought process and conversation in my prayers. I must think out of the box because this is not a normal life.”
It was as a teenager when White, after listening to the Beach Boys and the Beatles continually with her family, understood that her craft could best be fostered in the very time period she was taking herself to through her parents’ records. With a bit of country flavor thrown into the mix, White says it’s never been easy to categorize her style.
“I’ve always had a little bit of trouble living in a box,” she said. “We live in a day and age where people put you into a category, but I’m like a pop flurry of circumstance. I call it California country, where you had those times where the music was very melodic, very earthy, an Americana flair. But I have country-from-Arizona stuff that’s an influence. It’s all infused. At the end of the day, it’s not country, rock. It’s music."
White will perform June 24 at the Tahitian Noni International Ampitheatre, 333 Riverpark Way in Provo, from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $10 for tandem general admission and $7 for single tickets.

NEWS - JOSEPH SMITH PAPERS WEBSITE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

Joseph Smith Papers Website Officially Launched

Written by Patrick Dunshee
09 June 2011

Patrick DunsheeThe Joseph Smith Papers website, which has been in beta since October, was officially launched last week.

The purpose of the Joseph Smith Papers project is to make widely available all the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The goal is to publish meticulously prepared transcripts of every document Joseph Smith wrote, dictated, or had others write for him, along with detailed notes helping explain the context and substance of the writings.

The project also includes documents Joseph Smith received and kept in his office, such as incoming correspondence. Much of the content will be published in 20+ printed volumes, but the website will contain the comprehensive set of documents—thousands in all—free of charge.

You can view the new Joseph Smith Papers site at josephsmithpapers.org.

Site Scope
---------------------------
At present, the website includes images and transcripts of about 425 documents, including five of Joseph Smith’s personal journals, the earliest copy of dozens of revelations, and the Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book.

The site features biographies of hundreds of people mentioned in the writings as well as a Google map tagged with hundreds of place markers and descriptions of locations relevant to Joseph Smith’s life. There is also a chronology of the Prophet’s life, a glossary, and a library with maps, charts, and historical photographs.

As you navigate the site, you can see transcripts and images of every page of every document. You can see the original handwriting and zoom in to view individual words and even letters. Seeing the yellowing paper and the actual writing on the page, with smears and ink spills and all, really makes Church history come alive. It’s like having these 180-year-old documents in your hands.

You can see the original documents for many of the letters, revelations, minutes, and other historical records. Each of the document transcripts is tagged with people, places, events, topics, and dates. For example, when the name “Oliver Cowdery” appears in a letter, you can click on it and a short biography pops up.

This tagging also allows faceted searching. From the Search page, you can narrow the pool of search results to include only those documents that have Emma Smith tagged, or relate to Adam-ondi-Ahman, or were written in 1835, and so on.

Project Challenges
-----------------------------------
Because the site deals with complicated transcripts, including canceled text, insertions, illegible portions, and multiple scribes for some documents, it has been a challenge to construct an XML schema that handles all possible scenarios, and it has taken months and months of work to get the transcripts to render correctly on the website.

With so many moving parts to the project, from text specialists deciphering hard-to-read words to genealogists researching the lives of Church history figures to archivists obtaining rights to publish images of documents held by other libraries, it is a constant challenge to coordinate all the steps and make sure all the pieces are in the right place at the right time.

As such, the Joseph Smith Papers project is a tremendous effort. But we know the site will help all people—from historians to teachers, writers, students, and others—get to know the life of the Prophet Joseph better, to find the materials they need to better examine and contextualize and illuminate his life.
Future Roadmap

Although the site is officially launched, we still have many more documents to add. We plan to release new documents every few months. Some of the key plans of the upcoming roadmap include the following:

Provide a comprehensive calendar of documents that lists all known Joseph Smith documents, including those no longer existing.
Expand the chronology to more fully capture Joseph Smith’s day-to-day life.
Upload excerpts from the Joseph Smith Papers television series, where Joseph Smith experts talk about the papers and the life of the Prophet.

For a brief overview of the project and the website, see the introductory video on the front page at josephsmithpapers.org and this introductory essay.

ARTICLE - THE TRUTH ABPUT MORMON MYTHS

The Truth About Mormon Myths
Kate Ensign-Lewis - May 17, 2011.

It has been said that Mormons have an “exceedingly fine sense of rumor.” We certainly love a good story—after all, can’t we all admit to telling a tale we thought was good, even if we admitted we weren’t 100 percent sure it was true? In the spirit of acting under (more) perfect knowledge, and still appreciating the quality of a good story, the following is an exploration of the truth behind some of the more common or interesting Mormon legends.

*The following is an excerpt of “The Truth About Mormon Myths.” To read the full article, see the LDS Living magazine May/June 2011 issue.

I can remember when I heard my very first Mormon myth. I was 8 years old, and one of my older sisters came to me and said, “Guess what? Steve Martin is a Mormon!”

She had heard from our cousins in Las Vegas about how he had gone on David Letterman, and when asked about Mormonism, replied, “That’s a very private part of my life right now.” It seemed legit enough to me. I started telling everyone in my small sphere— which was basically my friends and my Valiant class—that the star of Father of the Bride was LDS.

I don’t remember when I started to doubt the story, but years later I learned that the myth had started when a Mormon Tabernacle Choir member’s son had written home saying he had baptized Steve Martin. Only after this excited choir member had told his friends did he realize he had misunderstood—it wasn’t that Steve Martin. By then the story had spread like feathers in the wind.



“Storytelling is universal to the human species—there’s no tribe, no country anywhere that doesn’t do it,” says Eric Eliason, professor of folklore at Brigham Young University. But, he adds, “I can’t help but wonder if there’s something fundamentally oral and face-to-face about the Mormon experience.”

We Mormons go from home to home, teaching the message of our Church. We believe deeply in the importance of teaching and bearing testimony to one another. And all this is founded upon stories that affirm our faith—many of which combine the divine with everyday experience.

“We have, starting with the First Vision, a heritage of supernatural stories—stories that go beyond the everyday,” says Mike Hunter, Mormon Studies librarian at BYU and author of the book Mormon Myth-allaneous. “In sacrament meeting and in our Sunday School lessons, we like to share stories that show God has a hand in what’s going on in our lives. So we don’t find these stories necessarily incredible or unbelievable, simply because every day of our lives we have stories of people who feel they have had divine intervention in their lives. We’re going to listen to it and maybe take it seriously.”

Mormon Folklore—True or False?
Folklorists look for the principle in a story—what it says about the culture at large and how that culture uses stories to deal with life. “Mormon folklore consists of a vibrant body of oral narratives which reflect the dominant values and attitudes . . . of Church members,” says Bert Wilson, one of the foremost Mormon folklorists. “So it’s not enough just to find out if something is true or not.”

In fact, many stories aren’t so easily classified as “true” or “false.” And there’s always a debate in engaging in an exercise of “debunking” folklore: if these stories uplift and teach people, is it constructive or even fair to prove them true or false? “Sometimes it really does matter [to know if a story is true],” says Eliason, “but sometimes it doesn’t. If you become too cynical, you maybe will hear a story about the Three Nephites that’s absolutely true and is going to change your life, and you don’t believe it.” “The harm is if you’re leaning on these stories for your faith. Then, when the story suddenly crumbles, you fall with it,” adds Hunter.

In the end, all stories of folklore have value of their own, true or not. But we still think it’s of use to educate you. Stories can still uplift and teach if they’re known to be false, and any potential danger in believing their truth can be avoided. So, the following is a quick exploration of some of our culture’s favorite stories, the “kernels of truth” and principles behind them, and, where possible, the evidence to support or disprove them. Now, for a foray through the funhouse of Mormon myths.

Church Leaders
Church Leader Sits Next to Mick Jagger
Have you heard the one about the Church leader who met Mick Jagger on a plane and proceeded to have a lengthy conversation about morality and the Church? In this story, Mick Jagger says he once took the missionary discussions, indicates that his music is “calculated to drive kids to sex,” and loudly calls the leader a liar for preaching about the truthfulness of the gospel. The leader then chastises Mick for his own lies, bears testimony of the gospel, and calls him to repentance.

It’s all true. As related in an address given by Elder Gene R. Cook to Rick’s College in 1988 (starting at a time stamp of 23:51 on the audio of the talk, to be exact), the story illustrates both a recognition of the Church by the famous and the unwavering conviction of Church leaders to the truth, even in the most uncomfortable of situations.

Youth Were Generals in the War of Heaven
A favorite quote of those speaking to youth, attributed to President Boyd K. Packer or one of the other Brethren, goes something like this: “You were generals in the War in Heaven, and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with. . . . Someone will turn to you and ask you which of the prophets’ time did you live in? And when you say ‘Gordon B. Hinkley,’ a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence.”

In regards to this statement, President Packer has said, “I did not make that statement. I do not believe that statement. The statement, on occasion, has been attributed to others of the First Presidency and the Twelve. None of the Brethren made that statement.”

Myths of the Ancient World
Bigfoot is Cain
There may be more to fear from Bigfoot than the fact that he’s big and hairy: some say that the legendary North American woodland ape is Cain.

Though there’s no way to prove or disprove this particular tale, knowing the source of the legend can shed some light on why this conclusion has been made. Abraham Smoot recorded the following after early Church Apostle David W. Patten described an encounter he had with Cain in 1835:

As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange person walking beside me. . . . His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, . . . and his mission was to destroy the souls of men.

This entry was included in Spencer W. Kimball’s The Miracle of Forgiveness, which was originally published in 1969. In 1980, sightings of the legendary Bigfoot were reported in South Weber, Utah. Members made connection with these sightings to Patten’s story of Cain, effectively beginning the tale. Reeve believes Mormons use this story to connect an unexplainable event with proof that the Saints are doing a good job. “When Satan sends Cain against Mormons, . . . they think, ‘we must be on the right path, or Satan wouldn’t bother sending in his most evil hordes against us.’”

The Three Nephites
Who among us hasn’t enjoyed hearing a story about mysterious men blessing the life of another person? A group of friends, out in the middle of nowhere, finds one of their group in serious medical trouble. Two men walk up and offer a blessing, then disappear. A lone traveler approaches a group and asks for food; after giving the food, he imparts wisdom, blesses the group, and disappears. Brigham Young reportedly enjoyed telling his family about an experience he had while serving in Liverpool; he interviewed one of the Nephites—an old man with a long, gray beard, who spoke encouragement to him. The stories of the Nephites tell about help and support in times of personal need.

Obviously the exploits of the Three Nephites have become the stuff of legend. In fact, Bert Wilson says he has over 1,500 stories about these ancient disciples—many of which are simply older stories updated to modern needs. For instance, a wagon breaks down on the way to general conference, and a mysterious man steps into fix the axle; nowadays, it’s a car. “It’s the same story, but it’s adapted to different times,” Wilson says. “As long as people have problems that they need help solving, you’re likely going to have Nephite stories.”

Prophecies
The White Horse Prophecy
“The constitution will hang by a thread.” We’ve all heard this phrase, which is contained in the White Horse prophecy—a prophecy attributed to Joseph Smith about how the people of the Rocky Mountains (or, the Church members) will save the Constitution, among other things.

The problem? This prophecy was written over 50 years after the Prophet’s death. Scholars have identified the “prophecy” as having been a pieced-together embellishment on statements the Prophet Joseph made on several different occasions, as written by a man named Edwin Rushton. It has been officially refuted by the Church on several occasions.

One of the first (and most impressive) examples of this was with Elder Joseph Fielding Smith Jr.’s general conference talk in October 1918:

In my travels in the stakes of Zion, my attention has been called, on a number of occasions, to a purported revelation . . . supposed to have been received by President Smith . . . in regard to events of great importance dealing with the nations of the earth and the Latter-day Saints. Many things in that purported vision, or revelation, are absurd. . . . When a revelation comes for the guidance of this people, you may be sure that it will not be presented in some mysterious manner contrary to the order of the Church. It will go forth in such form that the people will understand that it comes from those who are in authority.

President Joseph F. Smith, who spoke after his son at that conference, re-emphasized his son’s remarks by calling the content of the prophecy “trash.” He said, “It is simply false. That is all there is to it.” The Church, in 2010, once again re-emphasized this position with two separate official statements. To be fair, several reliable sources (including Brigham Young) did report hearing the Prophet say something about the Constitution hanging by a thread. “It’s unfortunate that that piece has to be always connected with the White Horse Prophecy—as if that’s where that comes from,” says Mike Hunter. “But actually, it doesn’t come from that; the White Horse Prophecy took that, and a lot of other things, and blended them together.”

Say What Is Truth
So there you have it. A wealth of popular stories with evidence to support or refute them. But, after learning some stories are not true, is there still something stories of folklore might teach us?

“They’re all true, of course, depending on how you look at them,” says Wilson. “They do things for the group. It all depends on who tells them and for what reason.”

“I haven’t found anywhere where Jesus Himself makes clear whether the parables are true,” says Eliason. “I think we assume that they are stories—that there wasn’t necessarily an actual Samaritan.

But He doesn’t say, which I think might be telling us something— that that’s not what’s important about them, whether or not they actually happened. I think when we hear Mormon folklore, we should ask, ‘Is the important thing about this story whether or not it was historically accurate, or is the important thing about it what it tells us about ourselves, our culture, and our values?’”

So even if those stories about mysterious appearances from the Three Nephites or famous statements didn’t actually happen, they can still reveal a deeper principle. And they’re certainly still fun to hear.

NEWS - WIKI WARS : IN BATTLE TO DEFINE BELIEFS, MORMONS & FOES WAGE BATTLE ON WIKIPEDIA

Wiki Wars: In battle to define beliefs, Mormons and foes wage battle on Wikipedia

Published: Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011 1:37 a.m. MST

By Michael De Groote, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Roger Nicholson was about to send an email, but hesitated. He was staring at his laptop computer screen in an airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, trying to decide what to do. Did he really want to send this?
Nicholson had wrapped up a business trip to Israel and was waiting to take a plane back to his home in the San Francisco Bay Area when he experienced the power of Wikipedia.org to define the world — and his faith. 

The e-mail was to a relative on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nicholson argued in the e-mail that the church was true, that Mormonism is right and that Joseph Smith Jr. was a prophet. He found he was disputing things the doubting missionary had read about the LDS Church on Wikipedia.org, an online encyclopedia.

In an earlier exchange, the missionary told Nicholson that Wikipedia was reliable because the collaborative process ensures its accuracy.

Nicholson disagreed. How could a website be accurate if anybody could change it whenever they wanted to? Somebody had to stand up to this.

He looked at the email he was about to send and made a decision. 

Wikipedia could define the world — but not the way he treated others.

"I had a response and was ready to send it, but something just stopped me," Nicholson said. "I decided that I didn't want to define our relationship by contention."

But he felt something still needed to be done. If anybody could edit Wikipedia, why not him?

A wiki is a website that makes it easy for many people to edit information together in a collaborative way. There are many wikis online, but Wikipedia, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this month, is the mother of all wikis. Everything about it is huge. Wikipedia is the world's fifth most-visited website. More than 400 million people consult it every month. Almost 100,000 unpaid volunteers edit its 17 million encyclopedia-style articles in 270 languages — 3.5 million articles of which are in English.

If people don't know about something, if they want to find a quick fact, if they want to learn the truth about something, they are turning to Wikipedia. Want to learn how many Tweets-per-minute were sent out when Michael Jackson died? Look on Wikipedia (5,000). Want to know who was Will Roger's wife? The answer is on Wikipedia (Betty Blake). Want to know about the quadratic equation? Why birds fly south? Who killed President Kennedy? Who was Pope when Columbus sailed to America? Wikipedia has can provide the answers to these questions and millions more with a few key strokes. Nicholson learned that if people have questions about the LDS Church and its founder Joseph Smith Jr., they will often turn to Wikipedia for answers first — and trust what they read. Even if they use the search website Google.com, Wikipedia's articles are invariably one of the first listed responses to almost any query.

Organizations are recognizing they can't ignore the impact of the Internet. For example, Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve, spoke at BYU-Hawaii graduation on Dec. 15, 2007 about challenges facing the church on the Internet. "Conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the church teaches."

For people looking into the doctrines, history and practices of the LDS Church and other religions, Wikipedia is seen as the most accurate, reliable and unbiased definition.

Wikipedia gets to those definitions by the work of its volunteer editors. People who go to the website only see the end result — paragraphs, charts, photographs, references and links on various topics. The whole aura of "encyclopedia" presents an authoritative facade.

Most people don't really understand that they can change anything they want on Wikipedia. All they have to do is click on the "edit" tab on any page.

The way it is supposed to work is somebody posts information on a particular topic. Then other people come along and add to it and correct it.

As they make edits, people are supposed to explain why they make changes. If somebody else doesn't like your change, they can simply revert it back to the way it was. Nothing is ever lost on Wikipedia. Every change, every version of the article and every comment any editor ever made is accessible on the "history" tab on every page.

In practice, however, relatively few people make edits. Communities are created around specific articles. Some people work for years on creating and then protecting their article. They don't want people coming in and messing around with their turf.

And when it comes to Mormon topics, there are people ready to fight to make them say what they want them to say.

Back home in San Francisco, Nicholson adopted a secret identity for editing on Wikipedia — a screen name. To the online community at Wikipedia, he would be known as Bochica — a bearded hero in Colombian antiquity. Nicholson had served a mission in Colombia from 1979 to 1981. 
A screen name isn't unusual. Anybody who is going to make more than a few edits on Wikipedia signs up and adopts a screen name.

So on December 10, 2006, Nicholson began making edits in various articles. A few were on Mormonism, such as the article "Nahom," about a place described in the Book of Mormon. That edit was easy — just adding a footnote. Simple enough. He tried editing articles unrelated to Mormonism such as "Laser Voltage Prober" and "Electron Beam Induced Current." Then he edited a few things on "View of the Hebrews." He thought the article was implying that an early General Authority of the LDS Church, Elder B. H. Roberts, thought "View of the Hebrews" was the source for the Book of Mormon. He didn't think that was quite accurate, so he put a tag or notice on the article saying the it needed a citation.

A volunteer editor with the screen name "John Foxe" jumped in with citation after citation contradicting Nicholson. But Nicholson didn't think they were on point. So he added a quote from Elder Roberts. Foxe shortened the quote. Nicholson put the full quote back in. Foxe shortened again. Nicholson got the underlying message.

When editors disagree, they can talk about their difference on another hidden page. Just click on the "Discussion" tab on any Wikipedia page and the underlying battles over the article are opened up like Toto pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz. Nicholson and Foxe went back and forth about their edits on the discussion page.

This is where editors fight it out and try to build consensus by recruiting other editors to back them up. Accusations and insults are not uncommon. And if things get really bad, appeals are made to other volunteer editors with admin privileges who can temporarily or permanently ban editors.
But the sparring between Nicholson and Foxe didn't go very far. Things weren't as easy as Nicholson had thought. He hadn't expected a fight and sensed that he couldn't do much on this particular article.

"Ultimately," Nicholson said, "I gave up."

Nicholson realized he wasn't the only one who wanted to define Mormonism.

Two main factions battle for control of Mormon articles on Wikipedia. On one side are Mormons who want articles to leave room for belief. They want positive facts of history to be prominent. On the other side are people who do not believe in the LDS Church. They want negative aspects of history to take precedence. Both sides think they are being neutral.

Within these factions are other factions, such as the editor COgden, a Mormon lawyer from California who likes the idea of creating an article that Mormons and anti-Mormons can't assail.
Creating a truly neutral site may be difficult, as one editor posted: "(T)here is just not much middle ground between Prophet and Imposter." So the fight wages on. Editors have to stay constantly vigilant to stop edits they don't want, relying on automatic notifications of changes sent to their e-mail and spending hours defending their positions.

Nicholson's nemesis, John Foxe, is the screen name of a professor at Bob Jones University, a Christian college and seminary located in Greenville, South Carolina that has historically been hostile to the LDS Church. In 2000 then-university president Bob Jones III called the Catholic Church and Mormons "cults which call themselves Christian." The quote was taken off the Bob Jones University's official website, but then reposted so that people would not think Jones III backed down.

"I think I first got on (Wikipedia) because the Bob Jones site was just crazy. There was just crazy stuff, non-true things," Foxe said. "And I said 'Oh, I'll fix that.' And it was kind of fun." Foxe spoke with the Deseret News on the condition that his real name wasn't used.

Foxe's personal interest in things Mormon started after he attended a summer history seminar with LDS scholars Richard L. Bushman and Grant Underwood at BYU. The topic was Joseph Smith. "It was a steep learning curve," Foxe said. "I wasn't completely ignorant, but it was limited to what you would expect from a teacher of history at a fundamentalist college. 'What do you know about Mormonism?' Well not all that much."

But that was then. Now John Foxe makes no secret about how he feels about Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the LDS Church. He has written that Joseph Smith was "the father of lies" and "embarrassing."

He sees himself as the lone non-Mormon policing LDS Church-related entries on Wikipeida like "Joseph Smith, Jr." and "Three Witnesses" from Mormon points of view.

Nicholson eventually abandoned his Bochica Wikipedia account, and took up a new screen name, Roger Penumbra. He gave up editing for the most part and became an observer — watching how Foxe and other editors interacted.

"The biggest battle I ever saw occurred on 'First Vision.'" Nicholson said. "It lasted months and months."

The battle took place on the "First Vision" article about Mormon prophet Joseph Smith's initial encounter with God. Foxe fought against Lesley Lovesee, a Mormon who lives in Houston Lake, Mo and who had the screen name 74s181.

Foxe would take phrases like "In addition to their Christian beliefs" and change them to "Although they considered themselves Christians." Other editors reverted Foxe's reversions. Foxe reverted yet again. And so it went, back and forth.

"I edited in good faith," Lovesee complained to Foxe on a discussion page. "You reverted my edits. I restored some but not all of the material you deleted, and edited again in an attempt to satisfy the new objection you stated in your edit comments. You reverted my edits. Repeat. Again. And. Again."

This was all familiar to Nicholson, and disappointing because the Foxe was winning again. He saw Lovesee try to defend his positions by pointing out where he thought Foxe violated Wikipedia rules.

"Frankly, Les," Foxe replied infamously, "every time you start citing Wikipedia rules, I tune them out as Mormon smokescreen."

Lovesee, like Nicholson, gave up.

Nicholson decided to jump ship, but not before one last shot.

One way editors win their points is by getting other editors to back them. Numbers count.

But with anonymous screen names, the temptation is to make up a double or "sock puppet" as they are called on the Internet. This way, one person can look like two editors.

Nicholson suspected that Foxe had created another account to make it look like he had more support. Nicholson confronted the alleged sock puppet, Hi540, by quoting Foxe's real life counterpart, the Bob Jones University professor on civility.

"Basically I told him I knew who he was," Nicholson said.

It worked. Hi540 disappeared from Mormon topics on Wikipedia.

So did Nicholson.

But the Foxe remains.

Foxe wants Wikipedia's Mormon articles to be neutral, and is proud of his work on "Joseph Smith, Jr."

"I think it's the best encyclopedia article bar none. I think it is a better article than appears anywhere else in publication or anyplace. I think it is the most neutral.The best encyclopedia article anywhere in any print source. If you are talking about any encyclopedia, I think it's the best. I have no doubt about that. I really like it. It doesn't mean it can't be improved. But as far as neutrality goes, as far as completeness goes, that article is a fine example of neutrality."

But not everybody agrees that Foxe's interpretations are neutral — including the person whose book, "Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling," is the most quoted in the "Joseph Smith, Jr." article footnotes.

Richard L. Bushman, who is the Howard W. Hunter professor of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University (Calif.), thinks the article is technically accurate in the sense that the facts are traced to documents from people in the 19th Century. "But we have to remember that Joseph Smith was even more controversial in the 19th Century than he is now," Bushman said. "What I think is the real failing of this piece is that it lacks scope. It just picks its way along from one little fact to another little fact, all of them ending up making Joseph Smith an ignoble character of some kind. And it never really assesses Joseph Smith's achievement. What was the significance of this person in history? After all, he was the founder of a church that is remarkable for continuing for a couple of centuries. Yet it doesn't give you any sense of how he did that. There's no explanation of how he acquired all these followers. … The article doesn't say anything about the impact of new revelation on followers or even make much of the fact that Joseph was continually receiving revelation. So it becomes a picky piece that isn't inaccurate, but it sort of lacks depth. It ends up being shallow, I think."

But people like Bushman do not spend their time editing Wikipedia articles.

A recent report from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found that 42 percent of all Americans 18 and older use Wikipedia to look for information. This means 53 percent of adults that use the Internet use Wikipedia. The survey also found that 69 percent of Internet users that have college degrees turn to Wikipedia to look up topics. It is more popular than instant messaging.

But popularity doesn't equate to universal praise.

In 2006 there were accusations of members of Congress having their pages fixed by their staff members. IsraelNationalNews.com complained that Wikipedia is "where the State of Israel is incessantly vilified, its leaders maligned, and its policies continuously criticized by Arabs and their third world and Western cohorts." An article by Matthew Sheffield in the Washington Times pointed out that Wikipedia had blocked, at one time, allegations that former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had an extramarital affair. Others have complained that an article on Sen. Al Franken was right leaning. "(P)eople with enough determination to force their viewpoints on Wikipedia can do so," wrote Sheffield. 

Even though Nicholson had scared away Hi540, he felt like he had failed on Wikipedia.
But Wikipedia wasn't the only wiki in town. The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR) had a wiki about Mormon topics at FairMormon.org. Nicholson got out his frustrations by posting the text of several Mormon articles from Wikipedia and then citing every Wikipedia rule Foxe and other editors broke.

"When they became aware of that, they complained all over the place about that," Nicholson said, "but they started fixing some of those problems. So, in essence, it had the desired affect. I had more influence on those articles by posting what I did on the FAIR website than I ever did by trying to edit them directly."

NOTE: Wikipedia articles and statistics can change in a matter of seconds. Information in this story reflects the condition of Wikipedia at various points during the period this story was researched Sept. 2010 to Jan. 2011.