“U.S. Muslims and Mormons share deepening ties”

The LA Times reports that among various groups that the LDS Church has reached out to, U.S. Muslims have been among the most responsive.  This is attributed to similar cultural values and a common marginalization from the rest of society.

Mormons “explain our faith to anyone who will listen” and “treat Muslims like anybody else,” said Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, one of the church’s top governing bodies in Salt Lake City. But Oaks added that “we don’t preach to people who would be disenfranchised” or likely offended by the effort. . . .

But the clincher, according to Mauss, is that both communities “have been stung in recent years by the recurrence of scandals over which they have no control.” For Muslims, the obvious example is 9/11.

For Mormons, Mauss says, the problem is polygamy, which, though rejected by the mainstream church more than a century ago, is still the first thing that occurs to many Americans when they think about the religion. . .

In Southern California, the relationship between the two religions became closer after the Los Angeles riots in 1992, when the Mormon Church, hoping to promote diversity, invited several ethnic and religious groups to attend the opening of its new temple in San Diego. Muslims responded in higher numbers and with greater enthusiasm than most others. . .

And though the church continues to aid non-Muslim causes, only two of the six major disaster assistance efforts listed on its website since 2004 — Hurricane Katrina and Africa measles vaccination campaigns — did not primarily affect Islamic nations.

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