Happy Halloween.
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When I get a viral email, everybody must be getting it.
President Packer’s refuted “A Great Catastrophe is Coming” talk has created quite the ruckus. Fortunately, FAIR was all over it and reported that while Church Public Affairs confirmed that President Packer did speak at his home ward, the transcript is inaccurate at best.
What I find odd is the understated response from the Church. While so many have seen the purported (and oddly very detailed) transcript of the talk, few seem to have heard of the Church’s response. And for something that has taken on a life of it’s own on the internet, there really isn’t an official response to be found online.
Strangely however, you can call a hotline at the Church Administration Building to hear a denial of the talk’s accuracy (1-800-453-3860, extension 2-2833 or 801-240-2833 [via FAIR comments]).
The recorded message says the transcript is not accurate, refers members to his most recent General Conference talk, and cites a 2004 First Presidency letter specifically requesting that members do not pass on statements attributed to church leaders unless they come from an official source.
Is this low key and low tech response intended to not draw further attention to the ersatz transcript?
The SL Trib covered the talk’s online popularity but waited until the fifth paragraph to mention that the Church denies the talk is accurate. Even if the Church does not have a greater response, Julie Smith from Times and Seasons speaks well on its behalf:
“People really gravitate toward the idea of ’secret teachings.’ It is a weakness, one that I’ve seen in myself and one that we need to be more aware of. There is some spiritual immaturity there” . . .
“The scariest thing is that people just don’t seem to realize how dangerous spreading this type of thing is,” Smith said, “not only is there the potential to spread false doctrine, but even if you have a 100 percent accurate transcript, you have taken away the right of a General Authority to speak specifically to a local group about their circumstances in a way that might not be applicable to other areas of the world.”
I don’t know how new this is, but it appears that the Church News site is now freely accessible. From what I can tell you are no longer required to be a subscriber via mail or the Deseret News.
Even more welcome is a complete redesign of Church News which makes navigation much, much easier. The site is tagged “Beta” but it’s my impression that it must be a “Google beta” as it appears to work pretty well (although a RSS feed would be nice). I just stumbled across it but believe it is fairly new as well.
If you are nostalgic for the old site, you can still access it at http://www.ldschurchnews.com/cn/ It appears to be freely accessible as well.
It’s a very welcome development but it makes me wonder: are official/church-owned news sources too fractured? Each may have a different purpose and/or audience, but it can be hard to keep up. By my count we have:
President Monson votes. Poor guy can’t even do early voting without a camera following him. Is that an expression hoping for change or another eight years? (Plus, it looks like early voting is packed)
Women Doing More
Ways busy moms can still make an impact in the world outside their family.
We rejoice in the knowledge that you are going about doing good, as the savior did. You are doing a magnificent work. Yet we feel impressed to say that there is more to be done. — Julie Beck, Relief Society General President
Mormons – who are they?
This blog will attempt to answer questions and set forth truths about Latter-day Saints, as provided by a happy, active LDS member.
Jeremy Lunnen’s Leadership Etc…
Thoughts on leadership, training and organizational dynamics…
Gretch-a-sketch
I’m a Mormon girl in my early twenties with a passion for books, music, TV, writing, and style. I’d like to be Tina Fey when I grow up.
Sydney and Talmage Walters
ideas, tips, tricks, cute pics, and musings of a mom
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My kids will like these: Interactive coloring pages at the Friend online and with accompanying primary music.
[via Mormon Magz]
Living LDS
Thoughts from people living the standards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Obama’s Hushed Vow
Barack Obama has vowed to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) if elected. Once DOMA has been repealed, state amendments banning recognition of same-sex marriages will almost certainly be ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. This fact should be in the headlines of every newspaper!
Sue’s News, Views ‘n Muse
Thoughts, opinions, and feelings on everything from family to politics to religion to slice of life and back again…most with at least a touch of humor, many with spiritual overtones, and some deadly serious.
Mindy Gledhill Music
The life and transcendence of LDS musician Mindy Gledhill.
Honey Mommy
He calls me Honey and the boys call me Mommy. So Honey Mommy it is! I’m a laundry despising, diaper changing, photography loving, cycling obsessed, book reading, garden-growing, home-canning, boy producing, comment craving Mommy with a newly discovered passion for blogging. I am also a Librarian, which is apparent in my little boys’ bookshelf. Jonah is two years old, and Eli is seven months old (no those aren’t their real names, but they were on our name list and I liked them but my husband didn’t- haha!).Come check out the latest happenings at the Honey House!
Wookie’s Parents
This blog is about my life and how I deal with things using my LDS perspective and beliefs
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The Simpsons have been pretty good at skewering both sides of the political spectrum, but now they have endorsed a candidate. A little disheartening but since its Homer, I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a good or bad thing.
Since the Simpsons is keeping with the tradition of airing its Halloween special after Halloween (but just in time for the election) here it is. Somehow it was “leaked” last month(?).
Some emails circulated last week reporting ugly incidents at the Oakland Temple. But I haven’t seen any corroboration of the incident(s).
Sunday morning, however, there was a protest at the Oakland California LDS temple. From the news account, it sounds like it was peaceful.
About 50 protesters came to the Mormon Temple in Oakland this morning to speak out against the religious group’s support for an anti-gay marriage ballot measure.
“I can’t believe that a religious group that preaches truth and love is asking their members to campaign and donate to take away my civil rights,” said Jill Shearer, 40, of Oakland. Shearer grew up in San Ramon and was raised Mormon. When she came out as a lesbian, she said her family still kept her close . . .
“They have their right to make their cause known, just like the Yes on 8 folks do,” said Rand King, 60, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who is a member of the Protect Marriage Coalition. “They obviously want to portray us as haters of them. We’re not at all. We just want to protect traditional marriage.”
Fortunately, as the temple was closed, patrons didn’t have to face the protestors but I wonder how the Visitor Center handled the situation.
You can see more photos of the protest at this Flickr stream. Of note are the Osama would vote for Prop 8 sign and the “Latter-day Bigots” sign.
LDS Mission Blogs
A place for family and friends of LDS missionaries to keep up-to-date with the activities of their missionary in the field.
A House of Prayer
A collection of essays and talks I have written on various scriptural and doctrinal topics.
Alexander’s Verse
Thoughts and feelings on the scriptures, doctrine, and moral issues.
Perusing Psychology
My blog explaining theories, ideas, and research within the fields of psychology and neuroscience (with a dash of philosophy).
Regarding Annie
Sometimes I want to kick my husband in the shins and sell my children on ebay. Maybe I use too much bleach in my hair…
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Overheard In The Ward
Overheard In The Ward… Sometimes LDS Wards and Branches are funny places. Eavesdrop with us.
Right On Point
Thoughts, comments and analysis about what’s going on in the world.
April Showers
Media, celebs, music, movies, graphic design, blog layouts and headers, and of course ME. Tons of fun stuff over this way my friends.
What To Do … Mommy Of Two
The life of a mormon mom of 2.
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I was unaware how crazy it has been in California:
- Angry protestors harass temple patrons in Oakland. [update: possibly bogus, possibly not, see comments below]
- A car blazoned with “Bigots live here” outside an LDS home.
- Letters with death threats have been sent to many LDS homes.
I am not aware of attacks against those who oppose Prop 8 and hope there haven’t been any. But it’s ironic that those who claim Proposition 8 is all about hate seem to have plenty to share.
That said, I hope people don’t use this an an excuse to target gays and lesbians or to retaliate in any way. Too often in politics, a beleagured party hypes up its own martyrdom and some even fake attacks on its own side to provoke more outrage and sympathy (I’m not suggesting that’s the case here).
Regardless of the very troubling actions by an ugly few, it’s important to stick to facts and keep doing what is right.
As frustrating and alarming as these attacks can be, reading Elder Robert D. Hales’ conference talk, “Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship” adds some valuable perspective.
Some people mistakenly think responses such as silence, meekness, forgiveness, and bearing humble testimony are passive or weak. But, to “love [our] enemies, bless them that curse [us], do good to them that hate [us], and pray for them which despitefully use [us], and persecute [us]” (Matthew 5:44) takes faith, strength, and, most of all, Christian courage.
The Prophet Joseph Smith demonstrated this courage throughout his life. Though he “suffer[ed] severe persecution at the hands of all classes of men, both religious and irreligious” (Joseph Smith—History 1:27), he did not retaliate or give in to hatred. Like all true disciples of Christ, he stood with the Savior by loving others in a tolerant and compassionate way. That is Christian courage.
When we do not retaliate—when we turn the other cheek and resist feelings of anger—we too stand with the Savior. We show forth His love, which is the only power that can subdue the adversary and answer our accusers without accusing them in return. That is not weakness. That is Christian courage.
Making Molly
A collection of reviews, ideas, crafts, tips, etc. for the Latter-day mom On-The-Go
Lemon Grove Ward Activity Days
A place to find info on upcoming and past activities regaurding activity days in the lemon grove ward.
Let Your Life Speak
This is a personal development blog for LDS Women. We are looking for contributors.
AthenaMinor
Questioning the LDS culture
Orange County Mexican Restaurants
It’s about Mexican restaurants and food to be found in Orange County, CA.
Roger’s View
This site will give you a glimpse at my view of the world. I’ll take a look and everything from politics to music, food to architecture, and everything in between.
BigDaddy’s Hall-O-gram
Is it real….or is it just a dream?
Meet the Robinsons
I am the real Mrs. Robinson. This is my life, these are my kids, this is my blog.
This Is It
Mother of 4. Lover of chocolate and all things crunchy.
Chocolate Sauce
comments on research regarding antioxidants
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What we have here is truly manipulative. Four justices create a right, and then a sympathetic attorney general renames a proposition so as to protect a 4-month-old right that no one had ever voted to create.
And the left accuses the right of imposing its values on society.
Pretty soon patriarchial blessings will be available online.
One of the features that may be of most interest to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is their ability (in the near future) to view and print a digitized copy of a patriarchal blessing — either their own or those of their spouse, direct-line descendants and deceased direct-line ancestors.
Also, priesthood holders can get their line of authority from the Church via email.
For the past few years, and in part due to the miracles of digitization, the church, through the membership department, has again assumed the work of tracing lines of authority. The easiest way, of course, is to ask the man who ordained you to your current office – he may have the information at his fingertips. If that is not an option, you can send an email to lineofauthority with “PLA” (minus the quotation marks) in the subject line. (You could also telephone, but you’re likely to wait on hold for a very long time – if you’re reading this online, email is no doubt a far easier way to do it.) Back will come a form for you to provide as much of the following information as you can provide to assist the staff in their search [see the rest at Keepapitchinin].
So, last quarter: (1) the iPhone was a bigger revenue and profit generator than either the iPod or Mac; (2) Apple sold more iPhones than RIM sold BlackBerrys; and (3) Apple trailed only Nokia and Samsung in worldwide mobile phone handset revenue (and they’re not far behind Samsung)
Still, I just bought an iPod Touch and don’t regret not picking an iPhone. It’s all about the apps.
The Daily Kos does not appear to be a champion of free speech.
Last week Daily Kos removed a post criticizing the site for its anti-Mormon bigotry.
Now it is rallying its followers to target Mormons who have donated to the Proposition 8 campaign. Once identified, the plan is to dig into their backgrounds, with the hopes of harassing and discrediting their efforts.
As a matter of fact, the No on Prop 8 folks told me recently that the “Protect Marriage” campaign has raised $30 million dollars–over half of it from the Mormon Church. Now, I have nothing personally against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They most certainly have the constitutional right to worship in their own way. They have the right to minister in whatever way they see fit and to marry whomever they see fit in their churches based on any qualifications they choose. And they will be well within their rights.
But when the church and its members invest millions of dollars in an attempt to write discrimination into my state’s constitution and divorce my friend Brian against his will, there will be hell to pay.
So what am I asking you to do?
Some distributed research.
There is a list of a bunch of Mormon donors to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign (in case that one goes down, here’s a mirror with slightly worse formatting.
Here’s what I’m asking for:
This list contains information about those who are big donors to the Yes on 8 campaign–donors to the tune of at least $1,000 dollars. And, as you can see, there are a lot of them. It also indicates if they’re Mormon or not.
If you’re interested in defeating the religious right and preserving marriage equality, here’s how you can help:
Find us some ammo.
Use any LEGAL tool at your disposal. Use OpenSecrets to see if these donors have contributed to…shall we say…less than honorable causes, or if any one of these big donors has done something otherwise egregious. If so, we have a legitimate case to make the Yes on 8 campaign return their contributions, or face a bunch of negative publicity . . .
Feel free to use Lexis-Nexis searches as well for anything useful, especially given that these people are using “morality” as their primary motivation to support Prop 8…if you find anything that belies that in any way…well, you know what to do . . .
Here’s the bottom line for me: if someone is willing to contribute thousands of dollars to a campaign to take away legal rights from some very dear friends of mine, they had damn well make sure their lives are beyond scrutiny–because I, for one, won’t take it lying down.
Unfortunately, the media has played along with this emphasis by making Mormon donations to support Proposition 8 a major issue (never mind the millions big celebrities and others have given to opppose it).
I thought it was odd that the Associated Press included a link in this story to a site called Mormons for Proposition 8, which at first blush would appear to be a pro-Mormon site in the church’s efforts to preserve traditional marriage. However, it’s a ruse to “out” all Mormon donors and its purported benign motives have been betrayed by the Daily Kos.
Forget debating on the merits. When your personal politics is on the line, “by any means necessary” is an acceptable tactic. Personally attacking people and making their lives miserable is acceptable collateral damage in the pursuit of your idea of “fairness.”
P.S. Besides this coordinated harassment campaign, here’s an isolated but a very disturbing incident of violence against a Prop 8 supporter.
P.P.S. How are donors being identified as Mormon?
[via The Corner]
Brick of Mormon Stories
Site related to self-published work entitled Brick of Mormon Stories and efforts families make to help children learn the scripture stories and apply the scriptures to their lives
Who are the Mormons?
Dedicated to explaining the beliefs and practices of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Spiritual Reflections Every Day
This is a blog to share and relate Christian experiences, lessons, and events from our own lives. We are open to new authors. Come check us out!
My Name’s Sarah
It’s basically my personal journal. My life as a stay-at-home mom.
Olde Colonial Peddler
Mostly about my seasonal crafts & tips and my beautiful family!
Pessimistically Optimistic Meanderings
My Own Meanderings…on Life, And Whatever Else I Feel Like!!
Dogmatic Eyes
A day in the life of Angela Dare
Harvey Family Blog
Observations, opinions, ideas, and updates
By Small and Simple Things…
The everyday joys, and some not-so-much-joys, of my life. My ponderings, my pictures, my thoughts, my happenings, my gratitude.
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Utah geologists discover ‘dinosaur dance floor‘
Utah geologists say they have discovered prehistoric animal tracks so densely packed on a 3/4-acre rock site, they’re calling it a “dinosaur dance floor.” The site along the Arizona-Utah border is offering a rich new set of clues about the lives of dinosaurs 190 million years ago.
The Child I Never Knew
My LDS (Latter-Day Saint) website to share experiences and to COMFORT and SUPPORT those who have LOST a baby to MISCARRIAGE, STILLBIRTH or LOSS of a PREGNANCY.Also for those who have wanted to get pregnant, but haven’t been able, or those who lost a newborn baby. No one should be left alone through these hard times.
LDS Girl
Exerpt from my Study of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures- mixed with the life experiences of the 30 something mormon mom.
My Favorite Verse
Come share some of my favorite Book of Mormon verses.
Laurie’s Occasional Deep Thoughts
The musings of an LDS mother, wife, grandma, and author.
Write. Create. Be.
I own a scrapbooking community and love to share my thoughts on documenting your family memories. I also share my family stories, my faith and thoughts on life in general, always trying to learn and grow from all that I do. I see my glass as half full!
Like my Blog caption says “Finding the joy in the everyday of life”.
Style Sisters
Home decorating, cooking, holiday celebrations, family, sewing, celebrating everyday life, entertaining, dining.
My Very Own Lifetime Movie
It’s just my life and my thoughts. Sometimes funny, sometimes not so funny.
What Are Men to Rocks and Mountains?
Ramblings of a 20-something single Utah girl
The Bingham Diaries
snarky parenting at it’s finest.
Keep up the good work
A Mom’s musings from deep in Happy Valley
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