The Mormons

I am a Mormon and I watched the program.  For the most part it was pretty even handed but I felt like they talked with a lot more people that weren’t members of the church than people that were and presented some things in a bad light.  I won’t deny that some aspects of our religion may seem odd to people unfamilair with it and polgamy is a pretty weird subject.  As far as secret rituals in the temple, we just hold the temple very sacred and to go to it you do need to be an active member of the church.  One more thing to just address the Article’s observation about where were the Native Americans during the Book of Mormon obviously we believe that some of the Native American’s are descedents of the Book of Mormon people.

Comment by Dave from Mesa, AZ — August 31, 2007 @ 11:50 am

It’s hard to criticize a non-member for an article regarding Mormonism. Because for all its flaws, we Mormons can’t expect for someone like this to be accurately informed. In the beginning, this article aligned its allegiance with PBS -as if PBS were its own religion. The assumption made that PBS restrained from going deeper is simply presumptuous and probably tied to the fact that the author of this article wanted them to take some hard punches. The fact actually is that the original version of this doc. was much more positive and optimistic -the director having said afterward “To look into the Mormon soul is like looking into your own.” From reports it was found that PBS thought the original version wasn’t controversial enough and so they changed it.  PBS did it’s best to still come across as balanced, knowing the whole time they weren’t. Balanced time was not given to both sides -very little time was given to higher leaders of the church. Plus, there were errors all over the place...it was convenient to try to cast blame on Brigham Young for the Massacre, though if one knows all the facts about this incident, it would have been impossible for Brighman Young to have ordered it -or even known. 

The author, here, tried to pull a few punches, however naive they may be.  First, leaders of the church haven’t had beards for many decades -has nothing to do with “fitting in.” The insinuation that we aren’t Christian is one of the most ignorant takes on Mormonism.  The church is called : “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” You had no problem using the “LDS” part the whole time so it was inconsistent to doubt the other part. As this other guy said, what we do in temples isn’t weird, creepy, or mysterious. That’s just the way outsiders want to perceive it. It’s simply sacred to us. Also, one of the proofs for the Book of Mormon is that it’s a record of people from the Americas...whose descendents eventually became known as Native Americans. Also, I’ve been on a mission and you’re misinformed. We do a substantial amount of service related to the country -or area’s needs....just like Katrina.  I could go on and on.  Just wanted to clear some things up. Like I said, it can’t be expected of you to really know what you’re talking about.

Comment by Barrett Dire from NYC — October 5, 2007 @ 11:39 am