Religious persecution alive and well..

[amizon]

And no, I'm not talking about persecution towards Jews or Muslims, though that's alive and well too. I'm talking about persecution towards Mormons! People don't talk about it outside of my church, the media just ignores it 90% of the time! (Sometimes I think they're even a part of it.)

Especially with more Mormons in the public eye these days, (Mitt Romney, etc.) I'm having a hard time avoiding the hatred, the lies, the cruelty. Thankfully I live in a strongly Mormon community so the only people who trash on Mormons around here are well, REALLY STUPID to be honest, and have a hard time making any one really feel bad because no one's taking them seriously. But to take a trip to Temple Square, or go see the Manti pageant, and see people protesting against my church? AGAINST ME? With these blatant lies and false accusations trying to tear us down, and then pretending to be under the banner of love, truth, and righteousness, pretending to be spreading Christ's message? Christ did not preach that we should tear down; we're supposed to build up.

I can't even read an article or video about Mitt Romney or the passing of Gordon B. Hinckley without being bombarded with vile, hurtful lies. I never expected that I would be the type of person to let this type of thing bother me, but there's so much of it it's really starting to get under my skin. What really irks me are those who say the don't hate Mormons, just Mormonism. Oh okay sure, you hate and attack a large amount of what we think, feel, and do, but you don't hate us at all.

The biggest thing is, people out there who spend there time and effort trying to tear down the LDS church, you have better things to do with your time. We aren't hurting people, (unlike many Anti-Mormons), we actually as a church do a lot of good things. So go get a life, start a homeless shelter, do something that truly builds good things. You're not the religious police. It is not your job to tear away our peace because you disagree with the place from which we receive it--which, ironically, is from God and Jesus Christ, the place you proclaim to find your own peace.

*sigh* Tirade over. I just wish at least that people would talk about this in the media, specifically in a way that CONDEMNS it. I mean, Mike Huckabee always has these little wisecracks digging at Romney's faith ("don't Mormons believe Jesus and the Devil are brothers?"), and people don't hate him for it, don't call him a bigot. He's actually spoken at the Southern Baptist Convention in Salt Lake City, 1998--basically a bunch of baptists got together and went door-to-door preaching against the LDS church. That's so messed up! Just because I disagree with Islam, doesn't mean I hand-out anti-Muslim pamphlets outside of their mosques!

Am I exaggerating, do you think? Since I feel like a bit of a victim here?

P.S. it frightens me that not only is Mike Huckabee in with the Southern Baptist Convention, John McCain usually attends a baptist church that's part of the convention too! My mind is bubbling with conspiracy theories...

P.P.S. Check out this article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Mormonism, especially part 3.4. Scary.

[Darthmat]

I honestly have no idea about any of this, but if what you said is right, it's wrong.

...But I'm sorry, the South Park episode was fucking hilarious.

[i-am-the-liquor]

i agree with darthmat

[Bob Dole]

<---------- Is currently working with Anonymous to take down Scientology. I don't think I can say much about this topic.

[Eidolon]

Going after Scientology is just as bad.

Leave them alone.

[i-am-the-liquor]

there a cult

[KittyKatBlack]

We know that, but instead of pushing them into their persecution complex we should try to reason with them.

[Bob Dole]

Eidolon Wrote:Going after Scientology is just as bad.

Leave them alone.

Lol. If they quit trying to censor free speech, then we'll talk. And after they stop killing their members. And once they quit defrauding them of hundreds of thousands of dollars, holding them hostage, forcing them to get abortions, etc. Oh, and can you tell them to quit attacking Anonymous at random while you're at it? Plus they really should stop trying to infiltrate the government to halt investigations into them and to get them tax-exempt status. And cease framing critics of bomb and assassination threats. And the constant slander of critics ceasing would be nice too. Plus the intimidation by legal team is a pain in the ass too.

[Bob Dole]

KittyKatBlack Wrote:We know that, but instead of pushing them into their persecution complex we should try to reason with them.

Yeah. Reasoning was tried long ago. It was met with legal threats and attempts to destroy the lives of those who criticized Scientology. Now we're just going in guns a blazin' to take those fuckers down.

[i-am-the-liquor]

*gets rifle* lets do it

[Bob Dole]

Umm...No. We're not killing people. We're exposing them to the media so they get ridiculed into non-existence.

[SoulRiser]

Attacking stupid ideas = good.
Attacking actual people = bad.

With that said, every religion probably has its share of stupid ideas, but most (all?) probably have some good ones too. So attacking the entire thing is a bit... well, stupid. Unless it does waaay more harm than good. Or something. I'm gonna shut up now

[Bob Dole]

Oh, trust me, it does a lot more good than bad. We're attacking the higher-ups who profit from all this shit. The people who are lower down catch some flak too, but that's just unavoidable. And it's nothing life ruining. We take down their OSA types(the guys who attack us at random and try infiltrating us), and work on media exposure.

[amizon]

Scientology "attacking" is slightly more excusable, if only because Scientology seems to actually break the law as a part of it's religion, and instructs followers to do so. Don't know much about Scientology, but a lot of its attackers are saying, we need to take this down because they're breaking the law and doing really wrong things. A lot of Mormonism attackers say, we need to take this down because they're leading people astray from what we believe is the "truth". That said, the people who write that stuff like "Scientology Exposed" are annoying as heck. You can't protect people from believing lies, just prosecute the liars if they're legally accountable.

Something I neglected to mention is, obviously I'm not one of those types who wants people like, prosecuted for disliking the Mormon church. I just wish more people would act like it's unacceptable, instead of just excusing it because "well, it is a pretty weird religion I guess"

[SoulRiser]

Instead of attacking religions/cults (unless they're really hurting people), people should rather tell others how to spot bullshit. Like this: http://logicalfallacies.info/

[i-am-the-liquor]

i still think somebody should assassinate pat robertson

[Bob Dole]

And a pop-fly out into left field...

[Double]

The problem with Christians who protest against Mormons, or any other religion for that sake, is that they always want to win, to have ace. And this is so sad, because most Christian churches today have lost so much track of what Jesus/the Apostles originally intended in the Bible. And trust me, if it isn't the Mormon's it's always some one else. I just don't like the fact that Christians are the ones persecuting.. it's ironic.

[amizon]

Xylophone Wrote:The problem with Christians who protest against Mormons, or any other religion for that sake, is that they always want to win, to have ace. And this is so sad, because most Christian churches today have lost so much track of what Jesus/the Apostles originally intended in the Bible. And trust me, if it isn't the Mormon's it's always some one else. I just don't like the fact that Christians are the ones persecuting.. it's ironic.

High five!

[thewake]

It just goes to show you human nature, it's not pretty.

[akdonn]

Hey, that's a great site, SoulRiser! Thank you for sharing...

Oh, yeah, and the Muslims are so much more considerate of other faiths!

[thewake]

Most people aren't considerate. We've got our fundamentalists, they've got their radical suicide bombers.
And we've got George Bush too.
On second thought, I think they are more considerate.