Proud to be Mormon

A new study coming out of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., indicates that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are predominantly Republican, overwhelmingly white, well-educated, prosperous and have larger-than-average families. The study also found that Mormon women are less likely to work outside the home than other American women.

Surprised?

Probably not.

Read the rest of the article at Deseret News. "New study confirms many LDS stereotypes. Research does not offer startling new info about Mormons."

Despite all the distractions around them, Latter-day Saints can see to it that Christ is at the center of their Christmas celebration, said President Thomas S. Monson on Dec. 4.

"I, with you, have witnessed during the past few days and weeks what has become over the years the annual commercialization of Christmas," said President Monson during the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional. "I am saddened to see Christmas becoming less and less about Christ and more and more about marketing and sales, parties and presents. And yet, Christmas is what we make of it."

Read the rest at LDS Church News

They gather twice each year — once on the Provo, Utah, campus of Brigham Young University and once at the Fuller Theological Seminary main campus in Pasadena, Calif.

Evangelical Christians and Mormons.

Together.

In the same room.

Talking about religion.

And — believe it or not — getting along famously.

"Our meetings are extremely cordial," said Dr. Robert L. Millet, former dean of Religious Education at BYU, who has been participating in the meetings since their inception. "We have great fellowship with one another, and there's a real feeling of brotherhood and affection even though we spend hours discussing our differences."

Dr. Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, wrote about the semiannual meetings recently in one of his articles on the Washington Post's On Faith blog site.

"We have talked for many hours about key theological issues," Mouw wrote. "We evangelicals and our Mormon counterparts disagree about some important questions. But we have also found that on some matters we are not as far apart as we thought we were."

This cooperative effort between evangelical Christian scholars and their LDS counterparts is especially noteworthy since the last two months have seen a number of highly placed evangelical Christians making comments about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In early October, Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas, called Mormonism a "cult," and another evangelical leader, Bryan Fischer, claimed that Latter-day Saints are not Christian and are therefore not entitled to First Amendment protections of religious freedom. Since those comments were made in public forums and were directed at presidential candidate Mitt Romney, they generated a media firestorm that has has generated through the ensuing weeks a good deal of public discussion on the LDS Church and whether or not it is truly Christian.

"To a Mormon, the claim that they are not Christian is confusing," said Dr. David Campbell, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame and a leading researcher on faith in American life. "They point to the name of Jesus Christ in the church's official name and wonder how they can be considered anything other than Christian."

Without going too deeply into the theological differences, Campbell, who is LDS, suggests there is a semantic difference at work here.

Read the rest at the Deseret News.

How can we know that during these times we are not abandoned or forsaken, but that Heavenly Father is there?

Even setting aside its doctrinal richness and its vital importance as a second witness for the Savior Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon is a strikingly complex document — far more so, probably, than most of its readers realize.

It features hundreds of individual characters, many of them bearing quite uncommon names, who belong to a multitude of groups, subgroups and small factions. It describes three migrations from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western Hemisphere. It employs at least three distinct dating systems.

Yet, amazingly — and particularly so for a book that was dictated within a remarkably short time, at high speed (roughly nine to 11 pages of the English printed edition per day) — it's internally consistent. It doesn't contradict itself.

It both presupposes and reflects a complicated geographical backdrop to its stories, involving scores of place names and topographical indicators. Yet places maintain their proper relationships to each other even when they're mentioned only a few times over hundreds of pages.

Read the rest at the Deseret News.

Here is a list of Mormons currently playing in the NFL:

John Beck, QB, Redskins, BYU

Austin Collie, WR, Colts, BYU

Chris Cooley, TE, Redskins, Utah State

*Christian Cox, LB, Patriots, Utah

*Kevin Curtis, WR, Titans, Utah State

Stewart Bradley, LB, Cardinals, Nebraska

John Denney, LS, Dolphins, BYU

Jonathan Fanene, DL, Bengals, Utah

*Max Hall, QB, Cardinals, BYU

Todd Heap, TE, Cardinals, Arizona State

Chris Hoke, DL, Steelers, BYU

Bryan Kehl, LB, Rams, BYU

Brett Keisel, DL, Steelers, BYU

Paul Kruger, DL, Ravens, Utah

Spencer Larsen, FB, Broncos, Arizona

Deuce Lutui, OL, Cardinals, Southern California

Fili Moala, DL, Colts, Southern California

*Tony Moeaki, TE, Chiefs, Iowa

Haloti Ngata, DL, Ravens, Oregon

Dennis Pitta, TE, Ravens, BYU

Brady Poppinga, LB, Rams, BYU

Sione Pouha, DT, Jets, Utah

Samson Satele, C, Raiders, Hawaii

Vic So’oto, LB, Packers, BYU

#Harvey Unga, RB, Bears, BYU

Eric Weddle, DB, Chargers, Utah

Manase Tonga, RB, Raiders, BYU

Fui Vakapuna, RB, Bengals, BYU
Practice squad players

Matt Asiata, RB, Vikings, Utah

Garrett Mills, TE, Patriots, Tulsa

*Injured reserve

#Exempt status

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