Proud to be Mormon

I thought this was a neat article, because I'm a bit of a sports nut.

Mormons accounted for 158 regular-season starts, 16 postseason games played and one Pro Bowl appearance during the 2009 National Football League season.

By year's end, 40 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were listed on NFL team rosters. One of them, Baltimore nose tackle Haloti Ngata, finally made the elite roster for the league's all-star exhibition.

"Last year, so many people had said that I would be going to the Pro Bowl and this and that, and I was kind of paying attention to what was going on around the league with guys in my position," Ngata told the Baltimore Sun. "I think I kind of worried about it too much and didn't end up going. This year, I was kind of like, 'If it happens, it happens.' And I ended up going. Now I'm way excited and happy to get picked."

Ngata finished the regular season with 35 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He also recorded a sack during the Ravens' playoff run.

Read the full story on MormonTimes.com.

Via

Via

Nate Leishman, manager of the Church’s humanitarian emergency response efforts describes aid being sent.



Via LDS.org

From LDS.org:

SALT LAKE CITY 17 November 2009

An informed citizenry, it is often said, is the bulwark of democracy. The basic principles of journalistic integrity – objectivity in reporting, detachment from personal bias, and disinterested duty to the truth – are essential in facilitating public trust and civil discourse. All individuals and institutions, including churches, share an interest in contributing to these worthy goals.

The advent of social media has changed the way people gather, consume and analyze information. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook, for example, are expanding the channels for public participation in receiving and sharing information. Likewise, these platforms are becoming important tools for media organizations to interact with their audiences. Old, comfortable lines are being blurred. The new values of openness and authenticity are often seen as colliding with the traditional values of editorial oversight and authority. Private expression runs seamlessly into public expression. News organizations across the country are doing their best to adapt to changes as they develop. Nonetheless, these dynamics have not altered the fundamental ethical imperatives of journalism.

This duality between traditional media and new media has created a situation where journalists often report by day and blog by night. For example, a reporter can write an objective news story for an organization’s public website and then later add a personal slant about it on a blog, Facebook or Twitter. Though the perceived distance between personal and public writing might make sense to the reporter, the reader is often left confused. People still expect journalists to be impartial reporters of the facts. If objectivity is absent in one platform, it cannot be present in the other. Trust cannot thrive on contradiction. Nevertheless, these conflicts can be managed with proper rules and guidelines. Openness can co-exist with objectivity, but not with open bias.

Among news organizations grappling with these issues, National Public Radio has done a commendable job of establishing guidelines that promote journalistic ethics by delineating clear boundaries between the private and the public. In doing so, they inject a welcome dose of order into an often unwieldy world of conflicting information Excerpted below are NPR’s “commonsense rules” that can also apply to everyone in the field of journalism:

Information from your Facebook page, your blog entries, and your tweets - even if you intend them to be personal messages to your friends or family - can be easily circulated beyond your intended audience. This content, therefore, represents you and NPR to the outside world as much as a radio story or story for NPR.org does.

Recognize that everything you write or receive on a social media site is public. Anyone with access to the web can get access to your activity on social media sites. And regardless of how careful you are in trying to keep them separate, in your online activity, your professional life and your personal life overlap.

You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear if we were called upon to defend them as a news organization. In other words, don't behave any differently online than you would in any other public setting.
You must not advocate for political or other polarizing issues online. This extends to joining online groups or using social media in any form (including your Facebook page or a personal blog) to express personal views on a political or other controversial issue that you could not write for the air or post on NPR.org.

Furthermore, in an effort to ensure a respectful, reciprocal relationship between staff and readers and to promote more civil online participation, many news organizations are establishing guidelines to rein in contentious comments. For example, the Cleveland Plain Dealer recently issued a new commenting policy seeking to end bigoted comments, while at the same time urging its staff members to meaningfully engage with readers. Likewise, the Boston Globe has created a “member agreement” stipulating general rules for reader participation on its site: “You agree not to use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, etc. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.” Hopefully, such moves among respected news organizations such as these will be duplicated by media organizations concerned about the low levels of public trust and civil discourse.

In the end, these are the stories we remember. The year 2009 is about over, and out of all the e-mails, phone calls, Web searches, visits and interviews, some powerful stories have emerged.

They range from the quirky and improbable to the humbling and heart-warming. They've taught us sorrow, humility, enthusiasm and understanding.

And they've all left an impression.

This week, Mormon Times writers and editors reflect on the subjects and story lines that made 2009 a memorable year.

We look at families who have lost loved ones and how they cling to hope. We reflect on the power of faith and trust, and the moving influence of artistic expression.

And we revisit personalities like the boxing bishop in Texas, the 105-year-old convert in Arkansas and the positive pitcher-turned missionary who still hasn't looked back.

Read the powerful stories on MormonTimes.com.

Are Mormons Christian? Absolutely. There are Christians out there that will argue that Mormons are not, becuase we do not fit into the small box they define as Christian. Since Mormons do not believe in the Trinity, they say we are not Christian. Since we believe in the Book of Mormon, they say we aren't Christian. There are other reasons they list as well, but they all mean nothing. The dictionary defines Christan as: "following the teachings or manifesting the qualities or spirit of Jesus Christ." Is there a church in all the world that so fully meets this description? I would argue no. I define Christan as any person or religion that loves, worships, honors, and obeys the Lord Jesus Christ. Under this definition, Mormons are indeed Christian.

Joseph Smith once said:

"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." (TPJS, p. 121).

For more information, check out the talk given by Boyd K. Packer.