Bridge of Reason

The Oct. 1997 issue of the liberal Mormon Sunstone magazine (Vol. 20:3, Issue 107) carried an amusing article about alternative names for “Anti-Mormons.” (Thanks to Vince for drawing this list to my attention. Comments in brackets are my own, of course) S c eptics (And this is a bad thing because…?) Gentiles (Mormons consider themselves the new Israel) Mormon-detractors Counter-Mormons (That’s anti-Mormons to the rest of us) Anti-Christs (At least we know now what Mormons think of honest critics) Mormophobes (A phobia is a fear. This isn’t an irrational fear but a healthy scepticism – see 1 above) Nehors (Nehor is an obscure Book of Mormon character who led an apostate sect) Avatars of Satan (An avatar is an incarnation of a deity; see comment on temple “minister” below) Challengers (Fair comment. So stop name-calling and meet the challenge) The unconverted (Christians? Unconverted? Interesting insight) Contra-Mormons (pro-Christians) Post-Mormons (Tha...

In a commencement address at BYU-Ricks, April 2008, Mormon apostle M Russell Ballard spoke to 1,400 graduates about the evils of the Internet. While appreciating its positive benefits, he described it as the medium for "one of Satan's most seductive efforts", i.e. the spread of pornography. Of course, I appreciate his voice raised in warning and deplore as much the spread of pornography via the Internet. I do object, however, to the way he characterises honest critics of the Mormon Church as representing an evil equal to pornographers. "Along with the terrible effects of pornography, the Internet and other media are often used to spread falsehoods, Elder Ballard said. 'Every month there are 60 billion searches for information on the Internet. Many are seeking information about the Church; and while some are finding the truth, others find anti-Mormon sites that mislead them and defame the Church,' Elder Ballard said." This from a church that insists it ...

"Far too many Mormons automatically assume that Christians who wish to challenge LDS presuppositions are somehow motivated by hate. Such an assumption seems to be borne more out of laziness on the part of the accuser rather than the result of critical thinking skills. It is easy to accuse someone of hatred; after all, that word gets a lot of mileage in our dumbed-down culture. The intellectually indolent person somehow feels no need to evaluate what has been said once he has successfully assassinated a person’s character. However, when Mormons flippantly throw down the hate card, they certainly run the risk of bearing false witness." Anti-Mormon: The Mormon N-Word w/Are Mormons ANTI-Christian? VIDEO « How2BecomeAChristian.info BLOG