With the crackdown on the FLDS sect in Texas there's been a lot of news articles about the polygamist "Mormons." I have appreciated the news programs that have made it clear that the Mormons most people know - the REAL Mormons, the LDS- are not the crazed, perverted fringe group that is currently making headlines.
The Washington Post recently ran an editorial defending the categorization of the FLDS group as Mormons. They argued that people should be called what they call themselves. There are flaws to this argument. The FLDS began as a small group of dissenters from the LDS church over a hundred years ago. They continue to claim to have authority for the restored church. Classifying the FLDS as Mormons allows this small group of dissenters the chance to speak authoritatively for the 12 million + LDS, who want nothing to do with them. If news organizations really want to follow this track, the Washington Post may want to stop referring to the terrorist fighters in Iraq as insurgents and began calling them the defenders of the country and the future government of Iraq.
The situation also makes me think of the Klu Klux Klan who enjoy identifying themselves primarily as Christians and "Christian Soldiers." As sick and ironic as it is, they see themselves as worshippers as Christ and grew up out of the Christian tradition (as seen with the their avid employment of the cross). How accurate would it be if news reporting took to identifying the Klan primarily as Christians? Don't you think other Christians might get a little annoyed? I, as a Christian, would be deeply angered, just as I, as a Mormon, am irritated by those who continue to try to define my religion by its radical exiles.
5 comments:
Hear hear!
One of the most convincing arguments I've heard on the subject.
Well put
Very good point Katy. And if they really thought organizations should be able to determine what they are called, they'd stop calling us "Mormon" too, since the Church has explicitly asked members of the press to use the church's full name and to refer to church members as LDS.
I'm just sick to my stomach over this whole situation - based on an apparently anonymous tip they are taking hundreds of kids away from their parents?
I wonder how the Texas DSS is handling finding placement for that many kids. Most Departments of Social Services offices are overwhelmed with week to week issues. I have been surprised that I haven't gotten questions at work about it. I guess they understand that I am not "that kind" of Mormon. Do they call themselves mormons?
Agreed.
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