Be careful about judging an organization from the Websites that purport to represent the organization. Many Websites seem to be run by extremists who have the zeal to do the work and spend the money to keep a Website going. As Pogo says, http://www.lds-mormon.com/ seems to be one of those zealot sites - this one a not-too-subtle anti-Mormon zealotry. The official site, http://www.lds.org/, seems to give a better representation.

I've taught religion to Catholic adults most of my life, and I have to spend a lot of time combatting the right-wing misinformation that gets posted on the Web and broadcast on radio and TV. The extremist Catholics seem to be funded by an unlimited amount of brewery money and Domino's Pizza.

I think that in most cases, if you have a large organization that has existed for over a century, most of the time it won't be as horrible as its detractors (or its zealots) make it out to be. Every organization has shortcomings and prejudices, but most aren't horrible. I think that applies to the LDS Church, to the Roman Catholics, the Boy Scouts - and possibly even to an extent to the Republican Party (although I reserve judgment on that last one). Most religious groups have racist ideas in their history - that was once part of the universal culture. Some have been slower to withdraw from the sins of the past, but that's the way people are.


I hate to be too quick to condemn anybody. I think accepting the faults of others and recognizing our own faults is an important part of tolerance.


-Joe Offer-