Little by Whittle

The CoolHotNot Community Manifesto

There is a force gathering power among us – a force that speaks with the power of authentic human experience. The momentum will disrupt the status quo in how we gather information of value about what to buy and what to give.

Why Not?

We are compelled to ask – in this age of the wonders of the Web – WHY are we NOT yet able to get reliable search results that convey our trusted individual and collective human experience with the things we buy and recommend, or things we wish to give, or warn our friends to shun?

Promise Unfulfilled

The advent of the Web brought us hope in the promise of a multitude of new ways of sharing, new ways of learning, and new ways of experiencing life and its many possibilities. Yet we still wrestle with vexing questions about which products are best to buy for ourselves and others.

More Information We Trust Less

Although the Web may have brought us lower prices and more buying choices, it has also brought us even more of the information we trust less than the social networks it has enabled.

The Elusive Quest for Quality

We face as much intrusive advertising, hype, sham, and noise as ever before.

We have tolerated the endless annoyance of advertising only because our tolerance has afforded us free information and entertainment.

We have learned to endure the constant din of “the voices that ring false” because the authentic voices of real-life experience are so infrequent and faint.

We too often witness the veiled disappointment in loved ones’ eyes when our gifts fall short because our desire to surprise them leaves us guessing in the dark.

We have suffered too dearly the incessant loss of time and money arising from the misguided purchases we make in the absence of quality recommendations and gift ideas from people we trust.

THIS Is Our Response

We have decided to take our destiny in our own hands by sharing our consumer experience and desires with others.

We trust in the wisdom of crowds and the power of community.

We will develop and deploy fun and rewarding ways of sharing information about our personal experience with products.

A Social Transformation of Product Search

Henceforth we will seek to make our purchasing decisions based on these high-trust forms of product-related information.

We will thereby reduce the incentive for vendors to provide us with low-trust advertising and other manipulative forms of marketing.

We will transform the nature of buying and selling so that neither buyers nor sellers in our global trust-based community need beware.

Our Vision

We foresee a world where:

• Search engines yield product recommendations from our friends and trusted experts.
• Advertising is obsolete and replaced by the sponsored endorsements of people we trust.
• Gift ideas are based on what our loved ones have added to their Wish Lists
• Product returns are minimized by higher quality crowd-sourced information about What’s Best and What’s Worst
• The creators of quality innovations are quickly encouraged or corrected by the crowd-sourced shared experiences of first-hand users.

Therefore, As Free Agents of Change In Our Own Favor, WE DECLARE:

Our bold intention is to create a community that facilitates the sharing of trustworthy information about products.

We will share lists of products that:

• We personally use and like – to serve as recommendations for others in the community.
• We want but don’t yet have – to serve as gift ideas and enable the exploration of things that are seen as new and exciting.
• We tried but found disappointing – to serve as “low-quality” alerts and to fully inform the recommendations shared by others.

The Transformation We’ll Drive

Thus will we empower the producers of quality ideas, goods, and services.Thus will we discover what’s best through our shared experiences and elude the purveyors of hype.Thus will we forge productive partnerships with those who provide us with quality innovations.Thus will we seize our economic destiny.

 We Are The CoolHotNot Community.

Who Are We?
We are consumers who want more trustworthy product information, such as recommendations from friends.
We are the creators of quality products who want more trusted ways of reaching those who want what we have.
We call ourselves The CoolHotNot Community.
May we join your voice with ours?

Yes! Show me how.

Signed,

Dave Whittle

Theo Mandel, PhD

Steve Bass

Jeffrey Kahn

Stevenson Smith

Eric Vernon

Allen Stalvey

Bob Angell

Leigh Anne Varney

Mar Anthony Go

Jason Fleming

Ricardo Guerrero

Paul Baltes

Stuart Fullinwider

Dave Gerber

Robert Vance

William “Buddy” Cobb

Jared Whittle

Nicia Esplin

and 14 more

A friend of mine, Dr. Fred Leivo, recently asked on my “Ask; Seek; and Knock” Facebook group – “What do you know and how do you know it? What do you believe and why do you believe it?”

These are some of the most important questions of life. Sometimes the distinction between knowing and believing is distinct and relevant, but more often than not, the difference is just not that important. We generally make decisions and act on the things we know and believe as if knowing and believing were the same thing.

What is of critical importance about knowing and believing, however, is WHAT we decide we know or choose to believe, HOW we decide that we know or should believe it, and WHY we make those decisions.

In fact, those are matters of life and death as well as matters of eternal life and salvation.

A poignant example:
My brother, who lived in Claremont, California and died in Burley, Idaho, was a pilot. One fateful day in August of 2010, he believed he could use the short runway for takeoff, even though the plane was near capacity, since his wife and their two teenage children were also aboard. On a normal day, he would have been right, as he had taken off from that runway many times before. But on this day, the humidity was higher than usual, and the wind was at his tail – so tragically, he and his entire family died in that tragic crash just past the end of the runway.

I like to think that example has meaning for our eternal lives as well as our mortal lives. It’s important that we understand how to know something, and that we use that knowledge to choose our beliefs with all due care and diligence. We can sometimes pay a heavy price when what we think we know and what we believe turns out to be wrong.

Now let me use my own story to answer Fred’s questions.

I’m as genetically LDS (Mormon) as anyone I know of. Every one of my ancestral lines trace back to pioneers and early saints who joined the church between 1831 and 1886. So you’d think that I would just accept everything taught by the church and just say I believe it because it’s such a key part of my heritage and who I am, and then never question it or dispute it. But that’s not me – I’m just not inclined to take other people’s word for anything.

Growing up in the church, yes, I was exposed to stories of golden plates and angelic visitations and visions and miracles at an early age – both at church and in family conversations – which indeed made it more likely that I would not dismiss such things out of hand, but I’m still not the kind of person to accept anything, even the assertions of loved ones, and especially not anything that doesn’t initially fit my everyday experience. I have a bit of a skeptic’s view of things, mandating that I ask questions trying to understand, seek verification, and reason it out for myself.

Over the years I had heard the same things in our monthly Fast and Testimony Meetings: “I know (emphasis on KNOW) that Jesus died for my sins,” or “I know that The Book of Mormon is true,” or “I know Joseph Smith was a prophet.” I only remember bearing my testimony once as a child, and that was the day I was given the Gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands. I remember a feeling of euphoria I had never felt before when I heard the words “Receive the Holy Ghost” that felt like a rush of divine fire throughout my body, from head to toe – and felt I had to stand up and show my thanks to God, but I don’t remember any more than that. I often wondered how many of those who said “I KNOW…” really KNEW, because even then, I knew the difference between knowing something and believing something.

At age 14, just before the start of 9th grade, I moved from Orem, Utah, to live with my Dad in Granada Hills, California. That September, I dutifully started getting up at 6am to attend early morning seminary, where we studied the New Testament. As I learned about the life of Jesus and His miracles, I began to question my beliefs for the first time. I wanted to answer for myself the very question that Dr. Fred asked on Facebook – “What do I know and how do I know it? What should I believe and why?”

I can remember my thought processes clearly even today, because it was so important to me and of an all-consuming interests. It was a deeply held passion to know what was true and what was not – largely because I was asking myself, “Should I live by the strict requirements of my parent’s LDS faith and my upbringing, or make friends with the partying crowd instead?” I honestly wanted to know for myself so I didn’t waste my life living by someone else’s made-up rules, if that’s all they were.

I had run across Descartes, Aristotle, and other philosophers in some of my reading, so I decided to start with “I think, therefore I exist” in attempting to examine what I know and why I know it, and what I would have to chalk up to faith or mere belief. At the time, I did not really understand the difference between faith and belief, considering there to be only minor differences between the two, with both being inferior to actually knowing something.

So as I began that audit of my belief system, I quickly came to the realization that “I think, therefore I exist” may very well be the end of perfect certainty for me, or for anyone for that matter, based solely on reason, observation, and our senses. I pondered at length the implications of a simple question” “what if I’m just making everything up in my mind?” without knowing that such a belief system is called solipsism. I turned over the possibilities in my mind for months – which in the end, simply left me more confused than I’d ever been before.

I had come to a few conclusions on my own, though, over my “year of critical unbelief.” I had concluded that it was ridiculous to think that my mind was indeed “making everything up,” or that my own awareness of them was the source of all things, because only the interaction of other similar beings or intelligences could create the enormous variety of people and life and things I had encountered in my life.

Thus, I now say that I “know” that I exist AND that there is an objective reality independent of my own mind.
I had also concluded that our senses, while unreliable, lead all of these independent minds/awarenesses/intelligences (I’ll call them intelligences, ) – even animals – to accept certain “facts” and evidences that no one ever disputes and act as if those things were true, without ever facing any evidence to the contrary. Such things as the passage of time, the reality of objects we encounter daily, the need to eat, breathe, and sleep, the value of language, and so on –all fit into this category of knowledge.

Thus, I say that I “know” a lot about the characteristics of things, because my perception of things matches perfectly the way others perceive them as well, judging from how they act. There is simply no cause to ever dispute them.

And through all of this – and I know this will sound a bit strange to non-believers – it really never occurred to me to question whether Jesus Christ was my Savior or not. I automatically included that in my mind as something I simply knew, based on the reality that I understood – historical, experiential, testimonial, and scriptural.

But everything else, especially my LDS beliefs, I held in “suspended belief” – because I had no cause to disbelieve them, but no compelling reason I could see to believe them either.

After those many months of intellectual struggle, however, I was even more dismayed about whether I could ever “KNOW” anything well enough to devote my life to it rather than merely doing whatever I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I began to despair, and because I was a normal teenager who found himself trying to find his place in a new home with a new group of friends in a new school, I was feeling pretty depressed about almost everything.

By then, I had started the 2nd year of seminary, studying The Book of Mormon. The teacher had introduced us to a scripture I had heard before, but never paid serious attention to, and asked us to learn for ourselves whether The Book of Mormon was true and of God. The scripture was this:

“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” – Moroni 10:4-5

This time when I read it, it made me stop and think. I paid more attention to that word “know” than I ever had before. If what I was reading was true – that I could know the truth of all things by the power of the Holy Ghost – then I recognized this promise could very well be the key of all knowledge, understanding, faith, and inspiration.
Perhaps more importantly, I recognized that if The Book of Mormon really were true, then that was like the first domino in a string of dominoes. If The Book of Mormon were true, then Joseph Smith had to be a true prophet to bring it forth. If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, then his visions and the visitations of angels he experienced were true. If his visions are true, then Christ had restored His true gospel in these latter days, and the Church He had established while He walked the earth had been re-established in 1830 through Joseph Smith.

I began to hope that the promise in The Book of Mormon was indeed of God.

But I also began to question yet again. I wondered if my quest could really end so simply. But most of all, I wondered if Satan wasn’t the author of the promise – deceiving if it were possible even the very elect, as I knew from the previous year in seminary that the Savior had prophesied in Matthew 24:24. If that were the case, then Joseph Smith was a false prophet, and all my ancestors had been deceived. If so, I knew I didn’t want that for myself.

So even though I hoped it was true, I didn’t know if mere feelings (assuming that would be how God would manifest the truth of it to me) would be enough to prove it to be true.

But I decided I had to at least read The Book of Mormon and ponder it and pray about it. So that night, I read the introductory material and the first several chapters. I remember sitting cross-legged on my bed as I read, thinking to myself, asking myself a wide variety of questions I had never asked before about Joseph Smith and the origins of The Book of Mormon.

I was questioning and doubting everything I could think of, trying to find an alternative explanation to Joseph’s story – one that would fit everything I already knew about it from so many years of Primary and Sunday School. And I started to think along these lines: “if God lives, but did not appear to Joseph Smith in a vision, then it must have been the devil behind it all.” And not long after I started to entertain those ideas, I heard a voice coming from within the room. I couldn’t understand what it was saying, but it was clear and stern. Startled, I looked up and could see the voice was coming from one of the two disconnected speakers on the floor. I had been working on fixing my stereo system, and had disconnected both speakers and left them on the floor. At that moment, as I realized that it was supernatural for disconnected speakers to be talking to me, I felt paralyzed by fear. I began to understand the voice, which was telling me that I had to beware and that I was one of the very elect and that I was about to be deceived and that I should burn The Book of Mormon and never touch one again, because it would lead me far astray from the knowledge I sought. Then the other speaker repeated the same thing. During this time, I tried to scream, but couldn’t make a sound. I tried to move, but couldn’t. After the voices ended, in my bathroom, the toilet flushed. I tried to pray, but couldn’t even think straight. I’ve never again felt as terrified as I felt that night.

When I could move again, I literally fell over to fall off the bed onto my knees, and prayed like I had never prayed before – but it was a clumsy prayer in that all I could think of praying for was relief and escape from the fear. I fell asleep praying and awoke the next morning still on my knees with my torso and arms sprawled on the bed.

The next day, I could barely think of anything except what had happened to me. Had that been the promised manifestation? I was now not only totally confused, but also keenly aware that I could no longer enjoy the luxury of imagining there to be no God. If that had been God speaking to me from the speakers, then my fear was evidence of my unworthiness. If that had been an evil spirit speaking to me from the speakers, then my fear was justified.

But I didn’t know what to believe, even though it seemed to me more likely for that experience to have been of evil, similar to what Joseph Smith had experienced before His vision. I was afraid to tell anyone about my experience – and, in fact, have only told a handful of people about that experience since it happened.

After that, I was reading The Book of Mormon in earnest, almost daily; pondering how sincere my heart was, and whether I had real intent or faith in Christ, and wondering where it all would lead and whether I had already received the promised manifestation, and if so, what to make of it. All I remember about my reading is that it was difficult to understand and much of it seemed irrelevant to me. But I persevered, because the stakes had suddenly become even more incredibly high.

I don’t know how long it took me to get to Alma 32, but I remember the experience of reading that chapter with total clarity. In it, Alma, circa 74 B.C. in the Americas, is preaching the word of God to the people, in their synagogues and homes. He begins to have success among the poor – those who had been cast out because “of the coarseness of their apparel,” “being esteemed by their brethren as dross.” Alma notes, however, that they “were poor in heart.” So when some of these poor begin to ask Alma plaintive questions about they should do since they have been cast out of the very synagogues that they have labored to build, Alma literally turns his attention from the rich and proud and begins to preach to the poor and humble.

And gradually as I read, it seemed more and more as if Alma was talking directly to me. He talked about how blessed are those who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble, and about faith. As Alma says, “there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.” Alma continues to discuss faith, belief, and knowledge. “Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.”

Alma suddenly seemed to be talking about my passion to know, and my struggle to know, and my reluctance to believe – and had my full attention as I carefully read on.

“And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

My mind raced as I read this verse again and again. I remembered that I had indeed hoped that Moroni’s promise would be true so I could learn and know the truth of all things. But it seemed as if Alma was saying that it wouldn’t be faith if I knew them, and that it wouldn’t be faith even if I hoped for them if they weren’t true. So that didn’t seem to answer any of my questions about what to believe and why – so I read on.

“And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word…”

“Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.”

“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

Now I had done enough science experiments to be able to relate to Alma’s talk about an experiment. I read on, enthralled by what I was reading.

“Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.”

That struck me as self-evidently obvious, but it wasn’t until I read the following that I had the answer to my prayers:

And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own alikeness.

Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away.
And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.

And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good…”

As I read those words of that last verse, I felt not only an incredible epiphany and sense of euphoria, but the same feeling I had felt at age 8 when confirmed – but more powerful this time. Time stopped, as my entire body tingled with a spiritual energy – a fire – that felt as if my blood had become fire as it coursed through my body. There was a tingling energy that accompanied the fire, and my mind experienced a heightened awareness and certainty that is literally indescribable and cannot be communicated to someone who has not felt it, but need not be communicated to someone who has felt it.

I suddenly KNEW – with that indescribably joyful certainty that includes, but is stronger than, fact and reason combined – not only that The Book of Mormon was true, but that God lived, my family and friends were not figments of my imagination but were children of God, and most importantly, that Jesus Christ was my Savior. All at the same time, with no doubt or fear – just a thrill of joy.

I realized with joy, in and through that inspired state of heightened enlightenment where everything is crystal clear in an infinite instant, that throughout my life The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Jesus Christ had brought me nothing but peace, joy, light, and goodness – and that equated with TRUTH. Everyone I knew in the church were better people when they were living according to the principles taught by The Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I instantly recognized the many ways that I had been blessed by the love and goodness and inspired teachings of my family, neighbors, church members, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, and church leaders and General Authorities – the apostles and prophets – and I suddenly KNEW, in a way that I could never again doubt or deny – that I was feeling the Spirit of God – the Holy Ghost – and that THIS was the way, and the ONLY way, to “know the TRUTH of all things.”

What’s more, I knew that my previous experience had been an encounter with evil. The contrast between the terror of that night and the peace and joy of this night could not have been more stark, and all doubt about what is true and good and what is not was eliminated for me in that infinite moment of sublime enlightenment.

My prayers had been answered. I don’t know how long I was caught up in the euphoria of that moment of supreme ecstasy and sublime knowing – but I do know that the experience changed me forever. I have felt that Spirit many times in my life now, and hunger for it and seek after it with all my heart.

My late good friend, Britt Hagen, joined the church in his 40s, only a year or so before his death in 1997, after a miraculous conversion experience somewhat similar to mine. He once told me that in his life prior to his conversion, he had tried almost every drug he could find – and that none could begin to compare with his experience with the Spirit of God. He had felt the same things I had, and knew the same things I knew.

In fact, I’ve known hundreds and even thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of people who have had the same experience with the Spirit – and all of them will tell you that it changes their lives. Many experience it before their baptism and are then baptized and become faithful converts. Some like me experience it after their baptism and are then willing to wear out our lives seeking to follow its promptings wherever it leads, trying to become – in Britt’s words – a good man, one day at a time (knowing that none of us are or can be good in this life) while sharing its joy with others.

Now, instead of looking strictly to fact, reason, science and consensus as being the best ways to know truth, I look to the Spirit of God as being the best way to know truth. It has never been wrong or led me astray, even though it is more often than not silent and absent, perhaps because, as Jesus said: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

So here, then, are my answers to Dr. Fred’s questions:

“What do I know?”
I know God lives, and loves us, and wants us to love one another.

I know that God sheds forth His Holy Spirit upon those of us, His children, who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

I know Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and my Savior and the Savior of all mankind.

I know The Bible and The Book of Mormon contain the word of God.

I know God also speaks to His children through prophets, both ancient and modern, and also through the Spirit of God – a spark of which is given to everyone born on earth.

I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true – that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind are saved from death and will be resurrected, and all can be saved from their sins, through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

I know my son Michael, my daughter Ashley, my sister Sherry, my brother Randy, and my grandparents and other ancestors are all in the spirit world, teaching and learning, and that I will enjoy a glorious reunion with them. I know relationships are eternal because “love never ends.”

And I know many other things too numerous to mention, or too mundane to come to mind right now.

“How do I know it?”

Through the process I described above – not only through study and fact and reason, but by the Spirit of God – which is the most powerful form of knowing I can imagine.

Now, in saying that, I need to address my skeptical friends who are atheists and agnostics – because I know they’re likely to be thinking, “How can you say that? The scientific method is the best (and perhaps only) way to know anything.”

My response is that even though I’m not a scientist, I believe I understand and actually believe in the scientific method. As I understand it, it’s a means of discovery of truth consisting of systematic observation, careful measurement, repeated testing and experimentation, and the constant re-examination and modification, as necessary, of hypotheses and beliefs.

I have used the essentials of the scientific method religiously (irony fully intended) to sort out what is true from what is false and misleading. Even after my spiritual experiences described above, I’ve been careful to keep re-examining my assumptions, knowing that my spiritual awakening was not the end of the road. It was a second birth, and just like a baby, I felt the need to learn more – much more.

Every experience I’ve had – even those where I took a detour off the paths of righteousness – have strengthened both my knowledge AND my faith. I’ve put God and His messengers and the truth He has revealed to the test, time and time again. I may fail them – but they’ve never failed me.

When I live according to the Spirit and the guidance I get from the word of God, I enjoy peace in times of trial and joy in times of abundance. I am a better man for it.

When forget God for awhile, whether it’s hours or days or even weeks, and live by my own light or let my innate pride and self-righteousness rule my will (which happens often to me, as anyone who follows me in my Facebook group postings can attest), I can be mean, short-tempered, and irritable and then pay the price by reaping what I’ve sown.

And as I learned from Alma 32, whatsoever is true is good and light and discernible and enlightens the soul. I don’t doubt that – and it guides my every decision about what is right and what is wrong.

Have I seen God? No. But I have seen the workings of God in the lives of His children, both through outright miracles and the less dramatic tender mercies, so many times that I would be a craven fool to deny it, just as someone would be who denies the results of an experiment he’s seen repeated a thousand times – with the exact same results repeated every time.

And that ignores the accumulation of historical fact, philosophical perspectives, observations of human nature, natural and supernatural phenomenon, and even the inspiring art and beauty we all encounter in our lives – all of which combine to reinforce as strongly as anything else I know – my knowledge that God lives; God is good; God is love; and everything else I know about God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and about His Gospel and Church.

Knowledge may be power, but more importantly it is a means to the end of a perfect and fulfilling joy, throughout this life and the eternities to come.

“What do you believe?”

I believe many things that the Spirit may have been silent about to me, or at least may not have witnessed to me with the power described above, but rather through a “still small voice” that is not as easy to recognize and is more easily confused with my own desires or imagination. I also believe those things that I have learned through fact or reason or science or education or other fallible human methodologies. In other words, much of what others categorize as knowledge, I categorize as belief. Much of what others categorize as belief of faith, I categorize as knowledge. That’s how powerful the witness of the Spirit is. It fundamentally changes our perception of what we KNOW and what we believe.

For example, I believe that all new art and all science is inspired. By that I mean that I believe that every great artist, every scientific advance, comes because a child of God follows his or her innate (God-given) passion or gifts and through faith (belief in that which cannot be seen – including that the universe is an orderly but beautiful place) receives divine inspiration that assists (but does not dictate) their thinking and actions.

I believe that God reveals Himself through the faith of His children on earth.

I believe that the Constitution of the United States of America was created by inspired men raised up to make possible the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I believe that we seeing many prophecies of the latter-days fulfilled, in our day.

I believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is led by good men – prophets, seers, and revelators – apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that I should revere their teachings every six months in the church’s General Conference as I would scripture.

I believe that, in the words of modern prophets and apostles, “the family is ordained of God, and that marriage between a man and a woman is essential to God’s eternal plan, and that Children are entitled to birth within the bounds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother.”

I believe that “the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”

I believe that abortion is generally evil, as are laws that would deprive any couple of the right to make a prayerful decision about terminating a pregnancy that might cause an undue threat to the mental or physical health for the mother.

And there are many other things I believe, but don’t know with perfect certainty.

“Why do I believe it?”

Because those things “feel” right to me and are consistent with what I KNOW, AND seem to be true based upon my studies, experience, ponderings, and exchanges with others, and/or are taught by those I trust as being wise and inspired.

I just read a fascinating 2004 interview with Barack Obama about his religious beliefs.

What struck me was this comment from the interview:

“I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.
I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity.” – Barack Obama

The above statement seems to put Obama on the outside looking in at traditional Christianity, because most Christians believe quite literally the Biblical passages that seem, on their face, to be quite exclusive, such as:

“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” – John 3:5

Now, I wholeheartedly agree with Obama on these particular points, and I’ll note for the record that this is why I love the LDS (Mormon) belief in and practice of proxy baptisms for the dead.

Other Christians see false dichotomies in the conflict between universal salvation and the acceptance of Biblical truth. For example, they might believe that you must either accept Christ and be baptized to be saved, or you are damned.

Joseph Smith struggled with this same question, especially after his unbaptized brother died, and several of his children died in their infancy. The revelations he received make it clear that salvation is far more universal than anyone of Joseph’s day ever imagined. Here are some of the things Joseph taught, in my words, not his:

Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, every living soul will be resurrected and are thus saved (from death) (See I Corinthians 15:22).

Heaven and hell describe the period of time between death and the resurrection, where spirits are consigned to paradise (a place of peace) or spirit prison (a place of suffering for ones sins).

All spirits continue to progress in faith and learning even after death.

When we are resurrected, our spirits are re-united with our bodies, and receive one of many degrees of glory, within 3 primary degrees (the celestial, terrestial, and telestial) corresponding with the glory of the sun, moon, and stars. (See I Corinthians 15:40)

Those who die unbaptized, with or without knowledge of Christ, can still be saved if they repent and accept Christ as their Savior in the spirit world before resurrection – but they must still be baptized; hence, God had revealed to his children through his prophets the means whereby this can be accomplished, even during the time of the apostles (See I Corinthians 15:29) and again through Joseph Smith in latter days. It’s simple: the living may be baptized on behalf of the dead, through proxy baptisms. This is also in fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6.

We believe Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple to restore the keys of the work of the temple whereby such baptisms are performed, and that by serving our ancestors by seeking out our dead and ensuring that they receive baptism and other temple ordinances, we are turning our hearts to them and theirs to us.

And that’s why we Mormons agree with Barack Obama about this particular matter regarding God’s universal love for every one of his children on earth. We can confirm that God will NOT “consign four-fifths of the world to hell,” and He will indeed NOT allow “some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity.” Little children who die are taken straight to heaven. Those who die in ignorance of the Savior have every chance in the next life.

We Mormons show our love for that little kid in India by going into our temples to be baptized on his behalf, and we have every confidence in a joyous reunion in the next life where we will rejoice together in the love and mercy of a nonetheless just God.

But bitter haters who can’t see beyond death don’t understand any of this. They simply think that we Mormons are trying to pad the number of our converts or take pride in reporting that famous people are now Mormon. I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or to cry…

Here they go again. The anti-Mormon bigotry parade is on the march. This time it’s Bill Maher who is beyond ignorant and clueless; he’s execrably wrong.

At this article on Real Clear Politics, Bill Maher responded to S.E. Cupp’s comment that Mitt Romney gives a lot of his money to charity every year with: “I got to call bulls**t on that one. All his charitable donations are to Mormons. He gives to his cult.” “They’re not poor people,” he said. “Name one poor Mormon.”

Wow. I know that’s a knee-jerk response by the wholly uninformed Maher, but nonetheless, where does one start in on such savage ignorance?

First of all, based on my experience, I’d say that most of the converts joining the church are poor. Rule of thumb: the rich are proud; the poor are humble. More than half of the Mormons in the world live outside the U.S. I’ve had four children who served missions. Most of the dozens of people they collectively baptized were certainly what anyone in the U.S. would classify as “poor.” When picking up three of those children from their missions, I’ve been in at least 15 such homes in Mexico, Poland, and Argentina. They may be poor by our standards, but they’re happier and certainly more loving on their worst days than Bill Maher is on his best day. And their lives inevitably improve after they join the church – or at least they will tell you they do. It’s partly because they stop worrying about money and discover the truth about happiness – it comes from love and family and service and humility and principles Bill Maher was obviously never taught.

But we believe that they’re blessed financially as well. If Bill Maher doesn’t know any poor Mormons, perhaps it’s because of those blessings – not that I would expect him to understand that concept of a just God blessing those who love God and abide by His commandments (principles of happiness to live by), which are given to His children because He loves them.

He should consider how much the Romneys have donated to causes other than the church. It’s probably still more than the Obama’s have donated to liberal-preferred, politically correct charity, even on a % basis.But you also have to look at what that “cult” does with its money, remembering that everyone in the church I’ve ever known considers all money to be a sacred trust, since even the poor pay with their widows mite just as Romney pays with the many millions he donates to the church – if only the government (especially the Obama administration) would look at taxpayer money that way:

1) A negligible percent goes to supporting church operations, because none of the church leaders get paid in the traditional sense. The needs of General Authorities (many, but not all, of whom are well off before they’re called) are met, but none of them live a higher standard of living after becoming a General Authority than before. If they were, you’d have certainly read about it by now. None of the local leaders are paid, not even a stipend – and almost every member of the ward has a “calling.” Nobody picks their own callings. Most just serve when called.

2) The church takes care of its own poor. Members fast once a month and donate the money they would have spent on food to the church as a “Fast Offering.” That money is then administered by the Bishop to meet the needs of the poor. During the Depression, the church started a welfare program to promote independence and self-reliance. Reagan said about it “Oh that our federal welfare worked so perfectly.”

3) Chapels and temples are built worldwide. In Africa and many other poor countries, they’re building new chapels regularly – that serve not just the people’s Sunday worship needs, but also act as community centers of sorts. Church members love the temples and temple ordinances, including eternal marriages.

4) Disaster relief. The church is known throughout the world as being one of the leading providers of disaster relief. If you have never been to Salt Lake City and toured the Humanitarian Center, you owe it to yourself to see it. You’ll be blown away. The church, like Romney, doesn’t toot its own humanitarian horn. After Katrina, it’s reported that the mayor of one town said “I want to thank two group who were here first and did the most to help us out and provide us with what we needed: one is the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, and the other is the Mormons.”

Thanks, Bill, for your ludicrous, humorless nastiness that gives me the chance to set the record straight.

Curiosity about Mormon beliefs have taken on a new life now that it looks like Mitt Romney will be the alternative to Barack Obama to be our next President. And as I pointed out in my last post, a lot of people are trying to define our beliefs for us. Grrr….how rude!

Joseph Smith was asked a similar question over 150 years ago by John Wentworth, the editor and proprietor of – how ironic – the “Chicago Democrat.” Part of Joseph’s response constitute what are now known as “The Articles of Faith,” and are now included in church scriptural canon, meaning that they are official doctrine. They’re a little dated, in the sense that they address matters of foremost concern to the people of 1842 rather than today, but they’re an excellent starting point in answering the question of “What Do Mormons Believe?” I’ll add some of my own observations about what Mormons believe below.

So here is one (divinely inspired) creedal summary of what Mormons believe:

1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2 We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4 We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5 We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6 We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7 We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8 We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9 We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul — We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

– Joseph Smith

I would add a few items of modern relevance:

– We believe that the Priesthood, or authority of God given to man to unify and serve His children on earth, which Priesthood had been bestowed by Jesus Christ upon the apostles of the original Church of Jesus Christ as established by the Savior, was lost sometime after those Apostles were killed.

– Thus, we believe that a restoration / restitution was necessary – of the Priesthood, of the church, and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because all were lost or became corrupted over time.

– We believe that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, who was called by God when, as a boy of 14, he went into the woods to pray about which church he should join. At the time, he saw in a vision, God and his Son, Jesus Christ, who told him he should join none of the churches, because “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…” A few years later, the angel Moroni appeared to him and began his instruction, which eventually led to Joseph receiving the golden plates which he translated and which became The Book of Mormon, which is Another Testament of Jesus Christ – a modern witness of Jesus Christ and the restoration of His church and gospel. If The Book of Mormon is true, then so is the restoration and Joseph Smith must be a prophet. Hence, the importance of The Book of Mormon, even though we believe The Holy Bible to be the word of God just as is The Book of Mormon.

– We believe that the lesser, or Aaronic, Priesthood was restored when John the Baptist, as a resurrected being (an angel), appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on May 15, 1829 and laid his hands upon their heads and pronounced: “UPON you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.”

– We believe the greater, or Melchizedek Priesthood, was restored soon thereafter when Peter, James, and John also appeared to Smith and Cowdery and bestowed the “Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God” upon them.

– We believe that the Savior and the prophets Moses, Elijah, and Elias appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple to restore the keys of the gathering of Israel, temple work, and previous dispensations.

– Thus, we believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints represents a restoration of the ancient church, with apostles and prophets holding all of the Priesthood keys necessary to administer the Church under the authority and direction of Jesus Christ.

– We believe that in the mouths of two or more witnesses shall all things be established; hence, there were many witnesses to many of the miraculous events of the restoration. Besides Joseph and Oliver Cowdery as mentioned above, there were eight others who testified of handling the golden plates, and three who said the angel showed them the plates. There have also been many other witnesses of miracles, visions, and revelations.

– We believe that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was also restored through modern prophets and through the miraculous coming forth of The Book of Mormon.

– We believe that the Constitution was a divinely inspired document, and that without it and the religious freedom it granted, the church and the gospel could not have been restored to the earth.

– We believe that freedom to choose what we will believe is one of the greatest of the gifts of God to his children.

– We believe in eternal marriage, and that family relationships are forever. We believe that through the ordinances of the temple, families can be united in love and harmony in the glorious hereafter.

– We believe in service, love, harmony, and being of good cheer. We believe that God gave us commandments as principles of happiness, and that through our obedience to God’s commandments, we show our love for God and for our fellow man, and are blessed with peace and joy as a result.

– We do not believe that by following God’s commandments, we will be a peculiar people, and not “of the world.” We’re OK with that. We both freely give and rely on the tolerance and goodwill of our brothers and sisters with whom we live in this worldly state.

It is a rich and abundant worldview, so there is much that I’ve left out – but we’re always happy to answer questions. Keep it loving and respectful please!

Well, we knew it was coming, but it doesn’t make the bigotry any less ugly when it rears its snarling head, as it did in a Lawrence O’Donnell segment this week. Now that Mitt Romney has the Republican nomination sewn up, the anti-Mormon bigotry parade has assembled and started its long march to the election. You may have seen some of the ugliness lately – it’s not hard to find. Most of it probably leaves fair-minded people scratching their heads, as in “Do Mormons REALLY believe all that?”

The answer is usually no – but I’ll admit: we Mormons believe some rather strange things. For example, we believe God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to a 14-year old boy in upstate New York in 1820. We believe that same boy, with the utterly unremarkable name of Joseph Smith, received engraved plates of gold from an angel and, through revelation, translated those plates, published the translation that is now The Book of Mormon, and established a church with hundreds of adherents – all before he reached the age of 25. We believe in modern prophets and in personal revelation. The practice of our religion makes us objects of ridicule as well. No coffee, tea, tobacco or alcohol? No pre-marital or extramarital sex? Mormons in good standing pay a full tithe? Once polygamy was OK but now it’s not? A previous policy preventing the blacks from receiving the Priesthood that was rescinded by revelation as recently as 1978? Proxy baptisms for our deceased ancestors and other secret (we say sacred) ceremonies inside temples? Ceremonial undergarments as a remembrance of our temple covenants? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

However, the curious and quirky novelty of those beliefs and practices are apparently not enough for those who hate us. They need to twist, distort, and even make up other things to REALLY make us look silly and even sinister. The current God of earth is a married man from the planet Kolob who was given Earth as his own when he died? Mormons are racist? Mormons don’t believe that Jesus is the son of God because Satan and Jesus are brothers? Joseph Smith “got caught having sex with his maid?” Women are inferior to men? Mormons are either polygamists or wish they were? No one but Joseph Smith ever saw the golden plates? Mormons believe that Native Americans are descended from Jews? Mormons are forced to serve missions so they can be brainwashed? Church leaders are rich and powerful? Mormons believe in magic underwear? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no and no. Red flags for anti-Mormon bigotry – every one of them.

If it seems hard to understand what we believe to those outside the church, it’s because Mormon doctrine is so extraordinarily robust. It’s simple enough to learn the basics – Faith in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost – in one lesson. And yet the history and doctrines of the church create such a comprehensive worldview that is so far-reaching and controversial that most of us Mormons study the scriptures every day of our entire lives and are still learning more. Yet perhaps the most remarkable thing is how much we Mormons generally see things so similarly and how united and cohesive the church is, especially as an all-volunteer organization with no paid ministry. We attribute it to the operations of the Holy Spirit; cynics attribute it to brainwashing, Borg-like assimilation, a cult mentality, or blind and mindless ignorance. In my experience, such cynics are ignorant and lack experience with the church and its members.

Most Mormons simply do not believe the things we’re often said to believe. The “out-there” things you hear are simply not taught in General Conference or Sunday School. You just never hear them discussed, and it’s not because we’re afraid to. They’re just irrelevant to us. Every Mormon, including respected church historians and Mormon scholars, are free to pursue the truth, too, so it’s not dogmatic consistency imposed and enforced by church leaders. When you hear about Mormons being excommunicated for opposing church doctrine or BYU professors being fired, it’s usually because they not only teach things about the church that aren’t true, but do so publicly to embarrass the church. Just ask Jan Shipps – a non-Mormon – if the Mormons are afraid of the truth. Trust me – most of the really out-there stuff is bigoted nonsense parading as unbiased (“former Mormon”) whistle-blowing. Some of the things you might hear, however – the apparent contradictions or anything hard to wrap your head around – are what we call “mysteries,” which every religion (and even science) has. Eternity itself is a tough concept to grasp – right up there with the idea of this universe existing in the first place.

So if you see something that seems on its face to be ridiculous, it probably is and has little to do with our real beliefs. It’s often twisted from something said by a prophet or church leader over 100 years ago. Brigham Young once gave a sermon in the morning session of General Conference and then came back in the afternoon and reversed his morning message, saying “this morning you heard what Brigham Young had to say – now you will hear what the Lord has to say.” You see, we have a sophisticated tolerance for humanity and human error – even when revelation is involved. Revelation is when the divine meets the human, and is therefore prone to the frailties of the flesh, so to speak – so the miracle is how nearly perfect it can be, enabling us to see a glimpse of divine perfection, not a compelling view of man made perfect by interaction with divinity. Where there is perfect knowledge (compelling proof no one can deny), there can be no faith, so providing such proof defeats the purpose of life – to learn by faith. But fundamentalist Christians have no such tolerance for the humanity or human error of any Mormon prophet, and therefore are almost always seriously mistaken when they say “Mormons believe this” or “Mormons believe that” and cite some obscure writings of a dead prophet. To them, the divine origin of the Bible means that it must be word-for-word perfect – never mind that it’s been transcribed, edited, compiled, translated, and published by imperfect humans. The inability to grasp this dichotomy between the human and the divine leaves them vulnerable to misjudgment about divine influence in their own lives and the lives of others. That’s why they can be so insufferably intolerant and hard-headed in defending their religious and political beliefs. They simply have no grasp of anything other than moral absolutes, in spite of the rich Western Judeo-Christian tradition of religious and philosophical depth and complexity.

So almost all of what Mormon antagonists, whether on the extreme left or the extreme right, parade as truth is not even close to it. If I said “Christians believe that a man who was executed as a criminal somehow climbed out of his grave,” how much truth is there in such an outrageously worded claim? Perhaps enough to make it somewhat recognizable, but not enough to keep it from being a bigoted falsehood. That’s a very good parallel to what happens when anti-Mormons try to portray Mormon beliefs and teachings.

But here’s what gets to me: Anti-Mormons argue from the presumption that all Mormons are ignorant and uninformed in believing what they say we believe. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Most Mormons are very well informed about what the church teaches. We have a two-day general conference twice a year where most practicing Mormons listen to 8 hours or more of talks we believe to be inspired. We also have 3 hours of church teachings and meetings every Sunday. I laugh at the assertion that Mormons are mindless robots or dupes, because one of the fundamental teachings is “follow the spirit,” or in other words, each person is an autonomous free agent responsible for making their own choices about how to live their life. Well taught and well informed? Yes, much more so than most churches. Willing to trust and believe the prophets and apostles? Free to choose their personal beliefs? Again, yes. Only those who actively work against the church are excommunicated, as it should be. Brainwashed dupes and zombies? Hardly. Visit a church and see for yourself.

Mitt Romney is extraordinarily smart. He has the same Harvard Law degree President Obama has PLUS an MBA from Harvard. But you know the left will attempt to paint him as a clueless robot because he believes the straw man lies they’ll manufacture as “Mormon beliefs.” Don’t believe everything you hear or read, and as you consider whether to believe the lie that Mormons are brainwashed robots or some variation of that, consider some other intelligent, highly respected, well-known practicing Mormons: Stephen R. Covey – universally respected business guru; Orson Scott Card – science fiction writer; Ken Jennings of Jeopardy fame; Harvard professor and author Clayton Christensen, Kim Clark – former Dean of Harvard’s Business School, Columbia historian Richard Bushman, Gladys Knight; the Marriotts; Billy Casper – pro golfer; Dale Murphy – All Star baseball legend; the Osmonds; Jimmer Fredette; NFL Super Bowl MVP Steve Young; college and NBA Basketball star Thurl Bailey, Sports Illustrated high school basketball phenom Jabari Parker, American Idol David Archuleta; comedy actor Jon Heder; NFL Coach Andy Reid, and many, many more you may not have heard of but who have impacted your life, nonetheless – such as the inventor of television (Philo Farnsworth) or the founder of Jet Blue (David Neeleman). And if you really want to blow your mind, consider this: Eldredge Cleaver was baptized and died a Mormon, and both Glenn Beck and Harry Reid are practicing Mormons. So if you think we’re all stupid and brainwashed, you might want to reconsider. If Glenn Beck and Harry Reid were in the same Sunday School class, I guarantee you they wouldn’t be arguing because they’d be focused on those religious beliefs they share, not those political beliefs they don’t. If you want to know what we really believe, just lose the cynicism and ironic post-modernistic arrogance and then ask a Mormon you know in all sincerity, or call the missionaries and invite them over. Remember that if you ask them politely not to come any more, they’ll honor your request. They’re not about high-pressure – what good is a convert who’s not converted?

And study for yourself. I’ve never understood how anyone could reject The Book of Mormon without reading it and studying and thoughtfully pondering it’s contents. Also, if you want to read the best documented, most fair and accurate account of Joseph Smith’s life, read the comprehensive and fascinating historical work by Richard L. Bushman, “Rough Stone Rolling.” Bushman is the Gouvernor Morris Professor of History, Emeritus, at Columbia University and “Rough Stone Rolling” is far and away the most respected biography of Joseph Smith available today.

The people who are really being duped are those who give any credence to the cess pool of anti-Mormon propaganda put out by those who profit enormously from feeding the tremendous amount of anti-Mormon bigotry and ignorance in this country. Sad to say, but the biggest promoters of anti-Mormon information is those with the most to gain or lose – book sellers and preachers. But one things besides death and taxes is certain: we’ll be seeing a LOT of anti-Mormon bigotry over the coming seven months.

My best advice? Be wise and careful in what you choose to believe. Be wise and careful in what you choose to reject. And be VERY wise in choosing what to put on the shelf until you can research it better and decide for yourself. How will you know when you’ve chosen correctly? Easy. You’ll be at peace, you won’t be bitter, and you won’t feel an urgent need to tell the entire world that you know what the Mormons REALLY believe, contrary to what they say they believe, if they all weren’t such liars and hypocrites…

Congress rejected President Obama’s sham budget on a 414-0 vote. I would have thought the media would have focused on the fact that President Obama finally succeeded in fulfilling his campaign promise to bring both parties together.

But instead, they pulled out the standard template for anything Congress does: the Republican-led Congress is sabotaging the good of the country again. Here’re the headlines from the left-leaning media:

AP: “GOP-run House easily rejects Obama budget” in “vote forced by GOP lawmakers.”
Washington Post: “Republican-run House has overwhelmingly rejected” President Obama’s budget.
TIME: “Republicans are ready to ram through…an election-year, $3.5 trillion budget.”
LA Times: “House set to approve Rep. Paul Ryan’s controversial 2013 budget.”
New York Times: Not a word of the 414-0 vote on their web site, according to Google site: search for “414-0”

Just so you can compare with less biased headlines:

Fox News: “House easily rejects Obama budget in tactical vote”
Washington Times: “Obama budget defeated 414-0”
OpenMarket.org: “Obama Budget Rejected by House in 414-0 Vote”
NewsOK: “Obama budget fails 414-0 as Democrats bail”
TownHall.com: “Unanimous: Obama Budget Defeated 414-0”

Interesting, is it not?

Looks like Romney’s going to be the nominee, no matter how much the mainstream media plays up the opposition to a Romney candidacy amongst evangelicals while downplaying the anti-Mormon ignorance and bigotry (parading as “exposition”) that is the root cause of much of the evangelical opposition.

I’ve had a lot of experience with fundamentalists / evangelicals over the years since graduating from high school – some of it unpleasant.

The Christian ladies I worked with in Richardson in 1978 were wonderful – one invited me to dine (and pray) with her family and focused on our shared belief in that Jesus Christ who is our Savior and the Son of God, who was crucified and died on the cross for our sins, and who rose from the dead on the third day.

On the other hand, when I was representing IBM online in 1994, living in Austin, a friend of mine who worked at Microsoft related how high-level executives there had included my being Mormon as one of my “weaknesses” they could exploit in the character assassination campaign they executed (which campaign was documented by both Brill’s Content and PC Magazine).

During that time, one national technology columnist (an evangelical), went on a rant about my religious beliefs, stating in public that I was serving Satan, an idiot to believe as I did, and couldn’t be trusted to have a rational bone in my body.

A few years ago, one lady I was working with in Texas in relation to INVISUS called me one day and asked if I was a Mormon. When I replied that I was indeed, there was stunned silence on the other end of the line before she said: “You just didn’t seem like a dishonest hypocrite.” She never called me again or returned my phone calls.

I went to church and had dinner in Long Island with another INVISUS associate and his delightful family, but after dinner he pulled out “The Godmakers” (a ridiculously biased and twisted anti-Mormon “documentary”) and insisted that I watch it with him. I watched enough of it to be able to tell him that asking me to watch that would be similar to me asking him to watch an atheist’s “documentary” on how Jesus’s followers were a bunch of con artists who conspired to destroy Jesus’s body to make it appear that Jesus had been resurrected. It may have a fact here and there that supports the central thesis, but the overall imagination and twisted facts to truth and reality ratio is so high as to render the “documentary” a work of fiction.

So my point is that anti-Mormon bigotry amongst many evangelicals is real and has been fanned by preachers who prey on the faith and trust (and ignorance) of their followers by actively spreading anti-Mormon lies and propaganda, such as “Mormons aren’t Christian,” “The Mormon church is a cult,” “Mormons are polygamists,” “Mormons baptize dead people,” “Mormons believe in the occult,” “Mormons are racists,” “Mormons believe you can be saved by works alone,” and other perhaps superficially plausible but utterly facile falsehoolds that can’t withstand even the simplest scrupulous scrutiny.

I’ve seen the opposite from my Catholic and Jewish friends: I can’t think of an instance where I’ve seen anything but respect for and curiosity about my beliefs from Catholics or Jews (and most Protestants, for that matter).

So I believe that ignorance and/or bigotry is the leading reason that Mitt Romney has done so poorly amongst Evangelicals. It’s the 800-lb gorilla in this election. Fortunately, I’m confident that the same evangelicals who are voting against Romney now will be even more motivated to vote against Obama in November to stop the encroachment on our religious and economic rights and liberties.

Last week, Charles Blow, a columnist for the New York Times, addressed a Tweet to Mitt Romney during the Republican debate:

“Let me just tell you this Mitt ‘Muddle Mouth’: I’m a single parent and my kids are *amazing*! Stick that in your magic underwear. #CNNdebate”

His reference to “magic underwear” is, of course, a common anti-Mormon slur, presumably referencing J.Willard Marriott’s unfortunate sharing with 60 Minutes years ago a special spiritual experience where his garments had offered him apparently supernatural physical protection.

Later, Blow’s initial response to the response he got to that tweet was to tweet again:

“Time to scratch some of this right wing lice out of my timeline. Be back in a sec… #block”

I was stunned to see the juxtaposition of anti-Mormon bigotry with a reference to lice. That’s because as a descendant of Mormon martyr Thomas White McBride, I’m painfully familiar with an incident from Mormon history when another reference was made to lice. Consider the details (from Wikipedia):

“On October 30 at approximately 4 p.m., the militia rode into the community. David Evans, a leader in the community, ran towards the militia, waving his hat and calling for peace. Alerted to the militia’s approach, most of the Latter-day Saint women and children fled into the woods to the south, while most of the men headed to the blacksmith shop. Unfortunately, the building was a particularly vulnerable structure as the widely-spaced logs made it easy for the attackers to fire inside. The shop became a deathtrap, since the militia gave no quarter, firing about one hundred rifle and musket shots into the building.

After the initial attack, several of those who had been wounded or had surrendered were shot dead. Members of the militia entered the shop and found ten-year-old Sardius Smith hiding under the blacksmith’s bellows. William Reynolds put his musket against the boy’s skull and blew off the top of his head. Reynolds later explained, “Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon.” [5] Seventy-eight year old Thomas McBride surrendered his musket to militiaman Jacob Rogers, who then shot McBride and hacked his body apart with a corn knife. Several other bodies were mutilated or clothing stolen, while many women were assaulted. Houses were robbed, wagons, tents and clothing were stolen, and horses and livestock were driven off, leaving the surviving women and children destitute.”

I e-mailed my favorite political columnist, James Taranto of the WSJ, about the connection. He apparently got the message, because he noted that “a reader” had “called his attention” to the example. See:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577249332366863576.html?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h

Nice to be able to make a difference in the national debate once in a while – hopefully in this case to blow (pun intended) back in the face of the New York Times and their bigoted columnist and hold them up as a good example of hypocrisy and double standard in relation to “eliminationist rhetoric.”