The American Spectator

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Mormonism Spelled Out

12.19.05 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 6)

This race was not won by a Frenchman. Sadly (well, in my opinion, happily...) The French have been inept at their own race. A frog hasn't touched the top step of the podium in twenty years now. Not since five-time winner Bernard Hinault in 1985. The last time the home team smelled victory they crapped it away on the last day. Two-time winner Laurent Fignon lost the 1989 Tour by eight seconds on that final Paris time trial. The winner, by the by, was American Greg LeMond.

Back to 1995: Miguel Indurain did win that year, but he is and was a Spaniard. He became the first to win the Tour five times consecutively, a record now bested by a certain Texan.

What the 1995 Tour will be remembered for is the tragic death of Lance Armstrong's teammate, Fabio Casartelli. He died when he hit the back of his head on a rock during a particularly nasty descent. Three days later, Lance rode (as he described...) with the "strength of two men" as he won stage 18 in Limoges. To this day, Lance remains close to the Casartelli family, and has dedicated stage wins in 2001 and 2003 which passed the memorial to his fallen teammate.

Just to set the record straight on the Tour.
-- Rob Hartsock
Bend, Oregon

Great article by L. Henry -- brings back many good memories. One minor point, Miguel Indurain is a Spaniard, not a Frenchman.
-- W. Deitrich
Roswell, GA

SMALL-D MORMONISM
Re: David Holman's Romney's Mormon Problem:

I will expect an onslaught of religious bigotry from the left if Romney has success, but to see it from conservatives so soon is really disheartening. No religion is perfect. We all worship God as best we can. If Mormon-baiter Holman can find 50,000 polygamists in Utah, he's been doing a lot of cloning.
-- Doug Gibson
Ogden, Utah

One reason for welcoming Mitt Romney's candidacy is the opportunity it will create for Mormons to discuss their fundamental Christianity with Christian friends and neighbors. I have no quarrel with the attention called by David Holman to unconventional aspects of Mormon doctrine. (He calls those doctrines novel, but teachings that have been available for nearly two centuries now might be less new than they are different.) No one will try to argue that LDS teachings fit snugly into mainstream of Protestant theology. Yet, Holman does millions of Mormons a disservice when he misrepresents their beliefs, as where he asserts that the Church's teachings on abortion sound more like a political compromise than a well-reasoned moral teaching. The page of Gospel Principles to which his article provides a link describes abortion as an abominable sin -- that sounds like an uncompromising moral stance to my ears. You can be assured that Mormons regard abortion as the murder of unborn, and that the Church as an institution works harder to save the lives of unborn children, through adoption, than any other church in America. If Holman wants to argue that you can't be Christian and accept exceptions for rape and incest, for example, he's going to be excluding as many Protestants and Catholics as Mormons from his version of the True Faith.

Worse, Holman dismisses Mormons' agreement with fundamental Christian doctrine as mere "platitudes," while he emphasizes areas of departure from conventional theology. But, is it a "platitude" when Mormons say they believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ? All Mormons believe that Jesus Christ was, is, and always will be the literal Son of God and the only begotten of the Father (John 3:16). Mormons believe that the Atonement of Jesus Christ was the central act of all history, and that it was the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins. As such, Christ's sacrifice was the only means by which men and women may be saved. Are these mere platitudes? I would have thought that these beliefs were the essence of Christianity. Mormons believe in the Virgin Birth and that Jesus was the only man ever to live a perfect life. Mormons believe that Christ, having been crucified for our sins, rose again the third day, as recorded in the Gospels, after which He ascended to Heaven. To dismiss these core beliefs as unimportant, without even mentioning them, is less candid than I would normally expect from a contributor to your pages.

It will be interesting to see how Romney's candidacy plays out. There are certainly many, Holman among them, I suppose, who are still pleased to call "Mormonism" a cult. On the other hand, as attention is paid to Romney's faith, conservative Christians will discover that Mormons share their views on social issues and also, typically, have the same attitudes on matters of economic and foreign policy. (Harry Reid is, regrettably, an exception to the rule.) I'm expecting the MSM to be schizophrenic about Romney's faith; they'll want to be sympathetic when Romney is criticized by some Christian conservatives (whom the MSM love to hate), and yet Mormon teaching on the hot-button issues of gay marriage and abortion are anathema to their blue-state mentalities. That'll be fun to watch.

At least one other good thing might occur: newspaper, magazine and (ahem) web-page editors might finally learn how the Church's name is to be written. It is the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Note the hyphen and the small "d" -- please get it right in the future!
-- Leighton M. Anderson
Whittier, California

It is quite easy to see that the spirit of persecution that drove the Latter-Day Saints from their homes several times is still alive and well, at least in author David Holman's mind. In this day and age, conservative-minded people need to unite to fight the liberal and secular philosophies of our time. This article is full of flat-out misrepresentations about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The author's contempt for the LDS Church is thinly veiled. Below I will clarify what Latter-Day Saints really believe and are about.

1) Are Latter-Day Saints Christians? Yes, we believe the Book of Mormon to be scripture and the most correct of any book. This belief, however, supports and sustains our belief in Christ and does not conflict with the Old and New Testaments, but supports them. Below are just a few of many verses in the Book of Mormon that support our belief in Christ.

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26)

"Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works. Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtain a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh." (Jacob 4:11)

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