http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482266,00.html
"Last week, I labeled members of the Mormon church who supported California's Proposition 8 as 'un-American,'" the actor said in a statement through his publicist. "I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination."
"But everyone has a right to vote their conscience; nothing could be more American," the statement continues. "To say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who contributed to Proposition 8 are 'un-American' creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement. No one should use 'un- American' lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have."
Friday, January 23, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Ton Hanks Says Mormons are Un-American
"...the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told Tarts. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American and I am one of them."
Read the full article here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480167,00.html
I wonder if he also feels Blacks, Asians and Muslims are un-American too?
Read the full article here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480167,00.html
I wonder if he also feels Blacks, Asians and Muslims are un-American too?
Friday, January 2, 2009
Focus on the Family is anti-mormon
Focus on the Family, an organization that I have long admired for their conservative values and commitment to upholding the family recently removed a book by Glen Beck from their recommended reading list because Glen Beck is Mormon.
Several people have written letters to FotF, expressing their disappointment and I've recently come across one letter that FotF sent back. I'll post it below, but in a nutshell, they start out by saying they did not blacklist Glen Beck because he is a Mormon, but then they go on to explain that the reason he was blacklisted was essentially because he is a Mormon. Read an article about it here at World Net Daily.
Here's the letter:
---------------
Thank you for your recent e-mail.
It was good of you to contact us with, what we assume, are your thoughts concerning our decision to pull Karla Dials Friday Five interview with conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck from Focus on the Family Actions _CitizenLink_ Web site. Honest feedback like yours is always welcome here at Focus Action headquarters. Permit me to respond to the concerns youve expressed.
The first thing you need to understand is that, despite media reports to the contrary, we did *not* take this step in response to pressure from Underground Apologetics or any other self-appointed watchdog group. The choice was entirely our own, and it was made for solid theological and philosophical reasons (to be explained in what follows). For what its worth, we can tell you that we do not condone Underground Apologetics hostile and combative tone. Whats more, we can assert without reservation that we hadnt even seen their press release -- in fact, it hadnt yet been generated -- when we decided to remove our article from circulation.
That said, it is vital to add that we consider Glenn Beck a good friend of our ministry. We have only feelings of deep appreciation for his valuable contributions to the cause of family values and conservative social principles. The same thing can be said with reference to our many supporters within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Time and time again staunch members of the LDS church have contacted us with warm expressions of their enthusiasm for our work, and on every occasion we have tried to make it clear that we welcome their friendship and appreciate their exemplary commitment to moral values. It is impossible to overestimate the value of such allies in the ongoing battle against secularism, multiculturalism, and amoral political correctness.
Why, then, have we come to regard our initial decision to feature this particular discussion with Glenn Beck on the _CitizenLink_ Web site as an unfortunate miscalculation? For the simple reason that Mr. Becks book _The Christmas Sweater_, which was the focal point of the interview, moves beyond the range of conservative social concerns and touches upon overtly theological themes. Herein lies the crux of our concern. Much as we respect and appreciate our friends in the LDS Church, it would be dishonest of us to conceal our firm conviction that at its heart, Mormon doctrine is incompatible with Christianity. While there are many forms of worship, modes of religious expression, and even a number of beliefs that Latter-day Saints hold in common with the various Christian denominations, the fact remains that the distinctions that make it unique are of an entirely different order from those that divide these other groups. At its deepest level, Mormon teaching about the nature of God and His Son Jesus Christ sets it apart, in a radical way, from orthodox Christendom.
To cite a specific and extremely important example, the Mormon church does not subscribe to the doctrine of the Trinity as defined by the early Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon. In fact, its our understanding that LDS believe in three *beings* as the godhead three *separate beings* that are physically separate and distinct individuals who together constitute the presiding council of the heavens. But this is most definitely *not* the Christian view. Christians down through the ages have always believed that the Scriptures bear witness to *one* God who exists in *three* persons subsisting within a *single* essence.
Similarly, orthodox Christians have always maintained the doctrine of the two natures in Christ the teaching that Jesus Himself is *vere homo et vere Deus*, truly God and truly man. This, of course, is *logically* inconceivable. And so, through the centuries, theological mavericks of various kinds have tried to make sense of the scriptural witness in a number of different ways. The Docetists, for example, said that Jesus only *seemed* to be a man -- that, as God, he could not really have a body of flesh and bones. The Mormons have taken the exact opposite tack: i.e., if Jesus is God, and if Jesus was truly incarnate, then God the Father must *also* have a physical body. Thus the Mormon apostle James E. Talmage writes, We know that both the Father and the Son are in form and nature perfect men (_A Study of the Articles of Faith_, pp. 41-42). Here again, the LDS teaching stands in direct contradiction to historic, orthodox Christian doctrine.
We tell you all this not to attack you or to give you the impression that we are rejecting your friendship. We say it simply to explain *why* we believe it is so important to maintain a clear distinction between the LDS church and orthodox Christian churches. It was our concern to hold this crucial theological line that led us to pull the Glenn Beck interview from our Web site -- nothing more, nothing less.
We hope this reply has clarified our perspective for you. Although Dr. Dobson has been out of the office on a writing trip and only recently became aware of this situation well after the fact, he asked us to pass along his appreciation for caring enough to contact us. Your interest in the work of Focus on the Family Action means a great deal to us. Grace, peace, and Gods richest blessings to you.
Lisa Jackson
Focus on the Family Action
Several people have written letters to FotF, expressing their disappointment and I've recently come across one letter that FotF sent back. I'll post it below, but in a nutshell, they start out by saying they did not blacklist Glen Beck because he is a Mormon, but then they go on to explain that the reason he was blacklisted was essentially because he is a Mormon. Read an article about it here at World Net Daily.
Here's the letter:
---------------
Thank you for your recent e-mail.
It was good of you to contact us with, what we assume, are your thoughts concerning our decision to pull Karla Dials Friday Five interview with conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck from Focus on the Family Actions _CitizenLink_ Web site. Honest feedback like yours is always welcome here at Focus Action headquarters. Permit me to respond to the concerns youve expressed.
The first thing you need to understand is that, despite media reports to the contrary, we did *not* take this step in response to pressure from Underground Apologetics or any other self-appointed watchdog group. The choice was entirely our own, and it was made for solid theological and philosophical reasons (to be explained in what follows). For what its worth, we can tell you that we do not condone Underground Apologetics hostile and combative tone. Whats more, we can assert without reservation that we hadnt even seen their press release -- in fact, it hadnt yet been generated -- when we decided to remove our article from circulation.
That said, it is vital to add that we consider Glenn Beck a good friend of our ministry. We have only feelings of deep appreciation for his valuable contributions to the cause of family values and conservative social principles. The same thing can be said with reference to our many supporters within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Time and time again staunch members of the LDS church have contacted us with warm expressions of their enthusiasm for our work, and on every occasion we have tried to make it clear that we welcome their friendship and appreciate their exemplary commitment to moral values. It is impossible to overestimate the value of such allies in the ongoing battle against secularism, multiculturalism, and amoral political correctness.
Why, then, have we come to regard our initial decision to feature this particular discussion with Glenn Beck on the _CitizenLink_ Web site as an unfortunate miscalculation? For the simple reason that Mr. Becks book _The Christmas Sweater_, which was the focal point of the interview, moves beyond the range of conservative social concerns and touches upon overtly theological themes. Herein lies the crux of our concern. Much as we respect and appreciate our friends in the LDS Church, it would be dishonest of us to conceal our firm conviction that at its heart, Mormon doctrine is incompatible with Christianity. While there are many forms of worship, modes of religious expression, and even a number of beliefs that Latter-day Saints hold in common with the various Christian denominations, the fact remains that the distinctions that make it unique are of an entirely different order from those that divide these other groups. At its deepest level, Mormon teaching about the nature of God and His Son Jesus Christ sets it apart, in a radical way, from orthodox Christendom.
To cite a specific and extremely important example, the Mormon church does not subscribe to the doctrine of the Trinity as defined by the early Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon. In fact, its our understanding that LDS believe in three *beings* as the godhead three *separate beings* that are physically separate and distinct individuals who together constitute the presiding council of the heavens. But this is most definitely *not* the Christian view. Christians down through the ages have always believed that the Scriptures bear witness to *one* God who exists in *three* persons subsisting within a *single* essence.
Similarly, orthodox Christians have always maintained the doctrine of the two natures in Christ the teaching that Jesus Himself is *vere homo et vere Deus*, truly God and truly man. This, of course, is *logically* inconceivable. And so, through the centuries, theological mavericks of various kinds have tried to make sense of the scriptural witness in a number of different ways. The Docetists, for example, said that Jesus only *seemed* to be a man -- that, as God, he could not really have a body of flesh and bones. The Mormons have taken the exact opposite tack: i.e., if Jesus is God, and if Jesus was truly incarnate, then God the Father must *also* have a physical body. Thus the Mormon apostle James E. Talmage writes, We know that both the Father and the Son are in form and nature perfect men (_A Study of the Articles of Faith_, pp. 41-42). Here again, the LDS teaching stands in direct contradiction to historic, orthodox Christian doctrine.
We tell you all this not to attack you or to give you the impression that we are rejecting your friendship. We say it simply to explain *why* we believe it is so important to maintain a clear distinction between the LDS church and orthodox Christian churches. It was our concern to hold this crucial theological line that led us to pull the Glenn Beck interview from our Web site -- nothing more, nothing less.
We hope this reply has clarified our perspective for you. Although Dr. Dobson has been out of the office on a writing trip and only recently became aware of this situation well after the fact, he asked us to pass along his appreciation for caring enough to contact us. Your interest in the work of Focus on the Family Action means a great deal to us. Grace, peace, and Gods richest blessings to you.
Lisa Jackson
Focus on the Family Action
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