"Christians" and "Mormons"

LDS Church and its members feel horrible when people (usually people claiming to be Evangelical Christian) insist that Mormons are not Christian. It's a very confusing accusation to most Mormons. Why? Because the full name of the Church is The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints! The PR department even had the "Jesus Christ" part enlarged on the Church logo just to make it clear that Mormons are all about Jesus. This isn't the Church of Joseph Smith (even though he started it up in 1830), or Brigham Young (even though there are other Mormon branch offs that the LDS Church dismisses), or the Church of Tom Monson (even though his is the only living human with any legal power to manage the organization). Mormons believe that Jesus is the Savior of the World and that this is his church!

Fundamentalist Mormons feel horrible when people (usually people claiming to be LDS) insist that polygamists are not Mormon. It's a confusing accusation to most fundamentalist Mormons. Why? Because they wholeheartedly believe in Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. How can you believe in The Book of Mormon and not be a Mormon? How can you carefully and religiously follow the examples of conjugal life as set forth by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith and not be Mormon? Why does the LDS Church get to determine what "Mormon" means and who can use it when there are so many other faith traditions that share the same history and almost the exact same beliefs?

Why don't Mormons understand how hurtful it feels to be excluded from certain beliefs simply because someone wants to take control of a word's definition and use?

And how about this fine example of doublespeak from the Mormon Newsroom's Michael Otterson? Here's his defense of Mormons calling themselves Christian:

"I submit to you that a group should be allowed primarily to define itself."

And here's his objection to groups he doesn't like defining themselves:

"Some polygamous groups use names similar to ours, as we have seen. Some describe themselves as fundamentalist Mormons. We can’t stop people from calling themselves whatever they want, but for the sake of clarity for your readers and viewers, we suggest that the term “Mormon” is not an appropriate adjective for members of these communities – as, in fact, the Associated Press style guide suggests." (emphasis added)

What the fuck, dude?

Attitudes about women - MTC

While in the Missionary Training Center I got to hear the thoughts of a lot of missionaries as they prepared to go out and teach the world the truths of the Gospel. We were to be the mouth pieces of the Lord's church throughout all kindreds, tongues, and people, and what did we have to say about women, for example?

Nothing especially admirable. As it turns out, the choice young men who were called to serve managed to throw sister missionaries rather easily into a few groups: the sisters who couldn't get married either because they were too ugly or too crazy, and the sisters who could but wouldn't because they were too strong-headed and deviant. The only worthwhile female peers, according to many missionaries, seemed to be those who had either gotten married already or who hadn't given up yet by choosing to go on a mission.

I was appalled not just by the thoughts expressed but by the frequency of these conversations. I tried to dismiss it as typical immature boy talk but I had to recognize that these ideas were coming from somewhere from within the Church. Who's ideas were these missionaries repeating? Who had convinced them of such blatant sexism?

Hopefully the lowering of the age requirement for sister missionaries will help level the social playing field among the Church's missionaries.