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News about Mormons, Mormonism,
and the LDS Church |
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| General News |
| Newsweek Cover Takes Flawed, Skeptical Look at LDS Church |
| The cover story in this week's Newsweek takes a
skeptical look at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as
preparations for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City continue. The
article, and a forthcoming article in The New Yorker, led SLOC President and
LDS Church member Mitt Romney to complain that journalists were focusing on
the Church's connection to the Olympics. But the resulting article, flawed
with minor factual errors and logical missteps that drew criticism from the
Church, had little to do with the Olympics, using it only as a reason to
look closely at the Church. |
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| Church Settles Portland Abuse Case for $3 Million |
| Citing unfavorable rulings by a local judge
that will take protracted appeals and significant expense to reverse,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed Tuesday to
settle a lawsuit over child abuse by a church member. The Church
agreed to pay $3 million to 22-year-old Jeremiah Scott, who claims
that his then-Bishop knew that Franklin Richard Curtis was a
pedophile and failed to tell his mother of the man's history when she
sought advice on taking Curtis into their home. The case also breaks
new ground because the Church has for the first time disclosed the
amount and substance of the settlement of a child abuse case. |
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| Missionary in Argentina Dies |
| The Deseret News reported today that an
LDS missionary serving in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission
died of injuries sustained when he was struck by a train. Elder
Jonathan Reed Thomas of Chandler, Arizona was struck by a train on
August 21st, and died a week later, on August 29th. |
| More General News ... |
| Local News |
| LDS Seminary Stuck; Higley High Off Limits |
| Students attending LDS seminary classes on released time
from Higley High School are stuck on busses until a new seminary building
can be completed. The Church's play to lease space in the high school fell
through Tuesday when County Attorney Rick Romley ruled that leasing a
classroom to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints violated a
state law against on-campus religious instruction during school hours. |
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| BYU's Varsity Theater Closes After Editing Disallowed |
| For the first time in 37 years, Brigham Young
University's Varsity Theater will dim its lights, close its curtain
and take its final bow. The formerly filled-to-capacity campus movie
house reveled in packed houses for shows such as the 1964, "Don't Go
Near the Water." Long lines of class-skipping students, who wanted to
nab up tickets for the night's feature film, have been replaced by
slow ticket sales and a combination of potential lawsuits, charges of
censorship and claims of violations of artistic expression over films
that were edited for content. |
| More Local News ... |
| Sports |
| Detmer Ditches Cleveland, Doing Detroit |
| LDS Church member and former BYU Quarterback Ty Detmer
will be wearing a Detroit Lions uniform Sunday after the Cleveland Browns
traded Detmer to the Lions this past weekend. Detmer spent most of last
season, his 9th in the NFL, on the sidelines because of a ruptured achilles
tendon. |
| More Sports News ... |
| Politics |
| Seattle-area Zoning Fight Leads Church to Support Amendment |
| The zoning fight that pitted local churches against
environmentalists over the size of rural King county, Washington churches
has led to an effort to change the county's charter. A representative of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined a Catholic representative
in arguing for the amendment, which would add language guaranteeing
religious freedom. But council members who supported the environmentalists
in the earlier effort questioned the need for the change because the
amendment's language is identical to that in the Washington state constitution. |
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| ACLU Says Missionary Discounts Illegal |
| After a Catholic woman complained about
discounts available to LDS missionaries in Utah restaurants, the
American Civil Liberties Union has called the discounts illegal and
asked the Utah Attorney General to look into the practice. The woman,
Judy Bruyette, complained after eating at Rodizio Grill in Orem on a
Wednesday. The restaurant refused to give her and a Catholic priest
eating with her the same 15% discount it offered to LDS missionaries
and their families on Wednesdays. |
| More Politics News ... |
| Internet |
| Even More Singles Websites |
| With new singles websites appearing nearly
every week, it seems like the audience for these sites will be
saturated any day now. This week we have LDS Contact, LDS Singles
Connection and Mormon Singles from Ukraine added to the mix. |
| More Internet News ... |
| People |
| A Chance for Justice; A Certainty of Pain |
| The family of Elder Mark Fischer is bracing
for its 27-year-old wounds to be opened again this Fall when Austin,
Texas prosecutors once again try to put away the man thought to have
murdered their son and his missionary companion, Elder Gary Darley.
Robert Elmer Kleasen will face two counts of murder in the deaths of
Elder's Fischer and Darley, who disappeared after they were scheduled
to meet with Kleasen in October of 1974. Fischer's mother, Cathy
Fischer is planning to travel to Austin for the Trial, but she knows
that the trial can only give justice, not the sense of closure that
comes from a burial. |
| More People News ... |
| Business |
| Look out, Old Maid, here's Bishop Rick |
| Reed and Eve Hansen have developed "Bishop Rick," a
unique version of "Old Maid." The Hansen's run Scripture Creations
Inc. from their home. "Bishop Rick" is one of several games the
Hansens created. Their other games include "Fishing for Nephites"
which is scriptural "Go Fish", "Concentrate on LDS Presidents" which
focuses on knowledge of church leaders, and "Articles of Faith" which
includes a tiny die that, when rolled, will tell players how many
words one must recite of a specific Article of Faith. |
| More Business News ... |
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