Mormon Relgious Intolerance

In the recent general conference, Boyd Packer, the president of the church's quorum of twelve apostles, made the following statement:

There has been no end to opposition. There are misinterpretations and misrepresentations of us and of our history, some of it mean-spirited and certainly contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Sometimes clergy, even ministerial organizations, oppose us. They do what we would never do. We do not attack or criticize or oppose others as they do us.

Even today there are those preposterous stories handed down and repeated so many times they are believed. One of the silliest of them is that Mormons have horns.

He then gives a cute story where someone asked this question at a meeting of clergy from different religions. It is very clear that this was all just innocent joking and wasn't any kind of legitimate question. But I guess he expects people to believe by association that the other objections to the church are just as frivolous and silly because he doesn't even attempt to address any real issues such as Joseph translating the Book of Mormon with a rock in a hat. Instead he addresses the stupid assertion made by many other churches that Mormons aren't Christian. By carefully choosing caricatures, he encourages members to believe that they don't have to worry about anti-Mormon beliefs because they are ridiculous and easy to discredit.

But let's get back to the first point. The modern Mormon church has changed its spots and no longer openly attacks other churches, but I pulled the following quotes off of their web site from their modern scriptures. As far as I know, they are still the official doctrines of the church.

1 Nephi 14:10
10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save ^atwo churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the ^bother is the church of the ^cdevil; wherefore, ^dwhoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the ^ewhore of all the earth.

I don't know, but I can see how Baptists and Lutherans and Catholics might feel like that constitutes an attack. TSCC may have discovered that quoting that one publicly is bad public relations, but it is still church doctrine.

How about the following quote of God from the first vision:

Joseph Smith-History 1:18-19
18 My object in going to ^ainquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all ^awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those ^bprofessors were all ^ccorrupt; that: “they ^ddraw near to me with their lips, but their ^ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the ^fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the ^gpower thereof.”

I would say that the core doctrine of the church is clearly articulated in these verses: TSCC is true and every other one is false. Again, I can see how other churches might consider it an attack when the church teaches that God said that their churches are all wrong, their beliefs are an abomination, their ministers are all corrupt, that their hearts are far from God, and that they deny the power of God. I think you'd have difficulty coming up with a more scathing attack on any religion, but this is against ALL religions except the one Joseph founded.

So, excuse me for not joining Boyd's little pity party. He rules over an army of around 60,000 missionaries whose primary mission is to teach the above doctrines and save people from the corrupt religions of the world so that they can join the one true church. Cover it with honey if you want, it's still a shitcake for non-Mormons throughout the world and it's asking a little much for them to not resist TSCC.