User:GregSmith/m4m/Introduction

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A FAIR Analysis of a hostile or critical website: User:GregSmith/m4m

Note: This page serves as either an index for or a review of claims and/or responses to attacks on the Church made by this website. The work reviewed may be the product of an online collaboration of various authors of varying degrees of faith or skepticism. FAIR has noted: particularly bad scholarship related to the research contained in this particular work; and/or considers significant elements of this work to be "anti-Mormon" in tone or content; and/or recurrent and unfair attacks upon leaders, members, or doctrines of the Church. The inclusion of this website does not mean that every participant is anti-Mormon or expresses anti-Mormon sentiments, nor does it mean that nothing on the website is of value. In accordance with FAIR policy, direct hyperlinks are not made to websites which house significant anti-Mormon material. Sufficient information is provided, however, to allow any interested reader to verify the citations and their context.

 Updated 30 November 2010

Introduction

"Mormons For Marriage" is a website started by LDS members who have organized to "voic[e] our support for same-sex marriage, and our respectful opposition to California’s Proposition 8."^[1]

Thus, this website was established by members of the Church who opposed the united decision of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve apostles to encourage members of the Church to use their political influence to protect the traditional definition of marriage.

The website announces that it has several goals:

1. To let the world know that not all Mormons (LDS church members) oppose gay marriage.
2. To share our perspectives on both homosexuality and gay marriage with other Mormons who are meaningfully exploring the issues for the first time — and who are trying to make up their minds on how to think/feel/vote on the issue (if in California).
3. Just as progressive LDS Church members in the 1960s and 1970s had an opportunity to speak out on the denial of priesthood to blacks — this is our chance, in our day, to express our thoughts and feelings (respectfully) in support of gays within the LDS Church, and of gay marriage within the U.S. (and abroad).^[2]

Perhaps because the website targets active members of the Church, it includes several "requirements for participation":

1. All communications must arise from a place of love and understanding.
2. No criticism of the church or its leadership will be tolerated.
3. The bulk of participation on the site needs to be from current, active members of the LDS Church.^[3]

Analysis

This analysis will first attempt to answer the following questions:

1. Does the website tolerate criticism of the Church?
2. Does the website tolerate criticism of Church leaders?
3. Does the website tolerate criticism of Church members?
4. Does the website communication reflect "love and understanding"?
5. Does the website deny that homosexual acts are sinful?

Because the website is "moderated," all posts were seen and approved by website personnel prior to becoming available for public viewing.

Endnotes

1. [note]  Web posting, Mormons For Marriage website, article "Introduction" (no date), last accessed 27 November 2010.
2. [note]  Web posting, Mormons For Marriage website, article "About" (16 July 2008), last accessed 27 November 2010.
3. [note]  Web posting, Mormons For Marriage website, article "About" (16 July 2008), last accessed 27 November 2010.

Archive

• None

Further reading

Critical or hostile websites

Dissident LDS groups

• Mormons for Marriage—
  Mormons for Marriage opposes the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage. The website frequently features attacks on leaders and members of the Church, and misrepresentation of Church doctrine. (Link)

• Mormon Stories—
  Mormon Stories is directed by John Dehlin, a member of the Church who rejects the Church's truth claims. (Link)

Criticisms from groups falsely claiming to be active Church members

• MormonThink.com—
  The web site MormonThink.com claims to be operated by active members of the Church with an interest in objectively presenting the "truth" about Mormonism. In reality, only the webmaster retains his membership in order to retain credibility in his efforts to subtly influence other members to investigate his claims. The remaining website contributors are ex-Mormons who frequently post on anti-Mormon message boards. The webmaster is, by his own admission, pretending to be semi-active in order to destroy members' and missionaries' testimonies from within the social structure of the Church. The site pretends to be "balanced" by presenting information and links to apologetic sites, however, the conclusions reached by the site consistently reflect negatively on the Church's truth claims. The site also used to contain a large amount of Temple content. (Link)

Mormonism and Wikipedia

FAIR's Wikipedia Article Reviews

• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Martin Harris" (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Oliver Cowdery" (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "First Vision"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/17/2011. This article has undergone moderate improvements in its use of sources since our last review. The article still contains a substantial amount of original research based upon primary sources, with the intent to disprove the vision and highlight perceived discrepancies between vision accounts. Believing scholars are labeled "apologists" in an attempt to diminish their credibility. (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/3/2011. This article has undergone substantial improvements in its use of sources since our initial review in 2009. Most of the citations are now accurately represented. (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Golden plates"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/21/2011. This article has undergone only minor improvements in its use of sources since our last review. The article contains a large amount of original research on the part of the wiki editors. (Link)
• A FAIR Analysis of Wikipedia article "Three Witnesses"—
  Current review is based upon Wikipedia revision dated 9/28/2011. This article has been constructed in such a way as to discredit the witnesses by emphasizing any perceived contradictions in their various statements regarding their encounter with the gold plates. (Link)

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