Today's (3/22/12) Deseret News' "Faith Section" has an article on how mormonvoices.org is mobilizing an army of TBM's to flood websites, blogs and news outlets for the stated purpose of:

1) correcting public misperceptions about the church and its members, and

2) to further a positive image for the church and its members

Dan Peterson, of FAIR, said, "When public discussions on blogs, websites and news outlets begin to focus on issues directly relevant to Latter Day Saints, mormonvoices.org will send a brief message, via email or text, to those (TBM's) signed up on the site (mormonvoices.org). This message will help volunteers (TBM's) know where conversations are surging and where their (TBM's) imput might be most helpful..."

FAIR will also educate these TBM's how to respond to specific issues that are raised.

Ohheeeeoohh!This is going to be fun to see!

Members are going to start researching all kinds of things on the internet, in their attempt to sound like they know what they are talking about. Mormons don't know what their history IS. I don't see how they could possibly go online and defend it without looking like total idiots.

They are going to have fair educate them. Now that's funny! I' love to go to one of those educational classes. The church must be doing the freak about the info on the internet. They couldn't buy it or kill it, now they're going to try and shout it down?

I gotta go. I have to go to costco and buy a case of popcorn.

I take it they don't trust the Holy Ghost to witness truth to reader as they ponder things relating to the church?

Or more likely, they are trying to make sure the Holy Ghost's voice of warning is not heard by flooding the webpage with confusing voices.

Attack the problem as a group, no individualism allowed, we will tell you how to respond.

"FAIR will also educate"

"Copyright © 2005–2012 Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research. This is not an official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The content of this page may not be copied, published, or redistributed without the prior written consent of FAIR. The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) is a non-profit organization formed in late 1997 for the purpose of defending the Church. FAIR is staffed completely by volunteers, all of whom are dedicated to defending the Church. FAIR is not owned, controlled by, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All research and opinions provided on this site are the sole responsibility of FAIR and should not be interpreted as official statements of LDS doctrine, belief, or practice."

Seriously folks! How hilarious it that!

I'm sure the great majority of those TBMs will start their posts on website comments sections with, "I'm not a mormon myself, but have many friends and neighbors who are...". Right. Whatever.

My favorite variation:

"I'm not Mormon, but they are some of the greatest people out there ..."


I'm never quite sure where "there" is ...

I love this little gem on mormonvoicesorg

MormonVoices is an independent organization that is supportive of, but not
controlled by or affiliated with, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

hahahahahhahahaha

Not owned controlled or affiliated with the church? Since when?

Well, i don't know why the church would want them educating members then! Members are owned and controlled and had damn well better affiliate with the church.

Sounds like they found some new openings for senior mishey's. I don't see this going well for the church. Think of the byu prof. that is getting hammered for his statement about negroes. Now times that by a couple hundred senior mishey's who are going to straighten out someone's misconceptions about the church with all the things they have learned and believed over the last 70 years. I can't wait to see this. I have my best references all bookmarked and ready to go. This is going to be fun!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2012 01:44PM by Mia.

Let the Games Begin. The truth will prevail as history unravels and shows it's ugly face.

It's sole function is to preach to the choir. I don't see how it is of any interest to anyone except to TBMs.

I would think that having TBMs defend their faith in uncensored-by-LDS-Inc. forums is likely to prove faith-demoting and contrary to their intention. There's no way they're going to come out on top on that one.

we are not a cult!

so there!

Mormons have a difficult time defending their beliefs without sounding odd or self-righteous, or just telling lies for that matter. So they'll probably kick up a lot of dust and invite more trouble. Not a good idea to poke at the hornet's nest. Or throw gasoline on the fire. Know what I mean?

If they get the bloggernacle elite onto that list then there WILL be commentary fireworks.
Some of those folks are highly educated, know morg history inside and out, yet they STILL believe!

It was my defending the church against an attack that led me to information which pulled me out.

Good luck, LDSinc.

It sounds to me like "mormon voices" is going to be a rallying point, so members can tell them where they read things they don't like. It sounds like they then plan on stepping out of their comfort zone to go onto these sites and try to set the record straight about the mormon church. This could pop up anywhere. They are going to be the ones doing the poking.

It will absolutely not change the opinion of any non- or ex-Mormons but might just expose the cult followers to some of their cult's issues. Yeehaw, let the games begin.

This piqued my curiosity so I signed up at mormonvoices to be part of their blogging brigade. I'm curious to see what kinds of alerts they send out when they want to marshall the troops for LDS "truthiness". I'll be sure to return & report any outrageousness or flat out idiocy . . . which means I'll have to give up my day job to keep up with it! ;-)

The more they scream "WE'RE NOT A CULT!!" and then have to have organized efforts like this to "correct public misperceptions" the more they convince people that their perceptions are correct, and the Morg is a Cult.

Could we get an alert here when the big LDS fire alarm is pulled?

It would be nice to get a link when the parties start.

This could also be one of the worst ideas LDS Inc has ever come up with. Their membership is going to be in way over their heads, and the real world will not take their apologetics lightly.

It looks like a good place to spray some gasoline on some fires.

Only they are actually coaching people. I trust our members enough to give good individual replies.

Oh please, please, please do this!

It will show non Mormons how insane these people are, and show some Mormons how wrong about their own CULT they are.

there is ALWAYS a MORmON explanation for MORmON antics !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyXyxfAodtQ

When we hear of something like this, we could post our own message; something like, "The flood of Mormon replies in this comment section has very likely been orchestrated by MormonVoices (http://mormonvoices.org/) For factual information about the many problems with the Mormon church and its history, see [link to Richard Packham's site, Mormonthink, whatever]"

Something along those lines, but it should be posted fairly frequently so the message doesn't get lost in the deluge of pro-Mo bilge.

We could even identify ourselves as "ExmormonVoices."

The church can't have it both ways. It tells members to avoid "undesirable" Internet sites and to put stern Internet filters on their computers then ...

... It asks members to help police the Internet and make corrections. But, corrections to WHAT? To those very things that they are being told to avoid?

How?

It's like telling a policemen to clean up all the crime in a city, then forbidding that policeman to ever expose himself to crime...or even to know what that "crime" actually looks like!

And the members are being told to straighten out things that the church ITSELF can't keep straight.

For instance: When the average member hears outsiders saying that Mormons will get their own planets, those members will probably react by thinking to themselves, "These outsiders are CORRECT, they just need to understand more fully WHY IT'S TRUE"...

... Then these members will discover the church's Press Release only to find to their horror that somehow they have LOST THEIR PLANET!

How will these members say "no" on the outside, while thinking "Hell yes!" on the inside?

They are perhaps at least better equipped to fighting the battles of the past than ever before.

with MORmONS defending MORmONISM, MORmON growth will be killed in no time at all.


from the top to the bottom



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBvh-ijsoAU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCN3AvH4JRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZU2PMZ9Nak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTGuaVWqO5w

This is going to be like watching a train wreak in slow motion. Look how well "defending the faith" worked on Richard Packmans article. The mo's scattered like cockroaches on that one. Of course with the exception of JM and he just ended up looking like a fool. Now they are going to have "FAIR" feed them answers? Members just need to read FAIR to make them say WTF?

I'm trying to picture an elderly couple being called in by their SP to accept a calling for this mission.

They go to a class where they unlearn everything they thought they knew and believed for the last 70 years. Now they are supposed to go online and defend this new version of their beliefs.

Day 1: Hey! where did Harold and mabel go? What do you mean they had a breakdown and had to go home? Get them back here! We already spent money training them.

Day 7: logging into RFM: Hi, we're Harold and Mabel. Did you know?

The comments the public needs to read are on this board. How about some of us writing about our experiences in the lard's church? Plenty of liberal media would be glad to know what we know and what we've experienced.

I couldn't have come up with a better anti-Mormon strategy myself. They really don't get it. In order to battle their image problem, they are resorting to the types of behavior that causes their image problem. The absolute worst thing they could do for themselves is make pro-Mormon messes on the internet.