If the Mormon PR guys had been doing their job they should have known the BBC would be this thorough. The Brits have arguably the best trained and thorough journalists on the planet. They are not afraid to ask questions that make the interviewee squirm. The interviewer has done his homework and he knows the correct answers to his questions and he won't stop till he gets it. He is not asking because he doesn't know.

The 15 got to where they are by turning a blind eye to the problems. Sweeney knows more about these problems than these guys have allowed themselves to remember.

I'll bet the Australian head of PR, Mike Otterson, gets a kick up the arse for not seeing this coming. It's the BBC you fools!

All journalists here look up to a perticuler one who's name escapes me that woudnt stop till he got ansers out of the people he was interviewing inculding telling them straigh up 'Please anser the question I asked' or 'Just anser the question.' Although brits can sometimes go a bit far for a story we dont take well to flipfloppers or people who skate around the anser.

You mean Jeremy Paxman like here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQvl3GsBgos

Just imagine if one of the 15 faced him- they got a soft go with John Sweeney.

I wonder if Jeffrey Holland might use General Conference this week to address his Hijack ordeal as in Satan is trying to offrail even the very elect?

lol

doubt it... I think he would rather the morgbots not know about the documentary.

...really know as much as we do about their religion and its history. They encourage members to refrain from learning much about the church through means other than the approved scriptures and books. I think some of the leaders actually adhere to these ideas as well.

Yeah, Holland was blindsided but he could've been more prepared had his PR personages done their homework. I wonder if they were naive enough to think this would be a similar interview to GBH's with Larry King. Knowing the simplicity of their thoughts, prolly so.

This puts a serious dent in several mormon beliefs.

1.Revelation,(where was it?) especially for one of the 15!
2.God will put words in your mouth when needed. Where was God?
3.The church has an answer to everything.
4.Leaders are infallible.
5.The righteous (meaning apostles/prophets) will prevail.

This is when they play victim and get membership sympathy, instead of scrutiny. sheeple - played any direction they want.

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!

(Monty Python)

Would it have been worse if church spokesmen gave the TBM answers of restoration of the true gospel and feeling the spirit of the lord? They came off as corporate shills. We know our product is flawed and has harmed others but we will deny and ignore the facts to the bitter end. If people want sticky-sweet-gushy-everything-is-great-in-mormondom, they can just call the missionaries.

Sorry, I haven't been around here for a while.

Where can I watch this program??????

What happened?

uuuuhhh.. did he just admit to penalties on tv? Sorry, im a lurker here.. long story, convert, married, one year after baptism finding out TONS of information, I am besided myself, even after reading everything, my mind made excuses for some things.. but hearing a GA admit to that, aahhh my heart droppped.. what in the world was I getting baptized intoo????!??!?!?!?!

It's painful to learn how big the lie actually is. I hope you'll stick around though. There are a lot of people here who have experienced this too, and it does seem to help to talk it out. Best wishes to you, friend.

I think the Morg's PR firm marching in to BBC and hand-delivering a protest letter for them was an example of a too-little, too-late, cya attempt by the PR firm themselves. I can't imagine the phone call they must have received that prompted such rash action ('what the $%#@ do we pay you millions of dollars a year to do?). Actually made the Morg look worse, imo, if that is possible.

Yeah, I think this is the right answer. The church internal PR department relied on the UK firm to set this up. Major miscommunication about the subjects to covered and background of the journalist. Post interview, Holland angrily calls his internal PR guy about being "ambushed." The church PR guy angrily calls the UK firm.

Needing to appease a deep pocket client, the firm UK lamely delivers a strong worded letter of protest to the BBC.

Typical big corporation screw-up all around.

The entire documentary is now on Youtube, search The Mormon Candidate. It is in six parts.

Better watch in case it is pulled for some reason.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2012 09:38PM by rodolfo.

Holland acts like the questions about papyri and JS's arrest record are beneath him to seriously address. He acts like he can treat the reporter like a rank-and-file member and get away with it.

In his denials, Holland's chops and jowels shuddered like a cornered bulldog's. Every reasonable person makes a vow to his God, he suggested, commenting on the temple death oath. Shunning is not in the Mormon vernacular. Ex-Mormons should leave, if they think it's a cult. Quite reasonable, isn't he?

I thought what happened in the temple was sacred and not to be discussed? That was what I expected him to say.

Yeah, I was amazed at Holland. What where they thinking? They somehow must have weighed an hour on BBC with occasional references to, "the Church refused to participate in this story," would be more damaging than what they actually got.

And did Holland actually think for a moment that his bald face denial of temple death vows would not prompt a follow up question?

Unbelievable. When will the brethren get a clue that the don't have a clue?