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October 3rd, 2010
02:56 PM ET
Mormon church says it will build 5 new temples worldwide
CNN's Kelly Marshall Smoot filed this report: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon church, started its semi-annual conference this weekend by announcing it will build five new temples around the world. The church will build the new temples in Hartford, Connecticut; Indianapolis, Indiana; Tijuana, Mexico; Urdaneta, Philippines; and Lisbon, Portugal, President Thomas S. Monson (pictured) said in his opening address at the 180th semi-annual conference on Saturday. There are currently 134 LDS temples in operation around the world and 23 more that have been announced or are under construction, including the five new temples announced Saturday. The church has seen a boom in new temples since the late 1990s, with then-church President Gordon B. Hinckley starting the push. The five new temples will include the church’s first in Portugal, its third in the Philippines, and its 13th in Mexico. Temples are not buildings where Sunday worship takes place, as in most Christian traditions. Instead, the temples are places “where Church members make formal promises and commitments to God,” like marriages and where ceremonies like baptism are performed by proxy for those who have died, according to church literature. Temples are closed to the general public but the church holds open houses after one is completed and invites local communities to tour them prior to dedication ceremonies. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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I believe someone said that mormons are not racist, and this may be true to some extent, they would never publicly admit to being racist, however they consider blacks to be worthless. Look up mormon mafia.
I've been a Mormon all my life and I'm not racist nor do I believe that the church I belong to is a racist church. To make such statements about another's religion really just shows how little you know about us. My challenge to you is to come visit with us for a Sunday service and get to know us. I can promise you will find a people who believe in a savior, Jesus Christ, who invites all to come unto him.
For you people who do not understand what this church is all about, I suggest do some research first with valid facts rather than hunches or second hand converted information before putting something bashful on this blog page. Mormon people are good people. I am a devout Latter-Day saint and I will definitely stand firm to what I believe and know to be true.
You will notice that our church do not engage on debates or discussions that will demean other beliefs, it is because we have respect for other religions and definitely we believe that you "shall know them by their fruits".
A church that is can sustain itself and it's members during natural disasters? It has enough money because of good business to save for a rainy day? Sounds like my kind of church. I wish the rest of the churches, not to mention the U.S. Government could operate like this church. We'd all be much better off. Let them have their temples. Why would anyone want to go in to them if they don't feel up to making the promises that Mormons make in them??? To mock the Mormon's beliefs? C'mon, have some human decency people.
The LDS Church membership is indeed still growing, but by various accounts is faltering in diminishing new convert growth rates globally. Also, their missionary force has basically remained static over the past ten years or so, despite the increased membership rolls. A much bigger problem for the Church lies with the issues surrounding the historicity of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham, both considered Scripture, equal to the Bible. The problem with the Book of Mormon -the keystone of the LDS religion- is that it has zero legitimacy outside the LDS Church. The Book presumably tells the stories of successive Hebrew migrations to the America's, culminating in a white, Christian Lehite (Nephitical) civilization, dominating the cultural, economic and military civilization in the America's lasting a whopping thousand years. The problem is that NO empirical evidence, such as linguistically, anthropological, genetic or archeological evidence has been found to substantiate any of the improbable claims the Book of Mormon makes. On the contrary. Same story with the Book of Abraham. The Book of Abraham was supposed to be the translation of an Egyptian papyrus scroll Joseph Smith got his hands on in Kirkland, Ohio in the 1830's before Egyptian hieroglyphs could be interpreted. The problem is that the original papyri is still available, but the actual translation has absolutely nothing to do with what Joseph claimed the scroll said...