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June 17th, 2011
09:20 AM ET
As ‘Book of Mormon’ takes New York, city gets Mormon church ad campaignBy Julia Talanova, CNN New York (CNN) - First came the popular Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon,” which won nine Tony Awards on Sunday. Now, the actual Mormon church is hitting the Great White Way, with a big electronic billboard just around the corner from where "The Book of Mormon" is playing. The new billboard is part of a broader “I’m a Mormon” ad campaign the church launched Thursday in New York, which also includes signs on taxicab tops and subway ads. The ads show people from diverse ethnic backgrounds doing things like smiling, mountain climbing, riding a motorcycle and surfing, all with the tagline “I’m a Mormon.” The Times Square Billboard is around the corner from the Eugene O’Neill Theater, where “The Book of Mormon” opened earlier this year. The irreverent play is by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. "Our Church is known for our efforts to share our message,” said Richard G. Hinckley, Executive Director of the Missionary Department for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the official name of the Mormon church. “This is one way to get to know us — through the lives of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” New York joins nine other cities in an ongoing campaign launched last year. The LDS church says New York State has seen a rise in its membership over the past decade, growing to 78,000 members, a 75 percent increase since 2000. The ads will be on display for the summer, with the church launching additional U.S. cities this fall. |
  About this blog
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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It's a shame they didn't start their advertising blitz when the Latter Day movie came out. LOL
look at that use of generic stock photography!
Atheism is just like any other religion.
with the exception that atheism has hard scientific evidence to back them up.
Real Jesus: What?! What evidence? How can science PROVE that there is no being out there that understands the physics of the universe so well that he could guide the elements together to make worlds and people? I'm certain that no scientist is so arrogant as to say that they know every single fact about everything and can therefore prove that there is no God. That's assinine.
Christians would like Atheism to be a religion because then the arguement becomes your fairy story vs. our fair story.
That, however, is not the case.
Atheism is about our facts vs. your fairy story.
Sorry about that...
@MH, do you also enjoy the hobby of not collecting stamps. A lack of belief is not a belief, by definition. Science cannot prove that god exists no more than it can prove the tooth fairy does not exist. There is as much evidence for Zeus as there is for Yahweh (that would be none, for those keeping score at home). Is not believing in Zeus a religion? As such, a non-belief is the logical position.
@MW The burden of proof lies with proving that there is a "god". You can't prove a negative. Until you can prove something, you can't assume there is an all powerful supernatural being who can part the red sea and tells you not to eat shellfish.
Incorrect. Religion is a matter of Faith. Atheists are by definition without faith. Mark Twain said it best when he wrote "Faith is believing in something you know to be untrue."
Not all scientists are athiests. There are proofs of the existince of God that are well thought-out, consistent, and emotionally moving, and I believe correct. The problem is getting everyone to agree on the axioms.
Steven Hawking, for instance, believes that God does not exist and that He cheats at dice.
Science does not equal atheism.
I am religious and scientifically minded. Just because we can explain how things happen does not mean that some being did not put the events into motion that made things the way they are now. You must be pretty narrow minded person to think that God only works by using magic. Say God created the universe, then that being would have a mastery of the natural laws and could use them to accomplish any feat necessary. To the cynic it all looks just like happenstance.
Conflicts only arise over misunderstandings. Science strives to answer the question HOW. Religion exists to answer the question WHY.
Except you don't give your money to someone else who tells you what they made up that god wants you to do...
I don't understand why everyone cares so much. Is it so wrong that Mormons find happiness in their set of beliefs? So what if you think they are crazy! I think some religions are bizarre but I would never attack them with the kind of venom that people attack the mormons with. Furthermore, why do athiests care that people believe in God? And what exactly do they believe is their "proof" of the non-existance of God? If people want to believe in something that makes them happy and feel better about their lives, how is that stupid and ignorant? Basically I just don't know what the big friggin whoop is. Why is everyone so uppity about what everyone else thinks?
to Artist: DNA tests have proved that there is NO genetic link between Mormons and Native American Indians. (For those who don't know – the Book of Mormon says they built boats and came to New York from Israel over 8,000 years ago and that Mormons are actually the original Indians.
Nowhere in the Book of Mormon does it say boats landed in New York.
ldean
to Artist: DNA tests have proved that there is NO genetic link between Mormons and Native American Indians. (For those who don't know – the Book of Mormon says they built boats and came to New York from Israel over 8,000 years ago and that Mormons are actually the original Indians.
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Any Mormons wish to comment? My understanding was they "joined" the indians that were already here...I could be confused.
That's incorrect. Mormon's believe that there were small groups of Jewish people who came to America and became some of the original American indians. They believe that the written records of those people became the Book of Mormon. They don't belive that by being Mormons they are genetically linked to Native Americans. It's important to know what you are writing about a little bit, or else you seem stupid.
MW
That's incorrect. Mormon's believe that there were small groups of Jewish people who came to America and became some of the original American indians. They believe that the written records of those people became the Book of Mormon. They don't belive that by being Mormons they are genetically linked to Native Americans. It's important to know what you are writing about a little bit, or else you seem stupid
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And this is backed by?????? So there is Jewish DNA in Native American blood in a particular region?
"They believe that the written records of those people became the Book of Mormon."
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Excellent, where can we review this 8000 year old record written record from this tribe?
Oh wait...let me guess this is where it gets dicey and magical regarding the records?
Crickets............
@Artist: I can personally vouch that MW stated our beleif on this matter. Moreover, you can review this record at http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng for yourself.
DNA does not require faith. So is there any evidence of Jewish DNA in the American Indian blood line?
But, when you die if you have lived a good Mormon life you then ascend to God of your own planet! Can't wait!!
Exactly. And don't forget the more wives and children you have the higher level of planetary godhood you can attain. Almost like an early form of Amway. Hell, if game developers had been paying attention they could have based games off of the book of moron(i).
Mormons believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible. The also believe in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Mormons are some of the most decent people I know.
They do acknowledge that there was a Jesus Christ, but they don't believe in him. Otherwise they wouldn't say that he is the brother of satan. I don't deny that there are some good mormons out there, but it is still a whacky cult.
And they also believe in so many crazy things ithat it begs the question why any sane person would believe in them.
@Kameron: I know I've never directly taught that Satan and Jesus are brothers as Mormon doctrine, but for the sake of argument, what can we infer from the Bible? When Jesus casts out devils and his followers marvel about it, he talks about one cast down from heaven, so in this context we (both Mormons and Evangelicals) assume that this one is Satan. Now, if Satan was cast out of heaven, that means he had to abide in heaven at some time before he was cast out. But what business does Satan have being in heaven, and what conditions caused hime to be cast out? The Evangelical take, as best as I can make out is that this cannot be, since Christ is the Only Begotten of the Father. But something has to give somewhere in this logic. The Mormon stance is that the Only Begotten must mean something different, and that we all lived in heaven at some time before we were born. This makes sense. This is why my Evangelical acquiantances have been known to say "Babies come from heaven" even if they don't really beleive it. Just my thoughts, though.
The Mormon Church is estimated to be worth about 58 BILLION dollars. You can bet this is just the beginning of the advertising that the church will be pouring money into in order to get Romney elected president – Romney's oath of allegiance to the Mormon Church trumps his oath of allegiance to the U.S.
ummm, you are grossly misinformed. This is such a ridiculous claim that no explanation is needed.
Another ridiculous claim from Idean.
Question: has science proven that one of the tribes came from the ME over here and mingled with the indians? I would think this is kind of key.
Mitochondrial DNA evidence points to European DNA arriving here approximately 160000 to 140000 years ago. There is NO evidence they came from the ME based upon DNA evidence( check Solutrean hypothesis). This DNA shows up in some of the the Ojibwa DNA, but it is European, and is most closely related to DNA from groups like the Lapplanders. The way the sequences are arranged shows it could not be in the timeframe indicated in the BOM. The idea that ME DNA from the some time shortly before the fall of Jerusalem is not supported by any DNA evidence.
The Real Tom Paine
Mitochondrial DNA evidence points to European DNA arriving here approximately 160000 to 140000 years ago. There is NO evidence they came from the ME based upon DNA evidence( check Solutrean hypothesis). This DNA shows up in some of the the Ojibwa DNA, but it is European, and is most closely related to DNA from groups like the Lapplanders. The way the sequences are arranged shows it could not be in the timeframe indicated in the BOM. The idea that ME DNA from the some time shortly before the fall of Jerusalem is not supported by any DNA evidence.
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Translation: made up
Diverse backbround – riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. They didn't allow black people into the church until the 1970s based on a "decree from God", but then God apparently changed his mind as communicated to the false prophet who was running things at the time. Funny how God's morals evolve at almost the same rate as society's morals.
Or were they allowed into Heaven. (If you believe in one that is) 🙂
Sorry that is incorrect. They were always welcome into the church. Priesthood wasn't given to African-American males until the '70's.
If you don't like the church, that's fine. But you should be aware that the church has never restricted blacks from membership. You might want to look up the names of people like Elijah Abel, Green Flake, Walker Lewis, and Jane Manning before you cast a judgement call like that. All were African Americans, and among the first members of the church.
Not a Mormon, but I think blacks have always been allowed to be in the church. My nighbor down the street said his dad became a Mormon in the 1950's, shortly after he came jhome from the Korean War. I remember reading that the Mormons were persecuted in Missouri and an extermination order against the Mormons was put in place because they had an anti-slavery stance and were growing to become a large voting bloc in that state. I believe dozens of Mormons were killed because of their ant-slavery stance before they decided to leave the state and head for Utah. I saw a PBS special about it earlier this year of late last year – don't recall the exact date.
And don't forget that that decree coincided with the US Government's ultimatum of removing their tax exempt status unless they let blacks in. I love how the LDS's are trying to spin this into something else other than a whacked out white guy getting ran out of town by a senator's son. After Smith was unsuccessful in witching anymore wells or gold, they ran him and his polygamists group out of town. Suddenly Zion was now located out West!
I'm not a Mormon but I've done some research on this issue and was surprised to find that Mormons have always allowed black membership. I was also surprised that much of the criticism Mormons faced in the 1800s was because they were staunch abolitionists who allowed black men into leadership roles which was unacceptable at the time.
I'm a converted Mormon. I disagree with what the church did. They should have left it alone and soon it would all been forgotten.
I don't agree with any religion forcing themselves on anyone. People are much happier when they choose for themselves.
The Christians are a cult to the Jews and the Mormons are a cult to the Christians. I find this quite funny when myth believers point fingers at each other claiming they are the true way.
We will all know one day, that the only way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ.
prayinthespirit
We will all know one day, that the only way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Based on what???????????????????
Nothing is funnier then watching the different factions of crazies er i mean "believers" fighting over who's fairytale is "truthier"!
GOOD GRIEF! Please stop posting all these ridiculous video clips! You keep posting the same ones over and over. What's your point?
Water Utah King A Bout Eye Donut No
Most of the commenters on this thread are Christians and Mormon trask-talking each other's religious beliefs.
To all of you, I say that if you understand why you don't like someone else's religion, then you will understand why I don't like yours.
I like Mormons. The more Mormons there are in this world, the more room there will be in Heavan for me and my friends. 🙂
Have you seen this heaven?
Oh Yeah?, maybe it's the other way around.
Mormon's are the worst! I cannot stand this church and it's arrogance. Anyone who thinks it's good to disrespect the dead by performing post-mortem baptism and therby "converting" an already dead person to their religion is just sick. don't even get me going on their hypocritcal stance on marriage. I say drink some coffee, have a smoke, and shed your garments...you'll be much happier for it.
This is the church that frowned on interracial marriages. Here is Brigham Young's own words:
“Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.” (Journal of Discources 10:110 )
Give up the only-on-the-surface BS. It's all about Mitt Romney and polishing his credentials.
At least Romney is not Bill Clinton, who placed a Sigar on someone's...... and Newt Gingrich's extra marital affair.. and the latest Weiner,s silly brain.
Romney wont get elected either way. We will have a black female POTUS long before we have a POTUS that is anything other then an orthadox christian.
Here come the so-called atheists again. Saying the same things over and over and over again and aping the arguments of their gurus Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris. Sad to say they have become what they hate so much. Sure we have the right to question all religious beliefs but I get the impression we cant question them because they claim they have science on their side. It's getting soooo boring and very predictable folks.
"I get the impression we cant question them because they claim they have science on their side." You are using science to post your rant against science. It's extremely funny but still sad. It takes millions of years to make certain kinds of rock. It takes nine months to gestate a baby. These are scientific facts. Get back to me when you find water that doesn't boil at 212° or freeze at 32°.
You can't just say 'scientific facts distress me' and refuse to look at things. There is no scientific fact that precludes the existence of God. Maybe He's made of Higgs Bosons and they really ARE a God particle! If He made the physical universe then He is behind or above it and undetectable, and you are insulting His creation by claiming geology or particle physics isn't real.
I guess you misunderstood what I was saying. Science tells us an awful lot about us and our universe and yes there are laws and established facts...gravity, boiling point of water, speed of light, ages of rock ect. However science is an ever changing discipline and there are still thousands of unanswered questions and we are still very limited by what we don't know. So to be brief to say that science can answer all of our questions sounds too optimistic. Its almost like the born again Christian who says "Jesus if the answer".
I'm with those who can't wait for the courageous producers to bring on their play about middle eastern religious texts. Come on guys, show us your stuff.
One thing for sure, Mormons aren't going to hijack a plane and smash it into the theater to stop the show. Plans for FACE OF MOHAMMED: The Musical! have been put on indefinite hold.
Actually, Parker and Stone HAVE satirized Muhammad.
Before 9/11, there was an episode of Southpark in which The Prophet was a member of the Super Best Friends hero group and nobody batted an eye.
Not long ago, they tried to animate an image of Mohammed and were stopped by Comedy Central.
Their humour can be crass and juvenile, but they seem to strive for offensive equality.
Yeah, but the Mormons are more likely to boo and throw popcorn than shoot you. It doesn't take much courage to mock someone who is probably just going to laugh.
So I guess that upstate New York is the new "Holy Land"?