Reader comments
LDS have big image problem

Well, who ever said that the Mormons would be popular and well liked? Not Joesph Smith, nor Brigham Young. They knew the saints would be persecuted. Mormons have strong beliefs, beliefs that claim religious authority. That kind of strong belief system that declares sole authority in religious affairs will always be met with strong opposition.

Even the church leaders was suprised from their mistaken perception that the church was taking steps into the mainstream, when their mormon candidate fell quickly by the wayside, after a landslide rejection of Mitt Romney.

What's surprising is how the church leaders somehow came to the conclusion otherwise?

I guess Heavenly Father must have not told them yet. But hey, they're supposed to be seers and revelators, and man, what revelation they got when the utter rejection of Romney came to the surface.

The church's image problem is not exacerbated with the gay issues, and I believe, the church's decline of retention will continue to slide further, as the church's losses of membership will progress.

Jesus Christ taught love, harmony, peace, and the love of God, but He didn't always enjoy the best PR either.

If He had worried continually about His image & being liked by everyone, the original gospel would never have been preached to the world & Christianity would have been another flash-in-the-pan small-time sect.

The true Church and its people need to focus more on loving God and our neighbor, less on whether our neighbor loves us. Instead of assuring ourselves that "God is on our side," we need to ensure that we are on His. And in the long run everything will work out.

Bravo to Californian #2. I agree 100%.

I do think it's a combination of what Joseph Smith/Brigham Young taught (and the Lord) and also what this survey guy is saying: we shouldn't compromise any of our principles or beliefs, but we certainly could reach out more to "the world" and find ways to make our beliefs more appealing. Not by altering our beliefs, but by altering its presentation and simply being men of God. The Lord taught that the world hates Him (John 7:7, 15:18), but through His miracles and teachings still found a way to get "the world" to at least respect Him and recognize His divinity...several hundred years later (Christianity, Islam/Judaism referring to Him as a prophet).

I think this is a good thing to think about. Should we be content in a near-arrogant sort of way by effectually saying, "Who cares what anyone thinks, we're the Kingdom and they need to jump aboard or be thrust down," or to find baby-steps (What about Bob!) in reaching out to communities and even the darker circles through constant, eternal and yes even unrequited love and long-suffering. They will come to us. Give it time...and long-suffering.

Romney's campaign hardly fell like a rock. He lasted a lot longer than Joe Biden did. Most people cannot even remember Biden tried to run for president this time. Romney didn't loose by a landslide any more than Hillary did. He was still in the top three long after the other 8 fell off. (I bet you cannot even name the other Republicans that were running). Still I agree the LDS have an image problem, a serious one. I've lived in the South where I see it a lot.

I will buy this book. The past two weeks has demonstrated that we need a lot more than 39% of the people to view us favorably. I don't expect everyone to like us, but I think the true message of who we are is not out there. We have so much in common with other faiths. When I was ten my mother sat me down with a chart of religious beliefs and said "We are 95% in agreement on most views, truth is truth, so find that common ground."

Until the members of the LDS Church start living the gospel and being better examples, the Church is always going to have an image problem. It needs to start right at home in Salt Lake. I know of members who will not let their children play with non-member children and an area up near Ogden that is a gated, closed community only letting members of the Church move in. As Pres. Hinckley stated, "Let's see what we have in common and we will show you what we can add to it". All religions have some truths, but we proclaim to have all the keys that will allow us the opportunity to have eternal life and an eternal family. It was interesting to hear a member of the Quorum of Twleve Apostles state that,"It is interesting to see that we still do missionary work the same way for the past 170 years. I think we need to try and go in a differant direction." I don't thing he was referring to not doing missionary work, but just a differant way to approach it. Come on members, try and get a little more creative.

Mormons break away from the bible which is against what it says in the Book of Revelation that "You must not add to or take away from this book".

A poll. of 1000 people does not make a dent in a question in a Country of 300 Million Plus.

One of the problems is that Mormons sometimes think that they are not only Separate but far, far more then equal. Even among themselves. Singles being the Prime Example. We have a Word and a Class and a Box and an expectation for everyone.

However everyone does Not fit in a Box and All does Not Apply, to everything regardless of the Demographic.

Demographics work wonderful and are the Salvation of Direct Marketing. Give me the right Demographic and I can sell stock in the Bridge between San Francisco and Hilo Hawaii, 10 times a day.

In Direct marketing of anything to include Religion ( That is what a Missionary and TV Ad for a Book Of Mormon does by the way), we are interested mostly in those that know and are interested and are closest to our desired idea of what is "Golden" then we are in those that are Not. Every one matters but some matter more. Even among the lost we seek the found.

Jesus said it would be "Worth It" for me it has been.

We�re communicating our message just fine. The problem is the general public doesn�t like it. Always been this way, always will.

Noah, Moses, Jeremiah, Amos, Jesus Christ all suffered in the polls. The truth has always been a lightning rod and people usually have a hard time with it because it cutteth to the very center. We all know who the world will line up against. It has been this way since the beginning and nobody expects it to change much in the future.

This church is premised on a direct quote from Jesus Christ himself who told Joseph Smith that all other American churches were "an abomination" to him. That quote gets glossed over these days. You cannot stick to the true Mormon narrative without antagonizing other Christians. It is hard, indeed, to have it both ways--to be honest and be popular.

Entering the political ring, which we thought was
against church teachings, is certainly not going to
replace loving and caring for others. To be loved
we must love others and remember a war was fought
in heaven for free agency. Political force is not
part of Mormonism. I suggest we need to get back
to being Mormons.

All I'm going to say is I wish there wasn't so much misleading stuff on the internet! Maybe the church or members could buy most of the domain names, so when someone interested in the church types mormon themes into the search engine. They can study something true for once!

The LDS church is obsessed with judging other people's lives in a way that Jesus was not. Their Prop 8 campaign is Exhibit A.

The point is not that someone said Mormons would or should be liked, but that we collectively crave legitimation in mainstream culture and think we are more accepted than we are. As someone who has lived outside of Utah for 15 years now, I can attest that it's not our claim to religious authority that alienates, so much as a polygamous past, provincial ideas, insularity, and missionary zeal.

Many decent, reasonable, and tolerant people, view us the way we view quakers and puritans, that is to say, quaint, naive, and somewhat intolerant of non-believers.

Please reference where Mitt Romney lost by a land slide? Where is the reference that The Church is loosing membership?

That isn't to say that we could be a better neighbor, a better friend, and more Christ-like, who 'grew in favor with God and man'.

Much like the "hate Bush" campaign that has run in this country for the past 8 years, it's difficult to overcome decades of "hate Mormons" campaigns run by many so called Christian churches, who fail to have anything very attractive about their church, so they hate the Mormons.

I do not believe for one minute that the Mormons are very much responsible for this false image that's out there. Still, we do have work to do.

And on another note, the church could immediately improve its image by denouncing Joseph Smith, abandoning the Book of Mormon, supporting same sex marriage, dropping the Word of Wisdom, and moving over to "mainstream" Christianity's view of "the trinity."

So obtaining a more favorable view from others is easy; problem is, that "view" is not important enough for me to abandon all my values and beliefs.

so true cali

The LDS Church is tanking faster than the stock market. I am glad I divested myself from both of them when I did. Sad time ahead and I wonder if the church can survive in this modern day.