Comments about ‘LDS balance attention on aid they give’

I think I am confused. How is a community effort by the family the same thing as something organized by the church? Did the church collec the items, or the family?

It is not a great stretch for the media to link a family in Utah collecting items to the fact that they are LDS or Mormons, which means that religious aspect of the story would gain greater prominence. In the eyes of the media everyone in Utah is presumed LDS until proved otherwise!

This story is really confusing. I'm not sure I even understand the gist of it. The church doesn't want people to know that it's helping in humanitarian efforts related to the war because they don't want to appear political? Since when is it a political statement to help someone affected by war? Whether the war is wrong or not, humanitarian aid is simply humanitarian, not political. Contrast to, oh, say, raising buckets of money for a ballot initiative or something like that - which of those is truly political? Which actually ties the church to a certain group or movement? This sounds like certain people in the church saying, "Oh we want to do all this good, but we have to be careful that in doing good we aren't opening ourselves to be victimized by the nasty media." Strange story indeed.

I find if anything the major media outlets have never given credit where credit is due to the LDS church, so this story and delicate balance of media with giving aid confuses me as well. Hope they can explain themselves a bit better?

Don't be confused about the article. Just do everything you can to help others who are more needy than you are. It does not matter who gets the credit. Just do it!

I agree, this is a bizarre article. And since when does the church shy away from positive media coverage? This church is all about good PR, but this doesn't negate the wonderful humanitarian efforts it undertakes.

Having done research in humanitarian response and coordination, I can say that the Mormon Church is not the only organization whose relief efforts need to be accompanied by great calculation and care. But echoing Toele LDS, the idea is to always be willing to do good for others, for the right reasons, and the most efficient way. Thanks for the article Carrie

The article is talking about how the media will imply the LDS church is doing so much just to gain fame and positive press. The LDS church, on the other hand, doesn't want the media attention to be the reason for doing good; therefore they don't seek media attention for all the humanitarian work.

There is nothing confusing about this article if it is read carefully. Some people are looking for the negative in everything. Don't confuse apples and oranges by comparing church humanitarian aid with with church involvment with moral referendum issues. Two totally diffrent issues.

Great article, thanks for presenting it.

Very, very good point! I was just curious (first comment) because I was trying to follow along.

"Makes sense to me" and "SLMG" have it right. The LDS Church actively tries to convert others to its faith. The choice to give humanitarian aid really does need to be done solely because that is what LDS, claiming they are to be following Jesus Christ, would do. In that way, any Christian church should be doing the same thing (and, of course, many are). As an LDS member myself, I have sometimes wondered if the ubiquitous "Mormon Helping Hands" T-shirts when Church members provide service after natural disasters isn't trumpeting ourselves a little too much. We definitely need to be sensitive to not letting the right hand know what the left is doing--or however that is said in the Bible.

1) Considering the media misrepresentation of Mitt Romney during his recent run for office, it should be obvious why the church has to be careful about its media coverage. Negativity in the media abounds, and sells ad space better than positive stories. 2) Looking like we are supporting one side or the other in a civil war (which is what we have now in Iraq), could be harmful to the local population who accept the help as well as to the church image. 3) The "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirts differentiate those who show up to charitably assist from the many predators who descend after a disaster and charge exorbitant fees for cleanup -- it calms fears of those already traumatized. 4) The Savior said we should be "wise as servants but gentle as doves." This is just an example of wisdom.

I liked your concise, informed comment, Deanna. Thanks for the story, Carrie.

What's the point of this double-speak article? Anyone currently bowing a head to say 'yes' should seriously ask yourselves that.

Summary:

We don't talk about our aid programs so that media coverage doesn't characterize our greatness as inferior (by 'misconstruing' context and/or behavior regardless of our appearance), so that only we can dictate any attention we get, and so that we won't be incorrectly linked with lesser organizations.

Having said that... We're leading the World's efforts in the following ways... Blah, blah, blah. Plus, we have these amazing programs... mention, mention, drop name-of-some-renown. We're as awesome as we say, and better! Take our word for it! After all, 'Jesus Christ' is in the name of our church. We can't give details of these contributions, because our enemies would take what should seem generous and beneficent certainly above and beyond Mainstream efforts, and twist it to seem paltry and also-ran. However, we're currently devising a way to advertise the reputation we deserve, in a way that couldn't be tarnished even if we chipped in only a fraction of the percent of a tithe of what we claim. But, we already said we do more than that. Remember?

There is so much work to be done for those who suffer in so many ways. The LDS church, in my opinion needs to switch tithes and offerings around. The amount of money given by members in tithes far exceeds the amount given in humanitarian funds. If the church would really take the Christian attitude they would give the tithing money to the poor and needy and use the offerings to run the corporation.
Having worked in the humanitarian effort myself I know how hard it is to get humanitarian funds from the church - it's like trying to get blood from a stone. I was dealing with Sharon Eubank at the time by the way.
Too many people are suffering, so who cares who gets the glory and how, just give and help!

We are in West Africa an we are seeking aid from any body or organization that will be lead by God to bless us. If you want to be a blessing to so as to extand the work of God, please reply.