Free Republic

HAVE YOU NOTICED THIS ABOUT MORMONS?   If you were to desire to enter the exclusive LDS-Mormon club, you would have to be agree to the church doctrine including this:   First Presidency Doctrinal StatementsIt is not only his discourses that form the basis of Joseph F. Smith's doctrinal legacy. During his presidency, several important documents signed by the First Presidency and/or the Twelve were issued that still serve as a touch stone of Latter-day Saint belief. One such document, The Origin of Man: By the First Presidency, was issued in 1909 during a time when evolution was gaining attention...

SALT LAKE CITY -- University of Utah President Michael K. Young has a strong message for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says freedom of religion is eroding in America and he urges Mormons to join the American Civil Liberties Union. While speaking at the annual conference of the LDS International Society on Monday at Brigham Young University, Young said religious freedom is about free will and agency. "We should be among the most passionate civil libertarians in the world," Young said. He expanded this during the question and answer period following his presentation by...

Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings An ordinance is a sacred act performed by a man who holds the priesthood. Baptism and the sacrament are examples of priesthood ordinances. Some ordinances may be performed by brethren who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. But most ordinances are performed by Melchizedek Priesthood holders. This section gives directions that a priesthood leader should follow when performing an ordinance. Brethren who perform ordinances should prepare themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit. They also should make sure the ordinance meets the following requirements: All ordinances must be performed in the name of Jesus Christ. All...

"The right to lie in the service of your own interests is highly valued and frequently exercised"-Nero Wolfe I began this list when I was a full time employee of the LDS Church Education System (CES). I worked as a Seminary Principal/teacher, Institute teacher/Director, and Stake CES Coordinator from 1975 - 2002. My last assignment was brief. I signed a Letter of Agreement with CES to serve as the Director of the Pullman, Washington LDS Institute of Religion adjacent to Washington State University in July 2002. I resigned from CES a month later. I carry fond memories of the students,...

Women have a sacred role in the sanctification and purification of men, Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy told students and faculty during the campus devotional in the Marriott Center at BYU on Tuesday, March 9. Reflecting on the love he felt from his mother, sister, wife and daughters, Elder Pace spoke of the positive influence women have had on his life. Speaking specifically about a time when his daughter fell asleep in his arms, Elder Pace noted the comfort it must have brought his daughter to be held by her father. He realized afterward that even greater was...

Barack and Michelle earn themselves a tempest in a Wedgwood teapot. Last week the Daily Mail reported that President and Mrs. Obama will not be among the 2,000 invited to Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, to attend the wedding of Prince William, the older son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. This news has caused the proverbial tempest in a teapot. How could this snub have come about?One might well ask, how could this snub not have come about? LetÂ’s take a brief stroll down memory lane, shall we? Not two weeks into his presidency, Mr. Obama...

President Barack Obama met Queen Elizabeth II and presented her with an iPod that was pre-loaded with a video of the first lady’s 30-minute arm-toning routine, complete with the peppy Broadway show tunes that keep MO motivated to go for the burn. Perhaps her expectations lowered by the gift of state presented to PM Gordon Brown, the Queen didn’t exactly go all out either: She gave the Obamas the same signed portrait of herself and Prince Philip that everyone else gets.

<p>Rosie O'Donnell has fought her last fight at `The View.' ABC said Friday she won't be back on the show following her angry confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday.</p> <p>O'Donnell asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract. She was due to leave "The View" in mid-June.</p>

<p>Washington has a way of quickly acculturating people, especially those who are most susceptible to derangement by the derivative dignity of office. But Jim Webb, Democratic U.S. senator-elect from Virginia, has become a pompous poseur and an abuser of the English language before actually becoming a senator.</p>

'WOMEN ARE equals now. They can fend for themselves. To offer a perfectly healthy woman a seat simply because she is a woman, however well-intentioned, is creepy. At best, she'll think you're from another country; at worst she'll feel old, or overweight enough to be perceived as pregnant." And that is a lesson in modern manners, according to the new issue of GQ (with Clive Owen on the cover). Glenn O'Brien and other GQ scribes weigh in on e-mails, cellphones, gym etiquette, dressing for travel, how to handle chatty seatmates, sleeping with your friend's ex, online dating, wedding gifts and...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Putin: Ally or Terrorist? by William F. Jasper Counting Vladimir Putin as an ally against terrorism ignores his career in the murderous KGB/FSB and his ongoing support for terrorist regimes and organizations. ‘‘Lena Goncharuk, aged 38, said that she was the only one to survive out of a group of six who were ordered out of the cellar where they had been hiding and shot at point blank range. Resting in her hospital bed, her voice barely rising above a whisper, she said she had survived only by pretending to be dead." So reported Paul Wood from the Chechen border...

<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) - Confronted with fresh allegations that he groped women, Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Thursday for having "behaved badly sometimes" and pleaded with voters just days before California's recall election for the chance to show that he has changed.</p>