LDS, two questions about prejudice.

[Mudcat]

As I have been exploring the issue of unity in another thread. I wanted to start another thread that helped me gain an greater understanding of how much friction there actually is.

So here are the two questions and I want to qualify the questions by letting you know that what I am looking for is 1st or 2nd hand person to person accounts.

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

[BCSpace]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

Other than debates and declarations that I am going to hell or simply that my religion is wrong (neither of which I don't consider prejudice), I can't think of a single instance were I might have been truly disadvantaged or disparaged because I am LDS.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

Can't think of a single instance where I did.

I can think of an instance where someone whom I supervised blamed me and the Church for her not being promoted. She was Catholic and the locality was predominately LDS. A comparison of the records showed that the other was more quailfied. The records were not biased because they were records of numbers of phone calls handled in a customer service situation. In other words, a machine that couldn't tell the difference between religions showed that her average calls per hour handled was about 4 and the one promoted was about 6. Nevertheless, she was not mollified and quit. I felt bad, but not guilty of anything untoward in any way.

[Hamba Tuhan]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

The first man I taught as a missionary worked in a local government department whose manager was an Evangelical Christian. The manager did everything in his power to dissuade the man from becoming a Latter-day Saint. When that failed, he rostered him to work every Sunday in order to prevent him attending church services. I think that might fit the category.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

I'd be the last person to be able to answer this question honestly on my own behalf, but I have occasionally (in the US) heard LDS encourage other Church members to patronise a particular business over another business because of the respective faiths of the owners. I think that would fit the category as well.

[johndoe]

As I have been exploring the issue of unity in another thread. I wanted to start another thread that helped me gain an greater understanding of how much friction there actually is.

So here are the two questions and I want to qualify the questions by letting you know that what I am looking for is 1st or 2nd hand person to person accounts.

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

Hi Mudcat. I'll come back from my hiatus to respond to this.

I grew up in North Carolina. Quite a few nonLDS Christians, very few LDS. My brother and I studied at the same university in NC. This obviously wasn't BYU and there was a very small group of LDS students there. Much less than 1% of the total student population.

My brother and I were both pretty nerdy during that time in our lives. He's older than I am, by about 2 years. My brother had a very hard time fitting in with the LDS group of young singles. For whatever reason, he just didn't feel like he ever fit in with them. As a result, he went home every weekend and never really meshed with the LDS folks in the city where we studied.

My brother made friends with a nonLDS Christian on campus. My brother was really excited to find someone to hang out with who shared very similar values, since the vast majority of students there spent a good deal of their free time either getting drunk or high or planning to. Through this person, my brother was introduced to several other nonLDS Christians, and they all became friends. It turns out they were members of a Christian fraternity. My brother was very happy to have met these folks, and I remember his excitement when he told the rest of the family he wanted to join the fraternity. We thought it was a great thing. I personally was very happy to see him find a social group that he felt so comfortable with.

Then the bomb was dropped. My brother was LDS. LDS are not Christians, and therefore were banned from joining their fraternity. Not long after, his new "friends" dropped him like a hot potato.

This happened quite a few years ago, and I am still angry as I type this out. What a gross perversion of everything Christ taught! Obviously, this was a very difficult experience for my brother. My parents and I were absolutely disgusted. My heart ached for my brother.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

A guy who used to work with me indicated that he used to live on the same street as an LDS family. He's a nonLDS Christian, and he had a son that was about the same age as one of their sons. He knew LDS folks tend to have good values, so he was hoping his son and the LDS kid could be friends. The LDS family shunned them, according to him. If I recall correctly, he said the LDS kid actually told his son that he would only have other LDS kids as friends. Or something like that. It's been awhile now.

That goes against just about every missionary lesson or goal I've ever heard. And it's just plain not very nice.

[hagoth7]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians...

Yep. I attended the high school closest in proximity to the largest mega-church in the Pacific NW. Decker's stuff got big play there, as did their regular "save-the-mormon" weekend. So about half of the people I passed in the halls attended there. Took a lot of guff - shockingly offensive stuff. Surprising how arrogant teenagers can get. The worst was a few knuckleheads on the cross country team - won't get into the specifics. I attended that congregation once - but never went back. I'm thinking that's the only experience I've had visiting another faith that I couldn't categorize as pleasant. Learned a lot - but left with a very bad taste in my mouth, never wanting to look back.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice...

I've been in situations where other faiths that I happen to be familiar with were being misrepresented, and did what I could to set the record straight.

And I can think of one time when I said something of another faith that someone took offense to. (In my opinion, it was a fair statement - but I had no intention of creating offense.) Have probably offended others here and there, but can't think of specific instances other than the one. Except potentially the interaction with HP this weekend.

Basically, in preparation to be a missionary, we were told not to be "ugly Americans". Basically to be respectful diplomats.

So I've tried to carry that over in my interactions with peoples of other faiths. Don't know how successful that has been.

[cjwright]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

I went to a Independant Christian School (as we call it in the UK) from the age of 12-16. It was, and still is, run by members of a Pentecostal church, and most of the other pupils were also of that faith, though some weren't as by law the school had to take members of other faiths, or no faith at all. My younger brothers and I were the only LDS there. Over the years I was subjected to numerous instances for prejudice by a few of the pupils (one in particular was the son of a Pastor). They would tell me I was going to hell, that the Book of Mormon was false, and that Joseph Smith was a liar and false Prophet. The teachers did the same thing, would not allow me to use the KJV in lessons or assemblies, and instead had to use either the NIV or Good News Bibles, and they had meetings after school with other parents of their faith, and talk about the LDS Church the way most of the anti-Mormon critics do. I know these meetings took place because they would audio record them and give the recording to me to listen to in order to find the 'truth' about Mormonism. I also had a Catholic friend who suffered from some prejudice there as well.

Thankfully not all the pupils and teachers were like this, and I did have some good friends, which got me through those four years, though my faith in the Church waivered, and I needed to gain a testimony for myself. So I went inactive for a number of years, studying the scriptures (mainly the Bible) in order to find out for myself if the LDS Church and what it taught was true. I pushed the Church and its doctine as hard as I could, if it was false then there'd be no reason ever to return, and during that period of study I gain my testimony of the Church and of Joseph Smith as a prophet. I have been back active for the past six years, for most of those years I've taught in the Priesthood class, I've been on the EQ Presidency for the past two years, and on Sunday I was called to teach the Gospel Principles/Investigators class.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

I think because of how I was treated at school I tend to be very suspect of those of other faiths asking questions about what I believe. So I do kind of pre-judge that they are going to be hostile, though 9 times out of ten I've been right and they have been hostile, dishing out the same tired old arguements as if they are brand new, and that they'll be able to crush my faith and 'save' me from the 'evil doctrine' of Mormonism.

[mercyngrace]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

I've already shared this in other threads but the answer is yes. God harrassed by neighbors and associates all the time growing up in the South where I was a serious minority through my childhood and adolescence. I had a teacher who spent an entire year mocking my religion almost daily in front of all my peers. If there was a way to sneer Joseph Smith's name into a history lesson, he did it. I know of several families who have been excluded from home school organizations because those groups required participants to sign statements of faith that include a renunciation of the Book of Mormon. Much of the prejudice I see now, is subtle - a local church sends out mailers and teenage missionaries regularly who invite us to their "Bible-believing church" and encourage everyone in the community to attend, if not their church, only another "Bible-believing church". Those are code words for "not-Mormon" or "not Southern Baptist" that didn't exist when I was younger and people were more overt. If your proselyting is "we don't care if you join with us just DON'T join with them" I don't know how you can classify that as anything but prejudice.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

Frankly, no. At least not for religious reasons. I went to vacation Bible school at the local Baptist church one summer when I was 6 or 7, my parents were fine with it. I even sent my son to a non-denominational VBS when he was 5. If anything, my experience has been that LDS, out here where we are a serious minority, take pains to be seen as inclusive and to demonstrate their Christianity. Though, like CJWright, I admit to having been at least suspicious of others when they bring up religion because of the torment I endured during middle and high school.

*** edited to say that my son was playing the role playing online game Free Realms and encountered another player whose screen name was "fireamormon". Not quite sure how to take that name???

[Mars]

I had a snarky driver's ed. teacher in high school in Texas. But I got my license, so I suppose that doesn't qualify.

[emeliza]

I have never noticed any biased towards me due to my faith. There have been comments now and again, had a few people made jests, but they still didn't show any bias working with me or being my friend. They had a bias to my religion, not to me.

I am sure I have shown other people bias on many ocassions, but none due to religion come to mind. When I was in 9th grade there were a couple Mormons in one of my classes and I remember being shocked that they would be in such a weird religion, but this was before I knew anything of the religion. I don't recall having any bias towards either of them and oddly enough now and again still communicate with them. One found me on Facebook recently and the other I found. One is still a member and the other is Wiccan with same sex tendencies, though married to the opposite sex. I think she found church a bit too restrictive. I have seen her sister attend a nearby ward though.

I like others have a bias to a religion, but I try really hard not to have a bias towards people who practice said religion and in my experience, most others do the same for me. I hope that never changes either way.

[Thunderfire]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

Here is an example of one I witnesses just a few weeks ago. I was sent to Nebraska to work with one of our congregations (Community of Christ)that was doing work with some Native American kids on the Reservation. The pastor is the president of the local Ministerial Alliance. She told me of two different denominations which refuse to be part of the Ministerial Alliance as long as she is a member!

She is the town librarian and respected by many. The only problem is the church she is a member of and represents. If she quits, they will join.

I also have a dear friend I have known since Junior High. He is a pastor at a local church and at first wanted me to come to his congregation and speak of my ministry in India until he learned what denomination I attended. The invitation quickly vanished.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

Well, we are a pretty open fellowship. So no, I know of no instance where we treated others with prejudice or malice of any kind. Could there be an example somewhere? Of course, but it's just not our way to exclude anyone who sincerely loves the Lord.

[Lightbearer]

As I have been exploring the issue of unity in another thread. I wanted to start another thread that helped me gain an greater understanding of how much friction there actually is.

So here are the two questions and I want to qualify the questions by letting you know that what I am looking for is 1st or 2nd hand person to person accounts.

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

I believe I have shared this before, but for those who have not read it I repeat it here. When I was in the 8th grade I had to attend a Baptist Private School and as a result I received my first serious persecution for being a Mormon. I was called a devil worshipper, a member of a non-christian cult, a follower of a false prophet, and many other mean-spirited things said not just by teen-age students but by adult teachers and staff as well. In fact I really understood what Joseph Smith was talking about when he said:

(Joseph Smith History 1:22-23) I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter persecution; and this was common among all the sects

[Buckeye]

Until 2001, mormons were allowed to join the Christian Law Student Association at the University of Chicago Law School. Then a new requirement surfaced that members had to affirm agreement with the nicene creed. Needless to say, we were shown the door and formed the Oaks Society (Elder Oaks was a student and faculty at the school before returning west). Christians of all creeds have always been welcome in the Oaks Society.

[Mudcat]

Thanks all, for the replies you have given so far. I appreciate you sharing your experiences on the forum.

I am reading them all, and hope others are as well. I suppose I am a bit of a conscientious observer in my own thread, but your comments are helping me gain perspective.

Thanks again,

Mudcat

[Brenda]

As I have been exploring the issue of unity in another thread. I wanted to start another thread that helped me gain an greater understanding of how much friction there actually is.

So here are the two questions and I want to qualify the questions by letting you know that what I am looking for is 1st or 2nd hand person to person accounts.

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

1. Does this count? A local Bible-based Christian school/pre-school in our community weeds out employing LDS with the question (something to the effect of), "Do you believe the Bible to be the only valid scripture?" I know of two LDS who were not hired for this reason.

As for me, personally, I have only been treated with respect. However, online, it's quite a different story.

2. No.

[Lance in TX]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

Well.. I have a couple of examples:

1) My wife was looking into private schools for two of our childen as possibly an option of putting them in school (they are homeschooled). She called one of the top Christian schools in the area (Liberty Christian Academy) and they were all ready to have our children come, until they asked what religion we were. As soon as they heard we were LDS, we were told that we were not welcome at their school and she hung up on my wife. This was a couple of years ago, but the attitude is the same. We have talked to others that have had the same thing happen.

2) My daughter has been a member of a couple of Girl Scout troops that were led by Baptists and when they found out that she was LDS, they treated her very differently. They did not let her do anything other than just the absolute basic things. The other Baptist kids got to do all of the more advanced things. We took her out of those troops.

3) My son and daughter are part of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and they are the only LDS members in their wing. Most of the members are SBC or non-denonimational EVs. There are a couple of families that will not allow their children to have anything to do with our kids outside of CAP and have been told specifically that the reason is because they are LDS.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

We try not to. I cannot think of any case where we have.

[Lance in TX]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

Forgot one more.. My family.

When my parents found out I was going to be LDS, they stopped talking to me.

I have talked to my father 1 time in the last (almost) 15 years.

My mom disowned me for a couple of years but she now talks to us, but she makes fun of our religion all the time.

[ACW]

As I have been exploring the issue of unity in another thread. I wanted to start another thread that helped me gain an greater understanding of how much friction there actually is.

So here are the two questions and I want to qualify the questions by letting you know that what I am looking for is 1st or 2nd hand person to person accounts.

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

I guess this answers both questions.

I go to lunch with 3 sisters in my ward once a month. We went to a family style restaurant a year ago. We sat at the end of the long table. I sat next to a very nice fellow, his mother and grandmother sat across from him, next to one of my friends. We had a nice conversation going when he ask me how we all knew each other. I said we went to church together, then he ask what church and I told him. We asked what church he went to and he told us. All was fine up till then...

As soon as he mentioned his church one of the sisters pointed her finger at him and said "your church doesn't like Mormons". She went on to explain that when she was looking to put her granddaughter in a private school she called the one affiliated with his church. The school lady was all nice and welcoming to my friend until she found out my friend was LDS and said that "Mormons aren't Christian and don't believe in the bible" and that there wasn't room at the school for her granddaughter. They were shocked and very apologetic.

Well my heart went out to the young man and his family. They were so sweet and didn't deserve to be spoken to that way. I would have said something, but we, I and the other two sisters, were busy looking for gum under the table.

[markwhannig]

As I have been exploring the issue of unity in another thread. I wanted to start another thread that helped me gain an greater understanding of how much friction there actually is.

So here are the two questions and I want to qualify the questions by letting you know that what I am looking for is 1st or 2nd hand person to person accounts.

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

1. A family in our ward attempted to enroll their child in a non-LDS church's preschool in our neighborhood. The preschool director (a minister at the church) told the LDS family point blank that the reason the school refused enrollment was because the applying family was LDS.

2. Can't think of anything straight off. I've had many non-LDS friends tell me that they percieve how Mormons take care of each other. Whenever I've followed up with questions regarding specifics, my friends invariably speak in positive terms about general tendancies to care for your neighbor rather than specific instances where Mormons were favored over non-Mormons.

Alibi . . . On this board Hoops22 spoke about his daughter feeling left out because she was the only non-LDS on her soccer team.

[T-Shirt]

Several years ago,as a Stake YM's president, I was looking for a facility for our youth conference. I found one that would have worked nicely and so I contacted the owners. I asked many questions about the facility and the price, and began the process of registering our group to use the facility. When I told him that we were LDS, there was a long pause. He then told me he could not rent the facility to us as we were not Christian. The property was owned by a local Methodist church.

Another example: A poster on this board, many years ago, told his story of applying for a job with Focus on the Family. If I recall properly, they were very impressed with his resume and qualifications, but after the interview he was informed that they would not hire a Mormon.

Best,

T-Shirt

[mfbukowski]

1. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, were have been treated with prejudice by non-LDS Christians and will you share it here?

1- My son was deliberately grazed by a car while walking on a road during his mission in the South, wearing his white shirt, tie and name badge. The car deliberately veered toward him, (and companion) he dodged, and only got hit by the mirror, which broke off, and he kept as a souvenir. It could have killed him if he didn't see it, but only ended up with a badly bruised shoulder. Of course it car took off.

I am in commissioned sales, and have lost at least 3 clients who were EV's when they realized I was Mormon. They didn't want me to earn a commission 10% of which would go to the church. I had been doing business with each of them for years, and in all 3 cases they stopped soon after learning I was Mormon.

2. Have you or someone you know had an instance that you believe, you or they, treated non-LDS Christians with prejudice and will you share it here?

I have seen LDS owned businesses with only, or large majority, LDS employees. But we hire who we know.

[mfbukowski]

While I am thinking about it, check out this site tomorrow: http://www.slate.com/id/2224104/

Just saw this on another thread. There's a picture of the LDS Salt Lake Temple crushing the US flag, with the caption "coming Aug. 7."

Should be interesting.

[Lance in TX]

1- My son was deliberately grazed by a car while walking on a road during his mission in the South, wearing his white shirt, tie and name badge. The car deliberately veered toward him, (and companion) he dodged, and only got hit by the mirror, which broke off, and he kept as a souvenir. It could have killed him if he didn't see it, but only ended up with a badly bruised shoulder. Of course it car took off.

Was this in North Texas??? This has happened a number of times in our area. There is a non-denominational Christian Church out here has done this type of "witnessing to the Mormons" in the past, as well as tossing red drinks on them.

I am in commissioned sales, and have lost at least 3 clients who were EV's when they realized I was Mormon. They didn't want me to earn a commission 10% of which would go to the church. I had been doing business with each of them for years, and in all 3 cases they stopped soon after learning I was Mormon.

I think this is why I lost some work that I was doing. I was doing some side work for a guy and everything was going well. I was talking with one of his secretaries one day and religion came up and she found out I was LDS. That was the last time I was asked to do any work for him. I know he still needs work because a friend of mine got the extra work. Now, it could have been a coincidence, but I doubt it.

[ACW]

Another example: A poster on this board, many years ago, told his story of applying for a job with Focus on the Family. If I recall properly, they were very impressed with his resume and qualifications, but after the interview he was informed that they would not hire a Mormon.

Best,

T-Shirt

One day I was talking to my very devout Christian neighbor and I don't remember the topic we were discussing but I brought up that she should watch Johnny Lingo. I cued up the video so all she had to do was pop it in her vcr. She kept putting it off...wonder why?... Weeks/months passed when she told me, in stunned disbelief, that James Dobson of Focus on the Family had mentioned Johnny Lingo and the 10 cows!! I told her it was 8 cows...she insisted that it was 10 because that's what Dobson said. So we watched the video...she could barely sit still and when it was over all she said was "that was nice" and handed me the video and I left.

[mfbukowski]

Was this in North Texas??? This has happened a number of times in our area. There is a non-denominational Christian Church out here has done this type of "witnessing to the Mormons" in the past, as well as tossing red drinks on them.

Central Missippi- but he DID get a drink thrown on him as well in Hooks Texas up near Texarkana. Nice folks! I think that is more called "East Texas" though it is in the Northern corner...

[Senator]

While on my mission in Pennsylvania, my companion and I requested to join a community christian choir. Our request was granted, however after about 3 rehearsals the director pulled us aside and informed us that he had received several complaints from other choir members of our presence. "After all, it was a "christian" choir, if you know what I mean". He graciously suggested that it would be best if we stepped down.

My companion had a very strong and beautiful tenor voice which would have been very welcomed for Handel's Messiah which was to be showcased in the upcoming Christmas concert. Oh well, their loss!