I believe that I have made my position clear, in the past. What position you might ask? Ah, that I do not agree with protesters or “Street Preachers” standing outside Mormon places of worship and screaming at the faithful.

In my opinion, this is nothing more than bullying, such as in the case of the Street Preacher waving a pair of garments, Mormon sacred underwear, aka Jesus Jammies at an LDS General Conference. I understand why the faithful take issue with this. Hell, I take issue with this, and I do NOT agree with Mormon theology.

While I personally find the idea of sacred underwear pretty darn silly, I’m not going to start waving it around, either. Especially in front of a Mormon building. If you want to come to my little spot on the web, and talk about it, we can, but you are GOING TO HAVE to search me out. I refuse to go to someone else’s place of worship and taunt them with their underwear. That’s so junior high.

The newest case of evangelistic Street Preachers came to a head in Arizona, when a preacher and a faithful Mormon woman, in a wheelchair no less, had a confrontation.

From the Arizona Republic:

Anne Carlisle just wanted to get to the Easter pageant at the Mormon temple Tuesday night in Mesa.

Lonnie Pursifull just wanted to save Mormons from what he believes is eternal damnation.

But when their paths crossed, neither backed down, and Carlisle won.

Pursifull ended up with a bruised shin, courtesy of Carlisle’s electric wheelchair. But she didn’t get out of it unscathed: The 64-year-old Carlisle was cited for disorderly conduct for fighting.

Evangelical STREET PREACHERS, how in the hell can you think SCREAMING at someone and telling them they are going to HELL is going to “SAVE” them? Jesus NEVER resorted to these tactics. NEVER. Even more, he sure as hell never went to THEIR place of worship and heckled the faithful. How did some (and I emphasize some) evangelical Christianity get so far off base?

I realize that Mormons send out missionaries in droves, and they show up at houses and even wait in shopping mall parking lots to pounce on unsuspecting “prospects.”

For the most part, however, these missionaries are nice and polite, and really all they want to do is baptize you before you can realize you’ve been snookered.

Hmmm. That doesn’t make them sound so nice. But remember, they are POLITE and they are not yelling, and for the most part, if you ask nicely, they will go away. They don’t carry signs telling you that you are going to hell. And they wouldn’t dream of waving your underwear for the world to see.

Even though THEY want to save YOU, too.

I just caught this comment on the Miffed Mormons post, and wanted to spotlight it.

# Beazer Says:

April 6th, 2007 at 4:52 pm e

We have a new t-shirt. The hand still comes out of the clouds and is still pouring coffee but the image of Moroni is gone. In its place is a caption that reads ” The Lord Giveth and A Church Taketh Away”. If you want to order one, call “Just Add Coffee” at 801-969-2300.

Muwwahhhhaaaa. Very FUNNY. Good show, Just Add Coffee!

We interrupt this blog for the following special announcement:

The first book in the Jenny T. Partridge Dance Mystery Series, from Berkley Prime Crime, TUTU DEADLY, debuts TODAY! These books, you might notice, are written by my alter ego, Super Natalie… er, uh, I mean Natalie M. Roberts.

That’s because they are VERY different from my St. Martin’s books. In these, I get to play with light humor, and even my VERY MORMON mother is currently reading TUTU DEADLY. Fun to be had for all.

Run, don’t walk, to your bookstore and check out TUTU DEADLY!

Poisoned Psycho Dance Moms! Dancing Tots with continence issues! Hunky Cops!

Everything you’ve always wanted, all set in Ogden, Utah!

For more information, visit Jenny’s site at:

www.jennytpartridge.com

See, here’s the thing. It appears that ALL Mormon prophets eventually MORPH into Yoda.

I watched Gordon B. Hinckley today, and I am telling you… YODA! And it seems to be true of MOST MORMON PROPHETS. I remember when Star Wars came out, and the Church was RIFE with the FPRs (faith promoting rumors) that Yoda was based on Spencer W. Kimball and other LDS tenets. Here’s some proof of that. Yeah, okay.

But can YOU just imagine a Yoda testimony?

Well, at least, I have this little tidbit.

True, I know this church is. The only true church, it is. Prophet, I know Joseph Smith was. Yeesssssss.

Everyone knows that the Osmonds are Mormon royalty. Or as close as we get to a royal family, LDS-style.

Marie Osmond, the only daughter in the testosterone-laden Osmond clan, has announced that she and her husband of 20-years, Brian Blosil, are calling it quits.

I never really had the Donny Osmond crush, like many children of my generation, because even back then I had a bad-boy thing going on (loved David Cassidy and all that hair. Ooh la la.). But I grew up singing Osmond songs, and I think I still know all the words to Paper Roses, thanks to Marie’s version of it, which I played over and over again on my family’s eight track player.

And I’ve watched as Marie has tried to be a very real, very human person in the public eye, and that means not really hiding the fact that her life is FAR from perfect.

I’m sure there is much we do not know, and frankly, it’s not our business. Marie Osmond did not wake up one day and say, “Hey, I think I’ll just start hanging out at clubs, and showing off my hoo hoo to the paparazzi so I can get in every blog, newspaper, and magazine in the Universe and be famous for doing absolutely NOTHING except having money and going to clubs and all that…” Uh, sorry. Got off track.

But she didn’t. She was BORN into this famous talented family, into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she has done her best to live under the microscope from that time.

Nobody ASKED her if she wanted to be a role model for young Mormons everywhere.

From what I’ve seen of Marie Osmond over the years, I wonder if she has always chafed under the stifling repressive bonds of patriarchy? It would seem that way.

Marie also seems to have NOT jumped on the Melaleuca bandwagon, like her brothers. (For those of you NOT in the know, Mormons love multi-level marketing like Amway, and the Osmonds have used their name recognition and past success to push Melaleuca). Can I be the first to say YUCK? Well, maybe not the first. I find their pushing of this MLM distasteful at best.

But Marie hasn’t played in.

She has been fairly open about her struggle with postpartum depression, even taking on FrankenCruise, with this statement:

“When Tom becomes a woman and has a baby and has postpartum, then he can become an expert.”

A failure is never easy to endure, especially publically. Failure of a marriage, something so personal and heart-wrenching, is even worse.

So, I just wanted to say that I wish Marie Osmond the best, and hope she can find the happiness she is seeking. I hope she knows that it’s really inside her, and she has had it all along. Despite what we were taught all of our lives, what was shoved down our throats as the ONLY TRUE THING, there is no need for a “priesthood holder” to find that happiness.

I refuse to believe that a loving God won’t let a woman into His kingdom unless she has a man ahead of her, who knows her secret name, and will pull her through to meet God. That’s a chauvinistic man-fantasy. Those types just WANT to believe a woman can’t survive without a man by her side.

The enlightened ones, both men and women, know better.

Good luck, Marie.