Local Blogger Questions New Mormon Temple in Fort Lauderdale

• The flooding in Pakistan is a calamity. It seems that very few states are committing aid. Why doesn't India rush in to save those poor souls? I wish I knew what we could do to help. Does anyone know where to donate money?

• The LDS church prohibited black men from holding the priesthood until relatively recently, in effect limiting their entry into the highest level of "heaven". This is Christianity? Re-branding will do little to hide the church's history. The church teaches: If Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, then the church is "true". If Joseph Smith was not a prophet of God, then the church is of the Devil. Ask yourselves, did Joseph Smith REALLY find a pile of gold leaf documents that he translated by looking into a hat?!?!?!?! This is what the church is built on...

• I dont truly know what you talking about right here. This cant be the only way to think about this can it? It seems like you understand a lot, so why not explore it a lot more? Make it more accessible to everyone else who might not concur with you? Youd get a lot more individuals behind this should you just stopped making common statements.

• Yes I am a member and I actually know a member in Key West. They are few and far between down there to be sure. And yes we do not go to a Temple every Sunday. In fact they are closed on Sundays. We go to our local churches on Sunday. This will be a big help for a lot of members because they will not have to travel as far to go to the Temple. It will also bring some blessings for the local area. People make special trips to the temple. Youth trips and such. When they they will stop at your restaurants and help the local economy. And to the rather rude GraceArchAngel all I can say. There are 100,000 of us in Florida if you really want to get away I suggest you keep on moving. Or you could learn a little tolerence. Actually there are a lot of scientists that are LDS and they active encourage students to get more education. My local church includes several people that are engineers including one that works on uppers stages for NASA launch vehicles. The SRBs for the shuttle come from Utah as well and there are many members on the Space Coast that work for NASA. So you really are spouting off a lot of manure GraceArchAngel.

• I grew up in Tallahassee, and while I lived in Florida, there were no temples there. Now we have on in Orlando and will soon have on in Ft. Lauderdale. Despite what the critics (most of whom speak out of absolute ignorance) say, the building of an LDS temple is always a good thing. It represents a increased power for good and a lessened power for evil.

• Seems like one thing about Mormons remains the same... they can't STAND criticism of their lifestyle!

• As a Mormon, and a former Mormon Missionary assigned to South Florida, I think this is a HUMONGOUS blessing for the members of the church there. One local Stake President there, President Ben-Zion, has made it his mission to help the church grow and strengthen so that a temple will be built there. He said that he wanted it to end up within the boundaries of his stake (North Miami, Hialeah, and Miami Beach) but I think he will settle for western Broward (About 10 minutes to the north). This is a result of lots of prayer, fasting, good works, and general good christian living to be blessed with a temple, wherein people can be married in the kind of relationship that is not "Till death do you part", but for "Time and all Eternity"! Congratulations South Florida! I for one think this is one of the greatest things to ever happen to that region since it was colonized! I hope the example of all those faithful people will rub off on their friends and neighbors and encourage the kind of behavior that promotes a better world for everyone!

• As far as a temple in south florida, this has been a loooong road for the LDS members in south florida. We have fasted and prayed for this miracle to happen, and God has bestowed his wonderful blessings upon us. This temple will definetly be used, and it will bring many blessings to south florida. I know that this will bless us so much, and it will help others to feel the peace that this gospel brings. The temple is such a spiritual place, that just by walking the temple grounds, you will feel the Holy Spirit, and a wonderful peace. I invite everyone to attend the open house, it will be a very special event that you will not want to miss! The temple is the house of the Lord Jesus Christ. A sacred place.

• I am a long time Floridian, non Mormon. Mormons have always been a benefit to our state. I have witnessed many hurricanes and floods and the Mormons have always been the first to provide assistance. My children's best friends in High School were mormons because they were the most respectful, honest, modest students. We have Mormon Neighbors and I wish more people were like them. I am happy they are building a temple here in South Florida, maybe their spirit will wear off onto more people around here. Mormons are great!

• Maybe more Mormons will move to S. Florida. I personally would prefer a Mormon Temple than a Muslim Temple

• Kelly, actually, if you picked up a phone book you would see there are two LDS congregations in the Keys. One in Islamorada and the other one in Key West. On a typical Sunday, there are about 80-90 Mormons in the chapel in Key West. Probably 30-40 people travel once a month to Orlando to go to the temple there. This post is pretty typical of the New Times' standard of accuracy. You twist the words of a blogger to get a headline, and then make several mistakes during the article and slander an entire religion with nearly 14 million members. Bravo to you.

• Studies over the years have demonstrated that, for example, Mormons are disproportionately represented among American scientists, and that Brigham Young University -- the LDS Church's flagship institution of higher learning -- sends an exceptionally high percentage of its alumni on to professional and graduate schools. And, contrary to typical survey results, more education tends to correlate, among Mormons, with greater commitment to the faith rather than with greater estrangement from it. Which is all rather difficult to explain if, as "GraceArchAngel" asserts above, Mormons "discourage any kind of intellectual research and intelligence."

• Temples vs Churches in Mormonism. http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Temples-Tabernacles-and-Churches.html

• Hi,I am a convert to the Mormon Church. As a teenager in the church I was welcome and loved. I was given many opportunities to experience Boy Scouts, dance festivals, dances, service projects, roadshows, chiors, service and leadership positions, visiting the sick, home teaching, sports, road trips. Many adults sacrificed their time, money, energy, and put their arm around me in love and caring and thoughtful ways. It has been the same throughout my life. It has been a joy to be part of the LDS family throughout my career in the Air Force. I have enjoyed the LDS people in England, Germany, Italy, California, and elsewere. They have all been striving to live Christ like lives. May the Lord bless all those who are looking for a bit of peace and love in their lives to come visit the mormon community. You will find a vivacious loving, caring friendly, active, robust, hardworking, famiy friendly, giving and Christ devoted family. We are not all living as we should, but we hope that the teachings of Christ will temper us in time and mold us into better Christians. God Bless all who are trying to sow seeds of understanding and love in the World.

• <i>there are not too many Mormons in North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Libya, or Pakistan</i> . S/B "...not *yet* too..." 1 of 500 Mongolians is a Mormon and 1 of 35 Chileans is a Mormon. . There are 1 million+ Mormons in Brazil, 300k in Africa, 160k in the US, and many in tge Carribbean. This means that between 1 in 20 and 1 in 10 Mormons globally now is of black African descent!

• Hah. The comments are pretty predictable. As a life-long Mormon -- who lived for ten years in Boca Raton (moved in 2001) -- I thought the article was fine and, actually, funny. Of course the stereotypical Mormon doesn't sound like the Key West type. Maybe just goes to show we aren't all what the stereotypes suggest. As for the bashing, blah, blah, blah. Same old stuff. Always cowardly and anonymous. Some people really just don't have enough interesting/productive things to do. Yet they accuse others of lacking intelligence. Seriously?

• Just another non-thinking anti-Mormon bigot who thinks that disparaging a religion with 13 million people is OK. By the way, there are around 13-14 million Jews in the world. Perhaps the author would like to make some snide remarks about them also. They're a small, relatively unpopular religion, too! Best of all, they don't fight back! How is it in this age when tolerance and diversity are considered the highest values, it's somehow OK to make snarky remarks a religion that is different? Isn't "different" what diversity is all about?

• Well, Grace, there are not too many Mormons in North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Libya, or Pakistan. So, if you feel you need to, you know where to get away from them now. Yes, Kelly, it would be in your field of Reporting's interest to take a look a local LDS (Mormon) Sunday meeting.

• Hey Kelly, you don't know your subject. You pick up a random blogger's random thoughts and write an article with no further knowledge or research. That's not good journalism Kelly. Take a course next time. Your last sentence smacks of religious bias: "I'm trying to picture a Mormon living in Key West..." What is that supposed to mean? Mormons shouldn't live wherever they want? Bet me! Don't worry about whether the new Temple will be used... it certainly will. The LDS Church is growing rapidly... even in Florida, thank you very much. As for the "former" and disaffected Mormons, they are a pathetic lot. The LDS Church is not "money-hungry" or "power-hungry" and millions of happy members well know it. So a mentally challenged person says it, doesn't mean it's so. Kelly, please drop into an LDS Church next Sunday or at your earliest convenience and see what a real religion is all about. The times are posted outside any LDS chapel. Don't worry, they won't convert you! You'll just meet a lot of happy, loving people. Feel free to ask questions, Mormons love to talk about their faith.

• Mrs. Wolfe When covering a religion for a major local paper, I would expect you to do some research and get some basic facts rights. Temples are not where Mormons go for regular sunday service or to hear the "word" as you describe. One does not go to the temple to hear sermons or to sit in 'seats.' I expect reporters to have a basic understanding of the faith they are covering. It would be unacceptable to get such basic things wrong or to deliberately insult members of any other faith. Mormons are normal members of communities throughout the country and the world. That some live in the keys should be no more surprising than the existence of Catholics or Jews living in that area. This blog post is rather shameful.

• I find it interesting that those who have left the Mormon faith, can't leave the faith alone. If a Baptist leaves his/her congregation, do they go on to bash the Baptist faith? Are ex-mormons brainwashed or pre-programmed to attack their former church? Doesn't every church ask their members to 'tithe'? It's taught in the bible. Are you a hyppocrite if you go to church, but don't tithe....and then bash the Mormons for sacrificing?

• I was once a brainwashed member of the LDS Church too. I have never had such a close relationship with God than I do at this time, now that I am out of that money hungry, power hungry Church

• Holy Cow, Grace, You left Utah to get away from the fourth largest church in the US and you really thought that Florida was the answer? I disagree with all of your slander, the truth is the basic premise of the church is for you to pray and find out if it is true, after that it is up to you to act or not act on whatever happens. I ask tons of quesitons, maybe because I am in my last year of Law school, but still...there are basic truths when properly understood in the grand scheme of things are non-negotiable. The Temple is not secret, it is sacred, some covenants are so personal that it is between God and us, so butt out, but there is lots to talk about, so ask your questions? There is nothing that to be afraid of in the temple, only ultra-personal covenants. I am sorry that you sterotype all men in the Church that way, I wonder how I could show you that that is just not the case. Any suggestions?

• What a shame. I left Utah to get away from the Mormons. Actually I feel sorry for them. They follow a religion that discourages any kind of intellectual research and intelligence. They are supposed to follow the rules and not ask questions. They have secret rituals in the "temple" that they are sworn not to tell about. What could be so secret that they would be afraid to tell? In my opinion they are a group of power and money seeking males.

• There was a time when making jokes about Jews,Blacks, Gays and Pollocks was acceptable. Now it is taboo and the only exception is the Mormons. Mocking someonone's faith is really low. It says so much more about you. We really need to have a civil awakening in this country. Unless something is illegal or immoral, we need to stop with the "bashing".

• My God carries a hammer. Your god was nailed to a cross. Any questions?

TotalComments: 26