LDS Church responds to acts of terrorism

In a statement, the First Presidency of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that since the Nov. 4 election, places of worship have been targeted with protests and vandalism.

"People of faith have been intimidated for simply exercising their democratic rights. These are not actions that are worthy of the democratic ideals of our nation," the statement said. "The end of a free and fair election should not be the beginning of a hostile response in America."

The LDS Church said it was keenly aware of the "differences of opinion on this difficult and sensitive manner," but the First Presidency expressed disappointment in what it has seen since Prop. 8 passed.

"We call upon those who have honest disagreements on this issue to urge restraint upon the extreme actions of a few that are further polarizing our communities and urge them to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other," the statement said.

This message was issued in response to envelopes of a white powdery substance being sent to LDS Church headquarters and to LDS Temples.

See http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705263061,00.html

If you express your position in a free and open election, apparently those who disagree with you are entitled to use terrorism to suppress your opinion?

The full statement can be found at:

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng

In another article, an LDS Web site was attacked.

Scott Proctor of Meridian magazine said the site was hacked into early Nov. 5, and its home page was replaced with "horrible, explicit lesbians films placed all over the cover." Engineers took the site down immediately after the break-in was discovered, he said.

The company's Internet technology director said the electronic breach occurred in "a very elegant way. They had to have someone who really knew what they were doing to accomplish it the way they did it."

I don't remember any reports of picketing, vandalism, hacking or mailing of substances by LDS Church members. LDS temples in California, Salt Lake City and New York have been the subject of mass demonstrations over the faith's heavy involvement in the campaign to pass Proposition 8. More demonstrations are planned this weekend over marriage and gay rights — including a pair of demonstrations in Salt Lake City.

See http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705263061,00.html

I am sure that there will be more to follow.