This article was a joke! It is laughable. Don't tell the readers what to believe about Joseph Smith or whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a cult. Readers can think and decide for themselves. I know many amazing Mormons and if I said anything that was said in this article, I would totally expect them to be pissed off. You are pissing on their religion. NOT COOL! This article was sensationalist, biased, and ridiculous. I have met people more open-minded, informed, and logical in backwards hick towns in Kentucky than the author of this article. I am still laughing that this was published. It reminds me of when I would watch the news in Dubai, in the Middle East. I laughed then as the anchors and journalists would tell viewers what to think and inflame and sensationalize everything. Let's be a bit more educated in what we say. Most of us, at least in the west, know at least a few Mormons and they were usually the preppy, well off, attractive kids that ran student government and excelled in sports. So, Christopher was jealous of a few Mormons from his past so he has some bone to pick with them all. Revenge of the nerds is not cool!

PEACE,

James

Your Quote: "I know many amazing Mormons and if I said anything that was said in this article, I would totally expect them to be pissed off. You are pissing on their religion. NOT COOL! This article was sensationalist, biased, and ridiculous. I have met people more open-minded, informed, and logical in backwards hick towns in Kentucky than the author of this article."

So, let me be sure I understand. It's biased and ridiculous for Christopher Hitchens to mock a religion invented by a con man (in order to make money and score young lovelies); but it's OK for you to call the people of Kentucky STUPID in your demonstration of Hitchen's biases??

I'm thinkin', uh, you're a hypocrite. Probably a DUMB mormon hypocrite (cuz that's the way god makes them).

James, You must have misread my post. It wasn't funny. Your post, on the other hand, should be EXCEEDINGLY embarrassing to you. You come off as an ass by your disparaging characterization of one group (Kentuckians) when complaining about Hitchen's disparaging characterization of mormons (for which he has supplied good argument, numerous times, in Slate and in his book).

You come off as a know-nothing and AMAZINGLY petty and smallminded ass when you write:

"Most of us, at least in the west, know at least a few Mormons and they were usually the preppy, well off, attractive kids that ran student government and excelled in sports. So, Christopher was jealous of a few Mormons from his past..."

In fact, Christopher Hitchens was educated at Cambridge AND Oxford, where, I'd be eager to wager, there are MORE well-off, attractive mormons "running student government" than there are synapses in your brain. Thus, I don't imagine the occasion for envy was available.

Could you perhaps have been looking for the Slate School website rather than the Slate magazine site? Here it is: <link> Why not make a visit? Maybe join the debating team...

Don't get so Huffy! You are like a teenage girl on her period. Why are you sooo defensive? I am standing up for a group of people that I have had amazing experiences with in high school and college. My boyfriend is Mormon and he was all of those things and I, dare say, that you are the small minded one. I have travelled all over the world and experienced amazing things. I don't need to hear people telling me what Mormons are like when I have known so many throughout my life and am currently dating one and his family is open minded and rad and totally cool with him being GAY! In school some people would not like him and would try to bring up the Mormon thing. Get over it. Don't call me small minded and then write all of that crap about Mormons. I don't care if the guy went to Oxford. I lived in England and went to the University of Manchester and to Universite de Ottawa in Canada. Who cares!

verychewy:

Don't get so Huffy! You are like a teenage girl on her period. Why are you sooo defensive? I am standing up for a group of people that I have had amazing experiences with in high school and college. My boyfriend is Mormon and he was all of those things and I, dare say, that you are the small minded one. I have travelled all over the world and experienced amazing things. I don't need to hear people telling me what Mormons are like when I have known so many throughout my life and am currently dating one and his family is open minded and rad and totally cool with him being GAY! In school some people would not like him and would try to bring up the Mormon thing. Get over it. Don't call me small minded and then write all of that crap about Mormons. I don't care if the guy went to Oxford. I lived in England and went to the University of Manchester and to Universite de Ottawa in Canada. Who cares!

I'll always cherish that post... :)

verychewy:

....You are like a teenage girl on her period....

On a completely separate note, I'd like to be your friend here and tell you that your obviously standard technique of BESMIRCHING one group of people unrelated to your argument, while in the process of DEFENDING another group....

.....makes you look REALLY bad, and will ALWAYS make you look like an idiot and defeat your own intentions.

I think you make the common error that when one puts down a group one is putting down ALL members of said group.

Of course there are good Mormons, Cathloics, Muslims, Liberals, Cons, blacks, asians, etc... BUT making this point is just a DUH point (i.e. a worthless point to make since it is so DUH!).

A religion is an institution and therefore it can be 'attacked' (criticized) for its dogma and practices without attacking individual members, per se.

I openly attack the Catholic Church for it practices (the child moelstation issue is STILL an issue and the Church is still covering up and hurthing children).

To me the Mormons' chruch view on race is enough for me to dismiss it as a good insitution. Oh, but they changed that in the 70ths. That is NOT that long ago. Good people would of left the church when they still had racist views. Rommey and his dad were members when the church was racist. Therefore they cannot claim to NOT be associated with this racist.

DUH! That is obvious. Good thing that I don't have clearly drawn out intentions. Let's not be patronizing with the whole friend thing. How saintly of you. You are soo reactionary. This is a blog. I don't care about how one perceives me. I know your hot buttons without even talking to you and it is fun to push them.

Merry Christmas

Thanks for the advise buddy!

StevieN,

You are as bigotted and ignorant as the author. His article was false and way off. So were you in your comments.