Salt Lake Tribune Tripe #2

By Dennis B. Horne

            It looks like if I can keep up the energy to do it, these exposés of the Salt Lake Tribune’s long-standing miserable reporting record on things Mormon could well become a series. Sometimes it simply comes down to how aggravated I get at the false or misleading information contained in one of their sorry stories. Most long-time Utah LDS residents are aware of the Tribune’s critical bias against the Church, and many others besides me have noted and been annoyed by it.

In doing a little online surfing I came across this fine piece on another website: “Of 'MormonLeaks,' intellectual property and The Salt Lake Tribune – recipe for bias?” by a former Deseret News reporter that keeps an eye on things and evidently knows what he is talking about. The blog reviews a little history of the two Salt Lake City newspapers, then names some of its more prominent current reporters (such as Peggy Stack), and rightly concludes that “This newspaper has often run pieces critical of, if not hostile to, the LDS Church, mostly in the opinion pages, but occasionally elsewhere.” “Elsewhere” is, of course, the religion section or the front page, where Stack runs amuck with her activist agenda critical of the Church she purports to be a member of.

In the case of the commentary found in the linked blog about the Tribune’s bias against the Church, a different Tribune reporter is rightly taken to task for bungling and slanting the story he covered—strongly favoring an anti-Mormon copyright-infringing organization to the detriment of the LDS Church. A fine example of the Tribune’s recipe for bias coming through load and clear. “The journalistic issue is balance – the latest Trib story is heavily weighted towards [the anti-Mormon’s] perspective and downplays the church's viewpoint….”

Salt Lake Tribune Tripe

By Dennis B. Horne

             The Salt Lake Tribune calls itself Utah’s “Independent Voice”. Correctly translated, what that means is “criticize the LDS Church continually, especially regarding so-called social issues.” It has been disappointing and sad to me to see it continue bashing the Church under its new Huntsman family ownership. If the Huntsman family wants to retain an honorable name and reputation, some firings need to take place.

            The Tribune’s main religion reporter, Peggy Stack, obviously has an agenda of extremist liberal social activism. Whether it is extremist feminism (ordaining women to the priesthood), or LGBT issues (gay marriage/sex), or some other false or wrong-headed liberal cause, she uses her considerably-sized pulpit to push her activist propaganda. The fact that she constantly misinterprets and misunderstands LDS doctrine while doing so doesn’t seem to bother her. And I am informed she is a member of the Church! Well…if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and your employment causes you to write things that are not honest and honorable and accurate, perhaps that person should rethink their method of earning a living. But in this case, Stack seems to feel it is better to try to change the doctrine than to report it accurately—extremist activism at work, doing great harm instead of helping. She has the pulpit and by darn she is going to use it to seek to affect public sympathy for liberal change in the Church, and, it would seem, if she has to criticize and distort and misinterpret and so forth, so be it.

            A recent example. A pro-evolution story covering a pro-evolution biologist’s pro-evolution speech at a symposium, where the biologist incorrectly stated that church members should believe in evolution—a blatant falsehood. Peggy falsely states: “The Utah-based faith takes no official stand on the question.” This is utter nonsense and I bet Peggy knows it. An apostle directly addressed her false statement three decades ago:

The Veil of Forgetfulness

by Christopher R. Greenwood

Author of A Mighty Change: The Process of Going from Good to Better

and Spiritual Atrophy

So... When We Will Remember Everything?

Sometime ago, my Dad asked me the question, “When we die, will we remember our pre-mortal existence?  If not, when will that happen?”.  The following quotes and narrative is to provide insight into that wonderful topic.  I would encourage you, however, that like all doctrine, we need to study this out, pray about it, and determine for ourselves what we believe and what we need to do additional research on.  The following paragraphs encapsulate what I have been able to find on the subject copied from a variety of resources.

We are told that we are to function in this life by faith.  If the gospel is preached in the spirit world as it is here and one remembers everything there, they could not very well exercise faith because when one has sure knowledge, it excludes the need for faith.

There is sometimes an expectation that the veil is removed when we die, an assumption that may have originated some decades ago with the landmark film, Man’s Search for Happiness. Near its conclusion, the grandfather in the film dies and his spirit is depicted emerging into a circle of loved ones who pre-deceased him. Juxtaposed over this scene the commentary mentions that the veil over our memories will be removed and that we will recall our pre-mortal existence. While it is true that we will eventually have the veil of forgetfulness removed, that does not take place when we leave mortality. Not until the day of our resurrection, when our physical and spirit bodies are inseparably joined, will our pre-existent memories be restored. And that agency seems to be necessary after death if those in spirit prison are to freely choose and accept their proxy temple work.

On October 25, 1831, during a general conference, Joseph Smith taught,