From a baseball pitcher to Glenn Beck

Read about a new top LDS major league pitcher in Miami, The New York Times' "distemper," Darwinism and Mormonism, the link between a Mormon filmmaker and lesbian priest, Glenn Beck talking about his faith, and a new leader of a Jewish organization who is also a Latter-day Saint.A pitcher of faithThe Miami Herald features pitcher Matt Lindstrom, his upbringing in Rexburg, Idaho, his Mormon values and his role as the new closer for the Florida Marlins.Darwin and DivinityA recent poll shows Mormons are among those most opposed to the idea of evolution, according to the Vancouver Sun. That probably came as a disappointment to BYU science instructors who sponsored a 200th anniversary event on campus honoring Darwin. BYU's student newspaper, The Daily Universe, ran front-page stories throughout the week about Darwin, including one headlined "Science professors don't view evolution as an 'either-or' proposition." Of course, the articles generated letters to the editor.Are Mormons right?The Belfast Telegraph reports one opinion piece about LDS proxybaptism continues to be among the newspaper Web site's most commented — Eamonn McCann's August article 'What if Catholics and Protestants are wrong and Mormons are right?' Agreed. It is still provocativeThe N.Y. Times "distemper"Pat Buchanan bemoans the distemper of the New York Times, noting an editorial after voters passed Proposition 8 that read: "But rather than argue with us, the Times chose to slime us as racists and white supremacists. This is of a piece with the Times' sliming of the Californian electorate that voted against state recognition of homosexual marriage. To the Times, that 52-48 vote meant 'right-wing forces, led by the Mormon Church,' had 'enshrined bigotry in the state's Constitution' ... To the Times' editorial writers, dissent from orthodoxy on illegal aliens or gay rights can only be explained bybigotry, hatred, racism or xenophobia in the hearts of the dissidents. To oppose the Times' agenda on social or moral issues is ascribed to mental illness or moral sickness."Glenn Beck in the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteA reporter asks: "You were raised Catholic, and you said you didn't like organized religion, so how did you end up Mormon? To me it seems pretty strict."Beck responds:"That's what I thought. You want to talk about organized religion and power and everything else? That's it. But that's a fundamental misunderstanding about what Mormons are. I think they are most libertarian in their principles. There are a set of principles to live by, but you choose to live by them. If you don't, nobody is damningyou to hell. It's freeing because I don't answer to anyone but my God."'Canning ahead' in Greensboro News-Record"It's a little-known tenet of Mormon faith — the church urges member to store food in case of bad times. And activity at the church's local storehouse, where members get food free or at cost, shows many members believe those times are coming — if they're not here already. At an outwardly nondescript building near the airport, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been busy canning food and stocking up on essentials. 'Everything's just jumping all of a sudden because of the economy,' said Milton Polous, a manager at what's called the Bishop's Storehouse. 'It started picking up about the latter part of last February. And it's been crazy since.' "Missionaries in MinnesotaThe Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin reported: "When Mason West learned that his Mormon mission encompassed territory including Rochester, the Idaho Falls, Idaho, native was struck by the unpredictability of it all. The 20-year-old had known people to be assigned to South America, to former countries of the Soviet Union and to other exotic locales and here he was being assigned to the land of 10,000 lakes. 'It seemed kind of random. I was excited,' West said."Mormon leader of Zionist officeThe Zionist Organization of America's West Coast office has hired Mark Paredes, who happens to be Mormon and one of L.A.'s most famous philo-Semites. A philo-Semite is a person who an interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people. Paredes, who had been working as national director of Latino outreach for the AmericanJewish Congress and previously served at the Israeli consulate. A reporter for the Jewish Journal interviewed him:"Now, you're still Mormon, right? I know Mormons are major Zionists, but it's got to be unusual for a Mormon to be running a regional office for a major Jewish organization.""I am still a Latter-day Saint, though I also think of myself as a "yehudi b'nefesh" [Jewish in soul]. I'm unaware of another non-Jew who has headed a regional office of a national Jewish organization, but I don't foresee any problems. After all, you don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist or to understand what's happening in the world."Getting the story rightThanks to Spokane Spokesman-Review investigative reporter Bill Morlin for understanding the distinction between the FLDS in Canada and northern Idaho and the LDS Church. If only our friends on the other side of the northern border could be so clear. Ian Hunter, a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario, had a hard time making any such distinctions in a National Post column. A book by Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham,"The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect," has been nominated for a journalism award. So can they be Mormons if they are polygamists? I beg to differ with the book's title.Understanding each otherThe Los Angeles Times had an interesting front page "Column One" story about an unexpected link between a Mormon father of three and a lesbian priest."Who could have foreseen what would happen between the Mormon filmmaker and the lesbian priest?Not Douglas Hunter, even after he took a leap of faith and trained his camera on the Rev. Susan Russell. And maybe not even Russell, who had undergone a remarkable transformation from onetime suburban soccer mom to priest and outspoken champion of gay rights. But the friendship that took root when Hunter asked Russell to play the central role in his documentary about same-sex marriage and theology would lead twopeople from different worlds to a new understanding of themselves and their faiths," the Times reported.Catch it on the BBCIf you happen to be reading this in Britain, you can watch an episode of "Around the World in 80 Faiths" that focuses on part-time Anglican vicar Peter Owen Jones visit to Utah. Since you can't view it on the Web outside the U.K., I would like to know what LDS Britons think about this show.