I guess we Mormons just need to get used it.When the LDS Church
had its \"Big Love\" moment in March, LDS Church Public Affairs issued a
statement that noted that as the fourth largest church in the United States,
the LDS Church had now reached a point where it is large enough to be the
object of national attention, including offensive portrayals such as the one
on \"Big Love.\"So I guess it should not be surprising during the same
week, Time magazine ran a story about the church and the New York Times ran
a front-page feature story about returned missionaries who have
traded Books of Mormon for selling security systems. Thankfully, these
were in better taste and journalistic integrity than the \"Big
Love\" episode.Officially slated for the June 22 issue of Time, the
news magazine has already released its story \"The Storm Over the Mormons\" on
its Web site. The story attempts to balance the resentment of
Latter-day Saints after California's Proposition 8 with other activities of
the church. Reported in Salt Lake City and San Francisco Bay area,
Time religion editor David Van Biema writes more than 2,800 words about
how the faith has become a mainstream force. He writes:\"The body has
become a mainstream force, counting among its flock political heavyweights
like former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic
Senate majority leader Harry Reid, businesspeople like the Marriotts and
entertainers like Glenn Beck and Twilight novelist Stephenie Meyer. The
passage of Prop 8 was the church's latest display of its power: individual
Mormons contributed half of the proposition's $40 million war chest despite
constituting only 2% of California's population. LDS spokesman Michael
Otterson says, 'This is a moment of emergence'.\"Van Biema attempts to
navigate the wake created by the Proposition 8 vote and does it in a fair
fashion. He includes in his sources both authoritative and more common LDS
voices, including Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Quentin L. Cook, Elder
Marlin Jensen, a former bishop, a member, a stake president and his wife, an
LDS academic, editor of Sunstone and an LDS gay-rights activist. I think the
balance among sources and voices was good journalism. Van Biema didn't shy
away from controversy, but he did allow fair response. That's the best
anyone should expect from journalism.I also enjoyed Time's Web-only
slide show \"Inside a Mormon Ward\" of Latter-day Saints. Included are photos inside a chapel, a family
home evening, the Oakland Visitor's Center, sister missionaries, copies of the Book
of Mormon in many languages, two LDS couples, people working to
prepare food for abused womens' shelter, early-morning seminary and
the Oakland temple. I think the quality photos go a long way in
putting real human faces on Latter-day Saints.Along with the Time
story, the New York Times featured a front-page story under the headline \"Door
to Door as Missionaries, Then as Salesmen.\"
The story examines how the Orem, Utah company Pinnacle Security has transferred the
talents of returned missionaries into a door-to-door home security sales force.
Along the way, it says a lot about the church's missionary program. The
story takes an interesting angle on this news peg:\"As millions of
traditional jobs dried up last year, at least 100,000 Americans joined the
ranks of what is called, in the trade, direct sales. With items like
cosmetics and skin care (Mary Kay, Avon) and housewares (Cutco knives, Fuller
Brush), more than 15.1 million people are now selling something, or trying
to, somewhere far beyond the mall.\"A last laugh?A long-time
friend shared the fact that a few members from her Gilbert, Ariz. ward,
Nathan and Saysha Nielson, were recently on \"Stupid People Tricks\"
feature on the \"David Letterman Show.\" Nathan feeds Saysha spaghetti in a very
unusual (my friend says \"gross\") way.