Shooter’s neo-Nazi past

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:42:00 +0000

While it’s still too early to jump to any conclusions about the tragic shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin yesterday that left seven people dead, including the gunman, and others, including a police officer, wounded, some information has emerged about the shooter. The FBI has taken over the incident and is treating it as a potential case of domestic terrorism, though they've been careful not to publicly speculate about motives. The assailant has been identified as Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran who was honorably discharged in the late 1990s. Page’s landlord said the suspect was a bit of a loner, and that he recently broke up with his girlfriend, but that he cleared a background check and thus likely did not have a criminal record.

Anti-Mormon prejudice vs. racism

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Earlier this week, ABC News and the Washington Post released a poll showing that 20% of Americans wouldn’t want a family member to marry a Mormon, while 14% said the same about African Americans.

The comparison made me uncomfortable, and for reasons beyond the fact that a Mormon and an African American are facing off for president. It’s just an awfully simplistic way to gauge discrimination.

Today, Jana Riess at Religion News Service—an exemplary voice in the world of Mormonism—explained why it is misleading to compare anti-black racism with anti-Mormon prejudice.

Mild forms of social discrimination against Mormons are real, Riess wrote. But she offered several reasons why the experience of Mormons differs significantly from that of African Americans, including, as she writes:

Salon.com > Bigotry

Shooter’s neo-Nazi past

Anti-Mormon prejudice vs. racism