LETTER: Conference coverage was decent

Editor,

I would like to comment on the letter which appeared on Oct. 8 entitled “Coverage was too one-sided.” I agree that the article on the General Conference protestors was overly one-sided but for the opposite reason. I think the article seemed to condemn the protestors and portray them in a negative fashion. I liked the poster that read “JESUS WARNED Against False Teachers.” I think the picture of it was well shot and gave a quick overview of the protestors’ messages.

I actually only read the article about the protestors; I didn’t care to read the pro-Mormon article about some new sin Mormon brass has come up with. Besides, I think it would be monotonous and repulsive reading about what was commanded at General Conference. I found the title of the pro-Mormon article “LDS faithful instructed to avoid immorality at General Conference” to be amusing. I noticed The Statesman quickly reworded the headline on its Web site. I think the protestors were brave to share their message. I think it is important for conference-attending Mormons to see the other side of their sanitized beliefs. It’s important that our country allows the freedom to protest and I am grateful for the “so-called civil rights organizations” that help to protect this right. At least one of the protestors even had a permit from the city. Some of the counter-protestors were just as zealous as the protestors. One Mormon was jailed for allegedly taking an LDS garment away from a conference protestor. He was charged with battery and attempted theft and used his day in jail to preach the Book of Mormon to other inmates. I think missionary salespeople are just as annoying as other salespeople, including telemarketers. I think it should be illegal for them to step onto private property, selling a message, without the owner’s express permission. I wondered about the appropriateness of a state-sponsored school newspaper to report about religion, but I would like to thank The Statesman for telling both sides of the story.

Cory Hamblin