Mormon Media Observer's potpourri of news and opinion

Genealogy makes it big on TV. Are Mormons and Catholics starting a new interfaith age? Beck offends evangelicals. Is a college outreach to Mormons wrong, but gay outreach OK?

Family history

Two TV shows are generating increased interest in family history and tangentially the LDS Church's work in genealogy. NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" takes famous Americans on a genealogical journey. For example, Sarah Jessica Parker's search led to ancestors at the Gold Rush and the Salem witch trials. See a story at KSL.com. PBS's "Faces of America" with Henry Louis Gates Jr. documents the family history of the famous. In February, Gates praised the LDS Church. At the time, Deseret News TV critic Scott Pierce reported:

"Gates readily admitted that he's not an expert on the beliefs of the LDS Church, but he expressed appreciation for the results. 'Well, they believed that they could baptize your dead ancestors,' Gates said. 'Now, I don't want to get into that. I'm not a Mormon. But I am glad that they have this belief because they have digitized billions of records. They'll go to a parish church and beat on the door and ask the priest, "Can we digitize all your marriage records and baptismal records?" They'll go to county courthouse and digitize property records and deeds.' "

A new interfaith age?

Manya Brachear, the religion reporter for the Chicago Tribune, recently blogged about Cardinal Francis George speaking at BYU and wondered if a new "ecumenical age" has arrived. (Ecumenism promotes unity among Christian churches. Mormons would probably prefer the term "interfaith.") Here's what she reported:

"Who would have guessed when Cardinal Francis George conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Ravinia in June 2007 that he would be 'preaching to the choir' nearly two years later? During a recent address in Utah, George said Catholics and Mormons stand as one in defense of religious liberty. Catholics and Mormons are on the same page when it comes to the defense of marriage exclusively between a man and a woman and health care reform that does not cover women seeking abortions."

Glenn Beck angers evangelicals, may offend Catholics

The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good has issued a call to respond to Glenn Beck's most recent incendiary on-air comment. The group quotes Beck as saying:

"I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, the idea, hang on, am I advising people to leave their church ... yes! ... If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish." Hear the audio here:

The group is hoping to raise $5,000 to create a video to respond to Beck. Catholics might also take offense. First Things has also quoted Beck and connects it to Catholic teaching. First Things is published by The Institute on Religion and Public Life.

Mormon outreach wrong, but gay outreach OK?

The National Review has an interesting comparison of two recent college outreach efforts to recruit students. A Wyoming college was blasted for sending letters to LDS students while the University of Pennsylvania's outreach to gay students is lauded. David French writes:

"I would also note that targeted outreach is common well before students are admitted, with universities who are particularly proactive developing relationships with high schools and developing a number of targeted outreach programs to create a 'diverse' student body. Acknowledging that there is a significant public/private difference between Penn and Northwest College, it strikes me that the efforts are remarkably similar. In both cases, the college identifies a population that it deems significant enough (either in numbers or to create 'diversity') to specifically identify as worth recruiting, and the college reaches out to describe available opportunities — not to create special advantages.