I have contended since 2007 that the conservative political web site Free Republic is one of the most active anti-Mormon hate sites on the Internet. The Society for the Prevention of Anti-Mormonism began an unscientific survey of Free Republic in December 2008 which ran for about a year. Citing the report that was published on the Free Republic Anti-Mormon (FRAM) Report blog site:
"Beginning in December 2008 and continuing up to February 2010, there were a total of 702 discussions about Mormonism on Free Republic. 144 of them or 21 percent were favorable towards the Church. These consisted primarily of "devotional" or "LDS Caucus" discussions where site rules prohibit debates or hostile expressions by non-caucus members.
"A total of 51 "neutral" discussions were found for a total of 7 percent. These were generally discussions where mention of Mormons and Mormonism were incidental, such as a political discussion about Mitt Romney or Glenn Beck. There was a considerable amount of anti-Mormon activity in these threads, but for the purposes of the survey, they were not counted as such because the intent of the the individuals initiating the topics was clearly not to attack the Church.
"That leaves us with a total of 507 discussions that were initiated by known anti-Mormons with the intention of bashing Mormons and their religion. That's 72 percent! The level of hatred, derision, mockery, and ridicule heaped upon any latter-day saint who defends their faith is incredible.
"To an outside, unconcerned observer, it often appears that Mormons are trying to use the Free Republic site to proselytize and spread their faith. The numbers reveal that nearly three-quarters of all posts about the Church are initiated by individuals who are extremely hostile to the Church and seek to foster ill feelings towards it.
"It is shameful that this forum is permitted to be used for such purposes. It can only be assumed that such behavior is condoned by the site owner and enjoys tacit approval."
I received an e-mail this morning that gives further support to my claim that Free Republic is continuing its anti-Mormon trend and suggests that there is a concerted effort in place to drive Mormon conservatives from the site. Here is the background on a FR discussion thread that began yesterday.
A
freeper (that's what the site members call themselves) with the screen name "Paragon Defender" posted
a link to an article that appeared in the Ensign magazine in January 2009. The title of the article, written by Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander was
Joseph Smith: An Apostle of Jesus Christ. This link was posted in the "LDS Caucus." Traditionally, caucus threads on the Free Republic site are set aside as "safe zones" for people of a particular religious persuasion or political activists to congregate and discuss their issues free from undue harassment. Generally these are devotional threads. There are such groups designated for Catholics, Jews, Reformed (Calvinists), and Latter-day Saints. Except for almost the almost continual bashing of Muslims on the FR site, nothing matches the constant hammering of latter-day saints in frequency, persistence, and vehemence.
Apparently, Jim Robinson, the site's owner moved
the discussion thread from the LDS Caucus thread to the Breaking News category, where it became open season for the Mormon-haters. When asked why he did this, Robinson replied, "If this is not breaking news of the century, I don’t know what is. Someone needs to rewrite the bible to include Apostle Joe."
Actually, this should be the breaking news of the century, because God did indeed confer the holy apostleship upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by the hands of Peter, James, and John. The keys of the kingdom are once again on earth after having been absent for some seventeen centuries. The keys of the kingdom are in the possession of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. But I digress--
Although it is common for Robinson to tolerate anti-Mormonism on his site, this is the first documented instance in which he has direct interfered with discussions to promote anti-Mormon activity. To the credit of some non-Mormon forum members, they also questioned the propriety of Robinson's actions. One of them replied, "Well, I’m sick to death of the Mormon-bashing threads too, and I’m not Mormon. Lately it seems this place is flooded with them."
As recently as December 29th, I noted in a column for the FRAM Report that one of the most active anti-Mormons on Free Republic outdid himself by singlehandedly posting 15 anti-Mormon threads from December 26th to December 29th. Perhaps that is why there is a perception of FR being flooded with threads about Mormonism. As we documented in the survey, 72 percent of the discussions about Mormonism on Free Republic are generated by people who claim to oppose the Church.
Througout the thread LDS members asked Jim Robinson if he was suggesting that Free Republic no longer welcomed latter-day saints. The first reply he gave to these queries was:
"I’ll put it this way. I don’t believe a single word written by Joseph Smith or his followers when it departs from the Word of God as recorded in the Holy Bible and I’m not thrilled about people coming here to preach some false gospel from the pages of Free Republic."
Mormons have no problem with those who don't believe as we do. There is a difference; however, between not believing and actively supporting harassment and promoting bigotry. Again, he was asked the same question, whether Mormons should feel welcome on Free Republic. He cryptically and evasively answered, "They’ll have to make up their own minds about that." Once again, he was asked whether a diversity of religious would be tolerated on the site. He answered, "Nope. Wiccans or Scientologists are not welcome here. Nor anyone else worshipping Kool-Aid men. Thank you very much."
Another presumably LDS freeper asked Robinson to plainly state his position on displaying religious tolerance and Mormons' participation on Free Republic. Robinson answered:
"It’s up to them. Post stuff that’s insulting to me or my beliefs, they’ll possibly get the boot. This site is pro-God, pro-Family, pro-Country, pro-Life, pro-Liberty. Those who wish to support abortionism, homosexualism, racism, government enforced atheism, liberalism, progressivism, Marxism, big government, big spending, big taxes, unconstitutional measures of any kind or refuse to defend our constitution, our nation and our borders, etc, can post elsewhere."
This answer was evasive and irrelevant to the question asked. A
2010 Gallup poll showed that Mormons were the most politically conservative religious group in the United States. Although there is diversity, 6 out of 10 Mormons describes himself as conservative, according to Gallup. Thus, going down Robinson's list, most Mormons don't support "abortionism, homesexualism, racism, government enforced atheism, liberalism, progressivism, Marxism, big government, big spending, big taxes, unconstitutional measures of any kind or refuse to defend our constitution, our nation and our borders." So there goes that argument! You don't find Mormons supporting liberalism on Free Republic. There must be yet another reason that Robinson doesn't like Mormons participating on Free Republic.
LDS freeper "Ripliancum" finally arrived at getting Jim Robinson to come clean. Ripliancum cited Robinson's declaration that "This site is pro-God, pro-Family, pro-Country, pro-Life, pro-Liberty” and inquired, "You’ve just described a vast majority of Mormons in this country. Are you trying to drive us away from your site?"
Robinson reply came as no surprise to us at the Society for the Prevention of Anti-Mormonism:
"Not at all. Just having a hard time accepting some of their threads (like this one for example) that I find extremely offensive. I’m at the point that I’m not going to allow any protected LDS/Mormon Caucus threads on FR. You can’t post offensive stuff like this and expect Christians not to object to it. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to suspend or ban or deny any Christian from objecting to what he believes is the false prophecy of Joseph Smith. Whether Mormons will feel welcome here after this or not is completely up to them individually."
There it is--an open declaration from Free Republic's owner of his intolerant views towards Mormons. He threatened to ban any further LDS Caucus threads. He gave carte blanche to anti-Mormons to attack latter-day saint freepers. However, he left individual Mormons to consider whether or not that constitutes rolling up the welcome mat and tossing it in the refuse pile.
To this, one freeper replied, "It sounds like you want FR to become a de facto Anti Mormon site." If it isn't news to you, Free Republic already is an anti-Mormon site. The numbers don't lie. In about a year's time, there were 144 favorable LDS Caucus threads compared to 507 threads posted by those hostile to the Church. A total of 72 percent of all threads about Mormons were posted by those hostile to our faith. Now, Robinson himself has all but threatened a purge of Mormons from Free Republic. Why should any Mormon worthy of being called a Mormon have any question as to whether he or she is welcome on Free Republic?
If you would like to voice your concerns about the tolerance of anti-Mormon hate groups on Free Republic, please consider sending an e-mail to
webmaster@freerepublic.com.
