Kindness And The Mormon Church

George Saunders and David Foster Wallace mention the importance of being kind to one another and the steps necessary in graduation speeches. Both writers state that acting in kindness, ultimately leads to new freedoms and creates an enlightened human being.

The Quakers were first founded in the mid-1600s in England and were formerly known as The Religious Society of Friends. They were a very simple and devoted democratic group of people. When they arrived in America, they began to try to settle in Massachusetts. Massachusetts was also where the Puritan colonists had been settling and because they (the Quakers) threatened the Puritan’s beliefs in America they gave them and other opposing religions, such as the Baptists, harsh punishments for inhabiting their land which included hanging, fines, whipping, and banishing the people from Massachusetts. The Quakers later moved their efforts to the new land of Pennsylvania. They established their land on “the equality of all persons (including women, blacks, and Indians) before God.” They proved this stance of equality by being the “first group of whites to repudiate slavery” of Africans. They also purchased their found land from the Indians that owned it. These actions show that the Quakers truly lived in equality. “Religious freedom was Penn’s most fundamental principle.” The Quakers never gave an established church for Pennsylvania and allowed almost all religious freedom in its land. Although the Quakers were lenient on race, gender, and religious preference they did have a “strict code of personal morality.” They “prohibited swearing, drunkenness, and adultery” among many other activities that they thought were immoral. Many of their beliefs spread throughout America and has

of a holy book he said had been engraved on gold plates by an American

Member of the church prefer to be recognized as Latter Day Saints though there are many different ways to call them both politely and discriminatory. The above way is however the most common and acceptable. The church of Jesus Christ for latter day saints was made official in 1830 by Joseph Smith he and another man by the name of James J Strang would go on to change the name in different ways over the years until there deaths. The church was formed in New York April,6 1830 It is said that James S strang claimed he was ordained by angels and asked to take over the matriarch for the church and he felt Joseph Smiths presence this claim just so happened to take place the same hour Joseph Smith was murdered even though he and James were over 200 miles away from each other . Members of the church have

kind and even helping the elderly. Around 85 years ago during the Great Depression the elderly were treated in the most terrible way, of course they weren’t treated as the worst because racism was still pretty big. They people around them were scamming the elderly from their money. Though the elderly were still being abused they still made a dent in the population and have enough people to make a minority. Though the elderly worked hard they lost their jobs. Though the elder abuse is 2-10 % it is still pretty high (“Ageism in America”). Though the Great Depression affected most of the people of the United States of America the ones who were affected by the most in everything but physical abuse were the elderly.

To become a better community member, one must practice altruism. Altruism is the display of good deeds for the well-being of others. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, “On Being a Good Neighbor”, King tells the story of a good Samaritan and how he participated in all types of altruism by helping the community members around him. King says that because the Samaritan showed universal altruism, “He had a piercing insight into that which is beyond the eternal accidents of race, religion, and nationality” (558). This Samaritan does not let race, religion, or nationality limit his good deeds. This is how King defines universal altruism. One can become a stronger community member by displaying universal altruism because every day we judge people by their race, religion, or nationality. We are naturally biased, but if we let go of the prejudice and biased thoughts then we can do better service and deeds for the members of our community. Through my

John Winthrop wanted the American people to follow God and to do good deeds so that they could feel honored by God. Winthrop believed that, "the rich help the poor, instead of God directly, and therefore the rich demonstrate their work to God"(Contributors). In return the poor will show respect and gratitude towards them. He also argued that you should keep what you need in life and give the rest away to someone else who could benefit more from it. With just doing these acts of kindness, it could bring the community

“For the dead and the living we must bear witness”(Elie Wiesel). The book “Night” was published in 1956, by Elie Wiesel. He talks about the Holocaust and how he survived it and what the conservation camp was like and how he was treated. Throughout “night” one of the major themes was the idea of small acts of kindness. These moments in the story are important because they show what a huge difference one person can make.

In 1844, Joseph Smith, ecclesiastical leader of the Latter-day Saints and presidential candidate, was murdered by an angry mob. This mob was fostered by the release of a newspaper questioning Smith’s practices (including polygamy), qualifications, and intentions for his potential presidency. More than 150 years later, Mitt Romney, a member of the LDS Church, launched a presidential campaign and garnered forty-two percent of the popular vote. Although these two candidates share a faith, their political roles and views are substantially different. This is representative of the significant changes in the relationship between the Mormon church and the U.S. government.

People and religion are a part of everyday life. The world is sure to be empty without the existence of God’s creation. When people and religion are viewed as different, the history, beliefs, and practice are formed unrealistically by outsider, more so than an insider. In an interview with a LDS, the author attempts to write and summarize a Mormon‘s journey through life with God and others.

The Mormon service I visited, had a few similarities but also a few distinct differences from the Catholic service that I am used to. Before this particular Sunday, I had never attended a Mormon service, nor had I spoken to anyone who believed in Mormonism or the “Latter Day Saints.” With that being said, I was welcomed much more openly than I had originally thought. Before entering, I was approached by two members of the church; two young women (sisters) between the ages of roughly 19 to 22. I arrived about an hour before service, that way I could ask a few people some questions, but the two girls beat me to the punch. They initially asked me if I had visited before and I responded saying that it was my first time, and I was attending as a student observer, with no intention of converting, but would love to learn about the faith. They nodded and proceeded to explain to me the reasons as to why they believed so strongly, and also a bit of background information on the faith. One of the girls, explained to me that there has been a lot of skepticism about Mormonism due in part to the fact that Joseph Smith Jr, was so young and how his explanation of “Moroni” (An angel no one had ever heard of), and his entire religion and the scripture used, “Book of Mormon,” could have just been a part of his imagination. The other girl told me how she was beginning to lose faith a couple years back, but she then regained it, after she experienced her own tests, and was able to get passed her

The benevolent actions we see people take during wartime are based on those individuals’ beliefs. During war it may seem as if individuals take on an altruistic

Another example of how altruism can be viewed in today’s society can be seen in the works of Mother Teresa and her plethora of altruistic acts throughout the globe. Although her focus was in India where she persued her novitiate (training), her organization has opened over 500 centers around the world helping the dying and the destitute (Moore 2002, pg. x). She took in the “untouchables” of society and gave them care and made sure that they were comfortable. Mother Teresa is often used as the benchmark when determining whether a selfless act is truly altruistic.

Some of the "rituals" as a Mormon, are that every Monday evening we get together as a family and do some kind of activity together. It is called "family home evening". We do activities such as getting together to watch a movie, have dinner together, go to the park, the movies, an event, or even play board games. The point of this day is to reunite as a family and share some family quality time. Being that we all have things to do in our personal lives, work, school, hobbies, etc, sometimes families don't really share moments together because of their different schedules and what not, so we do this once a week to catch up, share a time together, and if there is anything to talk about as a family it's the perfect time to do it, if there is

Mormonism is a name meaning the spiritual principles of followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well known as Mormons. Mormonism defines the guidelines of the Church that were reestablished to the world by the Prophet Joseph Smith. If you would ask the question “what is Mormonism” to a member, there’s a high change they would respond by acknowledging their love of Jesus Christ, he is the dominant part of the religion. Where can you find a continuing participant of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, well they're instituted at every level of civilization. For instance, in a charity, business, education, science, political parties, government, news media, and lastly the entertainment productions. The originator of The Church, Joseph Smith, wrote, “the essential philosophies of our religion are regarding Jesus christ, he died and was buried, rose again and on the third day ascended into the heavens; all supplementary things which relate to our religion is only accessories to it.”The main beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are that Jesus Christ is the redeemer of the earth and the Son of our