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What is it?

It's been a while, but I found this article today and I found it pretty interesting. Not only because I am Mormon, but also because it has a major point that I feel needs to be brought into the open.

Deseret Morning News
January 8, 2008
Doug Robinson

Better Duck- If You're Mormon

I missed the memo that said it's A-OK to make disparaging and often erroneous statements about Mormons.
Apparently, they are fair game.
Sure, these are hypersensitive times, when name-calling or perceived bias against any group will get you the Don Imus treatment, but you get a free shot with Mormons. You can say what you want about them with impunity.

If you denigrate a racial group, you're racist.

If you denigrate women, you're sexist.

If you denigrate Mormons, you're hip.

No one would openly suggest that you shouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton because a woman can't lead the country, especially an ornery one.
Nobody would dare say that you shouldn't vote for Barack Hussein Obama because he's black, or of Muslim descent, or because he has a name that sounds like a terrorist. One Clinton worker even apologized for alluding to Obama's use of drugs as a youth, so apparently it's wrong to disparage former drug users, too.
But nobody is shy about saying you shouldn't vote for Romney simply because he's a Mormon. It doesn't even register on the PC-O-Meter.
Just like that, 6 million Americans have been virtually disqualified from running for president. They've been rendered second-class citizens. They're foreigners living in America. They face a glass ceiling.
How un-American is that?
It would be one thing if most of those who oppose Romney did so because they disagreed with his politics or character. But Romney is one of the few candidates who has no character issues, a "squeaky clean" man who has a distinguished record of accomplishments, success and service, with no divorces, no affairs, no scandal. The only thing opponents can say about him is that he belongs to a church they don't understand.
A Harvard law professor called Romney the most qualified of all the candidates and "the perfect candidate for this moment in time. But there is his Mormonism", he noted.
Even the self-styled PC chief of police, Al Sharpton, once jumped in on the action, saying, "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways."
Mormons don't believe in God?
For his penance, all Sharpton had to do was endure a family home evening in Utah.
It's open season on Mormons. A few days ago, Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard stated on ESPN and in the newspaper that part of the reason fired coach Cam Cameron failed was because he got stuck with a Mormon quarterback — not a rookie quarterback (which he is) but a Mormon quarterback.
"And you'll have a hard time finding a leader anywhere in sports who was as unlucky this year as Cameron," Le Batard said, noting that because of injuries, Cameron was forced to play "a United Nations huddle of a Mormon quarterback, Mexican receiver, Samoan fullback and some guy named Lekekekkkkerkker."

Now Mormons are foreigners?

Ignorance makes no difference. You can say Mormons have four wives or that they aren't Christian, and no one cares.
Imagine the uproar if Le Batard had written that the Dolphins suffered because they had to play a black quarterback for part of the season? Or a Catholic?
The Salt Lake Tribune has had a field day for more than a week since learning that Mike Leavitt and some of his like-minded cohorts met early in the morning to discuss Mormon theology and governance while he was Utah's governor. What if it had been a Bible study?
Nobody seems to mind when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says his religion "defines me." Or when Obama says his church guides "my own values and my own beliefs."
People worry that Romney will take his orders from his church leaders. They don't worry that Obama will take orders from his church, whose "10-point vision" includes two references to its "non-negotiable commitment to Africa," with no mention of America. Oh, and the church statement begins by noting on the Trinity United Church of Christ Web site, "We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black."
It's a different set of rules for some out there. You can print newspaper cartoons disparaging Mormons. You can harass their families as they walk to their biannual conference with all sorts of foul language. When someone commits a crime, you can note the criminal's religion, but only if he's Mormon. You can make them a one-liner on Leno. Good luck reconciling all this with the paranoid political correctness that's so in vogue.
Meanwhile, the most politically correct presidential election field ever assembled — a woman, a black, a Mormon, a Baptist, etc. — has gone politically incorrect, but only when it comes to you know who.--

End of Article

Yeah, I may be a little biased because I am Mormon, you're welcome to feel that way. But I'm not just Mormon, I'm American and as far as I'm concerned being American gives me the right to believe what I wish to believe, I have that freedom. That is what this country was started for, it's one aspect of the American Dream. Since when did we decide that everyone is free to practice their own religion except Mormons?

I guess I just don't understand what the big deal is, why everyone has such a hard time with this religion. I'd be glad if someone can clear it up for me. I really just think we're misunderstood. I talk to hundreds of people all the time at my work. When the question of where we're located comes up (Utah) the question of if I'm a Mormon comes next without fail. And the people I talk to that ask and actually know a Mormon, as in they interact with them now and then, they have no problem with them. They always have only good things to say about them. I'm not trying to brag. I just think it's ironic that those who have taken a few minutes to get to know a Mormon aren't the ones making these statements. A perfect example is the Harvard Professor's remark about Romney's 'Mormonism' in the article. He must not know much about the Mormon religion. If he did he would know that the values our church teaches are a major reason for Romney's being the "the perfect candidate for this moment in time", the reason behind his squeaky clean past. Those values aren't some big secret either. They're simply honesty, integrity and work ethic just to name a few, along with other basic religious practices such as prayer.

I'm not saying that a person should be excused from their behavior because they don't understand though. I don't understand every aspect of the Baptist's religion, but I'm not about to make all sorts of accusations or assumptions against them.

So I guess my question is: What is it? What is it about our religion that causes so many people to have such a problem with it? I'd love to know what you think and help clear things up if possible. If there are any questions out there about what we do/do not do or believe I'd love to answer them. If you have an answer to my question I'd love to hear it. Lets me mature about it though. :) I'm not interested in being persecuted just as I'm sure you're not interested in me doing the same to you because of your religion.