NAUVOO, Ill. -- Towering over a Mississippi River bluff, the recently built Mormon temple symbolizes the central role this town played in Mormon history.
And the arrival of two Christian evangelists from the Chicago area, proclaiming an anti-Mormonism message to the world, recalls the troubled history of those early Mormons with neighbors of other faiths.
Operating from a white stucco storefront called the Nauvoo Christian Visitors Center, ex-Mormon Rocky Hulse and his wife Helen are bent on portraying Mormonism as a false religion with fabricated histories.
And though the Christian Visitors Center predates their arrival, the Hulses have taken its confrontational message to a new level, with an active public presence and a weekly television show broadcast internationally on a Christian network.
It's no wonder, locals say, the Hulses are facing blowback.
The couple reported they had received two veiled written threats late last year. Then, two days before Christmas, the couple received an e-mail that was traced to an address in Utah.
"id love to watch you all die," it read, "then witness the looks on your faces when you realize how stupid and counterproductive your fight really was."
Shaken, the Hulses installed deadbolts on their doors and floodlights around their storefront. They began checking their car's gas cap for any sign of tampering. And they called police, triggering an investigation from Nauvoo to Utah.
"This town is to the Mormons what Mecca is for the Muslims," Helen Hulse said. "Of course they don't want us here."
Mormon leaders scoff at any suggestion of conspiracy. Still, they have a dim view of the Hulses' work.
"It ought to be called a non-Christian center or anti-Mormon center," said Bishop David Wright, a top Mormon Church leader in Nauvoo. "I don't see anything Christian about it."
Sacred space
Nauvoo is a hallowed place for Mormons, who settled the town in 1839. Their prophet, Joseph Smith, received his last revelations here, where the first great temple was built and temple rituals were instituted. Smith was killed by locals nearby in 1844, and within two years, the main body of believers had begun heading west in search of a home beyond the reach of their persecutors.
The largest descendant church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has spent millions in recent years on the temple and shrines to Smith. It created a budding Mormon renaissance in this town of 1,100 residents, 270 miles southwest of Chicago, that rankles some locals.
The tensions in Nauvoo, which Smith named after an Old Testament verse describing beautiful mountains, reflect a broader uneasiness with the Mormon faith among some people. A Gallup poll in March suggested "something about the Mormon religion apparently disturbs a significant portion of the American population," pollsters said.
The poll showed 46 percent of Americans "have an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon religion." And a third of the respondents said they would not vote for a qualified presidential candidate of the Mormon faith, a question trigged by the Republican candidacy of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
In the last decade, the church began buying up property in Nauvoo and its $30 million temple opened in 2002.
Today, the town's Chamber of Commerce and Nauvoo's aldermanic government have a Mormon majority. Some locals say Mormons tend to hire from among their own, leaving others feeling left out.
"It's like Microsoft or Disney coming in and taking over the place," said Marilyn Candido, who recently lost a Web-consulting contract with the local chamber, which replaced her with a Mormon operator. Chamber officials say the move had to do with performance, not religion.
But many residents said the different factions in town have maintained a detente, one threatened by the Hulses' stance.
Evangelism fight
This month the Hulses decried an annual non-denominational Passion play held at a Mormon-owned auditorium. The Mormon site is inappropriate because Mormons do not subscribe to Christian beliefs of Jesus Christ dying on the cross of Calvary for their sins, Rocky Hulse said, calling it a heresy for other denominations to join the event.
Nonetheless, several local Christian churches encouraged their congregations to participate, not only to promote harmony in town but also to spread the Gospel message of Christ.
"We live with the Mormon people and work alongside them," said Pastor Gayle Pope of the Christ Lutheran Church who participated in the play. "We have differences with the Mormon belief but choose to do our evangelism by living out our faith."
Coming from a Mormon family of six generations, Rocky Hulse met his wife, Helen, while serving in the Navy in California. At first he tried to convert her to Mormonism, and she looked into it, though she held off joining the church.
The couple married in 1980 against his family's wishes. Later, Helen Hulse became an evangelical Christian, enraging her husband.
But on New Year's Day 1986, after hearing a cowboy preacher at a rodeo, Rocky Hulse says he became a Christian. The Lord put a burden on his heart, he says, to teach Christians about the ills of Mormonism and convert Mormons.
The couple moved to Indiana in 1999 and began a ministry targeting Mormons in the Midwest. Stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago's North Shore, the couple preached at Christian churches across the Midwest about Mormonism. On a visit to Nauvoo in 2002, Mormons barred Hulse from attending a temple open house because they deemed him disruptive.
The couple moved to Nauvoo in late 2005 to take over the Christian center. The storefront is filled with boards, pamphlets and literature such as "the troubling story of a self-proclaimed prophet" Smith.
Growing fears
Last fall, as their Christian television ministry "Truth Proclaimed" spread internationally, the Hulses say threats came. The couple now fear the threatening e-mail received before Christmas is being ignored by Utah investigators who they say want to protect Mormons.
Authorities traced the e-mail to an address belonging to a Mormon, Phil Rogers, of Farmington, Utah, a few miles north of Salt Lake City.
In a telephone interview with the Tribune, Rogers repeated what he told investigators: Someone hacked into his Internet account while he was using an open router. Internet security experts contacted by the Tribune said if Rogers allowed access to his router, tampering could be easily done by anyone in his neighborhood.
Bill McGuire, the Utah assistant county attorney investigating the case, said he is awaiting further police reports to determine if criminal charges will be filed and against whom.
"We prosecute Mormons all this time," said McGuire, a Mormon, who chuckled at the Hulses' accusation of a cover-up.
Still, Rocky Hulse doesn't trust the Mormons.
"Look at their history full of lies and deceit," he said. "We are a voice of truth and they will do anything to silence it."
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 16, 2007 10:51:22 AM
"The Mormon site is inappropriate because Mormons do not subscribe to Christian beliefs of Jesus Christ dying on the cross of Calvary for their sins, Rocky Hulse said, calling it a heresy for other denominations to join the event."
Really? Well, after an easy search, I found the following at th LDS site ...
"I Believe in Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was resurrected ..." (New Era Magazine, April 2000)
Perhaps all newspaper posts to this board should be treated equally ... with skepticism.
posted on April 16, 2007 11:56:51 AM
But there's a history in that church of looking the other way when threats are made. Truly.
And they say they believe in Jesus etc., but Easter isn't a big deal for them; the April 6th birthday of Joseph Smith is.
They believe (and you can check this out) that Jesus was just a man who became a god, and all their believers can also become gods. The public face they put on their beliefs doesn't match the reality.
Now, what I've just said will only be relevant to those who believe in what we all think of as the Christian faith, in all its various manifestations. Not one of those other denominations believes the stuff I've described here.
_____________________
Dogs have owners, cats have staff.
posted on April 16, 2007 12:04:05 PM
Yes, we know roadsmith doesn't like Mormans....their faith.
And we know for that reason she'd like to see that Mitt Romney not be elected.
Just like many did with JFK.
As with all our Presidents, so far, they ALL have a faith/religion. Hasn't kept one of the from doing their job.
Hasn't been ANY violation of politics/laws where their faith mattered ONE BIT.
But some will continue to use it against them....as they've always done. Even those of the Christian faith...not liking Christian Presidents either.
It's about politics.....NOT religion. They're not asking to be a 'decon' of a church...they want to run the country the way THEY think it should be ran.
posted on April 16, 2007 12:51:05 PM
Roadsmith is just plain wrong. Now, I am not Mormon. However, I am married to a wonderful woman, who along with her children, is Mormon. Even though I am not Mormon, I recognize and respect the importance the church places on the family, its values, and clean living.
I have found a respect for those young men and women who go on a mission for two years in a strange place. It is a testimony to the strength of their convictions. We should remember that while these 19 year old men and women are on their missions, many of their friends are lying around drunk and stoned, and doing nothing with their lives.
Rather than list a whole bunch of quotes, I suggest you just go to the LDS site and type "Easter" into search. Easter is a big deal. Further, Jesus was not a man who became God.
Consider the following tidbits: "... Mary, the mother of Jesus ...", " ... The Father and the Son, Jesus Christ", and "“We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost ...” do they sound familiar?
And, from a Primary Class for the young children, "...Explain that the day Jesus was resurrected was the first Easter. We celebrate Easter each year to help us remember that Jesus was resurrected." Further, from the same class lesson for Easter - "Explain that when Jesus died, his spirit left his body and went to heaven. Remind the children that each of us has a spirit. Our spirits cannot be seen, but they are what make us alive."
Misunderstanding and misinformation are the basis for many problems regarding religion.
posted on April 16, 2007 02:12:44 PM
Kozersky: There are many things about the Mormon religion that I respect--the family values, the spirit of helping, etc. I simply say, through personal experience, that there's a big difference between the Mormons, a sect, and the Catholics.
Many of the deep beliefs of the Mormon church are not really known or studied by the faithful folks--especially the beliefs about every man becoming a god after death and ruling his own planet. That Adam was on a par with Jesus. That we can become as Jesus has become. Etc. Very arcane and weird stuff.
The church's infiltration of government at every level is alarming to me only because there's an anti-democratic slant in those church members--a respect for authority that isn't to question decisions. I saw it only on the local level. There was a reluctance to discuss problems in public meetings, even though it was the public's business. A permeating slant that says it's best not to air your dirty linen, the prophet knows best, and when he speaks the thinking has been done. That scares the heck out of me.
I know there are others here who've lived among them and studied their beliefs. I must seem like a real bigot. I don't care what that church does as long as it stays out of my life and the politics of this nation.
I'm not going to write any more about the church here. I know I've irritated some of you, and this is a no-win argument. 10-8, signing off!
_____________________
Dogs have owners, cats have staff.
posted on April 16, 2007 04:39:13 PM
It is sad when religious people do not even have the tolerance to accept other people's beliefs.
Operating from a white stucco storefront called the Nauvoo Christian Visitors Center, ex-Mormon Rocky Hulse and his wife Helen are bent on portraying Mormonism as a false religion with fabricated histories.
To claim one is a Christian and then to go into a town with the purpose of spreading rumors and lies in order to de-bunk a religion is not very Christian like.
That is why over the years I have begun to realize the hypocrisies with some of these religions. Most of these religious people claim that they know the way to salvation and that you must follow "their ways" to reach it.
To me religion is between me and God. I do not need no fly by night theologian telling me what to believe in.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on April 16, 2007 08:09:21 PM...a false religion with fabricated histories...
Every religion fabricates history. The Mormons aren't doing anything different from the Catholics or the Presbyterians and Methodists, who, I firmly believe, go to church in case there's a god.
Proponents of one religion telling folks that another is "false" is the height of absurdity to me.
posted on April 17, 2007 05:15:37 AM
"The Mormons aren't doing anything different from the Catholics or the Presbyterians and Methodists, who, I firmly believe, go to church in case there's a god."
Yea I see the hypocrites that go only on Christmas and Easter....thinking that they'll be saved LOL
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If you dont want to hear the truth....dont ask the question.
[ edited by classicrock000 on Apr 17, 2007 05:16 AM ]
posted on April 17, 2007 09:43:26 AM
My Ebay business is based upon the Olympics. When the games were going to Salt Lake City, I got to know many Mormons, a family of Mormons also moved into my Neighborhood. I've found them to be nearly universally friendly, family oriented, open, honest, and a benefit to society in general. If it weren't for their religious beliefs, I would want to be Mormon. I can't say that about any other Christian Sect except perhaps Unitarian Universalism.
posted on April 17, 2007 09:56:17 AM
""" I've found them to be nearly universally friendly, family oriented, open, honest, and a benefit to society in general. """
Ya, I found that in the atheists I know, too.
Seems a little more sincere when it comes from inside the person and not from rules and fear.
posted on April 17, 2007 09:58:53 AM
"Yea I see the hypocrites that go only on Christmas and Easter....thinking that they'll be saved LOL"
Exactly Rock. I know exactly what you mean. Its like those devout people who go to church every Sunday, Try to convert people, and Tithe their 10%, but still earn $250,000 a year and expect to be saved. Or it's like those who do not treat all people with true love and understanding, even those who completely disagree with you, and expect to be saved simply because they ask for it.
Sad people have to sink this low....but almost 50 years later...we haven't advanced much in the way of tolerance.
Are YOU a Bunghole?