Mormon

From "The Elephant in the Room," Rick Santorum's column in The Inquirer: On Democrats' opposition tobanning partial birth abortion (April 2007): "Can you imagine their response if we were talking about banning the euthanizing of puppies by stabbing them with scissors at the base of their skulls and suctioning their brains out?" On Mitt Romney's speech about his Mormon faith, December 2007: "Unlike John F. Kennedy in 1960, he didn't cop out and say his faith does not matter.

NEW YORK - Who says Broadway won't take a risk? The Book of Mormon and The Scottsboro Boys - very different musicals with very different fates - have emerged with the most Tony Award nominations this season. Mormon , with its diarrhea jokes and songs about body parts, and Scottsboro , a searing look at a racial injustice that featured a graphic whipping, pushed the boundaries of traditional Broadway fare. "People are excited when they sit down in those seats because they don't know what's going to happen," said Rory O'Malley, whose turn in Mormon earned him a nomination for best featured actor in a musical.

The ads are catchy. Upbeat music plays as the surfer, the artist, or the skateboarder states his or her beliefs about life. They all end with, "And I'm a Mormon. " On July 26, Pittsburgh became one of nine test markets for the advertising campaign that cheerfully counters stereotypes of Mormons as straight-laced, white, humorless, and sexist. The campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes a revamped website at www.mormon.org . The ads arrived on the heels of a backlash by gay-rights activists over Mormon support for the 2008 campaign in California for a ban on gay marriage.

THE MORMONS will be getting their temple in Center City after all. A dispute between the city's Redevelopment Authority and the developer who bought the land from the city in 1987 was resolved last week, so construction can begin on the $68 million project. We think it's good news, but not necessarily for the reasons many are citing. One way of looking at the deal is that the city, by filing suit against the landowner, was, as usual, shooting itself in the foot, jeopardizing a big construction project and the jobs it might bring at a time when the city is desperate for both.

An emphasis on family. A dedication to service. The two may explain the continuing increase in the number of Mormons in the Lower Bucks County area, said Scott B. Johnson, bishop of the Morrisville Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The ward began in Morrisville in 1953 with a handful of families. It was then called the Trenton branch, but, after seven years, grew to a membership of more than 500 and became the Trenton Ward. Under Mormon organization, a branch refers to 200 or fewer members; a ward, 200 to 500 members.

As it prepares to build a large temple in Center City, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to donate $300,000 to the city's prisoner-reentry program. The contribution was announced Wednesday by Mayor Nutter, who said the idea originated with the Mormon church's leadership and was not prompted by City Hall. "We did not ask," he said, "but gladly accepted. " The lump-sum donation will be directed to the Mayor's Office of Reintegration Services for Ex-Offenders (RISE)

Most Americans learned about the Mormon trek west to Salt Lake City in their history books, but far fewer know about the immigration of more than 85,000 European Mormons to the United States in the mid-1800s. Those European converts arrived by ship, of course, and the 150th anniversary of those ocean sailings will be commemorated this year with a 59-day tall ship reenactment. One big difference: This time the fleet will have tourists on board. The Sea Trek Foundation, nonprofit sponsor of the project, says 10 tall ships have been chartered for the voyage, beginning Aug. 7 in Denmark and continuing to ports in Sweden, Norway, Germany and England before crossing the Atlantic to the Canary Islands and the Bahamas, arriving in New York on Oct. 4. Organizers have dubbed the reenactment Sea Trek 2001.

When gold medals are handed out at the 2002 Winter Games, the ceremony will take place on a plaza built and owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. TV cameras - and thus the eyes of the world - will have little choice but to linger on the church's nearby gothic Temple, bristling with spires, and on other buildings that make up the headquarters of a rapidly growing American-born faith that claims 11 million members worldwide. Though tainted by a bidding scandal, Salt Lake City's Winter Games will certainly focus much of the world's attention on a dynamic Mormon culture, which is why the media-savvy church is gearing up to capitalize on the opportunity.

If you're not ready, it's probably too late. After all, the new year and any Y2K problems it may bring with it are just around the corner. If, however, you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you can sit back in comfort and watch while some people run out to buy water, flashlights, and cans of food. Mormons are prepared. Always. "We're like the Boy Scouts," said Nicholas Itri, who is an accountant with his own business and bishop of the denomination's second ward in Broomall.

THAT'S WHERE HE STOOD, this is where he ran. After visiting the Rocky statue yesterday at its temporary perch outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Sister Vaughan, a Mormon missionary in Philadelphia, floats down the famous steps.

From "The Elephant in the Room," Rick Santorum's column in The Inquirer: On Democrats' opposition tobanning partial birth abortion (April 2007): "Can you imagine their response if we were talking about banning the euthanizing of puppies by stabbing them with scissors at the base of their skulls and suctioning their brains out?" On Mitt Romney's speech about his Mormon faith, December 2007: "Unlike John F. Kennedy in 1960, he didn't cop out and say his faith does not matter.

I want commend the Daily News for highlighting a position that I've supported since first arriving in City Council in 1991 - namely, to hold Council sessions every Thursday, even on weeks where a federal holiday falls on the previous Monday - as well as most Thursdays throughout the summer months. While Council sessions are an extremely important part of our job as elected officials, readers should not forget all the other hard work that takes place on non-session days, and the countless hours consumed by Council people and their staffs attending meetings on critical issue like economic development and job creation, the school district and city financial crisis - as well as issues dealing with education, crime and our overall quality of life.

EARLIER THIS WEEK, Herman Cain announced that he was "reassessing" his presidential campaign. For those who don't know, "reassessing" is campaign-speak for "I don't have a chance in hell of winning but I'm gonna hang on until I get a political job or a sweet TV contract. " Sadly, Herman Cain's political demise wasn't prompted by his most glaring deficiency: the fact that he is stupid. As we've seen with George W. Bush and Dan Quayle, the GOP is perfectly comfortable supporting intellectual featherweights.

By Richard J. Mouw Some voters are convinced that if Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, we run the risk of ending up with a member of a "cult" in the White House. Many of my fellow evangelicals are especially concerned about this possibility. Some are unhappy with me because I have gone on record saying that Romney's church, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is not a cult. It's not that these folks believe that Mormons are unfit for any public office.

LAS VEGAS - The 2012 Republican presidential campaign heads west on Tuesday, as GOP rivals debate and aim their campaigns at voters worn down by one of the nation's most enduring economic slumps. The debate at the Venetian Hotel Resort Casino in Las Vegas will be televised by CNN at 8 p.m. and moderated by Anderson Cooper. On Wednesday, some GOP candidates are scheduled to speak to a convention of Republican activists from around the West. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, whose chance of success here is seen as remote, will not participate in Tuesday's debate.

SALT LAKE CITY - The Mormon church will build five temples in cities worldwide, including the restoration of a historic church building in Utah that was destroyed in a fire last year, the faith's president said Saturday. "No church-built facility is more important than a temple," said Thomas S. Monson, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Temples are places where relationships are sealed together to last through the eternities. " The church, with its 14.1 million members, has 135 operating temples worldwide and has 31 more planned or under construction.

In three years, the Angel Moroni will descend on Philadelphia. Trumpet in hand, he will alight on a spire nearly 200 feet above 18th and Vine Streets. There, the gilded, fiberglass icon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be bolted into place, capping a massive, granite-clad temple whose construction started Saturday with a groundbreaking ceremony. Work is to begin in earnest next spring and finish in 2014. Close to the Free Library, the new Barnes Foundation museum, and the Roman Catholic Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul - with Moroni almost at eye level with the cathedral's cross - Pennsylvania's first Mormon temple promises to be an arresting Logan Square landmark.

SALT LAKE CITY - With the Mormon church increasingly in the national spotlight, including a hit Mormon-themed Broadway musical and two members seeking the White House, a nonprofit group is seeking to set the record straight about the faith's beliefs. The group has launched the Mormon Defense League in an effort to help journalists, political operatives and others who comment on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints better understand the religion. The goal is to dispel myths and explain the history, theology and other aspects of the church, co-founder Scott Gordon said.

BEVERLY HILLS , CALIF. - Nine seasons into "Project Runway," it's no longer enough to be able to design and construct an outfit out of your own navel lint. Although Heidi Klum would love to see you try. "Because we're a little bit mean," says Klum, tonight's season premiere (9 p.m., Lifetime) brings 20 wannabes to New York and ditches four of them before the navel-lint challenge even begins. (Non-spoiler alert: It's not actually a navel-lint challenge. But it's way too close for comfort.)

By Joanna Weiss Mitt Romney has said he plans to see The Book of Mormon , the hilarious Broadway musical from the creators of South Park and Avenue Q . And there's a moment in the show when you can practically imagine him onstage. It comes in the second act, when a group of Ugandan converts puts on a pageant for visiting Mormon leaders: a profane and very incorrect retelling of the story of the Mormon faith. (It involves appearances by certain Star Wars characters, plus a song-and-dance depiction of how dysentery happens.)