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In his Utah Policy newsletter, Deseret News columnist points out that the Mitt Romney presidential campaign has brought the Church into the national spotlight and asks whether the Church should respond to the increased attacks. “Romney obviously will have to deal with these matters forthrightly and aggressively…but what about the LDS Church?” He answers his own question by giving two suggestions to be implemented by Church members:

1. Create an anti-defamation organization.

[P]erhaps some Mormon version of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League could be established. This organization could be more aggressive than the church itself in pointing out error and bigotry. Such an entity could also conduct a grassroots education effort outside the formal church organization.

2. Church members could run ads in their local newspapers.

Local Mormon groups could purchase full-page ads in their local newspapers with a message something like:

“We’re the Mormons. Because so much is being written and discussed about our church, some of it not fully factual, we want to tell you a little about ourselves and who we are. We’re your neighbors. We’re your friends. We’re doctors and plumbers and lawyers and carpenters and business people and housewives and school teachers. We’re part of the community fabric here in Omaha.”

The ads would include names and photos of local Mormons who are leaders in the community and also names and photos of prominent national Mormons, such as major business leaders, sports figures, politicians, entertainers, etc.

Along these lines, the More Good Foundation helped create LDS News Watch to point out inaccuracies in media reporting, and I’ve blogged previously about similarities between anti-Semitism and anti-Mormonism. But the Mormon Anti-Defamation industry is a tough industry to be in, since anti-Mormonism hasn’t been entirely pushed outside the realm of political correctness and we’d have to be careful not to embitter ourselves in a victim mentality. Maybe it could be pulled off, but it would be tough.

On the other hand, I very much like the idea of reaching out as Church members to explain our beliefs. (Sounds like a neighborly thing to do.) Many prominent Church members have already done so — Clayton Christensen, Donny Osmond, Glenn Beck — as well as many “locals” from across the globe.

The Internet is the next frontier of member missionary work.

UPDATE: I should point out, however, that any group effort by Church members may be construed as an official act of the institutional Church, which we may not want. It’s probably best that Church members focus on being good neighbors and on personally sharing the Gospel, including on personal blogs.

This is a series of posts about 12 Ways to Share the Gospel online.

I’ve decided to broaden this category a bit. My game plan for this has been to write about something I learned, felt, or experienced during any one of my church meetings each week. I’ve been out of town a bit so I have missed a few weeks but I have been (and will continue) writing about it on my own blog (www.mikelblake.com).

Here are four ways the Internet can help you study the scriptures and other gospel material more consistently and more conveniently.

1. Be reminded each day to read the scriptures — Visit ReadTheScriptures.com to sign up for a daily scripture study email. You choose what you’re reading and how fast you want to go. There’s also an option for “notes” and “journal”. (This site had a few broken links when I tried it, but it’s a great concept.)
2. Get the scriptures downloaded to your iPod by podcast — Visit ScriptureCast.net, choose the book of scripture you’re reading, and select how fast you want to read (listen) or by what date you want to finish. Each day new audio is downloaded to your iPod so you can listen to your scriptures on the go.
3. Subscribe to the home teaching and visiting teaching messages, Ensign articles, priesthood and Relief Society lessons, and General Conference talks. Visit IfYeArePrepared.org and subscribe with iTunes (podcast) or by email.
4. If you have a shiny new iPhone, there’s an iPhone-friendly version of the standard works at tall.mountainmighty.com and at ReadScriptures.com. Very cool.

The Church’s recently posted article on the Mountain Meadows Massacre will be published in The Ensign later this year. While controversial topics like this are not central to the saving principles of the Gospel, the Internet has brought them more fully into the light and the Church has responded. By the end of the year more Church members will be educated (and even know for the first time) about this topic than ever before in Church history.

A few days after the article was published, I received one of those forwarded emails from a friend. It had been forwarded to dozens of people:

hey everyone…So i was checking out lds.org this morning and saw this article. I don’t know how many of you have heard about a movie coming out called, i think, “September Dawn.” This movie is supposed to portray a massacre which occured over 150 years ago in the utah territory and I assume that it will not portray the LDS church in the best light. Please read this article, that was put out by the church, so that when you are approached with questions you may be informed with the true story and can hopefully be a strength at a time when the church is once again being attacked. Pass this along so that all that don’t understand can gain strength through this knowledge! Hope all is well! The work will go forth no matter what, hopefully we can be on the side that helps it!

Is this the beginning of every member an apologist?

The Internet makes it easy for uninformed, anonymous voices to perpetuate misconceptions about the Church (not that all of the Church’s critic are uninformed or anonymous), but it’s also an opportunity for Church members to be more educated on church history, church doctrines, and the Church’s place in society than ever before. It’s an opportunity for every Church member to express our faith.

A recent Times and Seasons blog post suggested that the Mormon Church’s recently published article on the Mountain Meadows Massacre represented “new openness” on the part of the Church. The Church replied that it’s simply a response to the Internet and and “social media” formats that have brought “new communication opportunities to the Church through its Web sites.”

The Internet and social media allow fast, authentic, many-to-many communication, quite different from the few-to-many, broadcast media formats from just a few years ago. By posting the Mountain Meadows Massacre article on its website, the Church allows the “most thorough scholarship on the topic” to reach a wide audience in a way that sound bites cannot.

What’s more, Church members like us can participate!

While Church websites provide the official voice, we members can participate online to share our beliefs, opinions, and faith and dispel misinformation:

Many Church members on their own initiative take part in sharing their beliefs and opinions on the Internet. Thoughtful expressions of their personal faith and experiences with the Church help dispel stereotypes and misinformation.

If you would like to share your faith online, here are 12 ways. There are dozens more.

Source: The Church and New Media: Clarity, Context, and Official Voice