'Mormon' stereotyping not helpful
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Dear HCN,
Tim Westby's article on Rocky Anderson highlighted well some of our mayor's controversies, political integrity and impressive achievements (HCN, 7/2/01: A maverick mayor takes on sprawl). However, it also presented a stereotypical caricature about "Mormons" and the "Mormon" Church. Anderson's "lapsed Mormon" status is emphasized along with the "polar opposite" of an influential "devout Mormon" who opposes commuter rail. Implied is that all devout Mormons are Republicans who want to be a car-driving society and who do not care about urban sprawl. Your same issue carried an article praising the efforts of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to stop the storage of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, but that article (appropriately) did not mention that Sen. Reid is a member of the Mormon Church. Rational discussion of environmental issues is not enhanced by religious stereotyping.
Joseph B. Stanford
Salt Lake City, Utah
Tim Westby's article on Rocky Anderson highlighted well some of our mayor's controversies, political integrity and impressive achievements (HCN, 7/2/01: A maverick mayor takes on sprawl). However, it also presented a stereotypical caricature about "Mormons" and the "Mormon" Church. Anderson's "lapsed Mormon" status is emphasized along with the "polar opposite" of an influential "devout Mormon" who opposes commuter rail. Implied is that all devout Mormons are Republicans who want to be a car-driving society and who do not care about urban sprawl. Your same issue carried an article praising the efforts of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to stop the storage of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, but that article (appropriately) did not mention that Sen. Reid is a member of the Mormon Church. Rational discussion of environmental issues is not enhanced by religious stereotyping.
Joseph B. Stanford
Salt Lake City, Utah
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