Elder Ballard then quoted from the PR departments newsroom Web site: “If the Church allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought, it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued successfully for nearly 180 years.”

The last few years have not been good ones for the LDS Church’s PR department. And I’m sure that Elder Ballard’s article was an attempt to build confidence in staff. In many cases, however, the department is defensive to the point of being seriously offensive. Unfortunately . . . other groups are determing our agenda.

“The Vatican on Wednesday tried to defuse growing anger over remarks by the pope’s top aide that the problem behind the pedophile priest scandals is homosexuality and not the church’s celibacy requirement.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Holy See’s secretary of state, outraged gay advocacy groups, politicians, and even the French government with his remarks Monday in Chile.

‘Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia,’ the Italian cardinal said. ‘But many others have demonstrated, I have told told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true. That is the problem.’”

“Although we have given many interviews on this topic, we had no desire to participate in something so obviously biased,” LDS Church spokeman Scott Trotter said via e-mail Sunday. “Judging from the trailer and background material online, it appears that accuracy and truth are rare commodities in this film.”

A more appropriate response might have been to acknowledge the alienation problem of gay Mormons, and strongly state that the Church is actively working to improve the situation. And that the Church supports several issues on the gay agenda including . . . . That way they could have turned a negative into a positive. When the Church PR staff is being baited, they need to quit being so defensive.

Also Glen Beck has been in the news a lot lately. His conversion to Mormonism is frequently discussed. On a recent cover of Time Magazine, Glen is sticking his tongue out. He is viewed as an instigator of many of the groups disrupting meeting about health care and similar subjects. When asked about his bad behavior and the behavior of his ilk, Glen rationalizes by pointing to the behavior of past anti-war protesters (if one group behaves badly then why can’t we?). Glen has also been pushing the books of deceased Mormon wacko Cleon Skousen. Again the Church is involved in this craziness whether they want to be or not. The Church has much more to fear from the Right than they ever did from the Left.

“. . . KSL Radio sees no problem carrying the Sean Hannity show for 3 hours every weekday. I realize that Hannity makes big money for KSL, but his negative views of the current administration are one of the main causes of the divisiveness in our community. His poison is every bit as toxic as pornography or gambling, yet it is carried live every day by a station that many people believe to be the voice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

I think the Mormon hierarchy needs to ponder if Hannity views are really in line with what the Church wants to represent.

About a dozen companies have withdrawn their commercials from Glenn Beck’s (conservative potstirrer) Fox News Channel program. This came as a result of a statement made by Beck in July 2009: President Obama is a racist with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or white culture.”

Let’s not forget Orson Scott Card, science fiction writer and homophobe: “The Church has plenty of room for individuals who are struggling to overcome their temptations toward homosexual behavior. But for the protection of the Saints and the good of the persons themselves, the Church has no room for those who, instead of repenting of homosexuality, wish it to become an acceptable behavior in the society of Saints. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, preaching meekness while attempting to devour the flock.” Talk about paranoia.

Paul Mero, president of the conservative think tank The Sutherland Institute (think “quiver of children” here) was quoted as making the following statement by the SLTrib: “The John Huntsman family fits the People Magazine persona, good-looking people, wealthy, hip . . . They adopt their children Madonna-style, and for some reason that seems to resonate, even in Utah. Its baffling to me honestly.” JoAnn Jacobsen-Wells in a letter to the editor rightly called Mero to repentance. And to his credit, Mero apologized in a subsequent letter to the editor.

What causes high-profile Mormons to take these extreme positions? I think the Mormon hierarchy needs to ponder this question.