Flak for article on Mormon affects Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family has praised the Mormon church for its family values and opposition to gay marriage, but there are limits to how far the organization will go.

Focus' political arm, Focus Action, recently removed an article from its Web site about conservative talk show host Glenn Beck - a Mormon - because it offended some of its evangelical followers.

Focus spokesman Gary Schneeberger said Monday that the story was put online through an "oversight."

"We did not aim to signal theological compromise, which some of our base were concerned about," Schneeberger said. "In no case do we intend to alter our clear distinction as unwaveringly grounded in evangelical theology."

The controversy started Dec. 19 when Focus Action's Web site, www.citizenlink.org, posted a freelance article by Karla Dial on Beck and his new book, "The Christian Sweater." Beck hopes the book will "spread a more eternal sort of gospel," Dial wrote.

Some readers felt the article was proselytizing ideas of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"The Christmas Sweater" is a story about a 12-year-old boy who wanted a bicycle for Christmas but instead got a sweater. Years later the boy realizes that the sweater is precious.

Beck, a social conservative who will host his own show on Fox News next year, said in the article that "the Christmas sweater is the metaphor for me of the atonement of Christ."

Steve McConkey, who heads the Underground Apologetics, a conservative Christian group based in Madison, Wis., sent out a news release Dec. 21 denouncing Focus Action's online publication of the article. Other Christians also denounced the article.

In the release, McConkey calls the Morman faith a cult. "Christians should be promoting the central issues of the faith properly without opening the door to false religions," wrote McConkey, a nondenominational evangelical who is not a Focus constituent.

Schneeberger said Focus Action's decision to pull the story was not driven by McConkey's news release.

In a posting on his Web site on Monday, Beck sounded ruffled by Focus Action's removal of the article.

"The concept of religious tolerance is too important to be sacrificed in response to pressure from special interest groups, especially when it means bowing to censorship," wrote Beck, who could not be reached for additional comment.

Mark McConkie, president of the Colorado Springs stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a statement Monday that the Mormons and evangelicals have too many shared interests, including family issues, to be pulled apart.

"It is in our collective best interest to continue to find ways to work together instead of driving wedges between committed believers."

Focus has had a history of working with the Mormon church on family issues. In November, Focus founder James Dobson was one of the signers of a thank- you note to the church for its support of California's Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and passed on the November ballot.

Dobson also praised Gov. Mitt Romney's speech last December on his Mormon faith during his run for the Republican presidential nomination.

On Monday Schneeberger had kind words for Beck.

"We intended no insult," he said. "We merely miscalculated on how best to feature Glenn, whom we greatly appreciate."

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CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0367 or mark.barna@gazette.com. Go to Barna's blog, The Pulpit, for more religion news.