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The Mormon Prophet has Died

Posted by John on January 27th, 2008 at 7:46 pm · 9 Comments

According to the Wikipedia article, which references a Deseret News article I can’t seem to load, President Gordon B. Hinckley, president and prophet of the LDS Church, died of “causes incident to age” at 7pm Mountain Standard Time.  He was 97 years old.

Note: This was announced on Wikipedia (about five minutes after his death) earlier than the website of Utah’s other major paper, the Salt Lake Tribune.

My personal reaction: While I feel for Hinckley’s survivors and for my Mormon friends who mourn his passing, I came to the realization that the death of the Pope would have more significance to me now.  I guess really and truly am not Mormon any more.  I don’t say this to diminish the sorrow that others might feel.  His passing marks the end of a dynamic period in Mormonism’s history.

Tags: Mormonism

9 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Brian // Jan 27, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Requiescat in pacem.

  • 2 Dennis // Jan 28, 2008 at 8:14 am

    Judging from your post about God and how you never really learned to understand him, you have never really been a member of any religion.

  • 3 John // Jan 28, 2008 at 8:20 am

    We’ll let Dennis’ comment speak for itself.

  • 4 John // Jan 28, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Heh. It just occurred to me–Dennis is saying this like he understands God better than me.

  • 5 Kevin // Jan 29, 2008 at 11:58 am

    I don’t understand my existence therefore I don’t exist!

  • 6 xJane // Jan 30, 2008 at 9:52 am

    oo-oo! I don’t understand god, therefore god doesn’t exist! Eat your heart out, Descartes…

    and condolences to all who need them. Certainly the death of a spiritual leader reverberates

  • 7 cameron // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:17 am

    I’m lds, not that it matters, but I don’t see the correlation between the feelings about the death of a leader, gaging the extent of the believe in the religion. I didn’t feel bad at all that Pr. Hinckley died, yet my faith hasn’t changed?

  • 8 John // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:40 am

    Cameron, it wasn’t a gauge of faith so much as a realization that I no longer feel a strong Mormon identity. My affinity with Mormon culture persevered long past my deconversion.

  • 9 xJane // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    incidentally, the media had a slight *ahem* hiccup of consternation when Romney went to Hinckley’s funeral

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