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Letter: Coverage of religious leaders needs to abide by equal standards

(Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune) President Thomas S. Monson delivers his talk "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet" at the end of the morning session of the 184th Semiannual LDS General Conference on Oct. 5, 2014.

Recently, The New York Times wrote an obituary for the deceased prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas S. Monson, that many viewed as inappropriate and unfair to him. So, The New York Times’ obituary editor addressed the issue of the coverage on the former Mormon prophet justifying the paper’s actions.

I understand that the obituaries need to be generic for the widespread audience of The New York Times, but there needs to be some equality in publication among all religious leaders. The New York Times believes that it portrayed President Monson’s life in an adequate way, but it missed a big aspect of his life. His life of service was not mentioned in much detail at all. Also, the controversial points of President Monson’s life were not given the background needed to justify the decisions. The New York Times stated in the address that some people viewed the issues stated were taken out of context.

Another aspect that was not equal among religious leaders was the title. For example, an obituary recently done of the “saloon priest” gives Peter Colapietro the correct title of Father, while for Thomas S. Monson The Times used Mr. Monson when it should have used President or Brother Monson.

This inequality undermines the legitimacy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dalin Haas, Provo