Editor:

In reading the Jan. 15 article “Mormons Discuss Racial Inequality,” I became quite confused. I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I’m white.

Were those panelists all members of the LDS Church? Were they all in good standing? If they are all currently faithful members of the church, were their comments taken out of context? I don’t think that any active member of the church would ever attack the church or its leadership in this way.

I respect any person’s right to say what they honestly think. I have no problem with anyone on that panel or what they said.

My complaint is that the Chronicle, and the campus billed this panel as Mormons discussing their beliefs. I think that is ridiculous if the panel was made up of people who are not Mormons or who are not in good standing. The overwhelming majority of church members would never question the leaders of the church, because they believe the men who stand at the head of the church were divinely selected, even predestined, by God himself. There are hundreds of thousands of active members of the church of different ethnicities that just don’t care about the race issue. In fact, they actually support the church leaders!

From what I read, due either to misrepresentation of who the panelists were or misrepresentation of their remarks, those panelists certainly don’t share my values. Even though the faithful members of the church have only ever tried to do what’s right and make the world a better place, the press loves to give us bad rap. Bad press is warranted if the church really did do something wrong , but I’m just asking the Chronicle to research its topics and report the truth.

Natalie Horton

Alumna, Music

Editor’s Note: The Chronicle maintains that the panelists identified themselves as members of the LDS Church, and that three of the four said they were in “good standing.”