Kent’s feature at T&S serves again as a reminder that it’s time to offer nominations for the Boggs-Doniphan Award (Gentile of the Year). Who is the non-Mormon who has had the greatest impact on Mormonism for good (Doniphan) or bad (Boggs) in 2010? Previous winners were Mike Huckabee and Stephen Colbert. I nominate Barack Obama for paving the way for the Mormons to save the Constitution.
Boggs-Doniphan Award 2010
December 15, 2010 by
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
How about Judge Vaughn Walker, who wrote a pretty solid decision against Prop 8? The impact on the church could be good or bad depending on your view of the situation.
I nominate Sharron Angle for being so nutty that Harry Reid was able to retain his Senate seat against all odds. I suppose we could also nominate Sharron Angle’s pastor for calling us a cult.
Swiss government for apparently forcing Church to rely on non-US missionaries there in a year or two from now.
I nominate CERN Director General Rolf Heuer for furthering the work on the Large Hadron Collider and bringning us closer to the Apocalypse which will undoubtedly happen following the creation of the Higgs-Boson particle which will wipe out the earth, turn it into a sea of crystal, ushering forth the second coming of Christ when every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that the Mormons were right all along.
Think of the baptisms we’ll be able to do!!!
Or should we save this nomination for 2012 when the Nephites (Mayans) predicted that they would discover it?
Robert George of Princeton.
I nominate the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, for proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are disliked. One can think of the results as averaging over all Boggs and Doniphans at the same time, thus qualifying for the award.
How about Cody from TLC show Sister Wives?
Or the actual sister wives, Christine, Meri, Robyn and Janelle. (Had to look up their names.)
Abraham Foxman for declaring a truce in the proxy baptism wars.
Oh wait. You said Gentile of the Year. My bad.
Oh, whoops. Yeah, Gentile of the year. Got too excited to actually post something.
Nevermind.
Sharron Angle and/or her pastor? I like that nomination.
How ’bout Keith Olbermann for naming Elder Oaks as one of the World’s Worst People?
How about that guy who is suing the church because he threw out his back doing baptisms for the dead in the temple?
Oops, forgot this has to be for a non-Mormon.
Woops–that was late 2009–never mind.
Nicholas O. Rule of the University of Toronto, and James V. Garrett and Nalini Ambady of Tufts University for scientifically validating Mo-dar.
article.)”On the Perception of Religious Group Membership from Faces”
JimD, (apart from the wrong year issue) while Olbermann is a contemptible, pompous twit who consumes oxygen that could be better used by cockroaches, he has hardly had a major impact on Mormonism.
I would second Foxman (et al.), given that the holocaust baptism kerfuffle has had a big impact on the Church’s genealogy software/procedures, which in turn will have a broad and long-term (if subtle) impact on many LDSaints.
If only Glenn Beck was excommunicated, I would nominate him. Gee Whiz Latter-day Guy, your Obermann comment is a little lacking in charity. Must be time for you to hit the scriptures.
I vote for Barack Obama, too, since it doesn’t look like he’s going to get his EGOT this year.
I second Cynthia (#2) and Chris H (#5).
I third Chris H (#5). Adding him to the Des News Editorial Board clinches George in my mind.
Yes, I would nominate Pres OBama “for paving the way for Mormons to save the Constitution”. But when I read the webpage of the RNC, I realize what a difficult task that would be. There may be some members of the RNC who support the Constitution, but they have been excluded from leadership in the RNC. That group, unfortunately, in my opinion, is the greatest threat to the Constitution. I believe that Pres Obama has the ability to help save it, if we support him. The RNC has the opportunity to replace Mr Steele with someone who will support the Constitution, so I am looking forward to seeing if they will do it, or will get yet another person who is more like a dictator than a believer in democracy.
I nominate Roseanne Barr, who criticized the LDS Church and blamed it for Marie Osmond’s son’s suicide. And to make things even worse, she attacked Marie!
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/03/05/Roseanne_Criticizes_Marie_Osmond,_Mormon_Church/
Roseanne was at one time a baptized member. I don’t know if she still is.
I don’t “hit” the scriptures, Larry, I read them. Besides, God and I have talked it over––we feel pretty much the same about Olbermann.
Reed Cowan, 8: The Mormon Proposition
Charles Cooper, lead lawyer for the almost unfathomably bad defense of Prop 8 in court (witnesses dropping like flies, etc).
For the Doniphan award:
1. Bill Casto, executive director of the United States College Athletic Association– for not actively pursuing sanctions against Southern Virginia University after its women’s soccer team forfeited a tournament championship match on Sunday, Nov. 7. Instead, Casto said the USCAA would form a committee that will hear from various faiths to find long-term solutions that work for everyone.
2.Ernest W. Michel representing holocaust survivors following a 2005 interfaith meeting, who continued to work with LDS leaders persistently to achieve a breakthrough in dialogue regarding the practice of baptism of the dead.
… the proxy baptism wars
Is it really a war if they don’t start baptising dead Mormons by proxy in return?
I don’t know if Charles Cooper deserves an award simply for being unable to find witnesses to offer testimony about something for which no evidence exists.
Mark N, as the name implies, sometimes it is an award, and sometimes it is an “award.” Cooper certainly seems eligible for the latter.
ESPN.com blogger Eamonn Brennan gets the Doniphan Award of the week for placing BYU hoops at #10 in his power rankings. Diamond Leung gets the Boggs Award for ranking them #20.
I’ll second the Pew Research Forum nomination. They made the news when showing that Mormons know more about religion than any other group except for atheists and Jews.
John Taber #25:
barr was never at any time a mormon. she just grew up in utah.
i belatedly nominate Christ Covenant Church of Charlotte NC for highlighting the ongoing mistrust between mormons and the larger christian community, and for demonstrating yet another type of discrimination the Boy Scouts of America (an integral part of mormon culture) is just fine with.
David H., Switzerland isn’t an Euro Community member, no? so even European missionaries would be subject to proposed–or has it already been ennacted?–quotas, si?
It apparently turns out that Barr was a sincere convert, during early adolescence, Mr/Ms palerobber (of the comment above). Barr to TIME: “Later on, when I became a member and got baptized….” (see http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957623,00.html#ixzz18rhr3oHd –and THIS, from HolyFetch.com:
“in her autobiography, ‘Roseanne: My Life as a Woman’ (Pg. 51-53) [Barr…]explains how when she was young she fell and her face was frozen, as if she had had a stroke. When it did not return to normal the next day, her mother called the rabbi, who said a prayer and nothing happened. The following day, her mother called the Mormons, who came over and gave her a blessing. The next day her face was better.
“Roseanne’s mom took that as a sign that the LDS church was true and began attending services. Roseanne attended church and activities and was president of her Young Women’s class.
“She claims that she was active until age 16 when she read in a medical journal about what had caused her face to freeze – Bell’s Palsy. The information in the journal stated that Bell’s Palsy was a temporary paralysis, usually lasting only 48 hours. Doubting the miracle she had experienced 10 years previously, she claims that she went and drank a beer and smoked two cigarettes that same day.”
Doh!
Wikipedia: “Relations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) are framed by a series of bilateral treaties whereby Switzerland adopts EU law in order to participate in the EU’s single market.”
–>hangs head in shame
I nominate unknown anti-Mormon vandals and arsons. (…And also, those who disagree with some of the Church leaders’ political stands but do so without resorting to such means!)