This whole thing blows me away. I've been in and out active in the LDS church my entire life. And Gorden B Hinckley was the president I knew best. He was a good man, I never got to really meet him but I had been to his talks. This makes me a little sad. However, the church is set up to where they already have a new president. There is a line in the article that annyos me a tad.
"A statement released by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as Mormons officially call themselves"
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
Actually, the article all in all is fairly rude. It goes into the history of the church instead of Hinckley. I think most people scaf at Mormons, when most people know very little. Heck the people that have "done there homework" still don't quite understand. Well for such a "crappy" religion that people seem to see it, it somehow has managed to be the second fastest growing religion in the world. Can't be to bad.
by Greg Kearney Mon Jan 28, 7:45 AM ET
CASPER, United States (AFP) - Mormon church President Gordon Hinckley, who dedicated his life to expanding the group's reach overseas, died in Salt Lake City, Utah, late Sunday at the age of 97, the church announced.
But if tradition is followed, 81-year-old Thomas Monson, the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will take over as president.
Hinckley, considered a prophet by church members, had served as president since March 1995.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) claims a worldwide membership of 13 million people, but fewer than half of them actually live in the United States.
Thirty-six percent of church members reside in Latin America and 17 percent outside of the Western Hemisphere. A significant LDS community exists in Canada.
Mormons recognize Jesus Christ as the head of their church, but they accuse the leading Christian denominations of a Great Apostasy, or loss of the original authority to lead the Christian movement.
In its formative years, the church and its members were subjected to intense religious persecution, which caused many members to flee to the interior West and settle in what is now the US state of Utah.
The church encourages its young members to serve for up to two years on full-time proselytizing missions around the world.
As a result, nearly 53,000 Mormon missionaries are working currently in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and other parts of the planet.
In addition, more than 3,500 special church envoys work worldwide as health care specialists, teachers, construction supervisors, agricultural experts and leadership trainers.
Last year, the LDS church marked the induction of its one millionth missionary since 1830.
In recent months, the church has come under the public spotlight owing to the fact that leading Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, is a member.
Some polls have suggested that upward of 20 percent of the American electorate would not vote for a Mormon presidential candidate because of religious differences.
Hinckley began his church service as a young man in Britain and went on to hold a number of important church positions culminating in being president of the worldwide faith.
As a member of the First Presidency, the highest governing body of the church, he has had a major role in administering both the ecclesiastical and temporal affairs of the Church, whose members are spread over some 171 nations and territories.
He was the first Church President ever to travel to Spain, where in 1996 he broke ground for a temple in Madrid, and to Africa, where he met with thousands of Latter-day Saints in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
He traveled extensively around the world to visit with church members and for a program of building temples worldwide.
Hinckley was born June 23, 1910, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a son of Bryant Strigham and Ada Bitner Hinckley.
He was preceded in death by his wife. Hinckley is survived by five children and 25 grandchildren.
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