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Speaking with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, Newsweek Washington reporter Michelle Cottle explains The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ (Mormon) political neutrality position.

A Church representative will speak on 15 February at the Fraud College, a Utah-based organization that promotes fraud awareness and education. Michael Otterson, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' (Mormon) Public Affairs managing director, will address the importance of making all people, including members of religious organizations, aware of the dangers of affinity fraud. While senior Church leaders have repeatedly warned against fraud, this is the first time a Church representative has spoken at the Fraud College.

Michael R. Otterson, managing director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, addressed journalists at the Poynter Institute’s conference, “Politics and Religion: Getting It Right in 2012," on 8 December 2011.

On the “On Faith” blog today, Michael Otterson comments on the study on Mormons released today by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life:

Over the years we’ve learned quite a bit from opinion polls about how Americans view Mormons. Clearly, there is a big knowledge gap about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, complicated by a lot of erroneous assumptions.

But this morning we saw something different with the release of an important study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which put questions to Mormons themselves about how they see their place in the religious and secular world, and what they think is important about their own faith. It delivers some fascinating data.

Read the full blog post at the Washington Post here

Read the Church's official news release regarding the Pew study

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has received a number of inquiries about an alleged visit by federal officials to a Church canning facility in Tennessee seeking information about those who use the facility. The Church has investigated these claims and there is no basis for the rumors.

During the past few weeks there have been many articles and commentaries published regarding what it means to be a Christian. One piece, published in The Economist on Wednesday, states:

It's always been my understanding the necessary and sufficient condition of being a Christian is that you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour....

In response to media calls regarding comments made by a Baptist minister at a political event stating that Mormons are not Christians, the Church issued the following statement today:

We really don’t want to comment on a statement made at a political event, but those who want to understand the centrality of Christ to our faith can learn more about us and what we believe by going to mormon.org.

In a Los Angeles Times piece by Robin Abcarian covering how evangelicals may vote in the next election, the reporter, to the benefit of her readers, does not let comments from a less-than-informed source stand as fact. Journalists have the difficult task of reporting on what people think or believe about a situation, which can be instructive, while also informing readers about what the actual facts are.

GetReligion.com, a respected blog that critiques and discusses reporting on religion, today covered the importance of inquiry and attribution in religion journalism. Terry Mattingly points to a blog post in a publication called Religion Dispatches that “demonstrates what happens when this process breaks down or, worse, is ignored.”

In this week’s “On Faith” column, Church Public Affairs managing director Mike Otterson challenges those who use the word “cult” to categorize (and marginalize) members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: