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.
“I submit to you that a group should be allowed primarily to define itself,” said Otterson, urging journalists to define Latter-day Saints “by who we are and by our central beliefs rather than who we are not or by obscure or irrelevant beliefs.”
Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of Evangelicals in Civic Life, joined Otterson during the conference session.
“The more you get to know Mormons,” said Cromartie, “the more you like them. But if all you know about them are the parts of their doctrine that some people might find questionable, your perspective is limited. Then you get to know them and you find that they are good people, people you'd like to know.”
View all conference presentations (Michael Otterson’s remarks begin at the 2:14:00 mark).