This is the second post written in response to Rabbi Mordecai Schnaidman’s letter to the editorof The Jewish Week. He posed three questions about Mormonism in relation to Mitt Romney’s candidacy. My last postaddressed the rabbi’s concerns about LDS temple rites, and I will now address his second question. My standard disclaimer bears repeating: This is not a political blog, and I have no interest in advocating Mitt’s candidacy here.

How can we help flood the world with all the good we see? How can we keep a balanced perspective to focus on the good while not ignoring the bad?

With Mitt Romney leading the GOP presidential race and traditional Evangelical influence appearing to wane, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is playing an increasingly significant role in the American political conversation. On Thursday the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life unveiled an in-depth look at public perceptions of American Mormons — the first report of its kind ever published by a non-LDS research group. Here is a survey of some its most interesting findings:

What a priceless photo from Utah Valley 360! Did you know that when Donny first met Debbie, she was actually on a date with his brother? To make matters worse, Debbie turned Donny down when he first asked her out. Learn more about Donny and Debbie's epic love story with "5 Famous Mormons and Their Unbelievable Love Stories."

"Nearly a year later, I still remember how the prompting had come to me suddenly—like a flash of lightning on a clear day. Just as quickly as it came, however, it was followed up with another impression. 'This is because of general conference.' The additional phrase was equally startling to me."

The final class of approximately 650 students graduated from Benemerito de las Americas, an LDS Church-owned high school in Mexico City, on June 14. At the graduation ceremony, Elder Alfredo Miron, the school's final director and an Area Seventy, symbolically handed a large wooden "key to the campus" over to the new MTC President Carl Pratt. On the key was written the name of the school with the dates 1963-2013, indicating its "fifty years of teaching the youth of the Latter-day Saints." Under these dates was written 2013- Missionary Training Center, and the scripture, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:73). On June 26, President Pratt and his wife, Sister Karen Pratt, welcomed their first group of about 100 newly set-apart missionaries, some of whom had graduated as high school students only a week-and-a-half earlier from the same campus. "I cannot believe it's only been 10 days since I graduated from this school," said one elder as he was entering the new MTC. "It's quite a special experience to be able to see the way in which the Lord transforms things in order to fulfill his work.

“It’s a dream come true to be doing what I’m doing,” former BYU football player and NFL Daniel Sorensen says about his NFL career. “I think about it every day. I’m very fortunate. It’s very surreal.”

President Thomas S. Monson lowered the age requirement for mission service more than two years ago, and the LDS community is starting to recognize resulting social changes in marriages and perceived role of women in the Church.

There are those rare moments when a sports photograph becomes a transcendent image. Consider the iconic black-and-white shot of a young Mohammed Ali towering over a fallen Sonny Liston, the photo of a terminally ill Lou Gehrig bidding a graceful farewell inside a crowded Yankee Stadium, or, perhaps, the image of an airborne Michael Jordan hurdling himself toward the basket

New York Post columnist Maureen Callahan recently tried to explain to her readers the ecclesiastical implications for Mitt and Ann Romney and their activity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if the family ends up living in the White House. Callahan cited several sources in her column, although there is nothing officially from the LDS Church. Too bad. Even if she had just gone to the church's Newsroom website, specifically prepared as a media resource, she might have avoided some glaring misrepresentations of LDS Church doctrine, policy, practice and procedure.