Religious Freedom

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself.
Hello, my name is Renee. I am 16 years old and I attend a local community college through the dual credit program - I'm working hard towards my AA and hope to transfer to an art school and major in animation. I come from a good family with strong values, and I was raised in the mormon faith.

"Wait, mormon? You're a mormon?"

Okay.. so I don't normally go about randomly telling people, "I'm a mormon" when I'm introducing myself, but you get the picture.
The issue of religious beliefs has always been a bit of a sensitive topic for me. I personally am willing to accept the fact that other people come from a different faith than I do. I respect their beliefs, I may not agree with them all the time, but I respect them.
Obviously though, not everyone feels the same.

The mormon church has underwent tons of horrible rumors - most of which are false, or taken wildly out of context. The problem is that when we hear certain people spreading these rumors, and then take a stand, we get scolded! My friends have often been told by their school teachers, "Your leaders keep secrets from you, your parents keep secrets from you...you don't even know your own religion!"

Wouldn't someone from the religion know more about it than someone who spends their time reading anti-mormon articles?

I found an answer to a question that Katherine Jean Lopez had asked Governor, Mitt Romney to be quite amusing...

Katherine Jean Lopez: Will an exposé on Mormon Christmas celebrations hurt you in the primaries?

Gov. Romney: This may sound strange to some, but my grandchildren will be eagerly awaiting presents to be delivered to their homes by a bearded man in a red suit led by a pack of flying reindeer. The lead reindeer, by the way, has a red light bulb for a nose — certainly a YouTube scandal waiting to happen.

Whatever happened to freedom of religion anyway? Isn't that part of what created the United States in the first place?

Adolf Hitler is often thought of as the human embodiment of evil, and for good reason! I don't feel the need to type up more than this: Hitler had a excessive hatred for the Jews. Horrible isn't it? To just completely hate such a large group of people?

But.. how was Hitler's hatred for the Jews any different than a hatred of someone because of their religion, or just the religion itself? It's Hitler's passionate hatred that made him such a monster. Hatred is evil.

It's interesting to me that there are so many people out there who hate the mormons, the catholics, the muslims, the athiests, the whatevers.. and then refer to themselves as, "christians." The last time I checked, the term "christian" refered to someone who believes in Jesus Christ, and strives to better themselves so that they can be like him.

Somehow, I just don't get the feeling that Jesus went around saying he hated everyone, and then shoved the fact that he was Jesus Christ into everyone's face.

The Mitt Romney reference can be found here: http://myclob.pbwiki.com/Will+an+exposé+on+Mormon+Christmas+celebrations+hurt+you+in+the+primaries