A slap at Beck?

Has the Mormon church publicly distanced itself from the man who today is perhaps most frequently identified as a member of the church? It doesn't take much reading between the lines to believe that's the case.

In an unsigned commentary, the public-relations department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a few days ago bemoaned "stories of rage and agitation [that] fill our airwaves, streets and town halls" and suggested a need for "voices of balance and moderation in these extreme times." There's nothing surprising there; the church, like many others, has long urged its members to follow the Golden Rule in both private and public life.

And neither is it surprising that the commentary stated, indirectly, that the church isn't an arm of the Republican Party. It has avowed its nonpartisanship many times before, although not always as strongly as it did in the recent statement:

As the Church operates in countries around the world, it embraces the richness of pluralism. Thus, the political diversity of Latter-day Saints spans the ideological spectrum. Individual members are free to choose their own political philosophy and affiliation. Moreover, the Church itself is not aligned with any particular political ideology or movement.

What is a bit surprising is the following statement, or at least the timing of it (emphasis added).

Furthermore, the Church views with concern the politics of fear and rhetorical extremism that render civil discussion impossible. As the Church begins to rise in prominence and its members achieve a higher public profile, a diversity of voices and opinions naturally follows. Some may even mistake these voices as being authoritative or representative of the Church. However, individual members think and speak for themselves.

This commentary comes at a time when Beck has become the most recognized voice of the vociferous right — and perhaps even more recognized for his Mormonism than Mitt Romney was, and certainly more often identified as a Mormon than Harry Reid is. As unfair as it may be, it isn't hard to find articles in the blogosphere identifying his style with his Mormon faith — see, for examples, pieces such as "Mormonism made a man out of Glenn Beck" or "Glenn Beck's Mormon roots," whose author claims that "some of Mormonism's darker undercurrents have shaped the Fox News phenomenon."

Such articles must have been a nightmare for the church's PR crew, and it's not difficult to imagine that the desire to distance the church's image from Beck's image led at least in part to this commentary.

To be fair, there's no direct criticism of Beck here (and that's not the church's style anyway; even when denouncing social trends, church leaders very seldom mention leaders of those trends). And the church issues a statement every U.S. election cycle declaring its nonpartisanship.

So in one sense, the church's statement is nothing new. But are there any other prominent Mormons these days who have become identified with "the politics of fear and rhetorical extremism"?