From the link above:
Excuse me? You’re selling tickets to a movie that your employer has decided to show and you not only take it upon yourself to ask the patron’s religin, but to “warn” the patron? At least, get it right.
On the positive side, also from the link above:
Wow, and this happened in San Diego.
It does certainly seem sort of silly… but, on the other hand, I have to admit that I know virtually nothing about Mormonism other than that they no longer have polygamy as part of their beliefs. I’ve also heard many Christians saying that Mormonism isn’t Christianity, and never really thought to question that claim. Can you fight my ignorance and link me to a good website, or maybe point me to any good “Ask the Mormon” threads that’ve gone down here?
As mainstream Christian groups throughout the country are continuously portraying themselves as being oppressed and persecuted, I’m surprised that you see this as anything other than an overzealous attempt to accommodate them. Overzealous and inappropriate it is, I’ll grant you, but not difficult to understand as a response to societal pressures.
Mormonism is a Christian denomination by any rational standard, in my opinion, as they believe in God (the Christian variety of YHWH, in particular), Jesus, baptism, and all that familiar stuff, but they do tend to reject some very widespread Christian dogmas. The Mormon movement developed in part as a Restorationist deal - to restore the “real” Church which had fallen away in the years since Jesus, which means many of their beliefs are quite different from those of most denominations. And further, they depend on later revelation than the Bible - specifically, on the Book of Mormon (along with a couple other works). Among their more unusual beliefs, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (I’m hoping I got the capitalization right there, because apparently it matters . . . ) teaches that God and Jesus are flesh-and-blood creatures and originally were humans or something comparable at least; I mention that church in particular because I’m not certain all Mormon churches - there are several - share that particular belief.
Essentially they appear to my non-believing eyes to share the basic Christian doctrine - salvation through the grace of God and Jesus’s resurrection. Many of their other views are quite unusual among Christians and particularly when compared to the particular doctrine common among American Protestants, but I suspect the people who go around claiming that Mormons aren’t Christian are the same [del]idiots[/del] good folks who go around saying that Catholics aren’t. There are major differences between Mormon belief and that of most other Christian churches, and from the perspective of other Christians it seems reasonable to suppose that Mormons are committing serious doctrinal error, but the core beliefs are the same. Furthermore, though they differ in some fundamental beliefs, like in the nature of the Holy Trinity, a lot of those fundamental and shared beliefs aren’t actually Biblical in origin. After all, the word “trinity” doesn’t appear in the Bible.
Mormonism is total bullshit. I can understand why the ticket people were warning people.
Don’t be so judgmental. Every other religion is just as bullshit.
No, I think that there are different levels of bull. Scientology is at the top, and Mormonism is a close second.
FinnAgain: A good website, in my humble opinion, is www.mormon.org (the part of the Church’s official website designed for non-members.
And, yes, it’s quite silly that a cashier at a theater decides to ask the patrons their religion! Actually, I’m personally of the opinion that it’s a civil rights violation.
Excalibre: You got it spot-on. The capitalization in English apparently matters to some folks because of two reasons (maybe three): (1) for the outfit commonly known as the Mormons and headquartered in Salt Lake the way you typed it is the official name, (2) there’s another outfit with a very similar name spelled without the hyphen and with a capital D, and (maybe) (3) some folks just like to gripe. By the way, one of the teachers (Korean) in my department is a member of a restorationist church that has no relationship whatsoever with the LDS.
Aeschines: Your comment relates to the OP exactly how? It obviously shows what a jerk you are. By the way, how would you have feel if you went up to purchase a cinema ticket and you were asked, “What’s your religion?”
But, but, we’re excluding the Invisible Pink Unicorn; right guys?
Because that’s totally legit!
Please be so kind as to explain this. I can see no Earthly reason whatsoever that a patron be asked his religion before entering a theater.
FWIW, when I read the thread title, I thought it was going to be about Muslims being hassled by airlines.
There is a lot of bullshit in the world. Try not to contribute so freely.
I just watched the trailer. Regardless of the denomination of the characters the movie seems to be about love, compassion, and hope in the violent world of gangs.Have we got so much of that we can afford to diss this movie based on who made it? I find the warning insulting and unnecessary.
It would be appropriate for parents to be warned that the South Park movie is not a cartoon they want to take their small children to. Asking people what religion they are before viewing a film is way out of line. I wonder if they warned the Jews before they bought a ticket for “The Passion”
I agree that the actions of theatre employees are just plain wrong, but I don’t see a civil rights violation here. Care to elaborate.
The link makes pretty clear that the objections of the protesters are not the same as the objection of the OP. The protesters are upset by the impression that others do not accept that they are “entitled” to be labelled as Christians That is really the core issue.
I’ve read various threads on this issue, including comparisons to the non acceptance of the Nation of Islam by other Muslims to the point where they are even banned form Saudi Arabia, and it puzzles me that the general consensus by most dopers is that the Nation of Islam is not entitled to call themselves Muslims while Mormans are entitled to be labelled as Christians. The debate is interesting to me only to the extent that I can’t see any justification for expressing a definitive opinion on the issue when you aren’t a member of either the LDS or the Nation of Islam, a Christian or a Muslim.
What I also find interesting from the perspective of my Christian upbringing is a major similarity between Muslims and Mormans. Both groups were spawned from Christianity by revered prophets and subsequent texts. Both groups accept Jesus though perhaps not exactly the same way. For most Christians who elevate Jesus Christ and the New Testament above all others, the divine neccessity of a subsequent prophet for mankind is contradicted by the core belief in the completion of Christ’s earthly mandate and the canon.
I can understand why many Christians have difficulty in accepting Mormanism as a Christian faith any more than accepting Islam as a Christian faith.
It seems to me that teaching that God is (or was) a flesh and blood creature would be enough to make most Christians consider Mormonism to be out of the fold altogether. Is not Christianity essentially based on the concept of God as the immortal, all powerful creator? How can one reconcile this with the concept of God as once human?
They manage it for Jesus well enough. Why not The Father as well?
is there evidence that a patron who refused to answer was denied a ticket? or if they answered certain ways they were denied a ticket? denial of admission would be the key.
the reason I cannot/should not ask about religion during a job application/housing application process is ‘cause I cannot legally use that info in my decision process for housing and jobs.
If I ran into you on the street and asked your religion, nothin’ wrong/illegal w/that.
now I agree that it was a stupid and irrelevant thing for the cashier to do. but I’m missing the part where it becomes a civil rights issue.
This is purely anecdotal, but some of the nicest, most family and community oriented people I know are Mormons. I’ll admit that I was ignorant to their beliefs before meeting any of them and I even fed into the “haha! Mormons are CRAZY! And polygamists!” bit, but now I know differently.
Now, their brand of religion isn’t my cup of tea, but I can really respect the values that they put forth. The church really, really emphasizes the importantance of family (with suggested family game nights, family prayer time, and almost daily, voluntary, church-based family activities). Also, the church puts strong value on community involvement and actively sets up community activities for church members (helping at homeless shelters, helping at animal shelters, cleaning up trash, donating to the library, etc.)
It’s flat out silly to compare Mormonism to Scientology, unless you say that EVERY religion is comparable (on that same level) to Scientology. I could certainly draw some connections between the Catholic Church and Scientology, but that doesn’t mean that the comparison is even remotely spot on.
Oh, none but the craziest, splintered sects believe in polygamy anymore. In fact, the polygamists are usually made fun of by the “regular” Mormons. As one of the Mormons I know put it, “Do you see how often my ONE wife is always mad at me? Why the HELL would I want TWO?” 
Ha! Never ceases to amaze me how rude people are. Why the religion of the ticket purchaser is relevant to the sale of ticket is beyond me.
But, this gave me a great idea for a new response to these types of questions:
Busy-Body Ticket Salesman: State your religion, please.
Pissed-Off Customer: Noydban of Saint Foo.
BBTS: 
POC: It’s an acronym. Why do you ask?
BBTS: We want to make sure that blahblahblah. What is your religion?
POC: None Of Your Damn Business, Asshole, Now Shut The Fuck Up. Please give me my tickets and have a nice day.
If they didn’t say anything about religion to people buying tickets, it wouldn’t have surprised me if they got complaints from some non-Mormon Christians that they didn’t expect to see what they consider heresy. “Why didn’t you warn us!” they would whine.
They were probably trying to avoid that type of situation, and kinda fumbled at it. Maybe they should have put up a sign indicating it was a Mormon-themed movie. Yeah, it’s still pretty dumb, but nowhere near as dumb as what they did.