Mormonism and Democracy

This came to me by way of Jared Ong, but it's a really interesting transcript of a forum - The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life - whose main speaker, Richard Bushman, explains the marriage of mormonism and democracy. What's really cool about it is how educational the piece is about the church. Bushman's candor and breadth of knowledge of the church is unbelievable. He fields every question without any reservation, and is frankly, an incredible spokesman for the church. But he explains a lot in the way of even basic church doctrines to very complicated ones. Milk and meat, so to speak. A question and answer follow the forum and some of the audience members come from somewhat unsympathetic perspectives based on assertions made by dissenting members of the church, so it is not as if all in attendance were looking to absolve the church of perceived injustices. What I think is so neat about the piece is the way in which he answers the questions. Really educational, but really clear and concise. It really promotes understanding. It's good.