Kirby: Are ceremonies so sacred, or are Mormons insecure?

[helderheid]

I love Kirby.

Kirby: Are ceremonies so sacred, or are Mormons insecure?

By Robert Kirby

Tribune Columnist
Updated: 03/13/2009 10:55:16 AM MDT

A bunch of us were in Bammer's garage when we learned that an upcoming "Big Love" episode would feature elements of the LDS temple ceremony. His only wife came out and read it to us from the newspaper.

She showed us the photo the newspaper had published of an actress dressed in Mormon temple clothing. After a withering look at the only Tribune employee present, she went back inside.

Because everyone in the garage was "go-to-church" Mormon, the reaction was interesting. It ranged from a simmering annoyance to nuclear outrage. How could television presume to display something Mormons consider so sacred that even a lot of Mormons aren't allowed see it?

Me, I thought, "Wow, now I know exactly how Catholics felt when the movie 'Disco Demons IV' showed a priest performing a jive exorcism on a possessed mirror ball."

OK, I didn't really think that until just now. At the time I was too busy actually wondering what had taken Hollywood so long. It's not like what happens in the temple is a secret. You can find it on the Internet.

I'm not bothered by "Big Love's" perceived insensitivity. Probably because I don't need HBO's respect or validation for what I consider sacred. Furthermore, I totally get the interest.

Mormons are, frankly, a big draw right now thanks to fundamentalist polygamy, Proposition 8, liquor laws and "Big Love." So it's only natural that people are going to be curious.

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[msongs]

1. cults thrive on secrecy and lots of money is helpful too nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. I'm inclined to go with "insecure"

Kirby is right: the rituals are widely available on the Internet, a fact that LDS church leaders try very hard to avoid. Most interesting are the changes in the "God ordained" ceremonies, which were implemented soon after the information became public knowledge.

[Marrah_G]

3. My faith is based heavily in ritual

yes, they are sacred to many people. Seeing bits and pieces bastardized in movies makes my skin crawl.

Yes, they are sacred in my faith, both sacred and secret.

People may look at mormon rituals and think its nutty, but at least they don't FEAR it.

A snapshot of one of our rituals generally envokes fear brought on by ignorance OR blindness brought on by the sight of naked Pagans.

[cobalt1999]

4. Religious rituals and rules are definately NOT sacred.

Doesn't matter what rules a religion has. If people want to obey those rules and "sacred rituals", that's their right.

However, their rules do NOT extend to the rest of us.

If I want to draw a cartoon depicting Mohammad or display a Mormon temple dress, I can do it. I'm not bound by whatever silliness a group wants to believe in.

[Cleita]

5. I never realized how powerful the Church of Latter Day Saints is until I was

in a bookstore in Logan, Utah and a whole wall of shelves of books was devoted to LDS studies. Utah really is a theocracy and it becomes apparent because of the liquor and other laws that you just don't run across in other states. I realize that the reason that Church is so rich and powerful is because every Mormon must tithe a portion of their income so they have plenty of money to put out propaganda and influence politics even in my state of California like what happened with prop. 8.

This was brought up with the Barb character in "Big Love" when she was visited by the bishops because she hadn't tithed in many years. It was then they got her to admit that she was in a polygamous marriage, which precipitated her visit to the Temple with her mother and sister. She was genuinely upset over the possibility that she would be excommunicated from her church. It was then that she turned on Nikki because she blames her for this by making her break the rules of her religion by making her once monogamous marriage polygamous.

[helderheid]

6. I was born in Logan

I think the tithing is 10%, if memory serves.