PBS is working on a two-part special on Mormons, set to air April 30 and May 1. The Boston Globe’s Alex Beam says it could hurt Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney, since the less Joe Sixpack knows about the tenets of the cult (oops, I said the C-word), the better.
The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormons call themselves, cooperated with “The American Experience ” and “Frontline, ” the show’s co-producers. [Filmmaker Helen] Whitney in turn pays the church the compliment of taking its faith very seriously indeed. The positives are there for all to see: the Mormons’ triumph over persecution in mid-century America; the dramatic “exodus” from Illinois to Utah, the “country no one else wanted,” according to Wallace Stegner, a great admirer of the Mormon pioneers; the devotion to family and community.
But also on view are doctrines and practices that most Americans would view as strange…
“The Mormons” even tackles the ultimate red herring, “celestial marriage,” Joseph Smith’s term for polygamy…”The Mormons” estimates that 30,000 to 60,000 fundamentalist believers practice polygamy. Whitney has footage of 11 happy children passing plates around the dinner table, with three mothers and a father in attendance. Heather has three Mommies! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Michael Sullivan, “Frontline” executive producer for special projects, calls the project “respectful but frank. We’re not out to get the Mormons.” He says “there is a small section on Romney” in the portion of the documentary that is still being edited. Romney declined to be interviewed for the show.
What does it all mean? PBS claims it has 75 million viewers a week. Let’s say one-tenth — no, one-twentieth — of that audience watches “The Mormons.” That’s almost 4 million men and women who will know more about the Mormon faith than Romney might wish them to know. It’s bad math for the Mittster.
“‘The Mormons’ even tackles the ultimate red herring, “celestial marriage,†Joseph Smith’s term for polygamy…â€The Mormons†estimates that 30,000 to 60,000 fundamentalist believers practice polygamy.”
What you have written here is undeniably false. Celestial marriage is the belief that husband and wife can be together throughout eternity, not just till death do you part and is a fundamental principal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Polygamy, on the other hand, is having more than one wife. This is no longer practiced by the church and was denounced in 1890. Besides that, polygamy was never practiced by more than 5% of the church. Fundamentalists, as you have called them, have no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints.
Your lack of education in these matters is grossly apparent, and therefore cripples any political statement you may be trying to make. I say let all 75 million viewers watch the documentary to learn more about the Mormons, it can’t be any more harmful than the libelous statements you have written here.
I totally disagree with Trish. The “more” Joe Sixpack — and everyone else — knows about the Mormons the better. And the little “c-word” comment; what’s up with that? Was that some vain attempt to belittle Mormons, or what? I don’t get it, but before she starts quoting old worn out anti-Mormon venom and rhetoric she really ought to look up the word cult in a dictionary. Among others, Webster defines a cult as: “a usually small circle of persons united by devotion or allegiance to [a]… movement or figure.” So, by that definition since christianity started off small, it then was originally a cult, also. And well, at 12 million strong worldwide I think Mormons are out of the small category. And, when you consider that Mormons are christian too, I think Trish should just quit writing about the Mormons in a way that seems to be for the sake of criticism at any cost. …and by the way, kudos and dittos to Annalee Barney.
It is a fact that George W. Bush delcared that the war against Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East was a war against “Muslim” extremists. He even stated that this was a “Crusade” on television. Who was whispering these words in his ear and motivating him to lie us into a war in the Middle East? The Mormons: John Ashcroft, Gen. Michael Hayden (NSA), Mr. Stephen Hadley (Presidentail Advisor), Karl Rove (Presidential Advisor)and supportive unknown others (like Alberto Salazar’s Deputy Chief of Staff – D. Kyle Sampson) Orrin Hatch, Mitt Romney from this secretive, socially totalitatian and Male dominated theocracy and Fascistic Cult that will excommunicate members for even non-pornographic pictures. There is basically and essentially no difference between LDS and the FLDS in terms of history, books used, language, office titles, etc. used. This is a Holy War that the Mormons and the Bush/Cheney & now McCain want to justify to tear down American Society and our hard fought for rights, freedoms and responsiblities. It is a very, very dangerous situation.