Big Love? Big Deal

That title comes courtesy of Orson Scott Card's article that I have linked below. I'm sure by now all you who are members have heard about the Big Love controversy with the show depicting some scenes from the endowment ceremony that goes on in the temple. I wasn't really going to say much about it because I've gotten a dozen different "can you believe this???" reactions from Facebook groups and various emails and didn't have much to add to the outrage, blah blah blah.

Let's just all settle down. Is it offensive? Yes. Is it unexpected? No. Should we be used to it by now? Probably. I mean, really, is this any worse than all of the fallout following the passage of Proposition 8? Not by a long shot.

I love the church response to the airing of the show because they list a bunch of potentially unflattering recent portrayals of the church, and how nothing came about with any of those other depictions. And then they go on to make their point with Big Love:

Now comes another series of Big Love, and despite earlier assurances from HBO it once again blurs the distinctions between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the show’s fictional non-Mormon characters and their practices. Such things say much more about the insensitivities of writers, producers and TV executives than they say about Latter-day Saints.

If the Church allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought, it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued successfully for nearly 180 years. Instead, the Church itself will determine its own course as it continues to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

And Orson Scott Card (my favorite author for those of you who didn't know) wrote a piece for NRO about it that you can find here. In the article he states:

Most Mormons are seeing the Big Love temple episode in the context of the recent outpouring of hatred and bile from those who most vehemently opposed Proposition 8. Mormons have been targeted for business boycotts; some have lost their jobs because they contributed to the campaign to defend marriage.

The result is that few of us have any desire to act as the worst of our opponents have acted. After someone has boycotted a friend’s business, it makes it a bit harder for you to want to call for a boycott.

By and large, while we’d prefer that everybody handle differences of opinion peacefully, we’d rather be persecuted than be the persecutors. The few times in our history when we have departed from that principle, the results have shamed us for generations. Tolerance works better.

I love that line - better to be persecuted than be the persecutors.

My favorite article on the topic, however, comes from the Big Hollywood blog wherein Pam Meister talks about the Hollywood double standard that comes to religious persecution. Go here for the article. She points out:

HBO, of course, apologized for offending Mormons but defended its use of the ceremony because its depiction is “critical” to the show’s story line. Ah, the quintessential non-apology apology, used frequently by politicians: We’re sorry if we offended anyone, but we’re not going to do anything that will actually rectify the situation. Be sure to tune in, though, and boost our ratings!

What I’m more interested in learning, though, is if there are any shows or movies in the works about the “sacred” rite of female genital mutilation - more kindly known as female circumcision - or “honor killings” in Islam. I’d even settle for a program that just depicts a polygamous Muslim family living somewhere in rural America.

I’ll wait. I have plenty of time.

And then she goes on to list several examples of how Hollywood repeatedly pulls its punches when it comes to Muslims. She also mentions how Scientology is a proctected class when it comes to "entertainment".

I'll bet that nothing really comes about with this episode, and that within a year the show ends up getting canceled. I'm guessing that, or everyone affiliated with the production of the show contracts some rare, but aggressive form of cancer that causes a slow but painful death that ends up being completely genetic and kills all of their future posterity. One of those two sounds reasonable.

Anyway, how prophetic does our good ol' boy Joe Smith sound when he declared:

The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.