TresSugar

HBO to Air Controversial Big Love Episode Despite LDS Outcry

CitizenSugar — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:30:12 -0700

Thank goodness the show will go on, because I could not take one less of the two Big Love episodes left this season. What's the problem? Sunday's episode will feature a ceremony sacred (and kind of secret) to the mainstream Mormon church.

In the episode, Jeanne Tripplehorn's character, notorious do-gooder and wishy-washy polygamist Barb, goes through an endowment ceremony when she's threatened with excommunication. I hesitate to describe what endowment is because I'll probably get it wrong. But it's like an adult baptism with the water and the oil, and unlike it in that participants are taught gospel laws, given key words they'll need in the afterlife, and tested afterward.

Probably the most accurate depiction you'll find outside a Mormon temple is Sunday's episode. An adviser who is familiar (yet nameless?) with temple ceremonies advised Big Love's producers so they could get every detail right. He even remained on set during filming. HBO has half-heartedly apologized, saying, "Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology."

From the church's point of view, HBO is breaking its earlier promise to focus on polygamy and stay away from mainstream Mormonism. But the only legal promise HBO ever made was a one-time disclaimer that aired in the series premiere, stating the modern-day church did not support polygamy.

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BYU Yanks Degree From Men on a Mission Calendar Maker

CitizenSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:00:40 -0700

Ding-dong! And that's in the metaphorical and literal sense, I suppose. A whole calendar of Mormon missionaries shirtless? Yes - though the hotness of the bell-ringing men depicted has landed its creator in some hot water with his alma mater, Brigham Young University.

Chad Hardy graduated from BYU and created the calendar called "Men on a Mission" aimed at shaking up the boring or cookie-cutter stereotype of the LDS lads. After selling more than 11,000 copies featuring the missionaries in shirtless beefcake poses, last month Hardy received a letter saying that there had been a nonacademic hold placed on his degree. He'd been excommunicated from the church, and that "If in the future you are reinstated as a member of the church in good standing, you are invited to contact my office regarding your possible eligibility for the awarding of a degree." He plans to fight the decision "tooth and nail."

Reasons for the excommunication include the calendar as well as failure to pay tithing and other religious obligations. The 2009 version is on sale now. The controversy is all well and good, but want to see the missionaries sans shirts? Then without further ado, read more.

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Iowa Flooding and Polygamy Cause Debate Within Religions

CitizenSugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:07 -0700

What do the recent floods in the Midwest, and the attention garnered over the FLDS polygamy case have in common? It might not be obvious on the surface, but they're both instances where headlines are having a big impact on religion. First, the floods:

One grocery-store owner in Iowa, who is a devout Muslim, saw his business of six years washed away along with hundreds of others in the severe flooding last month. But whereas other businesses are signing up to receive federal loans at low interest, he cannot; it is forbidden in the Quran for any believer to pay interest. The store owner claims he will need $18,000 to replenish his stock, a sum he does not have, yet his faith has not faltered: “With all of our losses here, even the loss of a six year effort, I still feel we were blessed.”

In Utah, a somewhat different religious struggle is taking place between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the more renegade Fundamentalist groups, most of whom practice polygamy. To see what's causing the debate, read more.

Each group believes they have a rightful claim to the appellation “Mormon.” The LDS Mormons believe that since traditionally the word Mormon has been used to describe their church that they are the ones whom it should refer to exclusively. The more fundamentalist branches, including the group recently raided in Texas, disagree stating that it is their belief in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is all that is needed to be called “Mormon."

Should a religion's name be proprietary - does the LDS Church have a rightful claim to it? Would you refuse government assistance because your religion dictated?

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Guides Hope Public Will Have Big Love For Polygamy Tours

TresSugar — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:10:00 -0700

Has Big Love only intensified your curiosity about the mysterious lives of polygamists? Perhaps you should book your next vacation to Arizona, where former fundamentalist Mormons have launched a tour of a polygamous colony.

Starting next weekend, outsiders will get an inside look with "The Polygamy Experience: A Guided Tour of Colorado City." The tour is not for the passingly curious, as it lasts four hours and involves meetings with people who have been exiled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Even so, it promises to be respectful. The guides will educate tourists on the history of fundamentalist Mormonism and explain why they take more than one wife in the first place. Paying customers will also learn what's behind the prairie dresses and long braids.

The tour costs $70 for adults and $60 for children (children, really?). Would you shell out the money to see polygamy up close?

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Front Page: School Hostage Resolution, Church Leaders, Kenya

CitizenSugar — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:09:16 -0800

250 schoolchildren and teachers taken hostage in Pakistan and held for seven hours, have been released this morning. Seven militants armed with rocket launchers used the school and the children as a refuge after an attempt to kidnap a local health official. The incident occurred near the border with Afghanistan where Pakistanis have been fighting with the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Pakistan is set to hold elections February 18th.
Leaders of two major churches, died this weekend. Archbishop Christodoulus, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, credited with easing tensions with the Vatican, died of cancer. He was 69. Also, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed this weekend. He presided over the Mormon church during a period of great expansion. He was 97.
Violence continues to mount in Kenya. Yesterday, 19 people including 11 children, were burned to death when a mob set their house on fire. In the past four days, more that 100 people have been killed, many horribly burned, shot with arrows, or hacked with machetes. This terrible violence occurred after the government and the opposition party met with Kofi Annan to try to mediate an agreement. An editorial in Kenya's newspaper read, "“For the umpteenth time, we again ask President Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement leader Mr. Raila Odinga to work for peace, truth and justice. Kenya has bled enough.”

You Know You're Obsessed With the Big Polygamy Story

CitizenSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:00:53 -0700

Authorities trying to talk to some of the kids taken from this weekend's big polygamy raid aren't getting much information. After state troopers raided a 1,700-acre West Texas ranch last Friday looking for evidence of the teen, who placed a call authorities a week ago, some 220 women and children have been removed from the premises. The tipoff call came from a girl who allegedly had a baby at 15 and was married to a 50-year-old (under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot marry, even with parental approval).

The compound was built by jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, and residents of the compound were practicing a breakaway version of Mormonism, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A local child advocate said of the kids hesitance to talk, "When children live in a pretty secluded environment and they're as sheltered as these children, it's very difficult to get them to talk to you and to open up. If you can get them to a neutral place, they're a lot more prone to answer you truthfully."

220! Women and children! What in the world was going on there?! It's almost beyond comprehension if you're used to the world view that prizes the nuclear family.

But does it make sense that with all our soft-focus pop culture romanticism of polygamy (see Big Love, The Girls Next Door, and any number of easy-watching documentaries about plural marriage on TLC) that we would then vilify this? Do you think polygamy is within a person's religious rights? Are you disgusted or fascinated by this story?

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