On Temples, Big Love, and Ritual.

Many familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which I will reference as the LDS Church from now on, are familiar with the recent controversy regarding the HBO television show "Big Love." Big Love's producers decided to show, in detail, the LDS Church's temple ceremony, which members of the LDS Church believe is sacred, and not to be shown or discussed outside of the temple setting. Devout members of the church do not even discuss the temple ceremony outside the walls of the temple, and feel it is a slight to them and their religion to parade around their sacred beliefs on a sleazy HBO program.

Being an active member of the LDS Church, I am inclined to agree with the sentiment that this is outside the bounds of decency and respect for a person's beliefs. I do acknowledge HBO's right to publish whatever it feels like will get it more ratings, but I also hold the right to abstain from their and their parent company's (Time Warner) services for slighting what I believe should have been kept sacred.

That having been said, I wanted to address what I think is the underlying problem in all of this controversy. I know how the world views the temple ceremonies that the LDS Church holds to be sacred. They see them as strange, cult-like, weird--take your pick of the adjectives that describe something foreign to your sensibilities. I read a comment on the comment board of the Big Love website, and a person described in detail the temple ceremony and the "shock" it produced in her, and she is by no means alone; I have known many friends that, in moments of candor, express their dismay, and sometimes even distaste or disgust, with their first experience with the temple ceremony.

This comment, and the subsequent recalling of other comments from friends and family, got me thinking--what is it in our culture that has made us so wary of ritual? Why are many of us so reflexively against set patterns of worship, and of symbolism in the form of religious services? I myself had an interesting experience in my first temple visit--during the ceremony, I had words like "cult" and other associated with it pop into my head almost involuntarily. I realize now that this is something that is engrained in many American's way of viewing religion--it was one of the things that the Puritans had much contempt for, the overly ceremonial Catholic ritual and the subsequent Anglican ceremonies that coped the Catholic versions. American religious tradition grew to reject symbolism, ritual, and all things associated therewith (obviously, not all of the American religious tradition went this route, but a great majority did)--and we were left with a strong distaste for whatever we thought was outside the mainstream norms.

This is not the way it always has been. The reason Christ taught in parables so often is that people in his day were familiar with, and accustomed to, symbolism. They dealt with it daily in their own temple worship, and in their religious tradition. There are several websites that go into detail about the Jewish temple worship practices, and their interesting parallels to the modern LDS temple ceremony, but suffice it to say that our generational distaste for the modern temple practices is the exception to an otherwise long rule of accepted practices, practices that date back to ancient times. Once this can be truly realized, and prejudices and stereotypes can be, as much as possible, diminished, then true learning can take place in that wonderful ceremony. The temple ceremony can become a treasure trove of knowledge, poured out from a loving Father that wants us to know as much as possible about our purpose here, our prior identities, and our future destinies. Would to God that we might all find ourselves immersed in the grandeur of His Holy House!

On Romney

As you can all probably tell, I have been following this campaign season very closely. Ever since Romney joined the race, and I learned that he was in fact a practicing Mormon, I have been firmly in his camp of support (to the point where I actually contributed to his campaign- a first for me or Laura). At first, it was largely due to identity politics, which has played a major role in this election season- but after I studied out his politics more, I liked what I saw. Now that he is the front-runner for the Vice Presidential pick from McCain, I would like to comment on what I think of him, his policies, and what he as VP would do for McCain and the country.

I don't think anyone can doubt that Romney is a good man. 5 sons, all served missions, all are married in the temple, and a lovely, accomplished wife. He was extremely successful in the private sector, bringing hundreds of thousands of jobs on the whole to the economy, and saving very key business from the brink of collapse (most notably Dominos Pizza and Staples). He governed successfully in Massachusetts, and was elected as a Republican in arguably the most liberal state in the Union.

Now, for those of you that are now rolling their eyes at that last statement - I am aware of his conversion on life issues, namely abortion. In everything that I can find, in Mass and while campaigning for the governorship, he was essentially pro-choice in the sense that even though he was personally against abortion, as one would expect from a practicing Mormon, he promised to not overturn the law of the land as it stood (and still stands). Without this caveat, he would never have been elected anywhere with a liberal-leaning crowd. Does this make him a bad person in my estimation? No. And I believe that his "conversion" to be staunchly in the pro-life camp to be real and complete. Any politician who can say, point blank to a camera in a televised debate, that "he was wrong" and admit his mistake on a key issue has my respect, because the tendency for anyone else in politics is to either justify or dodge (as in Obama saying that his statement about gun-toting God nuts in the backwoods of Booneyville was "inartful").

In every other issue, I believe Romney supports my current worldview on life. I am strongly opposed to gay marriage, but like Romney I do not want gay couples and gay people to be subject to abusive or otherwise unfair treatment. I am for pro-growth, pro-industry tax cuts, and generally in favor of the free market and its marvelous ability to provide for peoples needs. I support an honorable solution to the war in Iraq. I believe that although it was mishandled from the outset, it was the right thing to do to go in, and the right thing to stay there now. In these and many other ways, Romney closely aligns with my worldview.

Now, as to him being the Vice Presidential pick. I would absolutely love it, and would not hesitate to vote for McCain if that were the case. But I do have one reservation, and it's unfortunate that I have to say it- Romney is a Mormon. Right, you say, so are you- why wouldn't you want a Mormon in the #2 spot in the country? It's because I still think, and quite frankly know, that religious bigotry against Mormons is still strong and accepted in many parts of the country, specifically the Bible Belt. I don't think McCain can carry the South with Romney on the ticket, as much as it pains me to say so. Just reading comment boards on pro-Romney articles is almost astounding- while many are supportive (and I have read articles saying that Romney on the ticket puts Nevada and Michigan into play, which are usually strongly Democrat), there are enough that are so virulently anti-Mormon and anti Romney as to accuse this of being a ploy by the "evil Mormon church" to take over the country. Is it absurd? Of course. Bigoted? Absolutely. But it's a reality.

Like my Dad, I have a serious issue with supporting a party that harbors and caters to such moronic, bigoted, nasty individuals. But I cannot in good faith support the other party, which though they have a more open world view to people that do not believe or look or act like they do, goes against almost every core belief I have. One day, I hope that the highest office in the country will be available to someone that believes the way I do. But until then, I will support who I can that not only shares most if not all of my values and worldviews, but also my dream to see a Mormon accomplish the greatest feat in politics.