Apparently Mormons are now up on arms because the HBO series “Big Love” (about a Mormon polygamist family living in SLC) will depict one of their “sacred” ceremonies in its next episode (read about it here – the Church statement is here). It’s hard to feel bad about their sensibilities. The Mormon Church is one the most intolerant institutions in the world. Until recently, they did not accept blacks into the Church – saying literally
‘No person having the least particle of Negro blood can hold the Priesthood’ (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth Negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same.
In the Mormon Church, all men are considered priests – so there is no such a thing for a man as being Mormon without holding the priesthood. Only in the 1970’s, when the IRS threatened to deny them their tax-free status, did the Mormon church start accepting blacks as members.
The Church has also shown its desire to meddle with the private lives and religious beliefs of others by, on the one hand, baptizing as Mormons people who have died (including the Jewish victims of the holocaust), and on the other putting tons of money into Proposition 8 – the California initiative that banned gay marriage. They want to literally get in your bed to judge whom you should sleep with – but they don’t want their rites exposed to the world. Well, too bad.
The rites, real or imagined, of the Catholic religion have been the object of movies and TV programs for ages. As far as I know, Catholics have not protested about this specific aspect. But then again, Catholics, unlike Mormons, are pretty open about the tenets of their faith. I’ve spent quite a lot of time talking to Mormons who tried to convert me – and never once did they mention their belief that if men (never women) were pious and good enough, they would become gods and be given their own planets to rule over. No wonder they don’t want people to know about this. In that they remind me of Scientologists, with their wacky beliefs on Xenu (BTW, you can vote for Xenu to be the name of the new International Space Station’s Node 3 at http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/name_ISS/)
I worked as a labor and dirlveey in a local hospital in Arizona in the 1980 s. The local mormons often brought their second wives or the sister wives in to deliver their babies. A married couple would come in with a YOUNGER gal,ready to deliver . The hospital was run by old Mormon families in the area. We nurses were told this would be a private adoption situation. Don’t call a social worker, etc. The husband and wife would coach the young girl through labor, help with the baby then they would all go home together.Polygamy was certainly still being practiced in Mesa, Arizona! I also lived in a neighborhood where our Mormon neighbor had an estate with two houses built on it. There were separate wings in each house for his MANY children and the women taking care of them. He recently passed away and the folks who bought his acreage knocked down the houses with wings to build a single family home. Now, in this country, you are permitted to cohabitate, and some common law partners are even given benefits such as health care. So, being officially married to one woman and having 2 or 3 more living in our home and bearing your children is not illegal,right?It’s when the young gals are forced into it that i see the legal issues. And from what i saw, a lot of these sister wives were under the age of 18, sometimes on their 2nd or third baby!It’s a strage world , that’s for sure. I’m all for protecting our children.Let grown ups do as they will.But protect the young women. +3Was this answer helpful?