Redefining a Misunderstood Position...

Dudes...there is a difference.

Religion is a lot different than marketing a commercial product. Especially a religion like ours that is so missionary minded. The church cares about its image (missionary grooming, clean temple grounds etc.)....that's also evidenced in the reaction to the HBO series Big Love. The LDS Church is not a scapegoat here. It was only mentioned because of its prominence in the valley.

People do react to marketing they don't agree with. There was a movement in Utah malls to take down the racy Victoria Secret posters in the front windows. People have an opinion as to what they are exposed to. You know that HUGE beer billboard on 5th South westbound? Reagan outdoor advertising was blasted for putting that up (among others) in Salt Lake City.

People make a case for what they are exposed to all the time. That's their right.

Personal note...

I am HYPER-sensitive to this religion stuff...hence the soapbox. Why? Because I have dealt with people (through my calling) who have been ABSOLUTELY STEAMROLLED by the mainstream church. People who have been so confused by the confetti of messages received by church culture. Everything from Mormon merchandise, Mormon lingo, and Mormon customs. (Why am I using the LDS Church here? Because its the one I know best. No scapegoating...my initial comments were dealing with Jesus Fish anyway....not LDS.)

To me it is not scapegoating to point out that there are peripheral people who can't digest what is thrown at them. there is a hierarchy of understanding here. We speak from years and years of experience and we cannot even start to understand how things are perceived until we regularly associate with people who are not in our same place. I'm far from an expert...but for the last 3 years that is exactly what I have done. I have tried to patch gaping holes caused by cannonballs of Mormon pop culture (among other things). It has made me sad. Critical of the church? No. Just concerned about outside perceptions of what we're about.

So the argument that its their choice to get offended? Well, if that was the common consensus among church leadership then Member Fellowshipping would not be the #1 problem in the church. We CANNOT adopt the idea that people are solely responsible for their alienation from the church. Home teaching? A defense against exactly this. This is like blaming a sick person for getting more sick because they couldn't get into a hospital that had its front doors locked. "There was a side door open...why didn't they just go in that one?!?" Just because we would have looked for another way in doesn't mean they would have.

If all this comes across as negative...it has been misread. I am in now way implicating the CHURCH itself. It is the resulting cultural elements that concern me. You are right....baptist, evangelical, jehovah's Witness...whatever....they all have similarities in this respect. All yield cultural elements. My prediction is that mormon entertainment will soon be addressed by senior clergy. it is just too confusing. After seeing a God's Army movie would you have an accurate picture of the Church's doctrine. In my opinion, the casual portrayal of some ordinances desecrates them on the spot. I wonder if the reason there was a disclaimer separating the LDS Church from HBO's portrayal of polygamy was due to LDS Church pressure. there has to be separation from the Church's position and a pop culture, commerical portrayal. just because America gets a lot of its opinions n politics from Jay Leno and jon Stewart doesn't mean they should have to read bumperstickers to get the scoop on a religion. Going to the source of knowledge NOT to a cultural interpretation should be the goal.

This is EXACTLY my point. Any religion (or other insitution) who casually approaches deep, raw human beliefs is doing it a grand disservice. This is why we shy away from sex in the movies. It takes such a sacred, special experience and cheapens it in its casual, theatrical portrayal. Just because someone who profits from its portrayal or understands its true meaning doesn't change how others are affected by it.

WE ARE NOT ISLANDS! What we do affects others...no matter how idealistically we want it not to.

My interactions with "fringe" members of this church has taught me one BIG lesson. What we casually do, what we dismiss as meaningless conversation, what we allow others to perceive can cause more damage that we can rightly know. You can agree with that or not. But my boots on the ground experiences over the last 2 years amidst these kind of people have taught me more about how I should live my religion than my entire two years in Spain. Most people over there had never heard of the LDS Church...most people here are part of it or have been strongly affected (for good or for bad) by it. Strikingly different dynamics there... (again, my interpretations from my experiences. But after all, I bet if we were all placed in a new environment, exposed to the same sets of stimuli, we would each have different interpretations from our experiences.) Go read the University of Utah's Daily Chronicle and tell me there is no problem with how the Church is perceived!

Enough soapboxing... I always like how Maxxy closes his posts. WITHOUT A STRUGGLE THERE IS NO PROGRESS. Evolutions in our consciousness is how the church collectively progesses. that is the reason there are articles on single-parent families, same-sex attraction, and the church being taught to the criminal populations (among MANY other things) in the Ensign. The church deals with new things with each passing year.

And you know what? We do the same thing in our own little microcosms. We evolve and have to deal with new challenges and pressures. We are forced to reevaluate the way we have done things for years. A person who smokes and has a friend die of lung cancer will likely reevaluate the behaviors they have. Likewise, a Mormon who has seen people get picked off by cultural difficulties and ambiguities arising from the majority religion would likely be a little more sensitive to the way things are perceived.

You now have a little bit more of an idea about why I wrote what I wrote. There is some jest and sarcasm...but I am truly sensitive to the sheer potency that religion carries. After all, it strikes at the core of what we, as humans, are and what we are doing here. It encompasses everything from how we get into this world and how we get out. It defines our very existence. It is NOT a casual affair. It is personal, sacred, and carries unparalleled weight in the lives of millions of people. It causes wars. It heals shattered human hearts. It brings light to utter darkness. It is NOT a commercial product. It is an individual, private enterprise.