Several of you have directed my attention to what I believe may be the post that offended LDS muckety-mucks enough to invite me to a disciplinary council.
It’s a video blog entry in which I show and comment on a brief excerpt of HBO’s Big Love depiction of the temple veil ceremony, I read from a paper I wrote for a class on religion and violence, “stringing together with some academic glue…[the Mountain Meadows Massacre] and secret vengeance oaths and bloody sacrificial atonement by firing squad”, and I demonstrate how, as part of my oath-taking, I symbolically slit my throat to show what could/should happen to me if I revealed these things to the world. (please tell me how this is not sick and coercive–no, on second thought, don’t.)
Overall, it’s actually quite an embarrassing video–not because of its content, but because of its amateurish presentation. The production values are in the gutter–no, they’ve poured down the storm drain and are headed for the sea, I look strange, I speak awkwardly, and the scene transitions are abrupt and almost non-existent in places. It’s ironic but shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that its small number of views have at least doubled since the local Church authority’s visit.
Finally, part of the reason I posted the video was to find a fair use way of posting a showing at least a portion of the Big Love ceremony. I studied the legal recommendations of fair use advocacy groups and discovered that it is defensible to show a short video clip of copyrighted material as part of a personal or academic work. My commentary was meant to coincide with the momentary increase in public interest in Mormon temple rites.
Towards the end of the video I describe my motivation for discussing the temple ceremony and its impact on some Mormons:
It’s…because of the power of these techniques and the questionable morality, the force behind these techniques of teaching that I feel like these things have to be put out in the open, they have to be discussed, they have to be open to criticism. At this point the only people who are in a position to reveal these things and to talk about them, hopefully in an intelligent and maybe even in a somewhat respectful manner–I am not trying to make fun of these ceremonies, I’m not trying to belittle them in any way. I want to point out the problems I know had a definite impact on me, on my psyche and my emotional and mental health. After talking with so many people who have had such problems and difficulties with the temple ceremony, today, by suppressing any kind of discussion of these things, it only serves to reinforce the power of the Church in many of these peoples’ lives in destructive ways, emotionally and socially destructive ways.
In this light, after all of the things that I’ve said about the Church, I’m not at all surprised that it may have chosen to finally take action against me because I spoke openly and critically about such problematic portions of the temple ceremony.
As I said before, the temple is where the Church is most cult-like. This is where the social pressure reaches its peak, the topic on which opposing voices are most effectively silenced or marginalized, and the rhetorical space in which members are most likely to exhibit uncritical, programmed behavior. I realize that this last accusation is a powerful one, so I don’t make it lightly. I’ll leave it to you all to judge based on how you see members talk, react, comment about the temple and its detractors.
“Sacred, not secret” is the standard Mormon mantra about the temple. When I was a missionary, I was taught that the most sacred event in the history was the suffering of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. My mission president and visiting general authorities lamented that the church in Japan did not speak enough of it, that entire meetings would pass without a mention of Jesus and his redemptive sacrifice, his sacred gift to us. Hearing this, I made it my heartfelt priority to testify of his suffering for me, and for others–members and non-members alike–every opportunity I had. I was lauded for this behavior. I’m not sure how to reconcile these two views of speaking of sacred things in Mormonism, but they seem to be at odds with each other.
One final thought: while I have been ratcheting down my engagement with Mormonism outside of the political arena (I’d like to be a bulldog against the Church on gay marriage issues), I don’t feel blindsided that the Church may be on the verge of excommunicating me. I didn’t consciously invite this attention, but I’d like to think that for once, the Church is reacting to me, rather than the other way around. And I don’t have any problem with their desire to boot me. Maybe I’d want to do the same, if I were in their shoes.
One of the reasons I didn’t rush to remove my name from the records was because I was conscious that I have more power to criticize the Church while I’m an official member. Once I’m off, I’m easily dismissed as a critic of any value. Some of you might want to think about this, as you debate whether or not to remove your name from Church records. I prefer to use my exit to draw at least a little attention to the negative aspects of the Church, rather than leaving quietly. I only get one chance at this, after all.
