I recently watched this Reed Cowen documentary. But I don’t think that documentary is right word here. It is more of a personal polemic. It seems like the word documentary is frequently misused.
Having said that, I enjoyed Reed’s film. It resulted in a great deal of personal introspection. I agree with Sean Means that “it’s unfortunate that the response by an LDS Church spokesman . . . was to label Cowan’s film sight unseen, ‘obviously biased.’”
I did, however, have several problems with the film. On a doctrinal issue, I’m not sure I understand Reed’s attempt to tie Mormon opposition to gay marriage to the doctrice of theosis (We can become gods.). Either this issue was poorly developed, or I’m missing something.
Some parts of the film just didn’t work. The section about BYU attempts to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals seemed out of place and over the top. It either needed more backup information or to be excluded. This subject seems like material for different documentary (or polemic).
Also, the part about the abuse of tithing information, didn’t resonate well with me. It seemed more like the work of an over-exuberant bishop than a required California-wide Church activity. But I could be wrong.
Using state senator Buttars, the Eagle Forum, and the Sutherland Institute (the “quiver of children” group) to speak for the the LDS Church is a low blow. It makes for inflammatory viewing, but these nuts hardly represent the core membership of the Church. At least I hope that’s the case.
However, the film did point out several critical problems with LDS participation in the pro-Prop 8 campaign. The LDS Church needs to come clean about its participation in political issues, including gambling, alcoholic beverages, euthanasia, and gay rights. But more importantly, church leaders need to be totally transparent about how all church money is spent.
The Mormon Church’s participation in Prop 8 was wrong. Gay rights is a civil rights issue, and should be treated as such. A loving couple is a threat to nobody. And the Church needs to consider the impact that its current stand has on gay members. This is one point that Reed made perfectly clear.
Recommendation: Rent the DVD
I don’t think it will ever happen, but I look forward to the time when government gets out of the marriage business. Government rightly should be concerned about civil rights but not about marriage. Marriage is a social custom and rightly belongs to social groups. Let The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have its form of marriage. Let the gays have their form of marriage. Let other churches and religions have their forms of marriage. People can then join the group that has the form of marriage they want. Let atheists have their form of marriage.
On Sunday evening, my son expressed concern over his new Ward in north Lehi. He said that the priesthood lesson revolved around the Church’s positive stand toward Proposition 8. He said to make matters even worse, they played a video clip from a political speech by Ezra Taft Benson. Neither of these political discussions resonated well with my son.
A friend had a similar experience with her Ward on Sunday. During F&TM, one testimony revolved around the speakers concern wit the direction that the government was headed. That the Obama/Clinton regimes were seriously deviating from the U.S. Constitution and that America is headed on a downward slope. Shouldn’t politics be left outside the chapel?
My biggest regret that was when Prop 8 was first gathering steam, a letter was read to all members from the pulpit of every ward in the church, addressing the Prop 8 situation. My regret was that I did not get up and leave. For about 2-3 months, I listened in gospel doctrine and relief society, as well as fast and testimony meeting, as members shared a “story” about that common word used in the faith: “Obedience”. Never question what you feel, just stand by the “O” word. It was rare that someone spoke up, although one former professor from BYU, with an openly gay son, pointed out that the anti-gay remarks emulating throughout the discussions may be offensive to some members of the church (which they were and continue to be).
I don’t attend LDS Church very often, but one of the time I did attend, the letter you talk about was read. It caused me serious indigestion. I also regret that I didn’t stand up and leave.
Vince Horiuchi wrote the following review in the SLTrib (12 Jul 2010:
“”8: The Mormon Proposition” would be a much more effective and dsitressing documentary if it didn’t wear its emotional baggage so freely. An overwrought examination of the LDS Church’s involvement in the passing of California’s Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages, director Reed Cowan’s film takes an earnest but sometimes unfair look at a troubling issue. The LDS’s role as a political action committee certainly is out of bounds, but the documentary tends to beat viewers over the head with it overdone, weepy interviews and lobs at easy targets (namely Utah Sen. Chris Buttars and conservative Gayle Ruzicka), Cowan (a former KTVX Ch. 4 reporter) has made a film of a worthy subject, just one without a lot of subtlety. Grade: C+”
I’m pleased that Prop 8 was overturned. I’m not homosexual. Although I am close friends with people who are. I just really don’t see what the big problem is all about homosexual people having the same legal rights we have now.
Gay and lesbian marriage is yet again legal in California! Yeah! Many thanks to all the people who have opposed Prop8! But be cautious, because this may not be the end of the issue yet.
The following was written by Dennis Clark (Orem, UT) and published in “Sunstone” (Dec 2010):
“But if we were to take our (the LDS Church) position regarding gays to its logical extreme, we would be creating a class of Mormon monks and nuns, welcome in the church, welcome in service to the world, welcome in the mission field but not welcome to express their deepest emotional yearning for permanent connection to one they love. We ask them to remain celibate, forever celibate, and single. Especially for young men, this is a lot to ask in a culture that still regards them as queer.”