Mormon Documentary

Okay, so this post is a little on the serious side...

The last couple of nights I have watched the Mormon documentary on PBS. The first couple of hours was on the restoration of the church and the church members eventually moving to Utah. They focused on polygamy of course, the Mountain Meadow Massacre, Joseph Smith gold digging etc. They made particular mention that there was lack of archaeological evidence of the Book of Mormon. They did mention that the early saints were persecuted, but gave very little details.

The last couple of hours of the documentary focused on the political powers of the LDS church members, the blacks not having the priesthood (and therefore the segregation of different cultures), temple rites, families, missionaries, women in the church, and discouragement of intellectualism.

I came away from the program thinking, "that didn't feel right". Most of the documentary was true about the LDS church, but many of the things that they put in were half-truths. I realized also that the reason it didn't feel right is because the spirit wasn't there. Many of the people who gave their thoughts on the documentary were excommunicated members, who wanted their voice to be heard.
I was grateful for a few heart felt testimonies (Elder Jensen from the seventy) where I truly did feel the spirit in his conversion story.

There were a couple of things that hurt me the most that I thought I would share my thoughts on. One, was their claim that Joseph Smith wasn't inspired by God. They justified the rise of the church to be the boom in the beginning of the 19th century of religion and different ideas. They criticized him of being "too sexual" and a "gold digger". They made him look like a greedy and proud man that was looking for power. How could God appear to a boy of fourteen and how could anyone believe that story? I believe that is one of the most inspiring parts of the LDS religion. I am so grateful that he gave a fourteen year old boy so much responsibility. I can definitely say that he is "no respector of persons".

The other thing that bothered me was that they made it look like the church discouraged intellectualism, brainwashing them when they are young to want to serve a mission and marry in the temple and then degrading women hood.

There is no other church who promotes intellectualism more than the LDS church. I have always felt encouraged by my family and church leaders to pursue an education. The church loves, respects, and encourages women in everything that they do. I am so glad that I am a woman and a mother in our church where I am supported by a wonderful priesthood husband in everything I do.

I hope this documentary did nothing but inspire church members to go out and let the truth be known! I know it sure did for me.

Comments

Joni said…
Bummer on the documentary. I read the review in the New York Times which was pretty positive. Maybe they liked that it was largely negative. Every time I hear someone criticize the Church for discouraging critical thinking and brainwashing its members, I wish that they knew you, Corinne, Cami, Jeri, Mendy, Kellie, etc. etc. Actions and lives speak much louder than a bunch of rhetoric.
May 2, 2007 at 3:19 PM
Corinne said…
I appriciate your thoughts Brenda. I only watched a half an hour of it last night, but I thought the African American lady who talked about doing her geneology was really touching - and I felt like the members who talked about the temple bore a powerful testimony. I have to believe that people will seek for the truth, if they truly want to hear it, you know?

I agree with you about the church supporting getting an education. I feel thoroughly supported as a woman and as an educated person.
May 2, 2007 at 4:59 PM
Mendy said…
Brenda, I only saw the last hour or so but I was bugged by it for sure. I didn't understand why they found so many ex-members to be "experts" instead of good-standing members. I did appreciate the testimonies of Elder Jensen, that Charlotte young woman and the African American woman Corinne mentioned. All in all, I was really disappointed by it, too.
May 2, 2007 at 5:06 PM
Jenny said…
I felt the same way you did. It didn't feel right. And, it seemed rather heavy on the opinions of excommunicated members.
May 2, 2007 at 5:38 PM
Jann said…
I really wish they had focused on the many wonderful things the church and it's members are involved in. They said very little about the roll we play in our community, world and in each other's lives. I do believe that things like this, tend to lead people to learn more, and once they do, if they seek with a true heart they are converted. It is that whole stone rolling forward thing, this work and truth will not be stopped.
May 2, 2007 at 7:27 PM
Jenni said…
I felt icky about it too. Thanks so much for this post. I thought about writing my own post about it, but it would be almost identical to yours. I just hope people took away some good from the beautiful testimonies shared by the faithful member on the program.
May 2, 2007 at 7:46 PM
Cami said…
I have deliberately not watched the program. When I worked for FARMS I had to do some proofreading and fact-checking on some anti-mormon lit, and I realized how much of it is based in truth, and how easily people can be led to believe it. The main thing is, the people in the church have many flaws, and everyone may have a different experience. It is too bad they had to find those experiences rather than looking for the good ones.
May 3, 2007 at 7:21 AM
Dawn said…
I didn't expect anything different to be honest. They are not interested in the truth, excommunicated members make for better TV ratings. My experiance of these programs are that none of my friends watch them anyway and they know the kind of person I am and love me anyway. We will never stop the negative press about us. I think Cami has the best idea and not watch it. I have to say I love being a mum and watching my kidsa grow and develope into good law abiding teens gives me all the confidence i need in the world. There will never be a more important job than raising your kids the right way.
May 4, 2007 at 6:44 AM
ashlee said…
Hey Brenda--Did you know that i snoop on you?

I was talking about this with my visiting teachers. I didn't watch it b/c our PBS station's audio was messed up, but they were very disappointed with the program. Too negative; etc. I asked why they thought that it was advertised in Gen Conf (it seemed very positive to me in those ads) and one said she figures the prophet wants us to know what misconceptions people have about us so we aren't at a loss for words when someone asks something that seems totally out-of-the-blue and/or absurd.

Anyway just a thought. Seems to me that you've got the right idea about spreading what it really means to be LDS!
May 4, 2007 at 5:57 PM
Kellie said…
The only good thing I can say about it is that it has opened up quite a dialog. If you check out the newsroom on lds.org and the email comments on pbs.org members have come out of the woodwork to speak up for the church. One article on the lds.org newsroom talked about members of the church being motivated by the program to define for themselves what it really means to be a member of the church. That is always a good thing. Plus, it has prompted tons of questions about the church from my non-member friends. So, while it was discouraging to watch, good can come of it. That's my hopeful opinion, anyway.
May 7, 2007 at 5:47 PM
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