Today's random subject...Mormons

Relevant to nothing...did anyone watch the two-part PBS special on Mormons this week? It was really interesting. I watched most of both parts, and there was a lot of stuff I hadn't heard before. If you come across it and you have any interest in religion, history and/or American culture, I would highly recommend you spend the time.

I should preface this by saying a couple of things. First, I am no huge fan of organized religion. I believe in what I believe in, and I don't generally find it useful to discuss it publicly. Religious teachings and traditions serve as a good historical record in many instances, and there are unquestionably valuable lessons in those teachings. Faith-based principles form the foundation of our moral landscape, and that is basically a good thing.

But I think people lose sight of the fact that, often, religious texts are not the un-biased words of the almighty, but are the interpretation of one or more humans of those words. To put it another way...The Gospel Truth is, very often, not quite the gospel truth. Religion gets off course when it loses sight of the forest for the trees, and gets mired in the details of its texts rather than focusing on the larger lessons. I won't say that any religion is any more or less guilty of this than any others, and I don't pretend to be studied enough to apply that universally...it is just an observation.

I have a certain respect for people of great faith, regardless of what faith that happens to be. I guess there is a part of me that wished I was so moved by a set of ideas that I could follow it with complete confidence that it was the "right path". It would be nice to think less logically at time. To apply that to an example from the Mormons...I wish there was something I believed in so completely that I would suffer organized extermination efforts, and then decide to trek 1,000 miles across a frigid, snowy plain to start a brand new society from scratch in the middle of nowhere (which the Mormons did in 1847).

The show spent a lot of time on Polygamy, which is so often associated with Mormonism. I think it is fair to say that, as it relates to the popular perception, plural marriage is inseparable from the outside view of the religion. And clearly, since the day it was added to church dogma, it has been an issue that the church has struggled to explain, to rationalize, and then eventually to eliminate. It is a practice that has left a very important legacy within the church, and has very much guided the relationship between the Mormons, the state of Utah and the United States.

I think the overall theme that I find most interesting relates to the youth of the movement. One of the historians referred to it as something like a "lack of useful mysticism". Dan Brown loves to write about conspiracies relating to the founding of Christianity and the Catholic Church. But in reality, is there really some magic document proving that Jesus was married? It is pretty unlikely that something like that could surface that had survived in hiding for 2,000 years. Martin Luther died nearly 500 years ago...there are not likely to be any skeletons in his closet that magically show up tomorrow and reveal him to be a fraud. Most of Muhamed's life was only formally documented after he died, and while many scholars consider the Quran and other texts to be basically historically accurate, no one would purport that it is 100% factually correct...too much time and too many re-tellings of his lessons had taken place. And again...it is not like there are old newspapers laying around from Medina in 631 that could refute any of this.

But Joseph Smith lived 150 years ago, in a time when a lot of things were written down...and even photographed. Both he and Brigham Young were born after the American Revolution. Therefore, there exists the real possibility that a more tangible proof exists that casts doubt on their veracity. That naturally leads to a kind of paranoia about the basic foundations of the church...no other religions that I know of have nearly the possibility that their basic tenets are proven to be false. That is not a judgment on their validity, just on the historical clarity of the times.

Anyway, I am not real sure about the point of this post;-). I certainly came away with some feelings, but I am not going to bore you with my opinions right now (I'd be happy to share if anyone wants to know...email me, or leave a comment...it is probably an interesting discussion.)

But, this is what I am thinking about today, and I don't really have anything else for you:-P. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and then skiing this weekend:-) More on those tomorrow...