Jana Riess
Riess calls out fives television shows or documentaries that she claims unfairly mocks Mormonism and casts them in a dark light. I have seen four of these.
The worst, she claims, is “Under the Banner of Heaven.” She writes that it is problematic because it claims that Mormonism “breeds violent men.”
Mormonism breeds violent men.
Porter Rockwell. Brigham Young. The Danites. Mountain Meadows Massacre. Fort Utah Massacre. The Utah War. The Laffertys. Mark Hoffman.
In this way, Mormonism is far from unique. Religion and fundamentalism of every sort seems to breed violent men.
Next, Ms. Riess claims that Keep Sweet depicts the terror of polygamy in the FLDS church.
And? Is she merely upset that it focuses on the repulsive behavior of Warren Jeffs and leaves out the repulsive polygamist behavior of the other founders of the Mormon faith? Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant along with hundreds of other church leaders and founders?
In “Murder Among the Mormons,” it’s the 1985 bombings engineered by forger Mark Hofmann. As depicted in this documentary, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were among those taken in by Hofmann’s deceptions.
How is this unfair? Is this not a photograph of Hoffman selling one of his many forgeries to the leaders of the church? Did the LDS Church not buy many of his forgeries? Were they not duped, as others were?
Even “Mormon No More,” likely the most emotionally sensitive of the bunch, still conveys the underlying message that it’s practically impossible for anyone to be loving, LGBTQ-affirming and true to themselves while remaining members of the church.
In any way that is meaningful, it is practically impossible for anyone to be loving, LGBTQ-affirming, and true to themselves whilst remaining members of the church. If you need references for this claim, please use your favorite search engine and search for “Spencer W Kimball homosexuality“, “Dalin H Oaks homosexuality” or “Boyd K Packer homosexuality” or “2015 lds exclusion policy.”