Don’t they have any double-wides in Utah?
There is a quirky new drama coming to American television next month. It is called Big Love, and HBO will air it in a plum weekly slot, just after The Sopranos. Like The Sopranos, Big Love is a tale of marital strife in a dysfunctional family, only in this case the central character is not a Mafioso but a regular guy from Utah who happens to have three wives – hence the wry title.
It is another tale of American subculture. As with the Mob in New Jersey, polygamy in rural Utah may be illegal, but is nevertheless a widely accepted part of the landscape. Big Love is being heavily promoted and boasts big-screen stars.
The truth is that the Mormon church has managed to live down the Osmonds, but it is still struggling to live down polygamy 116 years after banning the practice. Polygamy survives like a batty old aunt in the attic, sounding off at the most embarrassing moments.
A Mormon from Nevada, Harry Reid, is currently the most powerful Democrat in Congress and could take command of the Senate if the Democrats do well in congressional elections this November. Meanwhile, another Mormon, Mitt Romney, is likely to declare a run for the presidency.
No matter how Romney performs in 2008, his candidacy will do two things – it will turn him into a national figure, and it will pose the question: is America ready to put a Mormon in the White House?
We’ll all be watching the show I bet.
Nice Tom Green picture.
No, not that Tom Green. The other Tom Green. The one with all the wives.
The mormon religion is on par with scientology. It was simply made up by some nut a few hundred years ago, and for some reason has a following. Jim Jones had followers too, so I really don’t know. Not that I believe any other religion has it right, but the mormon religion is really off the wall.
I never knew Harry Reid was a mormon, I guess that explains a few things.
Tom Green’s family is not “Mormon”. They don’t belong to the Church of LDS. In fact, they have been unceremoniously kicked out of that church. The Fundamentalist LDS folks belong to the fringe of the fringe.
Their relationship is something like Osama Bin Laden’s relationship to the remaining Islamic core, or Rev. Phelp’s Westboro “Baptist” Church is to Christianity. Bad seeds, but hardly representative.
JoAnn
I found this page with a few good mormon facts. Really makes you want to run out and join. Futher confirms my belief that it is nothing more then a money making cult, like scientology. The scary thing is how many people believe this bullshit.
http://www.anatheist.com/Articles/reasons_for_mormonism.html
P.S. I not an atheist.
The LDS Church is the only church I know of the believes Jesus is the Son of God. Maybe the Witnesses do.
The only time polygamy becomes illegal is when one signs on the dotted line of a legal marriage contract. Someone could have three live-in girlfriends and the only difference is a piece of paper– the piece of pussy stays the same.
Besides, almost no one is monogamous anyway. Most people who believe in “committment” are serial monogamists. Real monogamy is having the same sexual partner for life.
If a man puts all his eggs (all two of them) in one basket then he becomes powerless when that basket case witholds dividends for whatever reason. It is better to diversify. Pologamy offers a man peace of mind, and control over his own desires– not someone else having control over it.
Right on Dave! I think if I was going to kill myself slow and painful it wouldn’t be with 3 wives.Maybe lead or mecury would be a better option.Polygamy Joseph Smiths answer to hell on earth.
Moroni’s baloney.That was just for you Dvorak.
Mitt Romney’d father, George, former governor of Michigan made a credible rtun for the presidency. YOu may remember his “brainwashed” remark that effectively put him out of the race. I don’t recall his religion being a particular liability. But those were the days before being “born again” was a social trend.
To JoAnn, Wayne and others –
These guys are clearly mormons – They aren’t Latter Day Saints or Mormon with a big M if you will but they clearly are part of the same tradition as the LDS church. They believe in the Restoration etc.
Just becuase you don’t like them doesn’t mean you can exclude them from their beliefs. Their beliefs are likely very close to the mainstream LDS faith with the exception of polygamy. Even there, they aren’t that far off as big M Mormons believe in polygamy in the afterlife.
-adam
Wayne maybe Koresh wasn’t a great christan but he was crucified in much the same way.He was a threat to the Feds because he preached salvation and heavy weapons.The feds get real upset about C.C.Gs Crazy Christians with Guns.They burn down your house and shoot anyone trying to run out the door.Yep they would rather burn than surrender.Shades of the S.L.A.
I had a daymare over the weekend, where I imagined I had impregnated 2 women at the same time. Assuming you wanted to do the right thing, and had the wherewithal to support two children and their mothers, and wanted to be there for the children,
Wouldn’t the best thing for the children be to all live together, assuming you could get along? Wouldn’t being there as a father every day, for 2 kids who happen to have different mothers, be better than a 2 weekends a month dad. Or just living separately, no matter how often you visited. Don’t suppose this outcome would be too likely, tho.
Wayne, I like your point about the Mormon religion doesn’t condone polygamy. The Christian religion doesn’t condone violence either. The Islamic faith doesn’t condone treating women as second class. Yet the followers all do it in the name of their God.
carl, I don’t know where you got the impression that only Mormons believe Jesus is the son of God. I can’t speak for Pat Robertson but most other Christians are.
Mormonism is like Freemasonry, it has many levels and each one secret from the other. In the temple, where most Mormons can’t go, and the Mormon elite conduct their secret underwear rituals, you bet there’s polygamy.
In the couple of documentaries I’ve see about renegade Mormon polygamists, I was most disturbed by the lack of affect of the wives. It was creepy.
A few of my relatives have had three or four spouses (serially) but they have the normal range of emotions. But these Mormon wives? Seems like something is dead inside.
JoAnn,
Maybe this is a better analogy:
These polygamists are “Mormon” in the same way that the church of LDS is “Christian.”
Having had the opportunity to live and work in a heavily LDS community – and not be LDS myself – I found they aren’t really a whole lot different than anybody else. They aren’t fringe, or cultish, or strange in any way. A few of them are wack jobs, but then look at Pat Robertson.
The LDS aren’t bad folks. I’m sure lots of them will watch and enjoy this new show, just like the rest of us.
“Mormonism is like Freemasonry, it has many levels and each one secret from the other. In the temple, where most Mormons can’t go, and the Mormon elite conduct their secret underwear rituals, you bet there’s polygamy.”
Not even! Mormonism is a religion, Freemasonary is not. There is no polygamy in Freemasonary. Freemasonary is one of the oldest fraternaties in the world. Many famous men have been Masons including George Washington, Ben Franklin, and numerous others. It has been said that Smith took alot of his mormon rituals from Freemasonary. Even more proof that mormonism is bullshit and copied from one of the oldest and most famous fraternities of all times.
Why is polygamy always associated with Mormons when they haven’t practiced it for over 100 years? Now Islam still allows polygamy and it is quite common in many parts of the Islamic world. Why not intead of showing a polygamist in Utah, they show a Muslim Polygamist in Michigan? It would be more representative of a larger religion, rather than a small religion in rural Utah.
I in fact knew a polygamist from Utah, but he was a Muslim who had recently immigrated to America.
“Mormonism is like Freemasonry, it has many levels and each one secret from the other. In the temple, where most Mormons can’t go, and the Mormon elite conduct their secret underwear rituals, you bet there’s polygamy. ”
Well, that there tells me that Milo knows absolutely nothing! It’s like the time a Lutheran minister said he saw Mormons praying to Moroni, liars just can’t help themselves I guess…
I am LDS. If you have questions, feel free to ask.
Oh geez, are we picking on Moroni now? Wasn’t Mohammad enough?
Mr. Fusion – Most Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God, but the Churches, that is, the professional Christians, will say that doctrine is the Trinity which is that “Son of God” is a title or metaphorical description and that Jesus is not the ‘Son of God in the sense of being the Son of God and Mary. God they would say too does not have a body and could not really be the Father.
Here’s the LDS response to ‘Big Love’.
http://www.lds.org/newsroom/mistakes/0,15331,3885-1,00.html
Seems very reasonable to me.