One of my daughter's friends just recommended that she read "The Handmaid's Tale." I have posted on this before, but this brought it all back and made it fresh.
Lately, I have been trying to parody Glenn Beck, so let me put on my tin-foil hat and let's go down a rabbit hole together for a scare-the-hell-out-of-you bad dream. (Links are to prior blog posts.)
"The Handmaid's Tale" is a story that floored me. I saw elements of Mormonism running like a thread through the whole movie. I realized, once again, that if you put religionists (Christian extremists) on a scale of 1-10 and put "The Handmaid's Tale" at 10, the Mormon Church and dozens of Evangelical and Baptist mega-churches would be at a 9. It was a familiar feeling that I had had before, right after the movie, "September Dawn." When the Mountain Meadows Massacre happened back in 1857, the Mormons were functioning at a 10 on the religionists dial and only turned the notch down to 9 in order to get statehood.
Now for the most frightening part, which is what sets the Mormons apart from the other Christian extremists. On June 28th, 2008, when the Mormon prophet ordered the letter to be read from the pulpit that ordered "every Mormon to give of their time and means" to pass Prop 8, it became irrefutable evidence that the Mormon prophet could give a damn about the US constitution. It was the equivalent of setting the extremism dial to a 9.5 because it moved the 21st century "Mormon Colonies" over the top, right into the realm of the imaginary "Republic of Gilead."
It was evidence that the Mormons are not that far removed from 1857. It showed us that in the 21st century, six million Mormons would willingly follow the prophet if he were to turn that dial, once again, to a 10.
"The Handmaid's Tale" is a story that floored me. I saw elements of Mormonism running like a thread through the whole movie. I realized, once again, that if you put religionists (Christian extremists) on a scale of 1-10 and put "The Handmaid's Tale" at 10, the Mormon Church and dozens of Evangelical and Baptist mega-churches would be at a 9. It was a familiar feeling that I had had before, right after the movie, "September Dawn." When the Mountain Meadows Massacre happened back in 1857, the Mormons were functioning at a 10 on the religionists dial and only turned the notch down to 9 in order to get statehood.
Now for the most frightening part, which is what sets the Mormons apart from the other Christian extremists. On June 28th, 2008, when the Mormon prophet ordered the letter to be read from the pulpit that ordered "every Mormon to give of their time and means" to pass Prop 8, it became irrefutable evidence that the Mormon prophet could give a damn about the US constitution. It was the equivalent of setting the extremism dial to a 9.5 because it moved the 21st century "Mormon Colonies" over the top, right into the realm of the imaginary "Republic of Gilead."
It was evidence that the Mormons are not that far removed from 1857. It showed us that in the 21st century, six million Mormons would willingly follow the prophet if he were to turn that dial, once again, to a 10. If I were as good as Glenn Beck, and if the "left" had the same tin-foil hats as the "right", I could get you all to imagine a "Republic of Gilead" that is lurking, waiting to spring into existence behind the Zion Curtain. (Quick, hand me the Vicks "Vapo-rub" so that I can rub it under my eyes and break into fake tears now.)
[Now with tears in my eyes...] Imagine a Branch Dividian Compound from Mesa, AZ to Rexburg, ID and you get the idea of the size of the Mormon's "Republic of Gilead." In essence, this "Mormon Republic of Gilead" already exists.
At this point, I need to take you all to the surface and get you out of the rabbit hole.
These tears in my eyes now are not fake. In Utah, 52% of the homeless teens are gay. In Utah, the suicide rate for gay teens is 8 times the national average. For a 14-year-old gay Mormon behind the Zion Curtain, the walls surrounding his world are as real as they were in "The Handmaid's Tale." I know. I was that 14-year-old, and my walled-in universe was the "Mormon Colonies" of Southern Alberta, Canada. I saw no escape. Like Micah in "September Dawn," I had given myself over to "the system." I put my authentic self up on a shelf and watched somebody else live their life in my body. This is how I identified with "The Handmaid's Tale."
Sometimes I try to shake my head and get the "tin-foil hat" to come loose, but it doesn't. I still feel the fear of my captivity coming back. I realize that Proposition 8 was the only evidence I need to convince me that the Mormons are ready...and able...to turn the dial up to 10, and there are a number of other Christianist churches who are willing to be uncomfortable bed-fellows with the Mormons in order to have their own enclaves for their own chance at their version of a "Republic of Gilead."
I give my head a shake again, but the "tin-foil hat" is stuck. These 21st century Christianists have friends in high places. At the top is "The Family," on C Street in Washington, DC. They are the equivalent of the "Mormon Generals" for the Evangelicals and Baptists. They have their own TV network and every night on the news parade their celebrities like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Virginia Fox, and Michelle Bachman across the screen. They have enough money to buy new followers by feeding them lies and giving them free bus rides into the big cities for shopping trips and "tea parties."
The "tin-foil hat" finally shakes loose, and I ask myself, "What can we do?"
Reed Cowan is just putting the finishing touches on a documentary "8: The Mormon Proposition" in order to have it ready for the Sundance Film Festival. Please visit their website at http://mormonproposition.com and get ready to see the movie. It exposes a religion that is ready to move the dial...and roll the clock back a hundred and fifty years...to pre-statehood Utah. All in the name of an extremist view of god, and in order to usher in the the "New Republic of Gilead."
1 comments:
Absolutely awesome blog site.
I'm not a ex Morman humanist but an ex born again Christian humanist. Assembly of God sect.
The small rural community I live in is swarming with churches the Mormon church a big presence as they have infiltrated the school system & are in positions of authority there. Also, in city government. It doesn't seem to matter what sect you are though, as long as you are conservative & Christian. Humanists, atheists & liberals are the common enemy. For that reason I am mostly in the closet. I read "The Handmaids Tale" & it is not that difficult for me to imagine that kind of scenario if religious extremism got out of hand. So in my own way I fight it when I can.
Anyway, I am always heartened by blog sites like yours. It gives me hope that reason will in the end prevail.
Post a Comment