Field of Steve

In the Deseret News publication Mormon Times, journalist Joel Campbell wrote commentators finding the Mormon Church’s support of California’s Proposition 8 “ironic” is itself ironic. I disagree. There is plenty of irony there.

The ballot measure, which passed Tuesday, defines marriage in California’s constitution as between a man and a woman. The irony some commentators see, as illustrated by Campbell, isn’t on target. The church no longer practices polygamy. And likening the persecution same-sex marriage supporters get now to what the LDS pioneers saw in the 19th century is at least a stretch in terms of degree. The church is backing a democratic ballot measure. It’s not legalizing the extermination of those who would marry someone of the same gender.

But by the definition of irony Campbell himself offers, the church‘s support does indeed demonstrate irony. Campbell wrote, “By definition, to have irony you need to have incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.”

On the most basic level, a church that once embraced a tweaked version of marriage, polygamy, now approving laws against another version, same-sex, could easily be seen as what’s expected being disconnected from what occurs.

Campbell responds to a Washington Post-Newsweek blogger who made that case by writing, “For us Mormons, the blogger could have just as well asserted that he found it ironic that Catholics support peace because Catholics once supported the Crusades.”

It’s a tempting argument, but the problem is that Catholics themselves argue among themselves about the rightness of the Crusades. Those wars have their defenders, too, but few today would argue for a similar campaign. They would think it wrong.

No one in the LDS church, no one who is intent on remaining in good standing in the church, is arguing for the reinstatement of polygamy, either. But I joined the church at age 11 and the adults talked openly about the possible return of the practice one day. Some still talk as if it might happen, as distasteful as that may sound. Our temple marriages reflect that belief in that a man can be sealed to more than one woman, but the same is not true of women being sealed to men.

The LDS church does not teach that polygamy is wrong, except that it violates the law. It was the vision of the destruction of the church entirely that was the large factor in the church’s decision to abandon the practice, not any recognition that the practice itself was unholy.

Among the church’s resources for journalists on the Internet is a publication of a Q&A from the Los Angeles Times and another primer on polygamy. From the
Q&A in the Times:

“Question: Is polygamy gone forever from the Church?
We only know what the Lord has revealed through His prophets, that plural marriage has been stopped in the Church. Anything else is speculative and unwarranted.”

From the primer:

“. . . the standard of the Lord’s people is monogamy unless the Lord reveals otherwise.”

So the church’s position is that monogamy, one man and one woman, is the rule unless God wants it otherwise. This is the sticky point. In the blog Campbell references, LDS Apostle Dallin H. Oaks acknowledges that if you don’t recognize revelation, communication from God dictating the activities of those in His church, then the irony is “profound.”

Further ironic is that the ballot measure not only affected gay marriages, which the church teaches is wrong, it constitutionally outlaws polygamy, which the church does not practice but also does not categorically condemn.

So what’s prohibiting the church from practicing marriage as it might see fit is now the California constitution, based on an amendment the church itself supported. That God would accept polygamy being illegal in order to prevent gay marriage from becoming legal is a point you could argue, but there is most certainly room to recognize the irony.

Richard Dutcher, who made the films God’s Army, Brigham City and States of Grace, is no longer active in the LDS church. I have thoughts about it, but I think enough has been said here that I don’t feel obliged to weigh in on it just yet. I will say I understand the boat metaphor.

In the mid 1980s Dutcher was a clerk at a 7-11 Brant, Byron and I used to frequent on late-night “Big Gulp” runs. He was nice. He was quiet. We knew about his acting aspirations. I’ve enjoyed all his films.

One of the fears I have, even as I demand answers, is that my quest for understanding begets more of the same. Schoolyard killers in the past have spawned discussions of bullying and the like, yet I haven’t seen much to answer why one kid out of a million who get bullied decide to kill innocents.

An answer as good as any I’ve seen comes from Time Magazine’s David Von Drehle in his piece “It’s All About Him.”

“I’ve lost interest in the cracks, chips, holes and broken places in the lives of men like Cho Seung-Hui, the mass murderer of Virginia Tech. The pain, grievances and self-pity of mass killers are only symptoms of the real explanation. Those who do these things share one common trait. They are raging narcissists. . . .

A generation ago, the social critic Christopher Lasch diagnosed narcissism as the signal disorder of contemporary American culture. The cult of celebrity, the marketing of instant gratification, skepticism toward moral codes and the politics of victimhood were signs of a society regressing toward the infant stage.”

Let’s be honest, even this blog is an exercise in narcissism to some degree. I’d say many politicians are narcissists. Anyone who writes an autobiography should be suspect. But I’ve always known about my self-absorption. I suspect we all have it to some degree and that we keep it in check. As a little kid I always knew there were other people in the swimming pool with me. The day I stopped peeing in the pool was when I realized those other people mattered.

In my life I have had a few moments of feeling disconnected, most notably with fellow members of the LDS church. Even as I served an 18-month mission, deep in the throes of seeking more to join us, I sometimes felt disconnected with the larger Mormon culture. I still do. Yet it has never occurred to me to punish those who seem to feel fine in it. I’ve always assumed it is more about me, both the good and bad parts of me, then it is about them.

Someone with unchecked narcissistic traits just wouldn’t go there. If I’m a true narcissist, I blame people I reject for my disconnection.

I don’t understand it, and that’s probably a good thing.

Greenleaf, Idaho is not content with 80 percent of its residents owning guns. They want complete compliance, but the ordinance the city council passed only asked residents to own guns. Their fear? Being overrun by Katrina “refugees.”

They’re serious, as are some of the commenters who posted their remarks for the story. The city leaves an out if you have religious or “other” objections.

What might be some “other” objections?

1. I’m too busy.
2. Guns don’t go with my sweater.
3. Regis Philbin doesn’t have one that I know of.

I’m unfamiliar with “ordinances” that don’t require something. Resolutions don’t always, but I thought ordinances were by definition mandatory. I could be wrong. I could be experiencing long-distance bystander trauma from the hurricane.

I want an ordinance requiring people to subscribe to my newspaper, or this blog, unless they have religious or other objections.

Here’s your Senate Majority Leader.

“Britney Spears,” Mr. (Harry) Reid said, shaking his head. “She loses a little weight, and now she’s getting all cocky about things.” He added, “Britney has gotten her mojo back.”

High-water mark

You may be aware, some of you well acquainted, that we had a big rain here, even for Seattle standards. On Wednesday Gov. Chris Gregoire was in Bremerton for a chamber luncheon. She stopped by the mayor’s office and talked of what she’d seen the day before. Of a town called Hamilton, “It’s gone.” Here’s a Seattle Times story about a family that lost at least a decade’s worth of work.

“Work started in the mid-1990s, (Mike Nichols said, and it progressed as he had time. He often worked 12-hour days on weekends and vacations. Every fixture was bought through husband-and-wife shopping trips, with all the countertops, cabinets and faucets placed with their own hands.”

Port Orchard Has a Council Opening

When I was a kid the Los Angeles Rams fired George Allen as head football coach. I’ve not really ever forgiven the organization. I wrote Allen a letter telling him he should coach at Covina High School, because the program there was miserable. I seriously thought he’d be interested. Instead he moved east to coach the Washington Redskins, taking his family with him.

His son, who thought about running for president in 2008, lost a Senate race Tuesday. Here’s more on that.

Off to the Box Office

Happy am I — happy, happy, happy — that Stranger than Fiction is getting good reviews. The story has an interesting conflict, so I’m glad to see that if I spend two hours of my life in a movie theater, it will be worth it.

Here is Eric D. Snider’s take.

Many of us have concluded Republicans blew this election. I still think that’s largely true, but Thursday’s New York Times shows the inside baseball account of how much Democrats did to orchestrate their win.

Across the country, at the urging of Mr. (Rahm) Emanuel and his Senate counterpart, Charles E. Schumer of New York, Democratic candidates began demanding the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. As they did, Mr. Emanuel would later admit, he gave private thanks that the president had not robbed the Democrats of a potent issue by firing Mr. Rumsfeld before the campaign was engaged.

Read it to the end.

Decipher This

Interesting story about people who speak in tongues, again in the New York Times. The story includes this:

Contrary to what may be a common perception, studies suggest that people who speak in tongues rarely suffer from mental problems. A recent study of nearly 1,000 evangelical Christians in England found that those who engaged in the practice were more emotionally stable than those who did not.

So what are you saying?

On Friday five of us went to the Howard Jones concert. We had seen him twice before when we were living in Utah. When I was an intern in DC I used to listen to him a lot, but Diana made me a fan again.

Diana kept in touch with the news about Howard Jones and most of his U.S. shows were in Utah. We noticed the connection, but didn’t think much of it.

When we went to the show on Friday, Diana said wouldn’t it be funny if we saw people from our ward. Well, we were the only ones from our ward, but there were two couples from our old ward and a former high councilman from our stake.

So what is it? He’s got good messages and he’s a decent guy. But there are lots of those out there. His music is also good, but there are lots of good musicians, and a fair amount that are decent people.

So why does Howard Jones have so many Mormon fans?

Field of Steve

If you’re celebrating Christmas, Merry Christmas.
If you’re celebrating Channukah, Happy Channukah, all eight nights.
Whatever your celebration, enjoy it.
Here, we’re planning a Merry Christmas.

But according to some people, there’s a war on Christmas afoot, so every time I say “Happy Holidays,” I’m contributing to the secular humanists who want to destroy religion.

I’ll probably refer to this again in the future, perhaps in a column once I start getting paid for those again. A few years ago I got into a conversation with a Pagan friend and asked her what she was doing for Christmas, or some such question.
She responded with something akin to “I’m not doing anything special, I’m not a Christian.”

My gut response, one I kept from leaving my mouth, was “What does that have to do with celebrating Christmas.”

Before my family found religion, we celebrated Christmas. We had a tree. We listened to songs that had religious themes and those that didn’t. We weren’t a church-going family, but we still celebrated Christmas. I don’t remember Jesus being mentioned except as part of a string of profanities. But we still celebrated Christmas. Those were good times.

Christmas had Pagan roots to begin with, was co-opted by Christian sects and became what we know it to be today. And isn’t that wonderful? It was always about giving and receiving, serving and being served, and expressing love. The spirit of the day, shared by those who profess to worship the Savior and those who don’t, is a heartfelt illustration of Christianity. Getting offended because someone says “Happy Holidays” isn’t.

Field of Steve