HBO, Mormons square off over airing of sacred rite

On March 10, 2009 the Associated Press had an article about HBO:

HBO on Tuesday defended its plans to depict a sacred Mormon temple ceremony in an upcoming episode of “Big Love.”

The drama about a Utah polygamous family will show an endowment ceremony Sunday.

HBO said it did not intend to be disrespectful of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and apologized.

“Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology,” the premium cable channel said in a statement issued Tuesday.

But the ceremony is an important part of the “Big Love” story line, HBO said.

Big Love aired between 2006 and 2011.  On the 11th the article was posted to a message board.  On the 12th I responded with this:

I was raised Mormon and fell away from the church, so I feel a connection to the topic. Some of my ancestors were polygamists, but I am very opposed to such marriages and have no interest (nor access) to this TV show. Hollywood does seem to have a fascination with Mormons. I disagree with most of their beliefs and think some of them are peculiar. Smith likely borrowed the rituals from the Masons. However, if Mormons believe these rituals are eternal and sacred, then they are free to do so. The likely way HBO obtained this information was from a disgruntled former Mormon. I do not think it is appropriate to show the scenes and I imagine most viewers will side with the Mormon church on this.

A Russian immigrant responded to me:

well, not knowing the content or the procedure of whatever rite was to be depicted [nor caring about it- don't even have a TV to watch it even if I wanted to] I could imagine the viewers might be attracted by pure curiosity. Now, if that rite is of a regular boring variety, then depiction of its choreography - who says what, in what order, and whether the participants walk clockwise or counterclockwise etc.- will satisfy that curiosity in no time, and the rite depiction will induce "huh?" reaction and yawning, rather than "siding with" the mormon church: the church will continue on as before and the non-mormon viewers will continue to yawn as before. No harm caused. The only exception I could imagine would be if the rite to be depicted contained objectionable elements [for discussion purposes - say, human or animal sacrifice]. Then the attempts to prevent its depiction would become understandable - but then it could be guaranteed that the "siding with" will be precisely the last thing that was ever going to happen.

Someone posted a cartoon mocking the Mormon Church:

A Jew responded with this:

And if the Klan made a cartoon about Judaism, I'm sure many Synagogues would ban it, too.

Then I wrote:

You make a good point that you should also look at the official beliefs and not just judge someone on what other people say. Mormons believe God resides near a star called Kolob. Here is their verse from the Book of Abraham 3:2-3: "saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God;....and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest."

They have a hymn called "If You Could Hie to Kolob."

The highest degree of the Mormon heaven is called the Celestial Kingdom. Married couples that follow all of the rules and rituals will go there. They do hold the belief that men can become gods. They don't talk about it much, but I know it was still being taught in 1999 (I stopped being involved a little while after that). Joseph Smith explained that the title Eloheim is actually plural meaning Gods. "I will teach on the plurality of Gods.....Eloheim is from the word Eloi, God, in the singular number; and by adding the word heim it renders it Gods. It read first - "In the beginning the Head of the Gods brought forth the Gods" or as others have translated it "The Head of the Gods called the Gods together...."(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith pp.370-372)

In 1844 at a General Conference, Smith gave a speech known as the King Follet Sermon and he said: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!"

He then responded with this:

I have had the thought that the universe is a way that God might create new gods, out of humans and other intelligences. I didn't know that it was a Mormon concept, as well, until someone told me.

In any case, the "-im" ending in Hebrew is plural -- and "elohim" is sometimes used as a word for "gods" plural in the Torah, including in the Ten Commandments "Thou shalt have no other gods [elohim] before me. However, when "Elohim" refers to God the grammar around it is in first person. There is also the Eden account, where God says that man has become "as one of us."

So, while I don't agree with Smith's interpretation, it's not exactly completely out of nowhere.