Trailer Out for the Upcoming PBS / Frontline / American Experience Documentary “The Mormons”

…Not true about LDS stance.

The docuementary was done with the involvment and cooperation of the LDS church. A letter has been released from the First Presidency encouraging members to watch and answer non-members questions, if any arise.

This is supposed to be a wonderul film work. We’ll be watching at our house!

Yeah, Helen Whitney, who did this documentary, did a really fair documentary on the Catholics (I think she is agnostic, be sure to check me on this one) that convinced the LDS leaders to be interviewed. She even had the oppurtunity to interview LDS President, Gordon B. Hinkley. Here is an excert of he view of the Mormons she interviewed:

The big surprise for her, Whitney said at the press tour, is “the emphasis on, and the expression of, certainty in the faith” that she found in so many Mormons. “The word ‘I know’ is used a great deal, and that’s striking to me because I think of faith as sort of this candle flickering in the dark.”

From her interviews, it sounds like she left this project with very good feelings of the Latter-day Saints and I can’t wait to watch it myself.

Here in Garden Grove we heard the same as Utah did and it was published in our bullitan

I first heard about this production through the pre-packaged “Church News of the World” program that was broadcast along with General Conference. I remember because I wondered if Helen Whitney of the documentary is related to the great Mormon proto-feminist / Joseph Smith wife Helen Mar Whitney.

There haven’t been any announcements up here along the New York / Ontario boarder that I have heard about.

I received this longer email, which I’ve pasted below, but removed all names from. Also, there was a shorter one, to the effect that we should tell local leaders not to put this in the bulletins, but right now I can’t find the copy of it. I received the longer one much more recently, but I think that the short one was probably based on this long one. Where I have removed names, I’ve added text in caps. (I left in Will Bagley’s name, figuring that he wouldn’t care, and that it will be obvious after the documentary airs.)

“The following is from GENERAL AUTHORITY’s brother…

Dear Stake Presidents and Public Affairs Directors,

I just found out recently about the upcoming PBS show on
“Mormons” on April 30th and May 1st. I had forwarded a
“trailer” of the show to the DPAs, as I felt I should share what little
I knew with you. Elder ZZZZZ and YYYYY, WWWWW Area
Director of Public Affairs, had contacted me a week ago concerning the
fact that they had heard there were stakes considering taking out ads
to promote the show. That was the first I’d even heard about it, but
it was evident that the Church was not behind promoting the show,
apparently for good reason.

Bishop QQQQQQQ from El Dorado Stake just copied me on an email
with comments by some members in Southern California that had been
interviewed as part of the show and had been given a preview of it.
Apparently the first segment is totally negative about polygamy and The
Mountain Meadows Massacre. Will Bagley, a Salt Lake City author, is
apparently the “historical advisor” for this project and Will is
certainly not particularly friendly to the Church and especially not to
Brigham Young. The comment from the members after watching the first
segment was that…

“a less than firmly grounded Mormon seeing the first two
hours of “The Mormons” might well feel ashamed to be a Mormon, and
non-Mormons would carry away a strong distaste for Mormons. There is
little in the segment being shown on the 30th that gives a positive
Latter-day Saint viewpoint.”

“While I had hopes that the program would be a fair-minded treatment of
the Mormons, I learn instead that it is an ‘expose’ of the ‘wrongs’ in
Mormon history. It is a smooth but bigoted and
unprincipled assault on the Church.”

They said after seeing parts of
the second two-hour segment that at least an LDS viewpoint was allowed
side-by-side criticism of the Church
(e.g., on the issue of ). They also thought that most
people would be so turned off by the first two-hour segment that they
wouldn’t want to see the second part.

I really know very little about this, but I just wanted to give
you a “heads-up” so you can be prepared to respond to any negative
reactions triggered by this show.

GENERAL AUTHORITY’s BROTHER
BBBBBBBB Multi-stake DPA”

I’m not a public affairs person for the church, but got stuck on the ward leaders email list awhile back, and still get the emails.

I think if someone wants to hear about Mormons, they should ask a Mormon…and an ex-Mormon, and several historians who have studied Mormonism, and read as many original sources of info that they can both pro and con.

Understandably, if you ask a Mormon about Mormonism, you will get a biased answer. They may not tell you about things they don’t think you can handle (i.e., men can become gods, or what goes on in the temple, etc) and they will not tell you what they don’t know, for example, most Mormons don’t know Joseph got married to his own teenage foster daughters.

Now, ex-Mormons will have a bias as well, so if you want a more complete picture, you need to speak to many people with different perspectives about Mormonism and then investigate it for your self both from Church approved sources and sources that the church does not control.

I’m a recent convert, and I may be one of the few who’s willing to tell the beautiful and the ugly that I’ve encountered in my short time as a Latter-day Saint. During my spiritual journey, I read books purchased at you know which place and Borders/Barnes & Noble/etc. I spoke with my parents and with various religious leaders. I also went by what I felt. I am open to telling people about my spiritual journey, where it led me and that their journeys may lead them to a similar destination or elsewhere. I will not drag a horse to water. When the horse is ready, it will drink. The only thing that I do ask for, and am sometimes not afforded, is respect for my decision.