One of the most televised and attended events in Utah's history takes place today, when Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the LDS Church, is buried at 11am. With no disrespect to Hinckley, whom I have great admiration for, or the significance of his passing, three stories in today's Salt Lake Tribune illustrate how those of us who don't practice the dominant religion find it perplexing to live alongside its fervent participants.
1) This BYU baseball star has, according to the paper, been kicked off the team for not attending church enough. If you read the article, he claims he's attended his Provo ward six of the past 11 Sundays, missing only when he attended another ward, came to SLC for General Conference or was ill. I'm sure there's more to the story, but if anything less than 75% attendance gets you kicked off the baseball team, isn't that a little strict? Can anyone tell me if the Jim McMahon's of BYU history attended church so diligently? On the other hand, a more cynical observer immediately thinks, "It's probably drug abuse or alcohol indiscretion, but they're covering it up and blaming it on church attendance." Which doesn't make it better, but smacks of a pervasive culture here to make things look nice on appearance, regardless of true circumstances. This frequently is raised in the much more serious realms of prescription drug abuse and rape.
2) Now this guy reflect the other side of the prism - non-Utahans who just can't come to grips with the dominant religion's influence on state institutions. He argues that we shouldn't fly the flag at half mast for Hinckley since he wasn't a veteran and never served in public office. Point taken, but such blurring or church and state is an unfortunate byproduct of life here at LDS World Headquarters. I had the same thought initially as the letter writer, but it's not likely to change any time soon. Don't agree? Move back to Oregon.
3) Finally, in the "yes, you have good intentions, but your business is ILLEGAL" department, there's this story rife with hypocrisy. Recently, a dude named Thompson was arrested for soliciting teen girls for sex. Turns out he was the manager of a video store that was shut down by the feds because it was cleaning up Hollywood films (deleting the sex and violence, dubbing over off-color language, etc.) and then renting them to clean-minded citizens. Too bad Hollywood thought that this was an egregious violation of their copyright, and the courts agreed. Anyways, the guy who launced the Clean Flicks brand and concept (and lost to Hollywood) is suing the sex offender for defaming his good name. He's trying to relaunch his video store with only G- and PG-rated movies (and no porn studios in the back). Whatever.
OK, off to buy skis for the boys while 30,000+ head to the funeral and millions more watch on FIVE different networks.
By the way, I get a break from shoveling. It didn't snow last night! But a "major" storm is due tomorrow.
I leave you with this, also from the Tribune:
