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<\/a>(Wikimedia Commons public domain image.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Did I announce this article of mine from Meridian Magazine<\/em>? \u00a0I think that I may have neglected to do so, even though it was published nearly two weeks ago: \u00a0\u201cAre Latter-day Saint Temples too Lavish?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n My wife and I recently watched a streamed version of the Latter-day Saint British Pageant<\/a> that is performed every four years (I think) near the Preston England Temple in Chorley, Lancashire. \u00a0The pageant tells the story of the beginnings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Great Britain, starting with the mission of Elder Heber C. Kimball in 1837. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure that it\u2019s available online anymore, though I hope that it is and, if not, I wish that it would be made<\/em> available.<\/p>\n I have to be honest: I\u2019ve never been a particularly enthusiastic fan of pageants and \u00a0I wasn\u2019t expecting much. \u00a0But both my wife (who was a theater major at BYU) and I were surprised to be quite impressed by the British Pageant. \u00a0It was extremely well done. \u00a0The music and singing and dancing were well executed and, at various times, I found it moving. \u00a0Moreover, it did a good job of telling its remarkable story.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been to other Church pageants, including the old Manti Miracle Pageant and the Hill Cumorah Pageant, both of which have now been discontinued (for reasons that, I admit, are a bit obscure to me). \u00a0They were well done, too, but I expected the British Pageant to be fairly amateurish. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n A story: \u00a0On the one occasion that I attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant, many years ago while I was back for a summer faculty seminar at Princeton University with my wife and children, I had vowed that I would not interact with any of the anti-Mormons who, I knew, would be out in force ringing the pageant site. \u00a0When we arrived, though, and after we had found our place for watching the performance, I walked back toward the entrance. \u00a0Probably for refreshments or something of that sort. \u00a0On the way in, I had seen two young Latter-day Saint men \u2014 pre-mission age, I guessed \u2014 who had been engaged in energetic conversation with a very vocal evangelical Protestant anti-Mormon.<\/p>\n When I came back by, they were still there. \u00a0I almost immediately recognized the anti-Mormon man to be the now-departed John R. Farkas<\/a>. \u00a0I had never met him before, but I had seen his photograph and I knew that he lived in the Palmyra area. \u00a0I had also read some of his writing.<\/p>\n He was really letting the two young men have it \u2014 quite harshly, too \u2014 and they were plainly being knocked back on their heels. \u00a0His pre-planned attack was far more practiced than their defense.. \u00a0So, I thought, maybe I\u2019ll step in for just a second and help them out. \u00a0(I can\u2019t remember what specific issue they were discussing at precisely that moment, but it was something for which I thought that I had a very good answer. \u00a0Evidently he thought so too, because he quickly changed the subject.)<\/p>\n Very soon, the two young men were able to withdraw from the conversation \u2014 I expect that they were greatly relieved to do so \u2014 thus leaving me alone with Mr. Farkas. \u00a0I\u2019ve had many discussions with avowed evangelical critics of the Church, though relatively few of them in recent years, but I have to say that, of all of those critics, Mr. Farkas was the most unpleasant that I\u2019ve ever encountered. \u00a0He was not only unrelentingly hostile toward the Church but personally obnoxious, sneering, insulting, and condescending.<\/p>\n By the time the pageant was underway and I had managed to extricate myself from Mr. Farkas in order to resume my seat with my family, I was in a pretty poor mood and was reproaching myself for having been foolish enough to be drawn, against my resolution, into the worst kind of confrontation with a Protestant anti-Mormon. \u00a0Contrary to my image in some circles, I really dislike face-to-face contention. \u00a0There was not a trace of the Spirit present in that discussion, and it took me easily twenty or thirty minutes before I could get myself fully into a frame of mind that would allow me to enjoy the pageant.<\/p>\n I try to avoid such encounters like the plague.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Willard Hirschi<\/a> was our bishop when we first moved to Utah and I joined the faculty at Brigham Young University, and then a member of our stake presidency. \u00a0I liked him. \u00a0He had a dry sense of humor. \u00a0He didn\u2019t call attention to himself, and I know now that we didn\u2019t really understand what a significant person he was. \u00a0But the Deseret News<\/em> understood: \u00a0\u201cRemembering the rock of a man, Willard Hirschi:\u00a0Former BYU head track coach Hirschi dies at age 89\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Another member of our ward in those days was Elaine Michaelis, who features prominently in this piece that was published in the Deseret News<\/em> near the end of this past July: \u00a0\u201cWho should be immortalized on BYU\u2019s Mount Rushmore? \u00a0Narrowing it down to 4 is no small task\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n It was a privilege to get to know her, too \u2014 although, once again, I think that we were pretty clueless as to her importance.<\/p>\n Continuing with the \u201cMount Rushmore\u201d article: \u00a0I was also fortunate enough to see the great Kre\u0161imir \u0106osi\u0107<\/a> play basketball. \u00a0I\u2019ve met Tom Holmoe once or twice, though he certainly wouldn\u2019t remember me or those occasions. \u00a0And I had several encounters with LaVell Edwards, mostly during his post-coaching life. \u00a0He had a great sense of humor.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, finally, as a service to those who hunger, thirst, and even pant for new theistic evils to lament, I offer a six-fold dip into the inexhaustible riches of the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201cWildfires in Maui: Church Providing Temporary Shelter, Assistance to Evacuees\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 (11 August 2023)<\/p>\n \u201cMaui Wildfires: Community Comes Together as Evacuations and Assessment Begin: Five Latter-day Saints have died in the fires\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 (12 August 2023)<\/p>\n \u201cMaui wildfires: Church provides humanitarian update as death toll climbs\u201d<\/a> (12 August 2023)<\/p>\n \u201cA look at what\u2019s changed \u2014 and what hasn\u2019t \u2014 as Deseret Industries turns 85: Now with 46 stores in eight states, the mission of Deseret Industries remains to help people\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>