{"id":95630,"date":"2022-07-03T10:08:28","date_gmt":"2022-07-03T16:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=95630"},"modified":"2022-07-03T20:48:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T02:48:56","slug":"notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html","title":{"rendered":"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"So<\/a>
Bald Mountain, as seen from Sun Valley, Idaho
(Photo taken by rickmouser45, Wikimedia Commons image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven<\/em>, created by Dustin Lance Black and starring Andrew Garfield.\u00a0 With his generous permission, I share it here><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finished \u201cKeep Sweet: Pray and Obey\u201d on Netflix last night. Terrifying. Bone-chilling. Creepy beyond words. Very, very well done. It\u2019s what \u201cUnder the Banner of Heaven\u201d wanted to be, thought it was, and really, really wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought I was finished writing about \u201cUnder the Banner of Heaven,\u201d but I wanted to add this postscript in light of the recent pieces from the show\u2019s defenders berating those of us who dismiss it as inaccurate. UTBOH auteur Dustin Lance Black went on the Salt Lake Tribune\u2019s MormonLand podcast and was only willing to concede that he\u2019d used the term \u201cHeavenly Father\u201d too much. The UTBOH defender consensus is that anyone criticizing UTBOH is straining at gnats and swallowing camels, because citing minor issues like Heavenly Father overusage ignores all the amazing things that UTBOH got right.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is therefore worth taking a moment to review what UTBOH got significantly and profoundly wrong. And it goes way, way beyond silliness like saying \u201cHeavenly Father bless you\u201d when you sneeze or weirdly implying that Mormons<\/a> can\u2019t eat French fries.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to UTBOH:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A mid-teens Joseph Smith fabricated the First Vision to score with a mid-teens Emma Hale.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Given that Joseph didn\u2019t meet Emma until she was 21, this departure from reality seems completely unnecessary unless you\u2019re trying to establish that Joseph\u2019s entire religious motivation was sexual interest in young girls.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Joseph\u2019s murder was the product of a shadowy collaboration between Emma and Brigham Young, both of whom wanted Joseph dead in order to pick the next leader of the Church. Brigham wanted power for himself, while Emma wanted Joseph Smith III to succeed his father and end polygamy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Everything about this scenario is the opposite of the truth. It\u2019s also the premise of a recent fringey conspiracy theory movie that has been rightly lambasted by credible historians in and out of the Church. The reality is that Brigham and Emma adored Joseph and despised each other, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The Mountain Meadows Massacre was ordered by Brigham Young as part of a deliberate war on \u201cgentiles\u201d entering the state of Utah.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The real Brigham Young sent a letter to the perpetrators of the massacre telling them to leave the Baker-Fancher wagon company alone, but it tragically arrived too late to prevent the slaughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

        It\u2019s worth remembering these historical howlers when reading articles about how meticulous the production was about making sure the Joseph Smith Nauvoo Legion costume had the right color braids and the Carthage Jail set had the right number of bullet holes.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Moving beyond historical hooey, let\u2019s focus on how UTBOH depicted the modern Church, or, at least, the Church circa 1984.<\/span><\/p>\n

        According to UTBOH:<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. The Church was actively and openly working to thwart the investigation of the Lafferty murders, going so far as to have one of the top leaders of the Church perform a religious ritual condemning the Mormon detective and the murder victim\u2019s widower to hell.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Because, you know, reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. The Church\u2019s power in Utah is such that stake presidents function as legal counsel and threaten Mormon detectives with hellfire if they don\u2019t release excommunicated murder suspects into their custody.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Makes perfect sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Bishops reassign custody of the children of excommunicated members to other families without informing Child Protective Services, and when those children run away and are missing, the bishop just shrugs his shoulders, and nobody cares.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Oh, yeah. That happens all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. The Church routinely excommunicates those who study Church history, even going so far as to remove all references to polygamy and fundamentalism from every public library in Utah.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                If you say so.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Commerce with polygamists is grounds for excommunication. Bearing an insincere testimony on Fast Sunday is grounds for excommunication and church-mandated divorce. However, a bishop casually sharing confidential, personal information about ward members anytime and for any reason is no big deal and not nearly as bad as having a beard, which, while perhaps not grounds for excommunication, is \u201cvigorously\u201d discouraged.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  Yeah. That all checks out.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  Anyway, the next time you tell me the only reason I didn\u2019t like UTBOH is that I just can\u2019t handle the truth, I\u2019ll invite you to watch \u201cKeep Sweet\u201d with me. Or \u201cMurder Among the Mormons.\u201d Or \u201cMormon No More,\u201d which is next up in my viewing queue. If you botch history and current practice as badly as UTBOH did, you don\u2019t get credit because you got the number of Carthage Jail bullet holes right.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \"Beautfiul<\/a>
                  Another view in, I think, the vicinity of Sun Valley
                  (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  Latter-day Saints and their beliefs seem to be popular targets on cable television of late.\u00a0 (Indeed, I\u2019m reliably informed that this has me in a rage.)\u00a0 John Oliver got into the act back on 27 June.\u00a0 Perhaps he was trying to honor the anniversary of the assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith by an anti-Mormon mob?<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \u201cOpinion: Complete disrespect \u2014 What John Oliver said about Utah\u2019s drought: On John Oliver\u2019s HBO show \u2018Last Week Tonight,\u2019 he mocked Utah\u2019s drought response. Not only were his words unfair and disrespectful, but mockery gets us nowhere\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  Although I\u2019m confident that Mr. Oliver went to enormous lengths to get our beliefs precisely right and to treat us with appropriate respect, he seems to have overlooked this Church statement, which was issued on 22 June, five days earlier:<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \u201cThe Importance of Water Conservation: We all play a part in preserving the critical resources needed to sustain life \u2014 especially water \u2014 and we invite others to join us in reducing water use wherever possible\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \"\"<\/a>
                  The famous Sun Valley Lodge, a few minutes\u2019 walk from where we\u2019re staying, in part of the same complex. It\u2019s where Hemingway wrote \u201cFor Whom the Bell Tolls.\u201d (I hope that the proprietors of the Lodge will permit me Fair Use of this image, since, in a way, it\u2019s advertising the place.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  And here\u2019s a note from the BBC, in the United Kingdom, regarding the musical version of, umm, The Book of Mormon<\/em>:<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \u201cBook of Mormon: Newcastle audiences greeted by real church elders\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \"Where's<\/a>
                  Galena Summit, near Sun Valley
                  (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  Finally, though, and on quite a different note, here\u2019s another horror that I\u2019ve drawn from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u00a9:<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \u201cPerspective: College students are struggling with mental health. More access to religion can help them: It\u2019s no coincidence that Gen Z has the highest level of mental health issues and the lowest level of religiosity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  Posted from Sun Valley, Idaho<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  \u00a0 \u00a0 On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven, created by Dustin Lance Black and starring Andrew Garfield.\u00a0 With his generous permission, I share it here> \u00a0 Finished \u201cKeep Sweet: Pray and Obey\u201d on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28248,56,29039,813,20206,1809,28245,29577,28968,2652,20511,28272,11782,28965,29574,29571,29552,28269,28278,29036,2905,1812,1815,7113,3547,788,55,1667,21835,743,29549,28242],"class_list":["post-95630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrew-garfield","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-brenda-lafferty","tag-christopher-hitchens","tag-christopher-hitchens-memorial-how-religion-poisons-everything-file","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-dustin-lance-black","tag-fox","tag-fx","tag-hitchens","tag-hitchens-file","tag-hulu","tag-idaho","tag-jim-bennett","tag-keep-sweet","tag-keep-sweet-pray-and-obey","tag-ketchum","tag-lafferty","tag-lafferty-brothers","tag-laffertys","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-lds-church","tag-mental-health","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-netflix","tag-religion","tag-sun-valley","tag-under-the-banner-of-heaven"],"yoast_head":"\nNotes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-03T16:08:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-04T02:48:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2022\/07\/640px-Bald_Mountain_as_seen_from_Sun_Valley_Idaho.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html\",\"name\":\"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-03T16:08:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-04T02:48:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment","description":"    On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment","og_description":"    On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2022-07-03T16:08:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-04T02:48:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2022\/07\/640px-Bald_Mountain_as_seen_from_Sun_Valley_Idaho.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html","name":"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-03T16:08:28+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-04T02:48:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    On his Facebook page, the inimitable Jim Bennett posted a nice short summary of some of his criticisms of the recent FX\/Hulu miniseries","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/07\/notes-on-the-church-in-recent-popular-entertainment.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Notes on the Church in Recent Popular Entertainment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}