The Gum Tree for 2005 April 4 (entry 1)

(1) Mon Apr 04 16:06:44 MST Labels:

While in Sandy, the Nelson's had a big dinner gathering. Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, etc. were there. During dinner, the topic of the Catholic Church came up as the Pope had recently passed away. Perhaps it is because I was raised in part of the United States where Catholicism was the major religion, but I was surprised by what people were saying about the Catholic Church. They recited the same old conspiracy theories that Pope John Paul II was a collaborator with the mafia, that they blackmail government officials, that they are a church of child molesting priests, etc.

Of course I was part of a minority that said that I thought that John Paul II had done a wonderful service to humanity, and that he was truly a good man, to which I received the puzzling rebuttal “then why didn’t he join the church; he surely knew the truth about his church as well as ours.”

Well then, I guess John Paul II will be cast into outer darkness for his knowing rejection of the true church. On the other hand, how can I, as a sixth generation Latter-day Saint judge a man who was born without the kind of heritage and blessings that I have taken for granted? I don’t know everything about the life of Pope John Paul II, but I have great respect for him as well as the religion that he leads. It would be easy for me to pass judgment on people of other faiths when I reap all of the benefits my ascendants and I sit comfortably within the power of the majority here in Utah Valley where I am not challenged or burdened by sharing religious beliefs with people of other faiths.

Something else came up during the course of dinner conversation along the same theme. It is a topic that I feel as strongly about as Alyson and Walmart. It is that of The Da Vinci Code. As part of the Anti-Catholic rhetoric the Da Vinci code was mentioned to give evidence to the evils propagated by the Catholic Church (i.e. Oppression of women (Mary Magdalene), seeking for power, etc.). I raised some eyebrows when I told them that I thought that it was and Anti-Christian book, and cited one part of the book to give my claim credibility (Christ’s divinity was an invention of Constantine in order to merge pagan religion and consolidate power). The retort that I received was “Oh, well it is a book of Fiction, what can you expect.”

Funny, the idea that it is fiction was never mentioned when talking about the Catholic Church or Mary Magdalene’s role as the Lord’s wife (which interestingly enough the book clearly implies that Mary was not the only “wife” of Christ as it was defined in the book, and that is the main reason why I am disgusted by the book, and call it Anti-Christian as well as religious pornography, but that little bit of fiction is conveniently forgotten when extolling the enlightening value of the book).

I thought it wise to keep my viewpoints to myself, especially since I would have been arguing with my kind host, Russ’s Mom, and her sisters. Nevertheless, I felt like an outsider. I am finding that I don’t exactly fit within the categories that define ideas and opinions, the philosophies of men. I find that I am an extreme conservative when I talk with some people, and I am a flaming liberal when I talk with others. I am seen as a person with a weak testimony because I am sympathetic to people of other faiths, and to others I have a strong testimony because I happen to use my right hand to take the sacrament.

The Anti-Defamation League said in a statement that condemned the Anti-LDS film “The Godmakers” that—attacks of that kind on a particular group of people is an attack on all of us. Why did the regular German people allow the kind of defamation and dehumanization of the Jews? Perhaps they thought that they would not be effected, or even that they might profit a little by their criticism (no harm done—right? Just dig a small pit for your neighbor and no biggie.). I hope that we as Latter-day saints do not do the same by thinking wrongfully that we will only succeed by causing the downfall of the “mother of all harlots” as we are so accustomed to label. I think that often people are too intellectually lazy to define ideas and get at the “root of the evil” (as Emerson called it) instead of labeling and categorizing, as we have witnessed with the tremendously complex issue of Terry Shiavo.

Comments:

Posted by Louise at Fri Apr 08 00:48:09

It's funny what happens when you put people from different families together. In this case, it was several families, since the Nelsons are my in-laws too. I don't think anyone's feelings were hurt too badly.

I was also raised in a community that was about 50 percent Catholic, although not quite like San Antonio. I tend to agree that Pope John Paul II was a good man. I have no good reasons to believe otherwise. I was really pleased to hear President Hinckley send his regards to Catholics during our General Conference. Living in Utah certainly hasn't made President Hinckley forget about the rest of the good people in the world. I've chosen how, where, and what I want to worship, but I'm always pleased to hear people speak well of other denominations.

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