Boston Globe: A gripping look at foundations of Mormon faith
Imagine a four-hour documentary on the Mormon church that skips its most prominent member in the country today, Mitt Romney.
“The Mormons,” a collaboration between PBS powerhouse series ”
The Romney candidacy notwithstanding, it’s high time that Americans separate fact from fiction about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it is officially called. The timing is excellent for veteran documentarian Helen Whitney, whose fascinating look at the Mormons airs Monday and Tuesday on WGBH.
Many church members will chafe at Whitney’s spotlight, while countless non-Mormons will be shocked by church history and practices. They will be put off by its secrecy and authoritarian structure. By the absence of black men as full members until 1978. By its early embrace of polygamy.
They will find risible the notion that the Garden of Eden was located in what is now Jackson County, Mo., or that ancient Israelites came to America more than 2 , 000 years ago. The early Christian church looked loony to a lot of people, too, yet it has had 2,000 years to polish its myths. The Mormon church is less than 180 years old.
Still, the Mormons have spooked America since the church’s creation. Joseph Smith was called a fraud when he founded the church in 1830, and despite its best efforts to inject itself into the American cultural mainstream, the church is still viewed with suspicion in some quarters. Polls show that a substantial number of Americans would not vote for a Mormon for president. Catholic and Protestant denominations alike have challenged the inclusion of the church in historic Christianity. (more…)