Church Responds to Questions on HBO's Big Love
In responding, Church spokesmen have made three major
points:
1. Concern for abuse victims
The Church has long been concerned about the illegal
practice of polygamy in some communities, and in particular
about persistent reports of emotional and physical child and
wife abuse emanating from them. It will be regrettable if
this program, by making polygamy the subject of
entertainment, minimizes the seriousness of that problem and
adds to the suffering of abuse victims.
2. Confusion over
the continued practice of polygamy
The central characters of Big Love are not
“Mormons,” or, more properly termed, Latter-day Saints. HBO
has said the script makes it clear that members of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints don’t practice
polygamy. Still, placing the series in Salt Lake City, the
international headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is enough to blur the line between the
modern Church and the program’s subject matter and to
reinforce old and long-outdated stereotypes.
Polygamy was officially discontinued by The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890. Any Church member
adopting the practice today is excommunicated. Groups that
continue the practice in Utah and elsewhere have no
association whatsoever with The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Most of their practitioners have never
been among its members.
Unfortunately, this distinction is often lost on
members of the public and even on some senior journalists.
When ABC network’s Prime Time recently aired a
program focused on the secretive polygamous community of
Colorado City, the reporter repeatedly referred to members
of the community as “Mormon polygamists.” In response, the
Church points to the Associated Press style guide for
journalists which states: "The term Mormon is not
properly applied to the other ... churches that resulted
from the split after (Joseph) Smith's death." In other
words, polygamous communities should never be referred to as
"Mormon" polygamists or “Mormon”
fundamentalists.
3. Concern over the
moral standards of television entertainment
Despite its popularity with some, much of today’s
television entertainment shows an unhealthy preoccupation
with sex, coarse humor and foul language. Big Love,
like so much other television programming, is essentially
lazy and indulgent entertainment that does nothing for our
society and will never nourish great minds. Parents who are
casual about their viewing habits ought not to be surprised
if teaching moral choices and civic values to their children
becomes harder as a result.
For that reason and others, Church leaders have
consistently cautioned against such entertainment, joining
with other religious, education and government leaders in
inviting individuals and families to follow a higher road of
decency, self-discipline and integrity.
Style guide note: When reporting about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please use the complete name of the Church in the first reference. For more information on the use of the name of the Church, go to our online style guide.
