Green Oasis

So here is the controversial scene depicting parts of the Mormon temple ceremony. As other ex-Mormons have said, it brings back memories. The person who posted the video titled it embarrassing. I don’t think it needs to be. Perhaps some are embarrassed by the ceremony, but I’m not ashamed to say that I once found it beautiful—when it wasn’t dry and repetitive. It embodies beautiful ideas and the fondest hopes of the LDS people.

Mormons want to keep it secret. I understand this desire. Shared secrets can be a delicious way to bind people together. A secret loses its savor when everyone knows what’s happening behind closed doors. I would feel violated if the secret nothings that I share with my wife late at night were profaned before the vulgar world.

It has become increasingly difficult in the information age to keep secrets. Secrecy begets mistrust. The temple ceremony is only embarrassing because it is alien to our workaday lives. It may be time for Mormons to find a new way to create sacredness that doesn’t depend on secrecy. In my view, their devotion and deference sacralizes this ritual, not its secrecy.

(via Mind on Fire, Mormon Coffee, and Main Street Plaza)