When I first met Joel in my magazine writing class, I felt almost sorry for him. He had the sort of homely look that tugs at a mother’s heart strings. My mother made a similar comment once about Prince Charles.
My first interest in Joel was because he was a new father. It’s an undergraduate class. Other than my instructor, Joel was the only classmate who was a parent.
One day in class we were sharing our article ideas. Joel had originally planned to write about one thing, which didn’t pan out. He told the class our textbook author, Zinsser, said we should write about the things we were most passionate about. Joel said the thing he was most passionate about was his faith and his involvement in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For that reason, he’d be writing an article about Gordon Hinkley, the LDS president who recently died.
All of a sudden, I had something else in common with Joel. I’m half Mormon. The Mormon faith teaches it’s the father’s responsibility to get his children into heaven, though my father wasn’t involved in his faith. Raised in the home of his Mormon bishop grandfather after his own father died of testicular cancer, Dad was downright irreverent when it came to religion. He used to say, “What do you say when you have meatloaf for dinner three nights in a row? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Some of my other relatives are more committed, like Joel. One cousin in Utah has done German name translations to be used for the baptism of the dead. This is something I plan never to tell my Jewish friends. The baptism for the salvation of Jewish Holocaust victims--who Jews regard as martyrs for their faith--is viewed by Jews as a major insult. Ethel and her husband Frank also went on a second mission trip after his retirement.
I’ve learned some things through my father’s family that Dad never told me. After my grandfather died, when my father was two-years-old, his mother moved in with her father-in-law. Though I’ve never heard exactly why, my uncle believed the relationship was polygamous. This is something my cousin has shared with somewhat more levity than my aunt when she showed me the pictures of her father’s polygamous family.
Dad used to make the sign of the cross over the front of his trousers, as if his genitals were the three persons of the Trinity, a gesture he seemed to find incredibly funny, but which I found inscrutable as a girl. That is, before I learned these things about my family history.
Since the Lord set me free from my own involvement in Christian fundamentalism, I’ve wondered sometimes if Dad was onto something. Whether it’s radical Islam, the FLDS or the religious right, all fundamentalist religion worships the same triune god.
My first interest in Joel was because he was a new father. It’s an undergraduate class. Other than my instructor, Joel was the only classmate who was a parent.
One day in class we were sharing our article ideas. Joel had originally planned to write about one thing, which didn’t pan out. He told the class our textbook author, Zinsser, said we should write about the things we were most passionate about. Joel said the thing he was most passionate about was his faith and his involvement in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For that reason, he’d be writing an article about Gordon Hinkley, the LDS president who recently died.
All of a sudden, I had something else in common with Joel. I’m half Mormon. The Mormon faith teaches it’s the father’s responsibility to get his children into heaven, though my father wasn’t involved in his faith. Raised in the home of his Mormon bishop grandfather after his own father died of testicular cancer, Dad was downright irreverent when it came to religion. He used to say, “What do you say when you have meatloaf for dinner three nights in a row? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Some of my other relatives are more committed, like Joel. One cousin in Utah has done German name translations to be used for the baptism of the dead. This is something I plan never to tell my Jewish friends. The baptism for the salvation of Jewish Holocaust victims--who Jews regard as martyrs for their faith--is viewed by Jews as a major insult. Ethel and her husband Frank also went on a second mission trip after his retirement.
I’ve learned some things through my father’s family that Dad never told me. After my grandfather died, when my father was two-years-old, his mother moved in with her father-in-law. Though I’ve never heard exactly why, my uncle believed the relationship was polygamous. This is something my cousin has shared with somewhat more levity than my aunt when she showed me the pictures of her father’s polygamous family.
Dad used to make the sign of the cross over the front of his trousers, as if his genitals were the three persons of the Trinity, a gesture he seemed to find incredibly funny, but which I found inscrutable as a girl. That is, before I learned these things about my family history.
Since the Lord set me free from my own involvement in Christian fundamentalism, I’ve wondered sometimes if Dad was onto something. Whether it’s radical Islam, the FLDS or the religious right, all fundamentalist religion worships the same triune god.
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