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So… living in Utah is a world of its own, as I’m sure it is anywhere else in the world. Each state, area, country, providence, or whatever you call home comes with its unique characteristics that undoubtedly presents itself in the subtle and ugliest manner at the same notion. For here, it is the vast religious overhead known as the LDS Church, or Mormons for those who are less informed of the acronym standing for Latter Day Saints. 

To clarify, I was born, raised, and willingly chose to no longer attend the church, so let’s clear that mist before I continue. I have chosen not to attend any organized religion at this point. I have taken what I have learned, researched, studied, and have my present ideals of what feels right, as that seems to be the concept of religion to cope with life. However, it is completely mind blowing, to me, regarding how people react to differences of lifestyle. While I’m nearing the mark of thirty years on this Earth and this shouldn’t be any more surprising that it is in any concept of differences between people, it still makes me perform a double-take.  (This will be a long one, to read on, hit the jump link below.)

Because of the dominance of the church in this state, it’s pretty well documented in the news of what events are going on. Hell, KSL’s local Utah news website even had a banner dedicated the proceedings of the LDS church’s activities on their bi-yearly conference. Needless to say, it is the big news of the state when this occurs. I’ve grown accustomed to the news of the church leading the news headlines shortly followed by the meth lab busts and the routine murder, assault, sex offender, missing persons, and weather reports.  One bit of news slipped through the cracks that I noticed on Twitter trends which was the amount of protesters present at the event. 

The concept of protesting intrigues me. I’ve yet to take the time to dress appropriately and show up to an “organized” gathering to protest the action of something. I just can never decide if my “Wild Riot” look should be taken over the “Here I Am, Suck It” ensemble. Either way, it just hasn’t happened. Now, some could immediately argue, “Well that’s cause you don’t stand up for what you believe in,” or “You’re not a real American! Your values are depleting.” I’d beg to differ as I still do things I wish, I still believe what I do, and yet, I seem to be alright with the concept that someone else doesn’t agree. In fact, good on you for being different. Realize “different” is a two-way street and get the @*!$ out of my face so I can get back to my intense game of Tetris will process as a thought when said periodic scenario occurs. Never the less… this happens. In this case, it was different religious groups who decided to gather and express themselves. But how to do so?

The apparent maneuver to this experience is to be as loud as you can, shove ideals into peoples’ faces, and accept no other possibility other than they are wrong and you are right. Case in point: A friend of mine tweeted about their experience on October 3rd for the attendance of general conference. Tweets described a time when they were approached, while alone, by a small group of individuals. They immediately began bible bashing or tossing various verses, phrases, passages of their preferred gold laden reading source to counteract another’s religion. While there were a large group of LDS Missionaries who would be more appropriate to have a civilized discussion of the manner, the only retort that could be said was that they were reading the wrong bible. For those who are unaware, there is a Book of Mormon that the LDS Church uses heavily for its foundation. That is a whole other blog should I wish to pursue that discussion later. But for now, take it for what it is. “My book is more accurate than your book.” Basically. While it is a typical human response to go with, this person also fell prey to the “I’m right, you’re wrong” train of thought. After reading about this debacle, I’m left with this thought… what was the point? This is why protesting intrigues me. There was no apparent goal as the protesting party chose to approach them in a hostile manner on a day that followers of the church hold sacred. Is it just the goal to ruin someone’s religious day? Is it not preached by several religions (NOT ALL) that they need to be accepting of people in general? What is the point??

In summation: I’d love to hear your very opinionated views on how wrong I am on a topic so thinly held together by faith, but if you don’t mind, they just patched MAG to support the Playstation Move. Don’t worry, I mute the whiny kids that cry about the game mechanics but yet still play. So don’t worry random protestor types, you’re not alone in the digital world.

-Spot