Endowment Ceremony on Big Love
The Controversy Surrounding the HBO Show
HBO has found itself in defense mode as the network and its creators defend content that will air on an upcoming episode of the network's popular drama Big Love. The show, which follows a fictionalized polygamist family in Utah, will be introducing a story line in which one of the characters, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, participates in what is called an "endowment ceremony."
The Reaction to the Big Love Endowment Ceremony from the LDS Church
According to ABC News, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is up in arms over the choice to use this sacred and quite secret ritual in one of the episodes, calling that choice "appallingly bad taste." "It now seems the show's writers are to depict what they understand to be sacred temple ceremonies," continued the statement from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Certainly church members are offended when their most sacred practices are misrepresented or presented without context or understanding."
The statement also advises that before the first episode of Big Love aired, they had been assured by HBO Executives that the series would not be about Mormonism, and that "Mormon themes are now being woven into the show" and Mormon characters in the show are more often being depicted as "unsympathetic figures" who are "narrow and self-righteous."
Statement from HBO About The Endowment Ceremony on Big Love
For its part, HBO released a statement earlier defending the decision to allow the ceremony to be used in the Big Love, according to Reuters. The statement advised that "Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology. It should also be noted that throughout the series’ three-year run, the writer/producers have made abundantly clear the distinction between the LDS Church and those extreme fringe groups who practice polygamy."
Endowment Ceremony Controversy Reaction From Creators of Big Love
The creators of Big Love later issued their own statement saying that they "took great pains to depict the ceremony with the dignity and reverence it is due." Mark Olsen, one of the co-creators of the Big Love series has been quoted in numerous interviews as wanting to make the series relevant to the characters' lives.
Endowment ceremonies are kept secret, with participants unable to reveal any of the key words or symbols from the ceremony. While the details surrounding all that an endowment ceremony entails are kept secret, the general history of the ritual began with Joseph Smith, Jr. The ceremony consists of symbolic acts and readings that are designed to prepare those involved to officiate in priesthood ordinances, and provide the endowment ceremony participants with the key words and tokens they will need to pass through the angels who guard then entrance to heaven.
Big Love airs on Sunday nights on the HBO network.
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