Frontline: The Mormons

http://www.pbs.org/mormons/
I enjoyed several parts of the documentary. The story about Brigham Youngs's dream of Joseph Smith telling him to listen to the "still small voice" and that if he did that God would always be there for him to direct him and the chruch. I actually had never heard that story before.

My favorite quote was from Kathleen Flake: "It is revelation or nothing for these people." I agree that what set Joseph Smith apart was that he wanted everyone to have the same experiences and relatioship with God that he did. But then it goes on about MMM and falsely accuse the church of expecting blind, unquestioning obedience. I don't think the documentary resolved this seeming contradiction. In my experience, the church has always expected me to "study things out in my own mind" and warns to not "subsist on barrowed light." For example, when others tried to give Brigham Young credit for organizing the mass migration of the saints to Utah, Pres. Young always deflected that praise; instead attributing the migration's success to the "burning testimonies" in the hearts of each individual saint.

I also liked the part about the Mormon's connection with dance and our belief about the connection of the body with the spirit and our belief in a coporeal God. My family and I were fortunate enough to see a dance company from BYU-idaho perform a few weeks ago. I can attest that there can be a wonderful spirit felt in dance as the program was both beautiful, fun, and inspirational.