So many stereotypes broken, so little time. Raul Labrador, an LDS immigration attorney born in Puerto Rico, is the Republican candidate for the 1st congressional district in Idaho. Raised in a single-parent home, he is a strong fiscal conservative who favors immigration reform.
Let us count the stereotypes that have been beaten down in this case.
Today’s gospel doctrine class was on Ruth, Naomi and Hannah. There are many important lessons to be learned from the lives of these righteous women, but this lesson in itself highlights how seldom women are mentioned by name in the scriptures (compared to men).
But it occurred to me today that some of us may be missing the point regarding women in the scriptures. Men are more often the protagonists in the scriptures, but women are the heroes of many of the most crucial events. Let’s take a look.
A lonely man wanders the wilderness after an apocalyptic war. He is the last of his kind. He carries with him scriptures that are sealed and can only be read by those with special gifts. These scriptures are so valuable that an evil tyrant wants to get his hands on them.
(WARNING: SPOILERS COMING — IF YOU ARE GOING TO SEE THIS MOVIE, STOP READING UNLESS YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MOVIE).
The lonely man is a kind of prophet named Eli (Heb: “my God.”) who quotes scriptures. In the end, we learn he has completely memorized the King James Bible. He “translates” the Bible by dictating it to another man who writes it all down and prints it for future generations.
It’s easy to see some Mormon parallels in “The Book of Eli.”
One of the primary sponsors of the Arizona immigration law. state Sen. Russell Pearce, is LDS. This article makes the argument that there is a widespread perception among Arizona Latins that the Church – or at least some of the most prominent politicians who are LDS – are against Latins because they support the law.
Key excerpts:
One prospective convert stopped seeing the missionaries because “I decided I did not want to expose my kids to a religion that has members that hate other people because they are different,” Corral said.
A branch president says the missionaries are getting doors slammed in their faces.
Kenneth Patrick Smith, a Mesa lawyer and president of the Valencia Branch, a Spanish-speaking LDS congregation in Mesa, said missionaries from his church have had doors slammed in their faces since Arizona’s new law was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer in April.
One long-time member says other Latins blame Mormons.
“It is embarrassing to have to defend the church for the thoughts of one man,” said Castañeda, a member of the Spanish-speaking Liahona Second Ward in Mesa.
My take: supporters of this law, no matter how well-intentioned, completely underestimate how much the Latin community opposes this law and how discriminatory they believe it is towards them. Hispanics truly feel this law makes them second-class citizens, constantly under suspicion because of their ethnicity.
Most readers have seen the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Remember when George Bailey is shown how life would be if he hadn’t been born? He runs through Bedford Falls but it has been taken over by the evil Mr. Potter and renamed “Potterville.” And the main feature of Potterville is that the nice, clean family town has been replaced by a dirty, filthy town filled with honkeytonks, bars, strip joints, etc.
Thanks to medical marijuana legalization, people in Colorado have been given their own view of what it’s like to live in Potterville. And I do mean “pot.” There are “medical marijuana” dispensaries on every street corner in many towns now, and you can purchase vape pens at almost every corner store. They have sprung up in the last year as the medical marijuana legalization effort have come into full swing. So, one result when you legalize pot the way Colorado chose to do so is you get a literal Potterville, with dirty characters hanging out in front of pot dispensaries, which are literally on every block in downtown Loveland, CO, near where I live.