Mormons confuzzle me...

Not much can make me speechless. I can carry on a conversation with a tree stump and am not nearly as hesitant as I should be when it comes to sharing my opinion. But there are some things that I just can't fathom, and the things that I saw when I visited a Mormon church service yesterday is a prime example.

Since when is it okay to do paperwork or play with your cell phone in the middle of a church service? What happened to people taking their disruptive children out of the sanctuary during worship? Why do people, particularly adults, think it's okay to talk during the service? Why is it okay to knit a hat during Sunday school? And where was I when it became acceptable for adults - or anyone for that matter - to carry on a texting conversation in church?

Now I know that the older I get the more I become like my father, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I know that I'm judgemental but I really don't think I'm out of line in wondering what these people were thinking.

I grew up going to church. I've been to the Church of Christ, Catholic churches, Baptist churches, Lutheran churches and non-denominational churches and in all my experiences I've never seen this kind of disrespect toward God. While there are aspects that I like about the Mormon church (not so much the whole prophet business) this has really turned me off from learning more about them.

mmm... Mormons exposed

According to Fox News, a non-practicing Mormon, Chad Hardy, decided to become a member of the if you can't beat 'em, join 'em club earlier this year. After searching out 12 beef cakey young Mormon men, he convinced them to remove their shirts - oh, no! the horror! - and pose for a calendar along the lines of those wonderful firefighter calendars that are so popular (And rightfully so, I say! Have you seen them? Yum, yum, yum.).

It appears the whole take your shirt off, do not collect $200, go straight to hell kind of thing didn't sit so well with the church elders because poor Chad was excommunicated on Sunday. Some of the models were called to discipline meetings, but none were punished, which I don't think is fair. I mean, come on, Chad didn't even take his shirt off, and he got excommunicated! The guys who actually appeared in the calendar should at least have to suffer some humiliation. And I'd be more than happy to help them out with that - they can go shirtless while feeding me grapes or cleaning my house.

Wal-Mart vs. Christmas

While perusing the online version of the Conway, Arkansas Log Cabin Democrat this morning, I came across the story of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights proposed boycott of Wal-Mart. Apparently, Wal-Mart changed it's traditional "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" because there are so many year-end celebrations by different faiths and the Catholics are all fired up over it.

The thing that really gets my goat is the lack of tolerance by the Catholic League. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! You mean there's really more than one celebration going on in December?! And all along I thought that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were just myths! Give me a break, people. "Happy Holidays" is something generic you can say for the entire 2 last months of the year. It doesn't mean that Christmas has all of the sudden been abolished just because you weren't greeted with "Merry Christmas" when you walked through the doors of Wal-Mart. It means that this is America and there is more than one religion out there and "Happy Holidays" is a way to include everyone. I swear, some people...