Special relationship or Special Interest?
Blather February 8th, 2006[Update: I no longer think the matter which prompted me to write this is innapropriate. Also, someone pointed out it’s a bit presumptious to draw the conclusions about the anonymous writer which I did. While I only did that for comic effect, I guess that’s not the entire effect, so I see the point.]
To introduce the concept of the LDS temple prayer roll to anyone who may not know, it’s a list to which attendants can submit names of “..people for whom there is a special concern or relationship..” for the temple patrons to ask the Lord to bless.
So what do you do when you see “Pres. Bush” written on the prayer roll in the Provo Temple? This is not the question to a question-and-answer joke, but it could be. This is a real question based on something I actually saw. So if the qualifying criteria for placement on the roll is “special relationship”, do they actually especially know Bush? Or does a special testimony of Bush as God’s President (among mormons who too closely blend religion and politics) qualify as having a “special relationship”? Questions that ran through my mind. I find the former unlikely and the latter disturbing on levels. I do think there’s a sort of sacredness in any office related to freedom: I think political freedom is a blessing. But if Bush is God’s President, shouldn’t LDS republicans just put the whole Democratic party on the prayer roll, because Jesus said to pray for your enemies? And no question, there’s a special relationship of addicted antagonism there. Maybe I should write “Overzealous LDS Republicans” on the prayer roll.
February 9th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
I think President Bush is a child of God with a hugely high-pressure job, whose actions wield enormous influence here and all over the world, and in whom all of us have a legitimate interest. I think it’s entirely appropriate to put his name on the prayer rolls.
February 10th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Well put, and by that argument I agree.