Acting Mormon
A couple of years ago Kirby Heyborne , an LDS actor known for his work in LDS films such as The R.M, Singles Ward and The Best Two Years, did a beer commercial for Miller Lite. He received some backlash from the LDS community for appearing in the ad. Some called him a “sell out” others questioned his “personal ethics and faith.”
In response to the scrutiny, Heyborne said this in an interview with Deseret News’ Mormon Times: "I'm a temple-worthy member that loves his wife and kids, and fulfills his calling at church and does his home teaching. And yet I'm going to play characters that might have moral dilemmas, or do a commercial -- or whatever it is --because my job is the way that I provide for my family." Heyborne also released this parody:
Recently a group of 12 LDS women posed for the Hot Mormon Muffins: A Taste of Motherhood calendar. Though Chad Hardy, the calendars creator says that his calendar was “created as a vehicle to create dialog and deliberately debunk the subservient stereotypes of women's roles within the Mormon Church,” criticizers called it immodest, sleazy and even pornographic.
Calendar cover girl and mother of three daughters, Tami Roberts, in an Idaho Falls, Local News 8 interview said, "I don't see what the big deal is. I think it's kind of campy and fun.”
Hot topics such as these remind me of when I was younger, having lived in an area that was predominantly non-Mormon, I was often told by my parents that I needed to set a “good example.” What exactly did they mean by that? Well, I was told because I was the one of the few members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that many of my friends and family members knew, I should act in a way that showed others that I was a follower of Christ. As a Latter-day Saint I am always quite conscious of the eyes that may be upon me. I cringe at even the thought of the instances when I have behaved poorly, and a witness to my un-Christ-likeness finds out that I am Christian and LDS.
As a kid it’s hard to be a good example all the time, and as an adult it is even more complex. Children are following their parent’s rules, but as an adult there is no one that says to us, “Because I said so.” Religious leaders, politicians, actors, models, celebrities and all other public figures are scrutinized more so, because they are in the public eye. The whole world is often privy to their words and their actions. Is our scrutiny fair?
Are there exceptions? Would the LDS community have felt differently if Kirby Heyborne had portrayed a beer-drinking investigator of the LDS church or drunk King Laban of the Book of Mormon? Can "Hot Mormon Muffins” of today still be effective Young Women Leaders of tomorrow?
Mosiah 29:12: Now it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of God are always just, but the judgments of man are not always just. It is not my desire to be an unjust judge; you know what the Bible says, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” (Did you hear that…all the rocks just fell out of my hand?)
This is what I have come to realize, however unfair it may seem, my personal actions can and often do have an affect on how others view my faith.
Sidenote: I thought about auditioning for next years “Hot Mormon Muffins” calendar (not really), but then they would have to call it Warm Mormon Muffin-Tops (really)!
An imperfect follower of Christ,
Sista Laurel
