Mormon Shirtless Calendar

When I first read about the "Men on a Mission" calendar, I thought it was a novel and interesting idea. I thought the LDS leadership was taking it too far by excommunicating the calendar's creator. The calendar features 12 former mormon missionaries with pictures of them on their mission and then pictures shirtless. Proceeds of the calendar go to 12 charities in the areas that these men served during their 2 year stint as missionaries.

My initial feelings about it were annoyance. Why must the LDS leadership excommunicate a guy trying to do a good deed, even if it is unorthodox for the church's standards? Excommunication is usually reserved for vile people like murderers and child molestors. Some lesser moral issues lead to excommunication as well.

I visited the calendar creator's website and browsed through the catalog. I saw the real reason why he was excommunicated.

He had created and was selling t-shirts that give the church a very bad image. There were shirts with one man holding hands with 6 women. Other shirt designs show a very large family that got that way because they avoided drinking alcohol and smoking. The last design was of missionaries kneeling in prayer with the tag line "Standing Tall" below the image. All these things are offensive and NOT something I would associate with charity.

I'm a mormon, although my attendance is not as regular as most. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, nickenamed by many as the mormon church, is an organization that does tremendous good in this world, helping the poor, disabled, and undereducated get what they need. The members help eachother in any way they can. It is a positive community of people, despite some odd quirks that most people don't understand unless you are close to some of its members.

I am not bothered by the calendar. It doesn't make fun of the church or the missionaries. I'm extremely offended by the other merchandise this guy is selling. I believe this other merchandise combined with the calendar was the reason he was excommunicated. If that is the case, he deserved it.

"The project is about stepping outside the stereotypes and stepping outside of the image," Chad Hardy, the calendar creator, said. "Not everybody fits the image and I let them know we're not trying to portray an image for the entire church."

Images of polygamy are NOT the image that fits anyone in the LDS church either. Polygamy was outlawed in the 1800's and hasn't been practiced by the LDS church since it was outlawed.

If this guy had truely good intentions, he would not have created those other products to make fun and tear down the church and its good efforts.

When I first read about the "Men on a Mission" calendar, I thought it was a novel and interesting idea. I thought the LDS leadership was taking it too far by excommunicating the calendar's creator. The calendar features 12 former mormon missionaries with pictures of them on their mission and then pictures shirtless. Proceeds of the calendar go to 12 charities in the areas that these men served during their 2 year stint as missionaries.

My initial feelings about it were annoyance. Why must the LDS leadership excommunicate a guy trying to do a good deed, even if it is unorthodox for the church's standards? Excommunication is usually reserved for vile people like murderers and child molestors. Some lesser moral issues lead to excommunication as well.

I visited the calendar creator's website and browsed through the catalog. I saw the real reason why he was excommunicated.

He had created and was selling t-shirts that give the church a very bad image. There were shirts with one man holding hands with 6 women. Other shirt designs show a very large family that got that way because they avoided drinking alcohol and smoking. The last design was of missionaries kneeling in prayer with the tag line "Standing Tall" below the image. All these things are offensive and NOT something I would associate with charity.

I'm a mormon, although my attendance is not as regular as most. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, nickenamed by many as the mormon church, is an organization that does tremendous good in this world, helping the poor, disabled, and undereducated get what they need. The members help eachother in any way they can. It is a positive community of people, despite some odd quirks that most people don't understand unless you are close to some of its members.

I am not bothered by the calendar. It doesn't make fun of the church or the missionaries. I'm extremely offended by the other merchandise this guy is selling. I believe this other merchandise combined with the calendar was the reason he was excommunicated. If that is the case, he deserved it.

"The project is about stepping outside the stereotypes and stepping outside of the image," Chad Hardy, the calendar creator, said. "Not everybody fits the image and I let them know we're not trying to portray an image for the entire church."

Images of polygamy are NOT the image that fits anyone in the LDS church either. Polygamy was outlawed in the 1800's and hasn't been practiced by the LDS church since it was outlawed.

If this guy had truely good intentions, he would not have created those other products to make fun and tear down the church and its good efforts. Decide for yourself.

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So check this out. This was kinda cool. The calendar creater responded to an email I sent on the matter. He wrote:

Thanks for the email. I do not understand why we are so ashamed of our polygamous past, and our polygamous future. It is part of our history that we should understand, and not be afraid of. I personally have polygamist ancestors, and if it was not for them, I would not be here. If we understand Mormon Doctrine correctly, then we will know, understand and accept that we will practice polygamy in the celestial kingdom. Polygamy is the everlasting covenant of marriage, and it is still in the D&C. It has not been removed. Polygamy is still practiced today in the church - not in the living but in the dead. A man can be sealed to several dead women in the temple.

As for the standing tall, that actually used to say "missionary position" but we changed it to standing tall to be more positive. I am not sure where you are coming from on that one.

Anyhow, thanks for sharing your thoughts - I enjoy the dialog this project has created. I hope this has helped you understand a little bit more about my stand on polygamy and how I embrace it as part of our heritage - and eternal future.

I wrote back and said I appreciated his response. To clarify my email to him was slightly different than what I wrote here. I didn't tell him he deserved excommunication as I thought that would be rude, but he might have read my blog anyway. Oh well. His response is probably confusing to some because the topics are mostly understood among LDS members and not so much among the public. Nice guy. Wished him the best and said he should ditch the tshirt line and come up with something more positive. Doubt that will happen though. To each his/her own.