Tom Hanks, creator of polygamist show Big Love, calls Mormons "un-American" for voting their conscious

So Tom Hanks, creator of the polygamy inspired TV show Big Love, that he claims was not inspired by Mormons, calls members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "un-American". In other words, Tom Hanks who makes fun of a Mormon practice abandoned over 100 years ago, now calls Mormons "un-American".

Specifically, Tom Hanks said:

"The truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen. There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them."

Now the thing I find interesting, ignoring the fact that Tom Hanks fails to lump all those that supported Proposition 8 like Catholics, Evangelicals, Latinos, and African Americans, into his "un-American" label, is that Tom Hanks shows his bias and ignorance on the issue by saying, "Mormons gave a lot of money to the church".

Tom, I don't think Mormons and others gave money to the Mormon church to help pass this issue, didn't they donate their money as citizens of the United States to the political organization of their choice? It's a little crazy to suggest law abiding citizens are "un-American" for following the legal processes due them by the constitution.

Update: Tom Hanks hid behind his publicist who issued a statement on his behalf saying basically, "We use to be able to make fun of Mormons with impunity, but the timing was wrong on this biased statement. I will continue to use Big Love as my forum and I'll wait for another moment to spew my own discriminatory comments." OK, he really didn't say that, but you can read it between the lines. Look at what he said here.

Day of Faith and Interviews at Harvard - Mormon getting grilled on beliefs

There are some ideas and concepts that should be mimicked by others. I think the forum, held at Harvard called Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose, allowed many different religions to be seen from the actual minds of members of their church as opposed to the clouded glasses of authors whose works befuddle and confuse.

A Mormon, Rachel Esplin, fields questions about Mormonism. She talks a lot about Jesus Christ and describes some of her perceptions and doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Perhaps other universities could further peace by mimicking this forum. Did she handle the questions or did she get burned? What do you think?


Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo

My personal thoughts on the subject is that she did well. I think she could learn an example of the Mormon garments to help answer the question. For example, the man to Rachel's right was wearing a kippah or yarmulke and the woman to her left was wearing a hijab. There are many religions today that wear clothing to represent their faith, religion, or dedication. Of course, one major difference between Mormon garments and the kippah or hijab is that Mormon garments come mostly in one color, while the kippah or hijab has a wide variety of colors. See the sport collection of kippah's here and a Smörgåsbord of hijabs here.

Read about it in frequently asked questions my take on the Mormon garment.

You may view all the interviews here.