Bravo.

My first thought was that the level of detail and the length of the legal history involved in it would be off-putting and, frankly, irrelevant, to some, but in the end I thought it that it may provide some interesting context.

I don’t know if Marriott Corp will care about this open letter or if they will find it at all persuasive, but they should. I especially thought your last paragraph was just dynamite.

If all members of the bloggernacle would post their feelings about this issue, we might just accomplish something meaningful. Can you imagine if the ‘nacle could actually cause a change in thinking on this issue at Marriott Corp?

We should stand together on this issue. There cannot really be any legitimate debate about what the right course is.

Thank you Gary, for taking this important and courageous public stand.

p.s. OLMIP stands for “Open Letter to Marriott International about Pornography.”

69 — Thanks and you’re welcome. And intellectual crushes are of insufficient intimacy to require permission and can be as promiscuous as you wish.

70 — I wouldn’t argue with the “just barely” analysis, although, culturally, there are few markers of Mormon identity stronger than avoidance of alcohol and tobacco. In real terms, though, moderate drinking of alcohol is safe, and use of tobacco is dirty and disgusting, but it takes it quite a while to be dangerous. Social drinkers and social smokers (they do exist) aren’t much of a danger to anybody.

Drinking to intoxication and alcoholism are serious problems, and the Church’s blanket prohibition on recreational use of alcohol will protect one from these problems if followed closely. But having a glass of wine with dinner and a couple of beers while watching foot ball are no serious threat for anybody of median body mass and tolerance.

However, smoking one cigarette or drinking a wine cooler in public is a clear statement of rebellion against Mormonism in a way that wearing revealing clothing is not. A key part of the story of someone’s descent into sin will include “they started drinking and smoking….” It means that they are really gone, and won’t be back until they get really, really repentant.

Alcohol and tobacco just barely in the malum prohibitum category?

Um, you have read Mormonism in Transition, no? (And if not, keep quiet about it — or else Kristine will hit you upside the head with a volume from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism).

Blain, wonderful insights. Thank you. I also have an intellectual crush on Margaret. (Wait; does that make me intellectually polygamous? Do I need m&m’s permission?)

The Spirit is a better guide for behavior than any set of rules anybody on this blog could lay down.

Amen. And I agree with most everything else you say as well, except this:

Over time, you develop a reputation as a straight-shooter (or a jerk), and that can help reduce the duration of the arguments.

My reputation as a jerk has never reduced the duration of an argument. What am I doing wrong?

I think discussing concerns about things like porn, drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc. is a fair thing and a good idea even. Doing them when you know someone in proximity to you has them as part of their lives can be tricky — it takes some guts — but the standard of D&C 121 of showing forth an increase of love helps reduce the chances of being seen as an enemy. Over time, you develop a reputation as a straight-shooter (or a jerk), and that can help reduce the duration of the arguments.

And, I’m going to come back to this again, because I think it’s so key to the problem — we need to entirely and irrevocably stop the looking-down-the-nose thing. Those who use these issues as a way to distract attention from their own issues have a much greater issue to repent of, and I’m not talking about the greater issue that comes from failing to forgive. Those who want to pretend that their crap doesn’t stink, and that they really are perfect bring wreckage into many lives beyond their own and will have a great deal to answer for in the next life. Jesus was the most righteous person to set foot on this planet, and he was not a smug, self-righteous prig about it.

We are not on this planet to figure out everything that’s wrong with everybody else. Some few of us will take a temporary turn as a Judge in Israel where we will get more than our fill of these kinds of things. The rest of us need to spend almost no time figuring out what someone else needs to repent of, because we have plenty enough of our own sins to repent of and to spare. “Every member a mission president” isn’t nearly as damaging as “Every member a bishop.”

When we’re not on our high-horses, and we’ve shown people that we love them, and we take some care in how we say the things we have to say that might be hurtful, we can say what the Spirit moves us to say. It might not be what we want to say from our own personal soap boxes, but we can do that in our own space, where it only impact us. The Spirit is a better guide for behavior than any set of rules anybody on this blog could lay down.

Not even close, hoss.