Shame on you, Todd Miller!
 
In a move that stunned golf fans around the country, Brigham Young University golfer Todd Miller, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a returned missionary, withdrew from the Utah Mens State Amateur Golf tournament, after refusing to play the final round on Sunday.
 
What this means is that his opponent, Clark Rustand, also did not get to play on Sunday, and won the round by default, something, I’m sure, he did not want to do. He wanted to play. This is not the victory he desired.
 
So why would Miller do such a thing? “What I do on Sundays is more important than golf,” Miller was quoted as saying at the time, according to an article from the Associated Press.
 
So why did he sign up at all? By signing up, he entered into a contract with the tournament and the other golfers. If he knew the final round was on Sunday—as he obviously did–and he also knew he would not be willing to play on Sunday, why was he there at all?
 
After listening to an impassioned plea by his father, professional golfer Johnny Miller, I think I know why he did it. Miller senior once stated he wanted to lead a tournament in the PGA and then withdraw on Sunday just to make a statement.  In the news conference I watched, Johnny Miller, emotion choking his voice, told the news media that golfing on Sunday was not right, and that all golfers should be ashamed that they had allowed it to go on for so long. Here, I have to ask, golfing on Sundays is not right according to whom, Mr. Miller? The Mormon Church?
 
Now, while I appreciate that Mr. Millers Senior and Junior have the right to worship as they please, what right do they have to push that on to the rest of the world, or in this case, the state? As a faithful Mormon, young Mr. Miller should have declined to play in the tournament at all, realizing that should he continue on, he would be required to play on Sunday, something that went against his beliefs. That would have been the appropriate thing to do. That would have been the Christian thing to do. But it certainly lacked the splash he got from the actions he chose to take. No one would have noticed. Johnny Miller wouldn’t have had a press conference, because no one would have been there to listen. Todd Miller would not have been able to make a stance against playing on Sunday.
 
Now, Clark Rustand has been denied the thrill of victory, achieving his win only through default. Rustand, another BYU golfer, and also Mormon, was willing to play on Sunday. But it was not to be.
 
There is an arrogance about Utah Mormons that other Mormons across the country do not share. Here, where the majority rules, and our state laws and legislature are ruled surreptitiously by the Mormon hierarchy, the faithful LDS are used to getting their way. This was one instance where they did not. Did Todd Miller make a statement? I believe he did. I doubt, however, it was the statement he intended to make. Both he and his father wanted the rules changed to suit their religion and their beliefs. Instead, Todd Miller violated the rules of fair play, and dashed the hopes of one other Utah amateur golfer.
 
While I applaud Todd Miller for standing true to his religious beliefs, he did not thoroughly consider his actions. This is something that will long have reverberations for him throughout his career.

Oh, Orrin, what’s next?

Apparently, according to an article in the July 7 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune, Senator Orrin Hatch has endorsed a federal judicial nominee who wrote that women should have a subordinate role in marriage.

http://166.70.44.66/2004/Jul/07072004/utah/181590.asp

I can hear the collective gasps now. I know you’re all terribly surprised. Whenever I read stories like this, I usually just shake my head and sigh, because there really isn’t much of anything I, or anyone else, can do. Shaking your head and sighing is a good form of therapy when faced with this kind of drivel, and it is much safer than, say, banging your head against the wall and pummeling your own face with your fists. A deep breath, a slight shake, as though ridding yourself of the nuisance information, and you feel much better.

After all, this is an issue that will not go away, and it certainly isn’t unique to Utah, and the Mormon Church, of which Senator Hatch is a prominent member. Remember a few years back, with the Southern Baptists decided at their annual conference that a woman should “graciously submit” to her husband? Of course, my immediate reaction was a “submit this” but I’ve always been somewhat of a rebel. Just ask my parents.

I remember years ago when my mother joined up with hundreds and thousands of Mormon women to help defeat the Equal Rights Amendment. She went to some convention, and came home with stories of lesbians ogling her and the horrors of the demise of the traditional family, abortions available to be performed at every corner market along with your carton of milk, and rampant sexual promiscuity, along with acceptance of homosexuality. I kinda think that last one is what scared my mom most. She seems almost morbidly afraid of lesbians. I’m not sure why. I’ve met quite a few, and they really aren’t all that frightening. I know, however, in her scope of life, she has not met any lesbians (at least that are willing to admit they are lesbians) and so the unknown is frightening to her. Perhaps she is afraid that one can “catch” lesbianism. Having been in close contact with several lesbians and gays before, I can assure you that this is not true. Lesbianism does not pass through casual contact or germs spread through the air. No matter HOW pissed off you are at your male mate, coming into contact with a lesbian does not guarantee you will switch sides. Nope, it seems you are doomed to be what you are.

But that fear of lesbians led my mother (and perhaps other women) to help defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, which is why, more than 20 years later, we still hear this “submit” and “suborn” malarkey.

And did you hear that the Mormon Church officially came out against gay marriage? Shake your head. Sigh. Deep breaths.