Mormon-themed column lacks knowledge
I found Jennifer Miller’s April 12 column, “Can I get a witness?” extremely insensitive, biased and full of non sequiters aimed to make everyone mentioned in the column seem ridiculous.\nMiller began her column by stating, “Ah, Arizona: The only place in the world where Easter means some sick combination of Mormons, celebrations and legal citations.” What is sick? The fact that Mormons like to celebrate Easter? The fact that one woman lost control? The fact that every year every major event sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is surrounded by angry people with grotesque signs shouting demeaning things to those attending? Or the fact that a columnist wrote a piece on something of which she obviously has very little knowledge?\nI am not from Arizona (is Miller?). I do not know the pageant in question (does Miller?), but I have been to many conferences and pageants and seen my fair share of protesters and I know how disrupting they can be.\nMiller made it sound like a bad thing that “one woman just wanted to enjoy her Easter pageant in peace.” I think it’s safe to say that just about everyone disagrees with the way this woman went about attempting to achieve her goal. However, can you blame her for wanting to be allowed to celebrate her belief in a resurrection of her Savior without having to hear “You’re going to burn in Hell” over a loudspeaker? Miller would have served the public better by stating the story without laughing at everyone involved and say, “It’s time for people to coexist and allow all persons to worship, or not, whomever or whatever they believe, or don’t believe exists.” I hope that the next time Miller opens a newspaper she thinks about the larger context in which the story mentioned takes place. And besides, hasn’t “Mormons are crazy” been beaten to death?
Maren Payne-Holmes\nGraduate student
