In his letter of May 28, Taylor Maw writes, 'It should be obvious that the church does not support movies that are rated R.' Alas, like so many things people say are obvious in their letters to the editor, this supposition is far from it. The issue is far more black-and-white than Taylor suggests.
For years, BYU showed edited R-rated films in the Varsity Theatre. Money earned went to the owners of the films, of course, thus supporting the R-rated films they had produced. In many cases, BYU personnel were employed to do the editing --meaning, yes, BYU employees were paid to watch (and even pore over) R-rated films.
Church-owned KSL has also shown TV-edited R-rated films on many occasions. No, the films were not 'rated R' the way they were shown (except when KSL showed 'Schindler's List' unedited in 1997); but as with the Varsity Theatre, money still went to support the same R-rated source.
Finally, Taylor employs a quote from President Benson in 1986 that begins, 'Don't see R-rated movies.' Except he omits the first part of the quote, the part that says, 'We counsel you, young men' (or, when he gave the talk the same year at Women's Conference, 'We counsel you, young women'). Both times, the talk was explicitly addressed to the youth of the church, making it illogical to take the counsel, however good and worthwhile, as being specifically applicable to the entire church.
In the same talk, President Benson urged the young men to 'attend ... your quorum activities held on weeknights,' to 'earn the Duty to God
Award,' 'become and Eagle Scout' and 'regularly attend seminary,' none of which apply to general church membership. The R-rated thing is open to a lot more discussion than some would have us believe.
Eric D. Snider
Orem