Ep. 839, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 7 of 12, by Zane Grey

Can Venters publicly call out Tull’s crimes without a serious backlash? Zane Grey, today on The Classic Tales Podcast. 

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It looks like it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room: The Mormonism in this story. 

First of all, I’ve got to say that Mormon people are some of the best people I’ve known. My parents, friends, colleagues, neighbors - I have a Mormon background. Most of the people I know locally are Mormon. And they’re wonderful – I love them dearly! Mormons, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are great. They’re my folks. The fact that I’m producing this book now isn’t any reflection on them. 

The thing that’s so nefarious about this book is its villain. It’s not a person – it’s systemic religious extortion used to build wealthy empires, while neglecting the poor and needy. That’s what it’s all about – when the institutions we trust to take care of us that actually take way more than they give. Now, is this a uniquely Mormon/LDS problem? No! But it happened then, and it’s happening now. Don’t believe me? Check out 60 Minutes on CBS last week. This religious empire building they talk of in the book is still happening today. 

And so, like other topics that we’ve discussed over the years - racism, classism, poverty, - things that these classic authors wrote about over 100 years ago that were a problem then and are still a problem now, I’m afraid religious-oriented extortion is among them. I wish it wasn’t but here we are. 

Let’s see if we can do better.

And now, Riders of the Purple Sage, part 7 of 12, by Zane Grey

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