Rudy

           (Daniel E. "Rudy" Ruettiger, left, and Randy "Rudy" Garn at Saturday's LDS Church baptismal service. Photo credit: Deseret News)

I woke up to a text the other day from my brother who informed me Rudy had become a Mormon.  We both rolled our eyes at the news and said to ourselves, “oh boy, here we go”!  If you’re not a Mormon, Ex-Mormon, or been closely affiliated with the Mormons, you may not quite understand why eyes would be rolled at such news.

Apparently, Ruettiger had just been to a BYU/Notre Dame game with a good friend, and after the game inquired into the Mormon faith.  As a result of this sincere friendship, and the love shown to him by his pal, Ruettiger converted.

Growing up and even still today, I’ve noticed the Mormon church loves to toot it’s own horn when it comes to celebrity conversions.  It’s like they can’t help themselves, to show the world, “see, we are not weird at all”!  I grew up hearing of all kinds of celebrity Mormons.  It became such a big deal to members of the church.  It got so bad that even celebrities that weren’t Mormon were being advertised as members.  I remember for the longest time, I believed Steve Martin was a Mormon.  It was said he was wearing a CTR ring on TV.

A CTR ring is a very popular piece of jewelry for Mormons.  It stands for Choose The Right, and it was all the craze well before the WWJD bracelets.  The Mormons are no strangers to fad jewelry.  I’ve even known some who wear these rings as their wedding bands.  Every child gets a cheap one in their primary class, but you can get them later (and most do) for a wide range of prices.  Yet Mormons are not to wear a cross necklace.

Mormons are good at putting their celebrities on a pedestal, but not so fond of sharing their celebs that leave the church.  Like Amy Adams, Paul Walker, Jewel, Aaron Eckhart and others.  Or, how about all the celebrities that don’t convert to Mormonism?  Mormons can be about as bad as Scientologists when it comes to bragging about their celebrity members.  Because nothing says, “our church is true” like a celebrity convert.

As a kid we had many opportunities to hear from such celebs.  Steve Young addressed the youth, and I thought to myself then, “how could anyone not believe in my church” when the likes of Steve Young was a faithful Mormon.  I can remember listening to Ray Combs one day also.  Ray Combs was the host of The Family Feud back in the 90’s.  He was a Mormon, but then in 1996, he killed himself.  The church no longer boasted about him.

So, this is the way of the Mormons.  A famous, or even quasi famous person joins the ranks, and all of a sudden it’s headline news.  It’s very frustrating as an Exmo, especially when my entire family is Mormon and I just know it’s going to be brought up every chance they get.  But if I bring up the plethora of Atheist celebrities, then I’m just a dick and it doesn’t mean anything.

Mormons look for anything to make them feel normal.  They are anything but though.  By virtue of their deeply held theological beliefs, Mormons are not normal Christians, as much as they want to be.  So, when the the conversion of a famous person comes along, they use it to feel normal again.  I wonder if “Rudy” has any clue what it really means to be a Mormon.  I’ll be curious to see how long it takes before he realizes he made a “HUGE” mistake.  Of course he is older so his conversion has a better chance to survive, given his desire for social engagement.  The story clearly shows his conversion was based on emotions, and not so much any evidence based reason.  

Sound the alarms and stock up on supplies my fellow Exmo’s and non Mormon friends.  A storm is brewing and will be hitting us over and over for at least the next year.  Please excuse me while I go fortify myself from the winds of Mormon celebration.