Free Moroni!
Some churches will stop at nothing to oppress the rights of their faithful. I get that. We all have different spiritualities and some of us like a little oppression once in a while. Some are masochists in the bedroom, and others are masochists at prayer. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
But I think you have crossed the line when you start oppressing the spiritual rights of the angelic orders.
Out in Utah, a coffee house in Taylorsville called “Just Add Coffee” is selling T-Shirts of the angel Moroni with coffee being poured into his trumpet. Mormons believe Moroni appeared to their founder, Joseph Smith, and revealed to him the location of golden tables that, when translated, became the Book of Mormon.
The double joke here – in addition to an angel drinking coffee – is that Mormons are not allowed to drink coffee and other caffeinated beverages. So, the Latter Day Saints do not think the T-Shirt is very funny. (This, BTW, is in spite of the fact that “Just Add Coffee” is in Utah, the shirts are selling like mad, and probably more than a few Mormons are buying them.)
The Mormon Church has begun legal proceedings to stop “Just Add Coffee” from producing these T-Shirts.
But I am not sure this is theologically cogent. Mormons are not allowed to drink coffee. I get that. But what about angels? Maybe angels are allowed to drink coffee. Does the Book of Mormon say? I doubt it. Angels can do lots of thinks humans cannot – fly, smell like flowers, look into the depths of the glory of God, live without eating or sleeping or going to the bathroom, and never die.
I really do not think that the Mormons should be curtailing the right of Moroni to have a nice, hot cup of Joe when the mood hits him. He’s got lots of work to do and – like most angels – he probably never sleeps. A little pick-me-up in the morning may be just what he needs.
What is wrong with Mormons that they will deny this simple pleasure to the one who –through the prophet Joseph Smith – founded their whole spiritual clan?
Perhaps if Mormons drank a little caffeine, they would lighten up.
