Dear Sisters,

Today, I received the message shown below from President Sakai. Please read this and make sure this information gets out to the sisters of your ward. For those who had cameras at the Women's Conference held this past Saturday (March 17th), we are asking that any photos taken in the chapel be deleted. Any photos taken in the chapel and put on Facebook, cell phones or blogs; internet in any way be deleted. Because of the sacredness of the chapel in our buildings, photos are not allowed as stated in the attached e-mail from President Sakai. We apologize for not getting this information out before the conference, and for any inconvenience this might cause.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Ramon, Norma Goode, Beth Boswell

The Suitland Maryland Stake Relief Society Presidency



Here is President Sakai's direction for all of us:

Sisters:

At this past women's conference, I know several sisters were taking pictures. I was not paying attention and forgot about the below policy that will be posted in this week's bishop's bulletin:

In section 22.2.10 of the handbook, it says:

Photographs, Video Recordings, and Broadcasts in Chapels

Taking photographs or making video recordings in chapels is not permitted. Meetings and other events that are held in the chapel may not be broadcast over the Internet or by any other means (see 18.3.1 for an exception).

It has come to our attention that we have not been following this guidance, including at stake gatherings. Please ensure that this is followed so as to ensure the ongoing sacredness of our chapels.

So, I'm sorry that (I) forgot the no picture policy in the chapel. Having said that, I am not sure what you were going to do with the pictures that were officially taken, but if you are going to put them in a scrapbook or in a slide presentation, I would like you to take out any pictures that were taken in the chapel.

Keep in mind that this is just regarding pictures in the actual chapel portion of our buildings. Anywhere else, like the lobby, classrooms, cultural hall, etc. is okay.

Thanks for your help with this. Again, I am sorry for not remembering the policy and that this offended some people.

Pres. Sakai

so those pictures of me when I got my eagle scout award in the chapel are illegal and the sole content of LDS inc?

Doesn't the church itself put photos of meetings inside the chapels in their magazines? Seems like I've seen many church movies and TV ads or documentaries with scenes inside a chapel.

This may be a local rule, but it also seems like one made to be broken.

I'll let others comment on the sacredness, or not, of chapels.

This begs the questions, why is the chapel so sacred that pictures are not to be taken? I've never understood this policy. I don't see anything in the chapel that is special, there is a puplit, a piano, an organ, benches, and not much more that seems out of the ordinary.

The pictures that appear on magazines are taken by a PR guy. I know becuse they came to our ward once and said that even though it was against policy to take pictures, they could do it with permission to promote the church. Now smile and say cheeeeese.

D

That policy has been in place for decades. It's S.O.P. Nothing new here.

and how it differs from a Temple...like do all the branchs and wards have a chaplel in their meeting house? and is it a meeting house or church...is is the church part the chapel...:) thanks...:)

The chapel is used for formal worship services (communion) and is therefore considered sacred and off limits for photography. Any LDS meetinghouse has at least one chapel where the entire congregation meets for at least 1 hour each Sunday for communion and speeches on various religious subjects.

When a Mormon refers to a meeting house or church, they are usually referring to the whole building which includes the chapel and auxiliary rooms used for Sunday School breakout sessions that immediately precede or follow the main worship service in the chapel.

This differs from a Mormon temple which is used almost exclusively for the performance of the higher ordinances of the faith including the initiatory and endowment ceremonies.

Mormons love playing the "sacred" card, but such policies are really about the fact that you don't have the right to take photos of other people without their permission, especially if you are going to post them publicly. Mormons like the "sacred" excuse because they figure nobody will argue with that one, and it makes them feel special.

Yes, there are exceptions,and yes, the rule is often broken, but no photos in a building without prior approval of management is a very common policy, and not just for LDS Inc.

I am interested in the real reasons for things.

Is this so they can pull down photos from the internet if someone freaks and oh, publicly masturbates in Sacrament meeting, for example?

Or if a GA says something unorthodox and it's caught on video?

They can claim they own the video and have it down immediately?


Anagrammy

"Or if a GA says something unorthodox and it's caught on video?"

That's the exact reason why the policy exists.

Plausible deniability.

I was told I couldn't take pictures of my beautiful wedding in the ward building because then the young women would want to do what I did rather than go to the temple.

Mmmmmm. Yep. Wear a wedding dress, get walked down the aisle by your father, have a reception in the cultural hall.

What Christian religions do traditionally.

Anagrammy

PS. Why did they let me do that? I was a convert single woman with four little boys marrying a ward bachelor. I could write my own ticket.

Big Sister AND Big Brother are watchin' yer a$$.....wouldn't want to piss off the THOUGHT POLICE now would we??????

lol @ "cultural hall" Oh geez, I had forgotten they called it that. And I agree, there's really not much to "see" in the chapel besides a bunch of benches...but whatever

I was once told by a Stake pres. that the reason for this was because someday they plan on using the chapels for temple ceremonies. I'm not saying thats the real reason, but just one of the crazy nonsensical reasons I was given at one time.

Control of information & media is essential to any combination of people who wish to control others.

Mormon leaders can Dress Up a Pig & have it be desireable to the membership, they can polish a turd.

Brother of Jerry said:
"Mormons love playing the "sacred" card, but such policies are really about the fact that you don't have the right to take photos of other people without their permission, especially if you are going to post them publicly. Mormons like the "sacred" excuse because they figure nobody will argue with that one, and it makes them feel special."

Actually, you can take pictures of whomever you choose and post them publicly. The restrictions are that the photos can't be used for advertising or for any other venture for gain and private property (museums, for example) does have the right to limit photography on their premises. I *could* go out today, take a bazillion photos of random people on the street and post them to my heart's content on FB or anywhere else on the Internet--that's perfectly legal. The question becomes one of, "Is the chapel/LDS grounds a public place according to law?" and "How exactly are ya gonna enforce that, Bubba? Seize everyone's cell phones?" :D

My Guess is there's probably been a lawsuit and pictures were taken that proved a point against the church, hence the change to the handbook. And since the church is rabid against *any* violations on the internet, let the wrist slapping begin. The mormon church is like the borg...ever watchful.

Weird. :oP I dropped by at the San Diego Temple a month or so ago, ran into a couple of sister missionaries who were roaming around the parking lot with two big albums of photos of the interior of the temple (baptismal font and celestial room included) which they showed to just about everyone that stopped to chat with them.

So, it the inside of the chapel or even the temple isn't too sacred for the church to take photos of and show to everyone if they get to pitch their doctrine in the process of showing it, but it is if church members want to take fotos there to keep in their own scrapebooks?

Control freaks. :oP

Let's see...

There is a weekly sacrament meeting on Sundays on BYU-TV (sort of like the mormon version of Mass for shut-ins).

My wife and I were married in the Chapel and we have over an hour of video (violinist, pianist, stripper, oh no stripper), well only in my head.

Richard Dutcher's God's Army has several segments filmed in a chapel.

Our stake films funerals, guest speakers and some stake conferences in the chapel.

I may be relegated to SM on BYU-TV as I have been enjoying watching a couple of foxy sisters walk by every week, one saw me and we just smiled.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2012 05:33PM by Joe Laban.

Bishops falling asleep or yawning while perched up there would be Internet fodder.

I suppose you could photo shop some naked people into the pictures and then send them back. That would be fun.

control is what the church wants. control control. the church prides itself that they are republican and want less government, yet ldsINC is a socialist or nazi society

Could be some thing to do with the things now showing up on u tube? Just saying ...

from what I remember, it's pretty easy to just walk into a mormon church and start taking pictures. I'm sure not every building....but I do know that the ones in smaller towns pretty much leave the doors unlocked if there's a meeting.

It may be fun to do some sneaky photography sometime! Well, for me it would anyway :)

It depends on who's doing it. RHIP in action.