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April 2007 Although the Church of the Holy Divine is fictional, author Beckie Weinheimer found inspiration for her new novel Converting Kate in her experiences as a sixth-generation Mormon who grew up north of Salt Lake City. Weinheimer's novel explores themes of religious fanaticism and homophobia through the experiences of Kate, a 15-year-old girl who has lost her father and is growing up with her mother in a fundamentalist home. Weinheimer, a mother of three girls (including her eldest, who died at the age of 12) says what prompted her to leave the Mormon church and eventually write Converting Kate was the story of her youngest daughter and an influential teacher. In 2000, California was gearing up to vote on the controversial Proposition 22, which limited the definition of marriage to solely the union of a man and a woman. But the teacher of Weinheimer's eldest daughter at the time was a gay man, and as Weinheimer got to know him better, she felt less and less right about voting yes on Proposition 22, as her church's minister exhorted the congregation to do. “Kate was almost sixteen when she broke away,” wrote Weinheimer in a postscript to the novel. “I was forty. And my father hadn't just died—my twelve-year-old daughter had. As I grieved for her, I began thinking a lot about life after death. I discovered that I was no longer comfortable with the answers my church gave me, I did the unthinkable. Consumed with my deep sadness, I began to question and doubt other aspects of my conservative religion, including the limited, demeaning role of women and the ostracizing of homosexuals.” Excerpt: I look at Mom. “Has it ever, even once in your whole life, occurred to you that maybe God accepts other churches besides yours?” I ask her in a voice that surprises me with its steadiness and calmness. I continue with a speech, one I've carefully prepared in my head for months. “Did you even once wonder if maybe the Holy Divine Church isn't as special as you think? I mean, isn't it arrogant to think that a small group of people, who have inbred for generations and make it a practice not to study other religions, really have the monopoly on religious truth?” Mom's eyes darken; one blue blood vessel along her temple bulges. Her voice is quiet and so slow and steady it frightens me. “You've. Been. Reading. Your. Father's. Books.” |
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