The recent LDS handbook change has been troubling to many,
including myself. I think it’s part of a
much longer narrative that I will try to articulate. The Mormon people experienced fairly extreme
persecution for a century, including exile, at least two instances of
threatened genocide, occupation, disenfranchisement, and many other collective
punishments. Some of this was for
marriage practices that were out of the mainstream (an irony I will address
later), and some for other, more theological reasons. Abuse and bullying always causes lasting
damage. When the U.S. government finally
forced the Mormon people to abandon polygamy, the Church began a campaign of
assimilation, a century-long attempt to establish itself somewhat in the
mainstream of Christendom, and its adherents as “normal”, even patriotic
citizens. This quest for acceptance took
many forms, including the embrace (often in excess) of militarism, capitalism,
conservative politics (especially the republican party), bourgeois suburban
lifestyles, etc. In it’s most baleful
form, this impulse led to the adoption of Mormonism’s century-long racial
policy, which Paul Reeve, in Religion of
a Different Color demonstrates to be part of an attempt to demonstrate the
“whiteness” of Mormons, in a country obsessed with race, that accused Mormons
as being racially impure.
More recently, the “evangelical” movement has selected
Mormonism as its prime target.
Evangelicalism has been a potent force in American culture and politics
for quite awhile now, but it really picked up steam in the ‘70s, when being
“born again” became somewhat of a fad.
Populist movements of this kind often feed off of fears, and usually dig
up old fears, fears that have worked well in the past. Mormons were a reliable punching bag for the
evangelical movement. Their main line of
attack (among many) was to say that Mormons weren’t “Christians.” This attack was deeply troubling to the
leadership and many of the laity of the LDS Church. After all, the name of this deity is included
in the church’s official title. A lot of
effort was put forth to try to quell this attack, to convince America and the
world that Mormons are, indeed, Christians.
I feel that this effort was misdirected and perhaps counterproductive
and, in a strange way, played into the hands of the haters. I served a mission in California in the early
‘80s, in somewhat of the epicenter of the born again movement. After being told over and over again that, as
a Mormon, I was not only not a Christian, but that I was going to hell, I
finally asked several people, including evangelical clergymen, just what a
Christian was in their lexicon. I was
told that a Christian was no more nor less than a person who was born again, in
the evangelical definition. It was then
that I realized how slippery words are.
That any Tom Dick or Harry can fabricate a definition for any group of
phonemes, and if he or she repeats it often enough, people will start to accept
it.
The Church’s embrace and leadership of the anti same sex
marriage movement cannot be understood without understanding our legacy of
persecution and the entirely understandable, if unfortunate, quest for
acceptance. Once we were forced to
abandon polygamy, we were desperate to establish ourselves as the most shining
example of monogamy and the nuclear family.
After being forced to abandon communitarianism, we went out of
our way to establish our credentials as free marketeers. And when evangelicals questioned our
Christianity, we contorted ourselves to court their favor, including the
advocacy of doomed and dubious political causes.
I am a devoted and devout Mormon. True blue, through and through, as they
say. I think the vicissitudes we are
going through are, to some extent, the natural and understandable result of
protracted bullying and persecution. I
know a bit about bullying myself. I had
a lot of opportunities to experience it growing up. I learned that appeasing bullies only makes
them bolder. I learned that I was too
weird to ever measure up to the kind of normalcy that kids and teens
demand. I discovered that by being an
even more authentic, even extreme version of myself, I could reject whatever
crazy paradigm the dominant culture prescribed, and the bullies and haters had
no basis on which to persecute me. In
fact, they began to respect me because I had something, a secret paradigm that
they were not party to. I’ve always felt
that Mormons (and, pretty much everybody) should pursue this route. We are and have always been weird. Our religion is bold. It makes bold claims. It makes bold demands of its adherents,
including highly restrictive health and sexual codes. We need to recognize that these are things
that are unusual about us, but there is nothing wrong with being unusual. We just shouldn’t worry about non-Mormons
buying into our unusual theology and rules.
If they are interested in buying in, we have been very good at making
information and resources available.
I have no more objection to a person not of my faith being
married to another person of the same sex than I have of them drinking green
tea. And I believe that we should think
very seriously before denying access to saving and edifying ordinances to
anyone, especially children.
The Mormon moment I have been seeking, is one in which we
have a more accurate and positive view of ourselves in the world, one that
embraces diversity. I was very heartened
and moved by the “I’m a Mormon” campaign, because we were acknowledging and
celebrating diversity within our people.
The other Mormon moment I am anticipating is the one where we talk less
of “they” and “them” and more of “we” and “us”.
One of the most unique aspects of this church is its governance by the
laity. Indeed, we have long denied a
distinction between clergy and laity. It
is my belief that the Church is divine, in every sense that Mormonism has claimed,
but it is administered by humans of extremely limited abilities and foresight
on every level. But, being a divine
institution, I think it has an abundance of blessings and inspiration (more
than it deserves often) on every level.
I think that’s kind of awesome.
It has the potential to foster the kind of humility and dependence on
grace that all religions treasure.
And how be it my church save it be called in my
name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if
it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be
called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my
gospel.
In the early history of Mormonism, two names were used, The
Church of Jesus Christ, and, The Church of the Latter-day Saints. These two were merged in the present
name. This means that it is the church
of two entities, the Savior, and the people that belong to the church, all of
them. Joseph Smith stated that church
governance was a hybrid of theocracy and democracy. It is my hope that the power and wisdom of
the Latter-day Saints as a whole will shine forth and help us to work through
our difficulties; that we will truly be a light on a hill; that we will be good
to ourselves and others; that will focus on rolling forth the tremendous and
glorious mission we have been tasked with and not get sidetracked; that Zion
will put on its beautiful garments, etc.
