Posted on 01/07/2008 6:50:17 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Our post-denominational age should be the perfect time for a Mormon to become president, or at least the Republican nominee. Mormons share nearly all the conservative commitments so beloved of the evangelicals who wield disproportionate influence in primary elections. Mormons also embody, in their efficient organizational style, the managerial competence that the party's pro-business wing considers attractive. For the last half-century, Mormons have been so committed to the Republican Party that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once felt the need to clarify that Republican affiliation is not an actual condition of church membership. Yet 29 percent of Republicans told the Harris Poll earlier this year that they probably or definitely would not vote for a Mormon for president. Among evangelicals, some of the discomfort is narrowly religious: Mormon theology is sometimes understood as non-Christian and heretical. Elsewhere, the reasons for the aversion to Mormons are harder to pin down — bigotry can be funny that way — but they are certainly not theological. A majority of Americans have no idea what Mormons believe.
For Mitt Romney, the complex question of anti-Mormon bias boils down to the practical matter of how he can make it go away. In his religion speech, he coupled his promise to govern independently of the hierarchy of his own church with a profession of faith: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind." Romney presumably calculated that speaking about Jesus Christ in terms that sound consistent with ordinary American Protestantism would reassure voters that there was in the end nothing especially unusual about Mormonism.
Even among those who respect Mormons personally, it is common to hear Mormonism's tenets dismissed as ridiculous. For some, then, the objection to Romney may be that Mormonism is religiously false and that voters should choose a president who belongs to the true faith. But most Mormonism-related discomfort with Romney may, in fact, reflect less a view of religious truth than a sense that there is something vaguely troubling or unfamiliar in the Mormon manner or worldview.
This latter possibility presents Romney with an especially tricky political problem. For such reservations are not simple prejudice; they are a complicated outgrowth of the tortured history of the faith's relationship to mainstream American political life over the nearly two centuries since God first spoke to Joseph Smith.
Mormonism was born amid secrecy, and throughout its existence as a religion it has sustained a close yet complex relationship to the arts of silence. From the start, the Mormon penchant for secrecy came from two different sources. The first was internal and theological.
Like many great world faiths, Mormonism has an important strand of sacred mystery. Mormon temples have traditionally been closed to outsiders and designed with opaque windows. Marriage and other key rituals take place in this hallowed space.
Like Mormon ritual, much of Mormon theology remains relatively inaccessible to outsiders. The text of the Book of Mormon has always been spread to a broad audience, but the text is not a sufficient guide to understanding the details of Mormon teaching. Joseph Smith received extensive further revelation in the nature of sacred secrets to be shared with only a handful of close associates and initiates within the newly forming church. The most famous such revelation was the doctrine of celestial — which was to say plural — marriage, revealed to Smith as early as 1833 but formally announced to the world only in 1852, eight years after his death.
The connections between the sacred and the secret in early Mormonism did not come out of nowhere. Mormonism's theological secrets have more than a little in common with religious mysteries that can be found in medieval Islamic esotericism, kabbalistic mysticism and ancient Christian Gnosticism. Successive generations have rediscovered these secrets and reasserted their antiquity in ways very similar to Smith's discovery of ancient tablets.
Almost from the start of his career, Smith was denounced as a charlatan, an impostor and worse. Notwithstanding these attacks, Mormonism grew steadily. Growth brought publicity — and outright persecution. This external persecution created a second, externally driven source for secrecy: protection.
In 1838, after skirmishes between armed Mormons and state militia left several people dead, Gov. Lilburn Boggs of Missouri issued a military order declaring that the Mormons had made open war on the state and that therefore they "must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary, for the public good."
Later, at Nauvoo, Ill., the Mormon community under Smith's leadership came under constant pressure from skeptical and sometimes violent neighbors. Smith was gunned down by a kind of quasi-organized lynch mob after having been arrested and jailed in nearby Carthage.
The Mormons, now under the leadership of Brigham Young, went out to Utah to establish their own kingdom. In what felt like the relative safety of the intermountain West, Mormons began to practice plural marriage in the open — and ended up paying dearly for this lapse in secrecy.
In 1856 the Republican Party made the defeat of polygamy a key plank in its first national platform, characterizing it alongside slavery as one of the "twin relics of barbarism." The federal government soon criminalized the practice and then in effect outlawed membership in the Mormon Church until it would agree to give up polygamy. And after the Civil War, federal prosecutors convicted and jailed thousands of Mormons in the most coordinated campaign of religious repression in U.S. history.
The reaction of the Mormon Church to this new wave of persecution was, initially, to take refuge in secrecy once again. In 1890, the president of the church, Wilford Woodruff, issued a manifesto in which he gave his "advice" to members of the Mormon Church not to enter into any marital relationships that would violate the laws of the land. But like Jewish rituals under the Spanish Inquisition, plural marriage continued, secretly in Utah and also among refugees, who fled to Mexico or other places the law could not reach.
Matters came to a head when another apostle, Reed Smoot, was elected in 1903 to the U.S. Senate as a Republican from Utah, despite political opposition from President Theodore Roosevelt. Opponents of Mormonism, mostly Protestants, sought to block Smoot from taking his seat.
Over several years, the Senate engaged in a series of hearings that put Mormonism on trial. The president of the church, Joseph F. Smith, a nephew of the founding Smith, was called to testify and sought somewhat unsuccessfully to conceal both the continuing practice of plural marriage as well as his own status as seer and revelator. After returning to Utah, Smith issued a manifesto of his own, in 1904, aimed at ending plural marriage.
After that, plural marriage gradually disappeared from the mainstream Mormon scene until it remained only among peripheral fundamentalist or sectarian Mormons who defied the church authorities. In 1907, the Senate finally voted to seat Smoot. The course was set for the Mormon religious practice of the 20th century: a process of mainstreaming, both political and theological.
The less said the better about the particular teachings of the church, including such practices as the baptism of the dead and the doctrine of the perfectibility of mankind into divine form. Mormons depicted themselves as yet another Christian denomination alongside various other Protestant denominations that prevailed throughout the United States.
In politics, Joseph Smith was something of a radical. He preached, instead of democracy, a version of theocratic rule within a framework given by his own prophetic leadership.
Ensconced in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young modified this initial political vision somewhat. Yet he still governed in an essentially autocratic fashion, constrained by only the federal requirement that Utah take on a republican form of government in order to be organized into a territory. In the territorial period, the Utah State Legislature remained very much under the control of the leadership of the church, and the democratic trappings of elections did not ensure real competitive politics.
As of the 20th century, through engagement with the federal political sphere, Mormons came to embrace fully the American ideals of multi-party governance and electoral democracy. The Mormon allegiance to Republicanism was cemented in the 1960s, as the Democratic Party increasingly began to embrace an agenda of civil and cultural liberties.
The most prominent Mormon national politician in the 1980s and '90s was Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, now in his 31st year in the Senate, who on the Judiciary Committee has maintained a consistently conservative position, favoring judges who are simultaneously favored by the religious right.
The rise of the religious right posed a tricky political quandary for the LDS church. On the one hand, a vocal movement pressing for conservatism and moral values must have seemed to them like a natural home. Yet there was a strand of the religious right that could potentially put it at odds with Mormonism — its barely concealed commitment to evangelical Protestant theology.
The Protestant evangelicals shared a commitment to biblical inerrancy and to a rather strict definition of salvation by faith alone. Their worldview relied upon some basic and nonnegotiable propositions, like the acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity and of Jesus Christ as a personal lord and savior.
Mormons were able to argue that they, too, believed in salvation and in the literal accuracy of the Bible. The difficulty was that in addition to the Bible in its King James Version, the Latter-day Saints had further scriptures with which to contend — the Book of Mormon, translated by Smith from "reformed Egyptian" and styled as "another Testament of Jesus Christ"; and supplements to various biblical texts known collectively as the Pearl of Great Price.
Whatever the variances among the four synoptic gospels, contemporary evangelicals, like their forebears, have long been committed to the exclusivity of these texts. Coupled with concerns about what evangelicals consider Mormonism's nontrinitarian theology, it has led ineluctably to an unwillingness to recognize Mormons as full participants in the category "Christian."
In theory, the evangelical political movement says that it is prepared to embrace Jews and even Muslims so long as they share the same common values of the religious right. In the case of a Mormon candidate, though, many evangelicals are not prepared to say that common values are enough. The reason seems to be the view among evangelicals that the substantive theological beliefs of Mormons are so radically different from their own as to constitute not a sect of Christianity but a Christian heresy, which would be worse than a different monotheistic faith like Judaism or Islam.
What began as a strategy of secrecy to avoid persecution has become over the course of the 20th century a strategy of minimizing discussion of the content of theology in order to avoid being treated as religious pariahs. As a result, Mormons have not developed a series of easily expressed and easily swallowed statements summarizing the content of their theology in ways that might arguably be accepted by mainline Protestants. To put it bluntly, the combination of secret mysteries and resistance in the face of oppression has made it increasingly difficult for Mormons to talk openly and successfully with outsiders about their religious beliefs.
The general pattern of Mormon history is one of growth leading to external pressure being brought to bear on the church. Internal resistance eventually gives way to change sanctioned by new revelation, followed in turn by new growth and success. This was the pattern not only for the abolition of polygamy but also for the extension in 1978 of the Mormon priesthood to black men. Mitt Romney's run for the presidency is the occasion for the latest round in this cycle, with cultural and religious skepticism representing the vector for outside pressure.
Precisely because Romney is such an impressive candidate, it may be a slap in Mormons' faces if he finds that he cannot garner the support of conservative values voters. If such voters prefer, say, a pro-choice Roman Catholic of questionable conservative credentials like Rudy Giuliani, the result may look like a public repudiation of Mormonism — from the very party to which Mormons have given their allegiance for the last half-century. The Mormon Church hierarchy may through continuing revelation and guidance respond by shifting its theology and practices even further in the direction of mainstream Christianity.
Voices within the LDS fold have for some time sought to minimize the authority of some of Joseph Smith's more creative and surprising theological messages, like the teaching that God and Jesus were once men. You could imagine Mormonism coming to look more like mainline Protestantism with the additional belief — not in principle incompatible with Protestant Scripture — that some of the lost tribes of Israel ended up in the Americas, where a few had a vision of Christ's appearance to them.
Mormonism is not an issue.
Ditto.
That’s because Mormonism is still considered as a cult in most textbooks. Plus, there’s not a lot of large clusters of them in any community.
I live in northeast Ohio where one of their main temples is a tourist and pilgramage attraction, but I dare say that I’ve met no more than 4 or 5 Mormons in my life around here.
A majority of Americans don’t know what they themselves believe let alone what Mormons believe.
I wish I could find special glasses that allowed me to read & translate ancient egyptian text.
Whats the deal with the underwear ?
While mormonism is a cult, all of the mormons I’ve met have been kind, loving, caring people , unlike many of my Christian “brothers”.
I have less a problem with Mitt than I do with Huckabee, whose Christianity, I fear, is that of jimmy carter’s. Misguided hatred towards Jews, and “wealthy” Americans, whom he will blame for the world’s ills. He will not have America stand strong because we should as a Christian nation stand up righteously, but he will have us prostrate before our enemies, that they may walk upon us for “our transgressions.”
Compared with
Acts 26:26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.
Not done in a corner? So the NT has no secrets, but Mormonism does. Go fiqure!
I bet if you asked people to list each candidate and their religious denonimation, they would get Romney right more than any other candidate.
There has certainly been a wealth of stories about Romney’s religion, compared to all the other candidates.
I do know and I’ll a Methodist. I also agree this is not the major Romney issue.
Trouble is the majority of Mormons don’t know what they believe either.
Another FReeper thread from a month ago said 54% of Americans wouldn't vote for an atheist. This absolutely proves that other worldly commitments--and lack of them--matters to the majority of Americans. Beyond that majority consensus, what you find is that folks will just draw the line at different places...for example, I'm sure most Mormons would not vote for a polygamous Mormon who's part of a fundamentalist sect.
No, the reaction of the Mormon Church was to go into full-steam defensive mode & massacre the 120 to 140-member Fancher party when it came thru their state in 1857.
As for treating this as a "new wave of persecution," does this mean, then, that if Americans oppose homosexual marriage--including homosexual marriage in MA--that they are guilty of "persecuting" households in that state?
Just wait til the MSM starts asking questions of a certain GOP nominee dealing with this last part. For some reason, they've avoided it up til now...They are right above in that altho the LDS faith has gotten much media play in '07, these two beliefs & practices mentioned above haven't.
It's going to be an "eye-opening" experience, to use the concepts of Gen. 3, where the Serpent promised that their eyes would be opened & the pathway to godhood would be opened if only they would disobey God's command.
And this then, is a third peculiar doctrine the average American Joe doesn't know about...that when Adam & Eve disobeyed--called the Fall--Mormons believe this was a fall "upward." They believe that only thru "mortality" (death) do they earn "immortality" (what they call divinity). As one LDS leader called it, Adam & Eve's "fall" was a "celebration." This is proof positive that "Serpent theology" runs thru the midst of the Mormon church.
The Serpent made a claim in Gen. 3:5. The Mormon church believes that claim to this very day!
TO ALL WHO WANT TO HELP US TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT CHRIST AND HOW HE GUIDES HIS PEOPLE ON EARTH.
If this thread is like most others that have anything to do with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or as we are more often called, the Mormons, it will soon be taken over by those who, for reasons of their own, choose to put down my Church, and those of us who worship with it.
We find no problem with people who really want to talk to us about converting to their religion, we spend a lot of time doing it ourselves.
What we find offensive is when people leave out part of the truth to make a half-true lie , or when some one renames something, that we find important or sacred, so it sounds like gutter talk.
I do not know how to tell the difference all the time. There are some Handles that keep showing up, and they are easy to spot. Sometimes, though, I have given a hard and not so kind response to some who honestly care for us and our salvation.
Please forgive us if we get you mixed up.
Thanks for your time,
fred
LOL
I have found in most cases is it is very rare for the average Latter-day Saint to fully explain the unique teachings of Mormonism. In the LDS Church it is taught that milk must be given before meat. Since many Mormons know that some of their unique teachings will be questioned by their evangelical acquaintances, they often give an explanation of the LDS faith that is less than precise.
I therefore encourage others on this site to click HERE or HERE to see some of the things the Mormon Church sometimes forgets to reveal.
/ducks
Find a Mormon to run for the GOP nomination who's actually a conservative, and we'll talk.
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