Mormon Media Observer: Mormons and the mainstream

Newsweek’s cover story on Mormonism last week seemed little new — a conglomeration of the standard tropes about Mormonism in the modern media. It was as though it clicked off the standard list:

Did the article have the obligatory references to polygamy? Check. There were five.

Did the article describe Mormons or our rituals as secretive? Check. It mentioned our temple ceremonies, and described them as secretive.

Did the article describe the faith as unusual or weird? Check. It made reference to temple garments and said Mormons believe in “magic spectacles,” calling the faith weird.

I was deeply disappointed in Newsweek and its distortions of my sacred beliefs...

Did the article describe Mormonism as a paradox? Did it have quotes from famous or iconic Mormons? Did it have a discussion of “remarkable” church growth? Check. Check. Check.

In some senses, the Newsweek article was more favorable in discussing as it did, the supposed examples of Mormon success and of how Mormonism might shape Mormon politicians, than others articles of its type.

I also appreciated some of the specifics discussed about Mormonism’s history of persecution — the extermination order comes to mind.

Aside from these interesting ideas, however, there seemed little new beyond recycled news frames of the last few decades.

What interested me most was Newsweek’s use, as so many others have, of Mormonism’s relationship to the national mainstream as a way of telling our story and our history.

What of the “mainstreaming” of Mormonism? Pretend two things: that mainstreaming means becoming part of and accepting the broad set of contemporary American cultural values. Second, assume that becoming mainstream is what we Mormons wish.

Given that we Mormons are “set apart” to be a “light unto the nations” and to “flee from Babylon...”

From the article: Did the article have the obligatory references to polygamy? Check. There were five.

When Mormon journalism profs like this implies that polygamy is some historical artifact from a Mormon perspective real Mormons in the know are just "snowing you."

#1...they believe marriage is eternal...so all these 19th & 20th century polygamists, they think, are still practicing polygamy...it's just colonized to somewhere near Kolob.

#2...Mormon policy dictates that even Mormons living today can become eternal polygamists. All they need to do is to serially marry more than one spouse...and be sealed to each for eternity.

Therefore, people like Lane Williams know that as long as Mormons proclaim that "families are forever," well, hey, that must include polygamous families, too!

From the article: Did the article describe Mormons or our rituals as secretive? Check. It mentioned our temple ceremonies, and described them as secretive.

(Yeah, Lane, just let us know when post-Open House access is granted to us non-Mormon "gentiles," will you?)

From the article: Did the article describe the faith as unusual or weird? Check. It made reference to temple garments and said Mormons believe in “magic spectacles,” calling the faith weird.

(Yeah, I can just imagine it now: "President" Romney telling us he wears his magic underwear for "protection" while mentioning that the next Mormon "prophet" has decided to pull the magic rock out of the Mormon archives to "translate" more Egyptian funeral records for "fresh" revelations from the Mormon gods)

From the article: I also appreciated some of the specifics discussed about Mormonism’s history of persecution — the extermination order comes to mind.

What most people miss is the correct definition of "extermination" in the 1835 time period. Webster's Dictionary of 1828 under "exterminate" has: "Literally, to drive from within the limits or borders. Hence, 1. To destroy utterly; to drive away...."
Source: MORMONS - PERSECUTED, PERSECUTOR OR BOTH?

A Mormon author, George W. Givens, likewise pointed this out in his book 500 Little-Known Facts in Mormon History: Latter-day Saints have universally condemned the notorious Haun's Mill Massacre by a mom-militia shortly after Missouri Governor Boggs issued the infamous extermination order...a second look at the definition of the word "exterminate" as it was used in 1838, however, might cause us to take a second look at Governor Boggs as well. An American Dictionary of English Language, published in 1828, defines "exterminate" as "literally, to drive from within the limits or borders." (p. 26) Bonneville Books, 2004

Q What implications does this have?

A Simply put, beware of Mormon Victimology Mythology!

Mormon Victimology Mythology: Or How Mormon Historical Revisitionists often need a Paul Harvey type 'rest of the story' to hold them accountable for their strange gaps in their history!

Early Summer, 1838 -- July 4, in fact: (c) Joseph Smith's "partner in cult 'crime'" is Sidney Rigdon's.

Rigdon chose this date to give an "inflammatory" sermon re: independence of the church from mobocracy. Rigdon "warned of a war of EXTERMINATION between Mormons and their enemies if they were further threatened or harassed." (Leland H. Gentry, Church History, p. 343). Lds writer Max Parkin conceded that Rigdon's June 19 and July 4 messages "further incensed the public against expanding LDS influences." (Church History, p. 348).

If DU & other Mormons were given history questions on understanding the word "extermination" in 1830s America, they would flunk outright! Certainly, what we almost NEVER hear from contemporary Mormon posters is that apparently the first group to threaten the other with "extermination" in Missouri wasn't Gov. Boggs. 'Twas Lds leader Sidney Rigdon four months prior to that!

To add even more to the complexity of why people acted as they did in those Missouri 1830s, the Lds Church History; Selections from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism adds other reasons:
(a) Sidney Rigdon's June 19, 1838 "Salt Sermon" reinforced local Mormon opposition;
(b) Lds militia officer Sampson Avard initiated a vigilante group known as the Danites
(c) Gamecock posted an article a few years back with a few interesting excerpts:

Late October, 1838:

[Author had just cited Lds apostle Bruce McConkie]: McConkie's dramatic rhetoric fails to take into account the fact that the Haun's Mill massacre took place just one week after the battle of Crooked River. [Former BYU History professor] Quinn writes: "A generally unacknowledged dimension of both the EXTERMINATION ORDER and the Haun's Mill massacre, however, is that they resulted from Mormon actions in the Battle of Crooked River. Knowingly or not, MORMONS HAD ATTACKED STATE TROOPS, and this had a cascade effect… upon receiving news of the injuries and death of state troops at Crooked River, Governor Boggs immediately drafted his extermination order on 27 October 1838 because the MORMONS 'HAVE MADE WAR UPON THE PEOPLE OF THIS STATE.' Worse, the killing of one Missourian and mutilation of another while he was defenseless at Crooked River led to the mad-dog revenge by Missourians in the slaughter at Haun's Mill" (Origins of Power, p.100).
Secondary source: Violence in Early Mormonism - Was It All Unjust Persecution?

From this same article posted by Gamecock: If violence against a certain faith were the only way to determine truth, then certainly the Mormons themselves would have to recognize that our Christian faith was just as viable as theirs. Can a Mormon, off the top of his head, recall when the last Mormon was killed just because he was a Mormon? Certainly we have heard of Mormons being tragically killed while serving missions, but these cases involve circumstances other than true martyrdom (robberies, car accidents, being mistaken for CIA agents, etc). On the other hand, it is not uncommon to hear of Christians around the world who are being killed because they refuse to denounce their belief that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. While martyrdom seems to be a thing of the past for the Mormons, it is a common occurrence among those who have placed their total trust in the Jesus of the Bible.” (Bill McKeever)

From the article: Given that we Mormons are “set apart” to be a “light unto the nations” and to “flee from Babylon...”

Well, interesting choice of words there, Lane -- especially in light of how Mormon leaders have applied that word. (But even FReeper Mormon posters like Restornu have referenced FReeperville as a sort of "Babylon")

Mormon leaders have applied it to include Christians and Christian churches!

So here's some "background" to that word carefully chosen by a BYU journalism prof!

And what has Romney's religion done to tear down Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox?

Q 1: What did Lds “apostles” John Taylor and Orson Pratt have to say about Catholics & Protestants?
* "'The present Christian world exists and continues by division. The MYSTERY of Babylon the great, is mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, and it needs no prophetic vision, to unravel such mysteries. The old church is the mother, and the protestants are the lewd daughters. Alas! alas! what doctrine, what principle, or what scheme, in all, what prayers, what devotion, or what faith, `since the fathers have fallen asleep,' has opened the heavens; has brought men into the presence of God; and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to an innumerable company of angels? The answer is, not any: "There is none in all christendom that doeth good; no, not one."' (Lds “Apostle” John Taylor, Times and Seasons, Vol.6, No.1, p.811, Feb. 15, 1845...Taylor would later emerge as an Lds “prophet” in the late 1870s upon the death of Brigham Young...he did “jail time” with Joseph Smith over the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor newspaper]

* "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

"But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance, and they are represented in the revelations of St. John as a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, having a golden cup in her hand, full of filthiness and abominations, full of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; that in her forehead there was a name written - `Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots' " (Journal of Discourses 18:172).

"We have already proved in the previous numbers of this series that immediately after the first century the whole earth became corrupted by the great "Mother of Harlots," that apostasy and wickedness succeeded Christianity, that for the want of new revelation, all legal succession to the apostleship was discontinued that the gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit ceased and that the Church was no longer to be found on the earth: this being the case, all nations must have been destitute of the everlasting gospel for many generations - not destitute of its history as it was once preached and enjoyed but destitute of its blessings, of its powers, of its gifts, of its priesthood, of its ordinances administered by legal authority" (Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, No.6 (1851), pg.82).

Q 2: Now did Orson Pratt did come up with applying these labels to the Church himself, or did he get it from LDS “Scripture?”

A Pratt derived this from the Book of Mormon, especially the following verses:
* "abominable church...whore of all the earth" (2 Nephi 28:18);
* "whore of all the earth" (2 Nephi 10:16)
* ”And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.” (1 Nephi 14:10-11)
* ”...their dominions upon the face of the earth were small because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.” (1 Nephi 14:12)
* “And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God.” (1 Nephi 14:13)
”And it came to pass that I beheld that the wrath of God was poured out upon that great and abominable church, insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of the earth. And as there began to be wars and rumors of wars among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations, the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots; and behold, thou seest all these things.” (1 Nephi 14:15-16)
* ”And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel.” (1 Nephi 14:17)
* “And the blood of that great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall war among themselves, and the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads, and they shall be drunken with their own blood.” (1 Nephi 22:13)

* ”And every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed, and that great whore, who hath perverted the right ways of the Lord, yea, that great and abominable church, shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it.” (1 Nephi 22:14)

Q 3: Where did Orson Pratt derive his concept that the “great whore” of supposed “B.C. Prophecies” in the Book of Mormon had a contemporary application to the Catholic church – and that it would be one who would give birth to "harlot daughters" (the Protestant church)?

A From Joseph Smith himself, as found in LDS "scripture" (& elsewhere). I refer the reader, for example, to "that great church, the mother of abominations" (LDS “Scripture”—Doctrine & Covenants, 88:94).

Q 4: Now did Pratt just happen to pounce upon gobs of passages from a few Nephi books in the Mormon “scriptures” and take them out of proportion, or was Mormon “scripture” rife with this need to pronounce the church-at-large as an “abomination” before God that was sourced in the devil?

A 1 Nephi 13, 1 Nephi 14, and 1 Nephi 22 uses the term “abomination” or “abominable” at least eight times! As previously shown, 1 Nephi 14:9-10 says there are only two churches: The church of the Lamb & the Church of the Devil. In the opinion of Mormon leaders, the church of the devil ("abominable church...whose foundation is the devil"-- 1 Nephi 14:9) – is the great non-Mormon church that branched out into Protestantism.

The King James-era word "abomination" is used repetitively to describe this non-Mormon church. 1 Nephi 13:6 & 2 Nephi 6:12 both call it a "great & abominable church." D&C 29:21 references it as an "abominable church" & D&C 88:94 calls it a "great church, the mother of abominations" (D&C 88:94). [Also, see references above to "whore...of all the earth."] 1 Nephi 13:32 accuses this church of censorship: "parts of the gospel kept back by that abominable church” (1 Nephi 13:32).

Also, the most important “abomination” Joseph Smith reference is to describe every single creed believed by Catholics and Protestants. LDS decided to enshrine Joseph Smith’s First Vision in LDS “scripture” – which means it’s binding as authoritative as LDS canon (not speculation; not commentary; not an opinion piece) upon the beliefs & consciences on ALL true-believing Mormons: "they [“Christian sects”] were ALL wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that their ALL creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were ALL corrupt" (from Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History 1:19).

Q 5: What leading Mormon general authorities were the next to carry the mantle for portraying Christian churches as linked to Babylon?

A: That fell to Lds president George Q. Cannon. Cannon was the only member of the First Presidency to serve four separate Lds “prophets” as one of the two closest counselors to the Lds “prophet” (Young, Taylor, Woodruff, and Snow). * Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

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