The Mormonizing of America (BOOK EXCERPT, PT 3)

The presidential race of Mitt Romney and the success of the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon have generated new interest in Mormonism. Stephen Mansfield's book The Mormonizing of America provides a careful study of this growing religion. The Book Stop blog is posting excerpts from the first two chapters of this book.

The Mormonizing of America

The Mormons and the Media

Nowhere in American society does this create an occasion of people talking past each other as when it comes to the media pursuing a prominent Mormon.

Reporters naturally want to find something controversial about this visible person, so they ask about holy underwear. But the Mormon won’t answer this question directly. He’s offended by the phrase “holy underwear”—it is properly called a “Temple garment”—and he won’t talk about Temple rituals in any case because they are far too sacred. Besides, betraying Temple rituals is forbidden.

Then the media switches to polygamy. This too gets side-stepped because the Church forbade polygamy long before this prominent Mormon was born and only a small percentage of Saints have ever been in plural marriages to begin with. There’s nothing to write about here.

Reporters then raise the treatment of blacks. This may get some play because the Latter-day Saints did not “get a revelation” about blacks being priests and permitted in the Temple until 1978. Even the Supreme Court moved toward equality faster than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! So the media can stir these waters a bit, but the change came forty-five years ago and everybody has admitted the Church was wrong and even African American Mormons will criticize the media if it does not report fairly where the Church is today.

Then there is abortion and homosexuality, but more than half the country is with the Mormons on this so there is nothing new to spin. There is some fun to be had with the Mormon anti-birth-control position, but this is old and not all Mormons accept it and it will only bring Mormon women to the cameras in a rage. Better to leave this alone too.

It also doesn’t work to bring up specific matters of doctrine. Press a political candidate on whether Jesus will touch down in Jackson County, Missouri, when he returns and the man either answers incorrectly or says he doesn’t know. Ask if he intends to be a god one day and he says his faith doesn’t make this clear. Ask if he thinks he will rule over planets and he laughs and says that some members of his faith believe this.

The man cannot be pinned down, though, and this is because Mormon doctrine is dangerous territory. It is always a bit—squishy. There is no creed. There are few if any LDS theologians. The clergy isn’t theologically trained. The people are usually only taught what is “faith promoting” so there are huge gaps in what they know. And in Mormonism there is nothing like the Roman Catholic “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”—no official voice, no department clarifying theology and whipping dissidents back into line. So the candidate moves deftly around the icebergs that reporters try to put in his way.

Then there are always conspiracy theories to pose about how much Salt Lake City controls a leading politician or how much money the church spends trying to turn elections their way. But no one knows for sure and there is such a mind meld between the Church and its prominent members that there is hardly need for the Church to even try to exert control. These Mormons all think so alike that nothing ever has to be said.

And this is where it usually stops. Because the media only knows Mormonism by its odd extremities, it exhausts its list of interesting topics quickly. The reporting becomes vapid. Religion moves from center stage. The fact that a CEO or a politician or a cabinet member or some other influential member of society might be a Mormon is no longer deemed important.

Because the media is focused on externals. Because the sordid burns out quickly. Because no one has thought to ask a Mormon what it really means to be a Mormon.

Yet when the Saints are approached in the light by which they see themselves—as the only earthly heirs of the ancient priesthood of Aaron and Melchizedek—then a new list of questions begins to emerge.

“Sir, your Church is offended when it is called a ‘cult.’ But if your Church sees itself as the ‘only true Church,’ possessors of the only true priesthood on earth, then don’t Mormons see every other religion in the world as some kind of cult?”

“Sir, if you are a Melchizedek Priest, have you ever prayed for anyone to be healed? Have they been? Have you ever seen angels? Can you confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Can you confer them on me?”

“Sir, are there prophets who speak to you regularly? Do you prophesy to others? What will you do if someone you revere as a prophet gives you a revelation about what you should do in a public office? How can you refuse it? How can you be sure it is or isn’t the true word of God?”

“Sir, if your Church has been given the keys to the only true Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods on earth, then what does this say about the Jews? Are they deceived about who they are? And does becoming a Mormon literally change a person’s blood so they become the seed of Abraham, as Joseph Smith taught? And who exactly will be in control of Jerusalem when Jesus Christ returns?”

These, then, are questions nearer the meaning of Mormonism that the Saints themselves hold dear and these get us closer to understanding how an LDS politician or CEO or educator understands both his public life as well as his life in this world.

What the Mormon view of Mormonism also tells us is how we have to approach the faith. There is no Mormon systematic theology or final theological voice. The text of Mormonism is Mormon history. In fact, there is a direct connection between each major phase of the Mormon past and what most every Mormon believes and practices today. But the story has to be told and its meaning understood.

This has not been easy for most Americans. Not only is religion of any kind seldom taught in our schools, but Mormon history is such an odd creature that it requires a certain openness, a willingness to take seriously—even for a moment— a story our Mormon friends believe was begun by angels, powered by prophecy, sustained by miracles, and made heroic by men destined to be divine. This history, though, is the main text of the faith that has now reached critical mass in the United States and it is well worth considering for this reason alone.

Leave a comment and / or appreciate the article!

CLICK HERE to read more:» http://www.radio-elshaday.de/

CLICK HERE to read more:» http://www.radio-megapower.de/

CLICK HERE to read more:» http://christliche-radiosender.blogspot.com/

CLICK HERE to read more:» http://radiomegapower-nonstop.blogspot.de/

Posted by: Daniel Ioan Notar *DJ_DANY*