Mormons: Mainstream or Margin
November 18, 2012
Mormons: Mainstream or Margin
November 18, 2012
Images of Mormonism
Missionaries, polygamy, politics, entertainment, media, sports, Broadway, and Mormons in other unlikely places
Polygamy
19th-Century Images
mormon.org
an attempt at self representation / redefinition
Missionaries
Service, Welfare, Humanitarian Aid
Modesty, Cleanliness, Chastity, Marriage, Family
The “browning” of Mormonism:
A traditionally very white church goes global
Church Hierarchy LDS Church
First Presidency (3)
Quorum of 12 Apostles
First Quorum of Seventies
Quorums of Seventies (2-7)
Area and Local Authorities
Stake/District Leaders
Ward/Branch Leaders
Quorum/Group Leaders
LDS Quorum of 12 Apostles
First Quorum of Seventy
Auxiliaries
Primary (Children)
Young Men
Young Women
Sunday School
Relief Society General Presidency
Primary General Presidency
General Sunday School Presidency
(for contrast) Community of Christ (RLDS)
Presidents of Seventies Priesthood Quorum
demographics
Global demographics
Global demographics
The Mormon Cosmos
The Mormon Individual: Free Agency
- “Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.” (Book of Mormon)
- “There are things to act and things to be acted upon.” (Book of Mormon)
- “Men are ... free to choose liberty and eternal life ....” (Book of Mormon)
- “Choose the Right” (youth slogan)
- Word of Wisdom
- Law of Chastity
Agency an eternal principle
“In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.”
“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (1995)
Gender an eternal principle
“All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”
“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (1995)
LDS and Traditional Family Values
Possible implications of Premortality, body/spirit dualism, and Individual agency
- Emphasis on personal choice and control (Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity)
- Same-sex attraction described as something some people “struggle with” during mortality.
- Pro-Life stance on abortion (except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to mother’s life)
- Alignment of a lot of Mormons with GOP? (with significant exceptions, esp. in Triangle, Berkeley, Boston, NYC, etc.)
Mormon beginnings
- Joseph Smith born in 1805 in Vermont
- Smith family moves to Palmyra, NY, in 1816
- Angel Moroni delivers “golden plates” and translation begins in 1827
- Book of Mormon published in 1830
- Church of Christ organized April 6, 1830, in upstate NY; followers dubbed “Mormonites”; in 1838 becomes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Joseph Smith, 1805-1844
Book of Mormon
- The Book of Mormon purports to be a record of a family who left Jerusalem in 600 BCE and sailed to the Americas. There they divided into two warring factions known as the Nephites and the Lamanites.
- Eventually the Lamanites defeated their brethren and they, the Lamanites, are believed to be (among) the ancestors of the American Indians.
Book of Mormon Geography
