Cover_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:43 AM Page 2
MORMON EXPERIENCE SCHOLARSHIP ISSUES & ART
“SPEAK THE TRUTH, AND SUNSTONESUNSTONE SHAME THE DEVIL” Roundtable discussion on Church, race, and testimony (p.28)
Charles Randall Paul on Sustaining Peaceful Conflicts over Religion (p.58)
England essay contest winner EVENTUALLY THEHE STIGMATIGMA APPROACHING T S CHATA by Kent R. Bean (p.24) OFOF EEARLYARLY RRETURNETURN David G. Pace reflects on THE NewNew HopeHope forfor HealingHealing KINGDOM OF TOM GREEN (p.8) andand UnderstandingUnderstanding
IN MEMORIAM: Remembering “Ted” Moss and Wayne Owens by John Sillito (p.6)
Report on the Sunstone Survey (p.14)
UPDATE President Hinckley on the Iraqi war; Church reactions to Elizabeth Smart recovery; New focus on “Mormon studies”; and much more! (p.72)
May 2003—$5.95 ifc_127.qxd 5/21/2003 1:56 AM Page 1
2003 SALT LAKE Sunstone
, , Symposium , TO RESERVE A, VENDOR CHAIR SESSIONS TABLE , COMMENTS VOLUNTEER , OR SHARE IDEAS HATCH OR SUGGESTIONSJOHN .COM & Workshops CONTACT @SUNSTONEONLINE JOHN 13–16 AUGUST SALT LAKE SHERATON CITY CENTRE HOTEL A PRELIMINARY PROGRAM WILL BE AVAILABLE IN EARLY JULY
S UNSTONE NORTHWEST E A 27 SEPTEMBER 2003 T MOLLY BENNION’S HOME T 1150 22ND AVE., SEATTLE,WASHINGTON L E Join us for the inaugural SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM SOUTH 17–18 OCTOBER 2003
HILTON DALLAS/PARK CITIES HOTEL 5954 LUTHER LANE,DALLAS,TEXAS
FOR DETAILS AND CALLS FOR PAPERS, CONTACT THE SUNSTONE OFFICE OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE 343 N.Third West, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103 (801) 355-5926 • Fax (801) 355-4043 Email
MORMON EXPERIENCE, SCHOLARSHIP, ISSUES, & ART MAY 2003 Issue 127 FEATURES 24 Kent R. Bean ...... EVENTUALLY APPROACHING CHATA 2003 Eugene England personal essay Contest winner 28 ...... “SPEAK THE TRUTH, AND SHAME THE DEVIL” A Roundtable Discussion on Church, Race, Experience, and Testimony ...... A MISSION TO HEAL: Recovering From the Trauma of Early Return 42 Levi S. Peterson ...... RESOLVING PROBLEMS FOR MISSIONARIES WHO RETURN EARLY 46 Thom Duncan ...... MATTERS OF THE HEART: Reaching Out to One of the Few Remaining Mormon Minorities 49 Louis Moench ...... NEW HOPE FOR EARLY RELEASED “FISHERS SUNSTONE (ISSN 0363-1370) is published by The Sunstone OF MEN” Education Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation with no 52 Richard Ferre ...... IF YE HAVE DESIRES TO SERVE GOD . . . official ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Articles represent the opinions of the writers only. 58 Charles Randall Paul ...... DOES GOD ALWAYS REVEAL THE SAME
SUNSTONE is indexed in Religion Index One: Periodicals, THING TO EVERYONE? On Sustaining the Index to Book Reviews in Religion, Religion Indexes: RIO/RIT/IBBR Peaceful Contests over Religion 1975– on CD-ROM, and the ATLA Religion Database, published by the American Theological Library Association, POETRY 250 S. Wacker Dr., 16th Flr., Chicago, IL 60606 (e-mail: [email protected], WWW: http://atla.com/). 11 Star Coulbrooke...... LOOKING FOR ANGELS IN NOGALES, MEXICO
Submissions may be on IBM-PC compatible computer discs 39 Jerri A. Harwell ...... SECTION I: PRIESTHOOD (MS Word or WordPerfect format), or by e-mail attachment. 48 Robert Parham ...... FOR SLEEP Submissions should not exceed 8,000 words and must be accompanied by a signed letter giving permission for the 56 Carol Hamilton ...... CREATION manuscript to be filed in the Sunstone collection at the University 63 Larsen Bowker ...... IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT of Utah Marriott Library (all literary rights are retained by authors). Manuscripts will not be returned; authors will be 69 Simon Perchik ...... LEAVING notified concerning acceptance within ninety days. SUNSTONE is interested in feature- and column-length articles COLUMNS relevant to Mormonism from a variety of perspectives, news stories about Mormons and the LDS church, and short reflections 6 John Sillito ...... IN MEMORIAM: “Ted” Moss and Wayne Owens: and commentary. Poetry submissions should have one poem per A Personal Reflection page, with the poet’s name and address on each page; a self- addressed, stamped envelope should accompany each 8 David G. Pace ...... TURNING THE TIME OVER TO . . . : submission. Short poems—haiku, limericks, couplets, and one- The Kingdom of Tom Green liners—are very welcome. Short stories are selected only through 12 Dan Wotherspoon ...... FROM THE EDITOR: Seeing Beverly the annual Brookie and D. K. Brown Memorial Fiction Contest (submission deadline: 31 July 2003; $5 fee per story). 14 Michael J. Stevens & Julie K. Curtis . . FROM THE SUNSTONE BOARD: Defining the
Letters for publication should be identified. SUNSTONE does Sunstone Community: “And the Survey Says . . .” not acknowledge receipt of letters to the editor. Letters addressed to specific authors will be forwarded, unopened, to them. CORNUCOPIA 18 Jack Frost...... MARGIN NOTES: Laying on of Hands SUNSTONE will not provide subscriber addresses to mail list solicitors. 19 Brian H. Stuy ...... THE REST OF THE STORY: “Nor By Letter Send all correspondence and manuscripts to: As From Us” SUNSTONE 21 David LeSueur ...... LIGHTER MINDS: Latter-day Sniglets 343 N. Third West 22 Stanley B. Kimball ...... TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON: If You Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215 (801) 355-5926 Could Hie to Kolob fax: (801) 355-4043 22 Van Hale ...... MORMON MISCELLANEOUS: Adam’s Navel email: [email protected] website: www.sunstoneonline.com 64 Michael Nielson...... NONSTANDARD DEVIATIONS: Opposites in United States subscriptions to SUNSTONE are $36 for 6 issues, All Things $65 for 12 issues, and $90 for 18 issues. International 67 D. Jeff Burton...... BRAVING THE BORDERLANDS: On Beyond subscriptions are $48 for 6 issues; $89 for 12 issues; $126 for 18 issues. All payments must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. the Borderlands All international subscriptions will be sent via surface mail. 70 Hugo Olaiz ...... MORMON MEDIA IMAGE: “Our Jesus Is Your Bona fide student and missionary subscriptions are $10 less than Jesus”: New DVD Presents Reassuringly Familiar the above rates. A $10 service charge will be deducted from refund amount on cancellations. Images of Christ 80 Leonard Arrington ...... AN OLIVE LEAF: An Ineffable Experience Printed by A “Green” Shop UPDATE
Copyright © 2003, The Sunstone Education Foundation. 72 ...... President Hinckley speaks on war and peace; Church re- All rights reserved. acts to Elizabeth Smart return; New interest in Mormon Printed in the United States of America. studies; and much more! 02-05_letters.qxd 5/21/2003 1:41 AM Page 2
SUNSTONE
YEA, YEA NAY, NAY
sometimes disturbing elements of our past Founded in 1974 THE WHOLE STORY SCOTT KENNEY 1974–1978 are still available to the general public. As ALLEN D. ROBERTS 1978–1980 UNSTONE’S MARCH 2003 ISSUE IN- much as I would like to spend countless PEGGY FLETCHER 1978–1986 DANIEL H. RECTOR 1986–1991 S cludes an article, “Out of the Best Books,” hours delving through microfiches in dark LINDA JEAN STEPHENSON 1991–1992 ELBERT EUGENE PECK 1986–2001 that asserts that though the Church has mod- rooms, I am not currently able to do so. But I Editor ified its doctrine concerning blacks and the am able to sit down with a book now and DAN WOTHERSPOON Publisher Priesthood, many books with outdated again and enjoy exploring the evolution of WILLIAM STANFORD teachings are still widely available. The arti- Mormon thought. Associate Editor CAROL B. QUIST cle suggests as long as these teachings are still Another, even greater, risk may be in- Managing Editor easily available to the public, the Church volved. Eventually the Church may feel sim- JOHN HATCH may have difficulty claiming it has truly left ply removing the teachings from public view Section Editors MICHAEL AUSTIN, book reviews the doctrine of black inferiority behind. The is not enough. Leaders may decide to restrict PHYLLIS BAKER, fiction contest SCOT DENHALTER, Cybersaints article states, “Are such speculations and pro- all access to these records, as has happened ALAN AND VICKIE EASTMAN, Righteous Dominion nouncements really ‘in the past’ when they in the past. I’m sure that as a champion of HUGO OLAIZ, News/Update DIXIE PARTRIDGE, poetry are in print and allowed to stand without re- such academic endeavors, SUNSTONE would MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON, women’s studies MICHAEL SCHOENFELD, Sunstone Gallery pudiation?” While I understand this argu- never wish to encourage the Church to re- DARRON SMITH, The Long-Promised Day? ment, I wonder if the alternatives to press any historical material. ALISON TAKENAKA, Margin Notes Editorial Assistants publishing such teachings are not more dam- The best option is to allow free access to NATHAN BANG, JOHN-CHARLES DUFFY, REBECCA ENGLAND ERIC JONES, HUGO OLAIZ, WILLIAM B. QUIST aging to both the Church and the cause of all Church teachings, past and present, and Contributing Columnists academic study? allow people to investigate and come to their MICHAEL AUSTIN, D. JEFF BURTON DIAN SADERUP MONSON, MICHAEL NIELSEN, JANA RIESS On the surface, it may seem that the ap- own conclusions. Although McConkie as- Photographer and Taping Engineer propriate thing to do to would be to reprint serts some very disturbing doctrines in STEVE MAYFIELD Cartoonists these books with the questionable teachings Mormon Doctrine, this same SUNSTONE issue KYLE ANDERSON, PAT BAGLEY, MACADE removed. This has been done many times in quotes his statement in another forum: Much-Appreciated Volunteers DEVERY ANDERSON, PHYLLIS BAKER, MAXINE HANKS the past and has inevitably invited criticism. “Forget everything that I have said, or what BARBARA HAUGSOEN, LEANN HILLAM, BEVERLY HOPPE For example, in the first edition of Mormon President Brigham Young or President CHRIS KEMP, CAROLYN LAMBERT, STEVE MAYFIELD WILLIAM B. QUIST, KATHY WILSON, JAKE ZOLLINGER Doctrine, Bruce R. McConkie asserts the George Q. Cannon or whoever has said in Catholic church is the “church of the Devil.” days past that is contrary to the present reve- In subsequent editions, this reference has lation. We spoke with a limited understand- THE SUNSTONE EDUCATION been removed. What may seem innocuous ing and without the light and knowledge that FOUNDATION and appropriate may set a dangerous prece- now has come into the world.” In my opin- The mission of The Sunstone Education Foundation is to dent. It creates a revisionist view of the his- ion, full and unrestricted access to the fasci- sponsor open forums of Mormon thought and experience. Under the motto, “Faith Seeking Understanding,” we ex- tory of Mormon doctrine, something the nating history of Mormon thought will amine and express the rich spiritual, intellectual, social, and artistic qualities of Mormon history and contempo- Church has frequently been accused of. always be preferable to censorship, regardless rary life. We encourage humanitarian service, honest in- quiry, and responsible interchange of ideas that is Church leaders must then must go on the de- of the nature of the teachings. respectful of all people and what they hold sacred. fensive to explain why they feel these past Thanks for all the great work you folks do. Executive Director DAN WOTHERSPOON teachings should no longer circulate among LON SCHIFFBAUER Board of Trustees the general membership. This course of ac- Sandy, Utah J. FREDERICK (TOBY) PINGREE, chair BILL BRADSHAW, D. JEFF BURTON, JULIE K. CURTIS tion ultimately leads to talks such as Elder CHARLOTTE H. ENGLAND, NADINE R. HANSEN, Boyd K. Packer’s, “The Mantle is Far, Far JORDAN KIMBALL, KIM MCCALL, J. BONNER RITCHIE ECHOES OF THE CURSE MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON, MICHAEL J. STEVENS Greater Than the Intellect,” which contends EARL M. WUNDERLI Publisher/Business Manager that only faith-promoting history should be HANKS FOR ANOTHER FASCINATING WILLIAM STANFORD published. Criticism of the practice of re- T issue (March 2003). Here is some back- Sunstone Mercantile Director/Office Manager CAROL B. QUIST moving certain passages was present in this ground on the material from the Times and Symposium Organizers same SUNSTONE issue in the Update article, Seasons about the Ham and Noah story used MOLLY BENNION, Northwest KIRK & BECKY LINFORD, Washington, D.C. “Church Archives Release Documents on in the essay, “Out of the Best Books.” There is RICHARD RANDS, KIM MCCALL, Symposium West DVD.” There, the article points out that while a similar passage in Teachings of the Prophet STEVE ECCLES, Dallas JOHN HATCH, Salt Lake City this release is to be celebrated, there are mis- Joseph Smith (pages, 193–94, dating to 7 Nov. National Advisory Board ALAN ACKROYD, IRENE BATES, MOLLY BENNION givings about the Church’s decision to black 1841): “I referred to the curse of Ham. . . . CARLAN BRADSHAW, BELLAMY BROWN, RENEE CARLSON out certain passages “deemed confidential or [Noah] cursed him by the Priesthood . . . and BLAINE CARLTON, PAUL CARPENTER, DOUGLAS CONDIE JOHN COX, D. JAMES CROFT, ROBERT FILLERUP inappropriate for public use.” the curse remains upon the posterity of KENT FROGLEY, SHELDON GREAVES, MARK GUSTAVSON One might argue that removing the teach- Canaan until the present day.” This is, signif- LIONEL GRADY, NANCY HARWARD, DIETRICH KEMPSKI GREG KOFFORD, SHUNICHI KUWAHATA, GLEN LAMBERT ings from widely available sources and re- icantly, the single reference to Ham in the en- PATRICK MCKENZIE, CARRIE MILES, RONALD L. MOLEN MARY ANN MORGAN, MARJORIE NEWTON stricting them to scholars would solidify the tire volume. ALICE ALLRED POTTMYER, MARGARET REISER Church’s claim that it has left that piece of its More important, during an 1828 debate CHRIS SEXTON, RICHARD SHERLOCK, GEORGE D. SMITH, JR. NICHOLAS SMITH, RICHARD SOUTHWICK history behind but is not trying to hide any between atheist Robert Owen and Alexander MARSHA S. STEWART, LORIE WINDER STROMBERG JOHN TARJAN, JANET TARJAN, NOLA W. WALLACE past doctrine. Speaking as a pseudo-scholar, Campbell, leader of the Disciples of Christ HARTMUT WEISSMANN, MARK J. WILLIAMS however, I am glad these uncomfortable and movement, Campbell used the same passage
PAGE 2 MAY 2003 02-05_letters.qxd 5/21/2003 1:41 AM Page 3
SUNSTONE
as a proof of the existence of God. “We shall respondent, were delighted to be among figure out is how the new bishop in each new now observe that part [of Noah’s prophesy]. . those who addressed that forum. Through ward got wind of me. I moved an average of . which relates to the sentence pronounced it, and through Peggy, we became aware of once every year-and-a-half over a twenty- on Canaan. . . . The whole continent of Africa a range of Mormon scholars we might oth- five-year period. Didn’t matter. Home teach- was peopled principally by the children of erwise have neglected. Like all free-stand- ers always ended up on my doorstep. Finally, Ham. . . . Egypt is often called in scripture ing religious publications, SUNSTONE I solved the mystery. A dedicated father was the land of Ham. . . . The inhabitants of provided—and I trust continues to pro- behind it all. So then came the post office Africa have been bought and sold as slaves vide—both a creative and intellectual out- box and the unlisted number—more anony- from the earliest periods of history even to let for Mormons and a channel into the mous with each passing year. What’s more, I the present time.” While this anthropology ongoing Mormon experience. Peggy’s hus- was the perfect dissident. All I wanted was to obviously does not stand, we should remem- band Mike, though, was right to see be left alone. That’s when the Ensign began ber this use of the Ham story is not originally SUNSTONE as a rival. Putting out magazines showing up in my post office box. Mormon but a cultural inheritance from a so- is all-consuming. But I trust Peggy has a Occasionally, I would browse a few pages. ciety that needed such myths to support the cache of back issues to show her children One day, on one page, I counted the word social institution of slavery. and grandchildren. They should know “obedience” twenty-two times. Anger forced KEVIN CHRISTENSEN what captured her heart before their father a different posture. I realized a huge ambiva- Lawrence, Kansas did. Magazines are like that. lence hung over me. Everything I did was in- KENNETH WOODWARD fluenced by the Church. I knew I had been ITS OWN REWARD Contributing Editor, Newsweek conditioned to silence. I thought back and New York City, New York saw myself running from a religion that had MORE THAN APPRECIATED DONALD no intention of letting me go. I was the per- I L. Gibbon’s essay, “A Typical Sunday,” in FEAR NOT YOUR LIGHT fect dissident member: silent and anony- the March 2003 SUNSTONE. Our ward mous. boundaries encompass the Portland Oregon WAS STRUCK BY A COMMENT IN I have read many quotes through the V.A. Medical Center (hospital), and our high I Lavina Fielding Anderson’s fine history of years. Two have stuck. Nelson Mandela said, priest group is assigned to visit out-of-state Sunstone under Peggy Fletcher’s leadership “We fear not our dark, but our light.” And I members whose families are unable to travel (SUNSTONE, Dec. 2002). It is the point when realized I had been conditioned to fear my to Portland. Each time I return from one of Peggy spoke of having gargantuan piles of light. The renowned editor Betsy Lerner my visits, I am reminded that we do not need work on her desk, yet of her being unable to a temple recommend nor a bishop/stake bring herself to cut off conversations with president interview to help those with needs people whose faith was in crisis. Those peo- including but not limited to the poor and the ple needed to talk, needed someone who un- sick. Mentoring a challenged, fatherless, or derstood. As I read this, a twinge of envy disabled child is equally rewarding. There is went through me. a “rush” from these activities I do not neces- When this Mormon son, emotionally ex- sarily experience at the veil. hausted, limped out of Salt Lake City to dis- JOHN EMMETT appear many, many years ago, there was no Portland, Oregon SUNSTONE, no Dialogue. A sympathetic ear did not exist. How I would have loved one. A TWO-WAY WINDOW Bleak and empty, there was a hole in my soul a Kenmore could drive through. T WAS A PLEASURE TO READ THE I drifted, wanting only to disappear, enjoy I recent piece on Sunstone’s Peggy some small peace of mind. What I couldn’t Fletcher years (SUNSTONE, Dec. 2002). I knew it was a struggle for Peggy to keep the Sunstone foundation afloat for as long as she did, but being smart, persuasive, and doggedly dedicated as well as “waif- like,” Peggy managed in a tradition of small magazines that goes well beyond the LDS Church to include some of New York’s finest publications. The author of the article might have mentioned that Peggy made SUNSTONE a window onto the Mormon world for those of us fortunate to have contributed to it and to the Sunstone Symposium. Among others that could and should be men- tioned, theologian James T. Burtchaell,
CSC, former provost of Notre Dame, and HER NAME HERE sociologist Peter Berger, as well as this cor-
MAY 2003 PAGE 3 02-05_letters.qxd 5/21/2003 1:41 AM Page 4
SUNSTONE
wrote in her book, Forest For the Trees, I also enjoyed Dan Wotherspoon’s edito- between the Exile of the Jews in Babylon and “Writing is nothing if not breaking the si- rial, “Saving the Whole World.” I wasn’t the birth of Christ with great precision—too lence.” quite as struck by Elder Ballard’s remarks much precision, say academics. They label On Saturday, 18 September 1993, I sat about missionary “bar-raising” since it Daniel vaticinia ex eventu, meaning “prophecy alone in Seattle, Washington, reading a news- seemed a reiteration of what has been said after the event,” meaning it could only have paper article, “Mormon Church Purges before. I viewed this as another example of been written as history, not prophecy. The Perceived Heretics.” I had lost everything how much time the Church spends trying foundation of this criticism is the denial of from the warmth and love of family to my to get local leaders to follow counsel already prophecy: God could not have revealed the own identity. Six Mormons had been chas- given. When I read Dan’s great personal events to Daniel, so his account could not tised by the Church and were made to expe- story, I don’t see that if he were to come have been written until after they had oc- rience the violence we call excommunication along now, he would be excluded. He did curred. Yet if one believes that God can speak and disfellowshipment—metaphorical death something to change and go rather than be- to prophets, the accuracy of Daniel’s account by any other name. A real war was taking ing sent with the hope that something is to be expected, not criticized. place. Those six had embraced their light would change him. Among the arguments Stuy echoes is the while one wimp still hung about in the dark I’ve never been a bishop nor a mission claim that Daniel’s use of the Hebrew and of silence and ambiguity. Sobering in a president but I served in a mission with a Aramaic languages “assert a much later date” nanosecond, I realized it was more painful to large number of disobedient missionaries than the sixth century B.C. Stuy suggests the live in silence than to break it. I started writ- who were a huge drain on the mission presi- language used reflects a linguistic tradition ing that September. I wrote until I found my dent’s energy. And in most of these cases, I “arising only about 200 B.C.” This is simply form, stride, and best of all my identity. This don’t think the mission did much for the untrue. The Aramaic used in Daniel, for ex- summer, my book, Ghost Between Us, will be missionary. I estimate that about 20 percent ample, is now referred to as “Imperial on the shelves. were in this category. There were probably 60 Aramaic” and was a unique dialect used pri- Alas, “September Six” can never be percent for whom the mission functioned marily for government business. Discoveries “September Seven,” but I can honor them. primarily as a time of development or, as the and analyses over the last century, such as the They and others like them saw their light and saying goes, was “as much for the missionar- Papyri from Elephantine Island (Biblical went before. Their energy gave us SUNSTONE ies themselves as for the work they did.” Yeb), have dispelled these criticisms. Far and Dialogue. I still have that newspaper arti- Preparation, motivation, and spiritual devel- from arising later, this dialect had completely cle on a wall in my study. I look one day to opment all have to be carefully weighed in disappeared before 300 B.C., well before tell those six brave souls and people like missionary callings, but miracles do happen. Daniel’s suggested date of authorship. Peggy thanks in person. Until then, this will So who knows? I heard Elder Ballard as say- Next, Stuy echoes the incorrect identifi- have to do. ing those who recommend potential mis- cation of the “breast and arms of silver” MIKE OBORN sionaries must be very careful but that (Daniel 2:32) as representing Media. This Bellevue, Washington extending calls will never be a black and is interesting because the Median Empire white situation. had disappeared by the time of the second GREATER GOODS THOMAS D. COPPIN kingdom mentioned in the Nebucha- Bountiful, Utah dnezzar’s vision. The Medes were absorbed ENJOYED THE ARTICLE, “GUITARS IN into the Persian Empire when Cyrus de- I Church,” by Gael D. Ulrich (SUNSTONE, THE CASE FOR PROPHECY feated Astyages, his grandfather and last Dec. 2002). I’ve seen similar situations in king of the Median Empire, about 559 B.C. Church music. Last year, a young non-mem- READ WITH INTEREST BRIAN STUY’S Babylon did not fall until 539 B.C., so, be- ber married to a member moved into our I short piece, “Romancing the Stone,” about cause they had already been replaced ward. He was a talented organist and, after a perceived problems in dating of the Old themselves, the Medes could not have re- short time, was called to be one of the ward Testament book of Daniel (SUNSTONE, Oct. placed the Babylonians. Stuy incorrectly organists, and he accepted. His prelude mu- 2002). Unfortunately, Stuy considers only states that Babylon “was overthrown by the sic was a treat for most of us, but the ward one side of the “Daniel Question,” and a Medes (silver kingdom).” Babylon was in music leader fretted that it was not in keeping dated one at that. fact conquered by the Persians. While the with the instructions for Church music. She This battle over dating the book of Daniel remnants of the Medes played a significant was torn about whether to say anything or has been raging for sixteen centuries. role, it was as a part of the fledgling Persian not. I suggested that he was really in the ward Traditional Judaism and Christianity believe Empire under Cyrus. Since Stuy’s analysis temporarily, that playing gave him a chance Daniel was written in the sixth century B.C., of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is incorrect to contribute, that most of us were enjoying by a Jewish official of the Babylonian court from the start, the subsequent information something different for a time, and that when named Belteshazzar (the Hebrew name for is also incorrect. The “Brass Empire” was he moved, he could leave with having been Daniel). Like Stuy, most members of the the Greek empire of Alexander, not Persia, accepted and knowing he contributed. I sug- academy argue it was written in the middle and the “Iron” that of Rome instead of gested a greater good would be accomplished of the second century B.C. Greece. by not being heavy-handed in following the In examining this question, however, we There are several other problems with handbook. He moved sooner than expected, must remember that the basis for the dis- Stuy’s claims (all of which are based on com- and the situation took care of itself. But I agreement is primarily the result of the acad- mon academic theories), but I will focus only surely miss his variations on the hymns! I emy’s skepticism about things religious. on the assertion that dating the book is possi- hope he is accepted to play wherever he Daniel, you see, is a casualty of its own exact- ble because Daniel’s prophecies faltered might attend. ness. The book of Daniel portrays the period when the Maccabees “failed to free the Jews
PAGE 4 MAY 2003 02-05_letters.qxd 5/21/2003 1:42 AM Page 5
SUNSTONE
from foreign rule.” This statement is grossly the last days himself. Verse 33 says “they inaccurate, as the dating used by Daniel’s shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by cap- critics is almost universally determined by tivity, and by spoil, many days,” and verse 35 the book’s perceived failure to describe the says it will last “even to the time of the end.” death of Antiochus Epiphanes in Dan 11:45. It is after this suggested shift in time that the The first part of Daniel 11 talks about reference to the death of the Antichrist is Antiochus Epiphanes, who is considered an mentioned (v. 45). Therefore, many who de- archetype of the Antichrist who will appear fend the traditional view of Daniel use this during the end-times. Several events de- argument to refute the second century B.C. WORDS OF MORMONS scribed in Daniel 11 can be given specific dating suggested by critics. In academic cir- dates relating to Epiphanes. Daniel 11:29–31 cles, this line of reasoning is met with skepti- Can’t Find a Book? (KJV) states: cism, but it does point out that the dating of At the time appointed he shall re- Daniel is not as certain as its critics would These stores specialize in turn, and come toward the south; have us believe. but it shall not be as the former, or The common assumption that Daniel out-of-print and hard-to-find as the latter. For the ships of Chittim was written around 166 B.C. has a number LDS books shall come against him: therefore he of other serious problems. One of them shall be grieved, and return, and centers around the book of Daniel’s impor- have indignation against the holy tance to the people of Qumran whose BENCHMARK covenant: so shall he do; he shall legacy is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The even return, and have intelligence Qumran community was founded in the BOOKS with them that forsake the holy second century B.C., and they left many 3269 S. Main, Suite 250 covenant. And arms shall stand on fragments of Daniel among the Dead Sea Salt Lake City, UT 84115 his part, and they shall pollute the Scrolls. Some have been dated to the sec- (801) 486-3111 sanctuary of strength, and shall take ond century B.C., and most appear to be (800) 486-3112 (toll free for orders) away the daily sacrifice, and they based on the Greek translation, not the
MAY 2003 PAGE 5 06-07_sillito_in memoriam.qxd 5/21/2003 8:44 AM Page 6
SUNSTONE
IN MEMORIAM
“TED” MOSS AND WAYNE OWENS: A PERSONAL REFLECTION
By John Sillito
ARLIER THIS YEAR, Utahns lost two presidential race on Moss’s coattails! of their most respected public ser- That 1964 campaign against Ernest E vants, and SUNSTONE readers, two Wilkinson—and a third race in 1970 kindred spirits. I am referring, of course, to against Laurence Burton (who also the deaths of Frank E. Moss (everyone called died recently)—were two of the most him Ted) and Wayne Owens. Each was an vitriolic and nasty in Utah history. But example of a committed Latter-day Saint who Moss held off strong challenges be- combined public service with a desire to ex- cause he had established a significant pand the climate of Mormon intellectual dis- record in environmentalism, con- course. And each sought to leave the world a sumer protection, and health care. better place than the one he inherited. It was during those years that I got While others knew them better or had to know him. As a teenager, I volun- more extensive contacts with them, I had the teered in his 1964 campaign and saw opportunity to know and work with each of firsthand how he handled attacks these men, and my life is far richer for it. from Wilkinson and other Utah Indeed, they set a high standard for a whole Goldwaterites. He seemed to take an generation of Utahns who came to political interest in me—he called me maturity and awareness during the last half “Whitey” because, in those years, I of the past century. had a shock of light blond hair. He al- Moss’s father was a well-known educator ways had a kind word when I met him who instilled in his youngest child a lifelong in the headquarters. I discovered that appreciation for education. After graduation he was a genuine person who at- from Granite High School and the University tracted a number of supporters who of Utah, Moss married Phyllis Hart in 1934. became longtime friends. In those Three years later, he graduated from George days, I was thinking of a political ca- PHOTO COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT, J. WILLARD MARRIOTT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY UTAH Washington University’s law school. reer myself, and I saw Moss as a role Frank E. Moss, 1961; Inset: Frank Moss and Esther Peterson at the Over the next twenty years, he pursued a model for anyone who wanted to be 1991 Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium career as an attorney, served in World War II, progressive, yet also electable, in a and held public office as a municipal judge Utah that was growing increasingly conserva- tics.” Indeed, in the twenty-seven years since and Salt Lake County Attorney. In 1958, he tive. It wasn’t easy, but Moss showed that it that election, no Democrat has represented ran for the United States Senate and was was possible. Utah in the U.S. Senate. elected in a three-way race defeating incum- After three Senate terms and three diffi- After leaving office, Moss entered a new bent Arthur V. Watkins and former Governor cult campaigns, Moss was not prepared for phase in his life. He continued to practice J. Bracken Lee. Always more liberal than his the challenge of newcomer Orrin Hatch in law until he was ninety, and Salt Lake’s fed- constituents, Moss was assumed to be an 1976. This time, charges stuck that Moss was eral courthouse is now named in his honor. easy candidate for defeat in 1964. a big-spending liberal, out of touch with his Moss also found time to attend Sunstone But Moss proved to be stronger politically electorate, and he was defeated. He took the symposiums. I can’t recall a symposium than his critics thought, and he was re- loss hard, and I am not sure he ever really got where I didn’t see him, a well-annotated pro- elected to a second term. He even received a over that campaign. As a Deseret News edito- gram in his pocket, listening intently in ses- higher percentage of the vote than did his rial correctly recognized however, Moss’ de- sions, asking probing questions. A wonderful senate mentor Lyndon Johnson, who joked feat was “not so much a rejection of him as it photo taken at the 1991 symposium shows that he had carried the Beehive State in the was an early tremor in Utah’s shifting poli- Moss and his old friend and political ally Esther Peterson going over the printed pro- JOHN SILLITO is archivist, curator of special collections, and professor of libraries at gram with the seriousness they once reserved Weber State University, in Ogden, Utah, where he was named the Nye Honors for public policy issues. Professor for 2001–02. He is the author and editor of many volumes, most recently Moss passed away peacefully 29 January Mormon Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters (Signature Books). 2003 at the age of 91.
PAGE 6 MAY 2003 06-07_sillito_in memoriam.qxd 5/21/2003 8:44 AM Page 7
SUNSTONE
In 1974, Owens, who I suspect The following is excerpted from an interview with had always wanted to be a Senator, Wayne Owens published in SUNSTONE, July-Aug. gave up his congressional seat and 1980, p. 56–60. ran against Salt Lake Mayor Jake Garn for the U. S. Senate. He was de- SUNSTONE: Have you ever been at odds feated, in part due to his vigorous with the Church on a political issue? opposition to Nixon. OWENS: Not purposely. In the case of the The next year, Owens was called Equal Rights Amendment, I was certainly sur- to serve as president of the Canada, prised by the Church’s stand. I was an Equal Montreal mission. He joked that Rights supporter long before the Church ever many Utahns were shocked by the got involved, so that has been a very difficult call, for they had assumed he wasn’t thing to see develop. even LDS. The Church sees significant, fundamental After his release, Owens returned changes in the family relationship in the evo- to practice law. But the political bug lutionary movement toward equal rights still had him. He worked for his old among the sexes. If I ever came to believe that, friend, Ted Kennedy, in the 1980 then I would have to be an overt oppponent of presidential campaign, and in 1984, the Equal Rights Amendment because of the Owens was an unsuccessful candi- value I place upon the family. I am opposed to date for Utah governor. Two years any change in the basic fundamental family re- later, however, he was elected to an- lationship. other term in congress and served However, I have always felt very, very Wayne Owens, circa 1990 until 1992. That year he again strongly about equal opportunity whether it FIRST MET Wayne Owens in a rather sought a Senate seat but was again de- be between sexes or races. . . . As a strong or- odd way: he literally bowled me over! In feated. thodox Mormon, I believe the premise of the the spring of 1968, I was in the Hotel Still, Wayne Owens never gave up his Mormon Church, which is that it is headed by I a prophet who speaks for God and directs Utah hoping to get a glimpse of Senator optimism for the American political Robert F. Kennedy. An elevator door opened, system. In 1980, Bill Slaughter and I inter- Church policy. . . . However, I was one of those and Owens and Kennedy, without any other viewed Owens for SUNSTONE. Toward the who hoped, prayed, and counseled with the aides, nearly walked over me. Kennedy end of the interview, I asked him how he Lord and the General Authorities when I got a shook my hand, but Owens, the Western answered the charge that politics was chance about how disastrous the policy on states coordinator in that ill-fated campaign, rotten and corrupt. He thought about it for Blacks was to the Church. I was in the mission was so intent in briefing his boss he never a minute, and then said quietly: “Politics is field [as mission president] when that changed looked up. I later learned this intensity was a reflection, I think, of the morals and the and was overwhelmingly relieved and grati- balanced with a quiet, almost shy or under- mores of the people. I have always felt that fied. I think that is the most historic and ex- stated side much like Kennedy’s. politics—public service in the political citing thing that has happened in the Church Owens spent the next few years as an as- arena—was the highest possible civic in a hundred years. sistant to Edward Kennedy and to Ted Moss. calling. . . . I think the attitude of the SUNSTONE: Tell us about your mission expe- Then, in 1972, Owens himself became a can- Church reflects our basic belief that the rience and how it affected your family. didate for Congress and captured public at- American government is founded upon a OWENS: We had a fantastic, fulfilling time tention by walking throughout the large divinely inspired Constitution, and though personally. Spiritually it was enriching and ex- second congressional district to meet voters there are mechanical defects occasionally, citing beyond our greatest hopes. Our five personally. Despite typical charges that he and personal defeats quite regularly, the children loved it. They learned a new lan- was a friend of Eastern liberals and basic system is sound indeed.” gauage, and new culture, and added a new di- Hollywood figures such as Kennedy and In the 1990s, Owens turned his atten- mension to their perceptions of the Church. . . . Robert Redford, Owens won by 25,000 tion to another challenge—peace in the We worked with and came to love 508 full- votes. His victory energized many of us then Middle East. He was a co-founder of the time missionaries. Marlene and I deepened active in the Democratic party, and I got to Center for Middle East Peace and our own understandings and love for the know and work with both Wayne and his Economic Cooperation and was leading a Church. . . . wife Marlene. Congressional fact-finding mission when People said I ran the mission just like a Almost immediately after his election, he died, 18 December 2002, of a heart at- campaign. And I suppose that is true because Owens was thrown into the national spot- tack on a beach in Israel. To the very end that’s my personality—my way of getting light through his service on the televised of his 64 years, Owens was engaged in things done. The mission president is respon- House Judiciary Committee hearings which public service, tackling tough issues, sible for virtually everything in the mission, so voted to impeach President Richard Nixon. trying to bring different sides together, and your own personality gets extended into Owens believed in the noble calling of public hoping to help bring peace to a war-torn everything. . . . service and loved the guarantees outlined in region. So our “campaign” was to get the mission- the Constitution. You could see in Owens’ aries to work enthusiastically and with undi- face the pain caused him by the revelations of ED Moss and Wayne Owens left us vided effort to help bring as many people into Nixon’s dirty tricks and callous disregard for a legacy of public service worth re- the Church as we could. Still, they were not to constitutional rights. T membering—and emulating. push but only to teach and invite.
MAY 2003 PAGE 7 08-11_c_pace_tom green.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 8
SUNSTONE
TURNING THE TIME OVER TO . . .
David G. Pace
THE KINGDOM OF TOM GREEN
N 1988, I wasn’t sure I liked having a Church officially jettisoned more than a cen- in with his family and then helped Black wife, and I hardly wanted another one. tury ago. Fourteen years after the Swapp keep them away from their father. I So I don’t think it was because I lusted standoff, during the media storm around an- On 18 January, while attempting to serve after more conjugal living that, during a other polygamist, Tom Green, the familiar Singer an arrest warrant at his home, police stand-off that year between law-enforcement sense of being under attack gripped me yet had a confrontation with the patriarch, who, officials and Utah polygamists, I found my- again. Now that Green has been dispatched they reported, after threatening them with a self quietly rooting for the guy with more to prison for bigamy, criminal non-support of gun tried to flee. Singer was shot in the back than one wife. Suddenly, the invaders, from a minor and, finally, in a second trial, statu- and killed. federal officers to out-of-state reporters, be- tory rape, I still feel a lingering sense of be- On the day of Singer’s death, I was in the came my enemy. While the enemy main- trayal. Why the persistence of polygamy, and kitchen watching the news while my mother tained it was on site because a church why should I, a self-described ethnic prepared dinner. At forty-three, and (at the building had been bombed and not because Mormon, or other non-polygamous-prac- time) a mother of eleven, she was a natural of polygamy, for me, the extended incident ticing Mormons, care? advocate for children and a force to be reck- was irrevocably linked to the tradition of my oned with. The television station had tapes of ancestors dating back to 1837, the year my HE short answer is that sometimes an earlier interview with some of Singer’s triple-great-grandfather John Lowe Butler the wall in the dusty basement that children. During the interview, one daughter took a second wife in Nauvoo, Illinois, at the T needs renovation is actually a load- had been asked what she thought about the behest of the Prophet Joseph Smith. bearing wall. As I was growing up in Provo, possibility of her father being killed in an al- My Grandfather Butler’s choice came Utah, polygamy seemed thankfully in retire- tercation with the police. The young girl, in a during the beginning days of what the saints ment, like buggies and oil lamps. This de- conservative dress and the long hair distinc- then called “celestial marriage,” the tortured spite my having heard that two daughters of tive of females in many polygamist groups, legacy of which is now commonly referred to a prominent doctor down the street had not instantly responded to the effect that God as polygamy. Today, that legacy includes up- only become plural wives but had also relo- would never allow anything like that to wards of sixty thousand people living in cated to Independence, Missouri, where happen to the family patriarch. She said her polygamous families. But in much of the rest Joseph Smith, a man with more than thirty parents had taught the children that all this of the Mormon population, the effect seems wives himself, had promised Jesus would re- tension over their schooling and the integra- to play out in a kind of tribal consensus that turn. But to me, as a pre-teen, these women, tion of the Blacks into their family was kicks in from time to time as it did for me as whom I never knew, seemed as antique as a simply a test of their faith. This segment was I watched the “patriarch”—Addam Swapp, washboard and wringer. It was later, while I aired in a story that ended with the report of age twenty-eight, at the time, just two years was in high school, as the preamble to the Singer’s death. my senior—act out that most distinctive of Swapp affair was being written, that I wit- I knew my mother, a former “Miss Mormon mentalities: being under siege. It nessed in my mother the Mormon schizo- Oregon” and an astute, if quiet, observer of was Swapp, his wives, and other family phrenia over polygamy. the world, was watching the news carefully. members, including children, who hunkered The year was 1979. John Singer was an A certain discomfort had prevailed in our down under the varied, persistent threats of acknowledged polygamist, but unlike Green, family’s few conversations about the Singer the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other seemed cankered with rage, casting America affair. But when she heard the child’s inter- agencies, while all of mighty “Babylon”—the as morally corrupt and its government as in- view, preceding as it did the gruesome ac- world—watched. During that cold, Utah vasive. In 1973, he and his wife Vicki had re- count of Singer’s death on his own property, January, I came face-to-face with a side of moved their children from public school my mother was moved to action. She put myself I’d never dealt with before, a side split and, when some six years later, the state down the spoon she was stirring spaghetti off from the role of do-gooder and righteous questioned the quality of their home with and went to the phone book. She innocent that seems common for Latter-day schooling, they refused to cooperate with the scoured the pages, and then impatiently Saints. authorities. At this same time, Singer took picked up the phone receiver and called di- Even non-practicing Mormons seem another wife, Shirley Black, then legally mar- rectory assistance. Within minutes, she was haunted by the ghosts of a practice the ried to another man. He moved her children speaking to the reporter who had filed the story at KSL television in Salt Lake City. Though as a child, I remember sensing DAVID G. PACE is a fiction writer and essayist. He recently relocated from New York my mother’s rage, I had rarely experienced City to Salt Lake with his (serially) second wife, Cheryl. it. The wooden spoon or bedroom slipper raised above us, her children, always
PAGE 8 MAY 2003 08-11_c_pace_tom green.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 9
SUNSTONE
seemed a joke as we skittered merrily away. matic relationship many modern Latter-day polygamy was no longer practiced in his Infinitely more effective than angry words or Saints have with Restoration-theology home state, Smoot’s secretary, Carl Badger, corporal punishment was her calm rhetoric polygamy in the United States. Like many wrote: that nevertheless had the force of steel. On Mormons, I read Church history vora- If as a people we had strictly ob- the phone with that reporter, she brought ciously even though orthodox belief con- served the Manifesto, I believe that her best, reproving, soon-to-be-mother-of- tinues to wane in me like winter sun. What our example would have chal- twelve voice to bear. In no uncertain terms, seems to drive me is the notion that if I lenged the admiration of the world; Mom made it clear that footage which dis- search hard and long enough for what but we have thought that there is credits a child’s faith publicly is a humilia- holds me to not only the specter of something higher than honesty, tion and should be edited out for the 10 polygamy but to Mormonism in general, I and behold our confusion.1 o’clock broadcast. will be able to let it all go. And so while Loyalty to the Lord’s anointed, still the litmus It was. reading B. Carmon Hardy’s Solemn test of being a “good” Latter-day Saint today, Covenant, I just recently found myself ob- held this higher station than did truth- HILE The Church of Jesus telling. Christ of Latter-day Saints The Prophet Joseph Smith valued W has formally abandoned (and relied on) loyalty and friendship polygamy, or as fundamentalist over virtually everything else. He had Mormons prefer, “plural” or “celestial often said that more secrets of heaven marriage,” the practice has never The practice of lying were not revealed because so few stopped. To save the Church from cer- Saints could keep them. Consequently, tain destruction by the United States Hardy points out, very early on in the government, in the fall of 1890 Church, lying meant secrecy, which President Wilford Woodruff issued the took on heroic was often paired with the sacred, and Manifesto, barring polygamy. Yet both were protected by friendship and seven years after the Manifesto, loyalty. President Woodruff himself took a undertones and Time doesn’t seem to have taken sixth wife. This time secretly. contemporary Latter-day Saints—or Once the territorial government of their underbelly brethren and sisters the Great Basin became separate from was eventually like me—far from these old impera- the Church, Mormons started going to tives. The confusion that Badger as- jail for “cohabitation,” which was con- cribes to his peers of the early 1900s sidered illegal. Determined to keep has transmogrified today into lying for their families together, Mormons lied even referred to as the Lord’s spin-doctoring descendant: to authorities about their marital Church public relations. The Church’s arrangements and about paternity. hierarchy has made it clear that in Maureen Whipple’s 1951 novel, The “lying for the Lord.” terms of apostasy, what members say Giant Joshua, vividly recounts publicly, and not what they think pri- polygamy’s underground railroad. vately, is what runs the risk of Church Children were primed never to reveal discipline. Combine this self-policing to strangers who their parents were, determination not to voice one’s mind and family members hid under beds and in sessively scribbling down the impressive with an institution bucking for the main- sheds while the men hightailed it out the lexicon of terms used to describe how, for stream, and Mormon vitality will be dis- back door—or to Mexico—when “the ubiq- my forebears, “adherence that is willingly played only in our “surface” lives, our public uitous Feds” began poking around. The blind necessarily relegates truth to a lesser performances, and not deep within our practice of lying, as depicted in Whipple’s order of priority.” souls, which remain stymied. novel, took on heroic undertones and was The Mormon Polygamous Passage, as Hardy There is a saying in the Church: “every eventually even referred to as “lying for the subtitles his tome, was a cultural dictate to member a missionary.” There could very well Lord.” Alliteratively, the phrase recalled the early Saints to, among other things, “dis- be a saying equally charged: “every member a Brigham Young, “The Lion of the Lord,” simulate,” “lie,” “fib,” “prevaricate,” “mis- publicist.” Hardy’s list of synonyms and eu- provocateur of Victorian moral standards, state,” “misrepresent,” “distort,” “bend,” phemisms for “to lie” could just as easily be and, by one count, the husband himself of “deceive,” “conceal,” and “pretend.” They the skill-set of a publicist—in the savvy, twenty-seven wives. One reason polygamy used everything from “false denials” and “dis- Madison Avenue-hired machinery at 50 East maintained its hold on Mormondom must information,” to “enclosure” (vs. disclosure) North Temple as well as in individual mem- have been the memory of Brother Brigham’s and “pretzled language.” Hardy quotes others bers to whom lying for the Lord sometimes fierce sermons in support of it, even though, who accuse Latter-day Saints of using “false- means lying to themselves. reportedly, before the Saints went west, he hoods,” of “drifting,” or of saying “one thing Lying to myself. was so sickened upon first hearing of the aloud and another in a whisper.” teaching and its restoration that he “desired Lying became endemic to these Saints. In AM no longer a member of The Church the grave.” the early 1900s, when in hearings before the of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet, But in the end, I suspect it was the lying, U.S. Senate, Utah Senator-elect Reed Smoot I like many others who have chosen to and not the Lion, which catalyzed the enig- tried to convince his colleagues that leave the Church, I still feel what has been
MAY 2003 PAGE 9 08-11_c_pace_tom green.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 10
SUNSTONE
called the “romance of Mormonism,”2 and I freedom not to is linked to the fact that there a sepia-toned family portrait. recognize that its peculiar Old Testament are those who can, those who will. Some of And then there is the lying, the lying for ways are part of my personal hard-wiring. I us with a civil-libertarian bent like to pair the Lord in its public relations guise that has am much like the non-religious Jew who, on the practice of polygamy with other alterna- settled into our bones the way method a plane en route to Tel Aviv, explains to me tive lifestyles we would like to see legalized acting guides a trained performer. The that she fully supports, and is even grateful (such as same-sex marriage), but I contend Church’s public relations department even for, the keepers of the Mosaic law, for those our drive for the tolerance of polygamy decries terms such as “Mormon polygamist” who are not only protected and supported by arises partly from this unconscious sense or “Fundamentalist Mormons.” It hopes to the Israeli government but who are now be- that those who practice the Principle em- spin the tale that because the Church has coming a political force to be reck- banned the practice, people like oned with. And this she says even as Tom Green can’t be called she is dating goyim and snacking on “Mormon”—as if the Church holds prosciutto. To her, “religious Jews” a copyright on a nickname origi- are keepers of something—some- nally given to us in the same way thing she discounts at her peril. For many Mormons, “Christian” was given to Christ’s an- Which may be why the practice cient followers: by our enemies. of polygamy is still among us. Many Tom Green’s crime was not that Mormons, even as they prosecute he practiced the Principle of our pi- other Mormons in Utah courts, as polygamists will oneer ancestors, but that he didn’t Juab County District Attorney David keep the sacred trust of his people, Leavitt did Tom Green, are still be- which is to twist in the winds of loy- holden to a presiding commandment always be those alty to the cause—even at the ex- of the restored church, a command- pense of truth. If we are to believe ment so important it was billed “the Green, to not go public with his Principle.” As missionaries in New who did not wives meant to lie and to risk a England, my companions and I im- cankering of the soul which found plicitly knew not to disclose to inves- full expression in Mark Hofmann, tigators that Mormon widowers are the brilliant (and now imprisoned) sealed eternally to other women— compromise the forger of Church history documents including ones, by proxy, who have which led to the Salt Lake City died. We didn’t want to advertise the bombing murders of 1985. fact that since marriage continues in faith for the Hofmann wanted to embarrass the the hereafter, polygamy is the celes- Church, at least partly because of a tial state of affairs for those who family secret: his maternal grand- achieve exaltation. approval of the mother’s marriage had never been For Latter-day Saints still in this publicly acknowledged even though world, I argue there is something she had, with ecclesiastical ap- primally attractive in the rectitude proval, married polygamously after of practicing polygamists who be- American people. the 1904 “second manifesto,” a doc- lieve, with many early Church ument further reinforcing the ban leaders, that Christ cannot return— on plural marriage. to Missouri or elsewhere—until a The 1988 Swapp standoff which sufficient number of Saints actively live the body an important ideal, no matter how far left me stewing in inarticulate blood loyalty Principle. Historian D. Michael Quinn has from our own understanding and hopes to my polygamous brethren, had been observed that, “converts to Mormon funda- their actual beliefs and lifestyle may be. For simply a warm-up to Tom Green. More than mentalism do not hunger for polygamy— many Mormons, polygamists will always be any other incident involving fundamental- they thirst for a greater doctrinal and those who did not compromise the faith for ists, Green’s trial was about Mormon blood- spiritual emphasis than they have known in the approval of the American people—a letting. And it happened—appropriately for the LDS church.”3 I too thirst for something I people who in the nineteenth century pil- the Church-state—on the media stage, in- never found in the Church, whose institu- laged our towns, murdered many of us, and tensified by the public scrutiny of the Salt tional drive to control seems to me to be ar- finally drove us out of the United States. Lake Olympics coming in February of the riving at that critical mass, the center of Perhaps too, the practice persists because following year. which will not be able to hold much longer. Fundamentalist Mormons tap the sense of Fear that the Church’s deep-seated, secret And so, I am not unlike my polygamous radical “otherness” we fought so long for— embrace of the Principle would be exposed siblings, coloring outside the lines, albeit in and that we feel so ambivalent about now— seems to have motivated the recent excom- very different ways. But more important, I the desire to be seen as the fulfillment of munication of Shane Whelan, who authored am curiously beholden to them as I believe God’s narrative in the new “promised land.” a book (and bought billboard space along many active Latter-day Saints are. For Maybe, too, it is simple nostalgia for the Interstate 15) suggesting to mainstream though non-polygamous Mormons of every days of the sprawling family of bread-baking Latter-day Saints that they should be proud stripe cannot (or will not) keep the law of sister wives, known to the children as of their polygamous heritage which, ac- plural marriage, we understand that our “aunts,” and the half-siblings spilling out of cording to him, has been only temporarily
PAGE 10 MAY 2003 08-11_c_pace_tom green.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 11
SUNSTONE
halted. Whelan’s argument, despite its sim- cepted Christianity looks like. We believe plistic casing in a right-wing rant, seems a everything marital or sexual that the no-brainer to me, even admirable. Whelan’s Prophet Joseph Smith did was sanctioned agenda is the rational, even natural, exten- by God. And we believe the way to deal sion of current Church policies that allow with our past, including polygamy, is to Mormons to marry serially with the under- deny its complicated shadings and the standing that in the hereafter, one man will mighty grip it has on us as a people—a clan live with multiple women. I do not know the seemingly unable to admit to any measure full story behind Whelan’s ouster, but his dis- of culpability for the injuries we suffer our- cipline seems to me to point not only to the selves or for those we suffer on others. And acute discomfort of the hierarchy (who have Mormons like me, determined to grapple been known to instigate “local” church disci- with truths while broadening the net of plinary courts) over polygamy, but also to the Mormon identity, believe our motives are fact that the game that seems to count most immune from dark, personal needs, while here is image control—arguably, a contradic- feigning surprise when we wear our LOOKING FOR tion in terms. Polygamy Porter T-shirt to the family re- Little wonder then that at a recent family union and are met with something less ANGELS IN NOGALES, reunion, my graphic T-shirt, advertising than admiration for what we are so sure is MEXICO Polygamy Porter with the slogans, “Why our courage. have just one?” and “Bring some home for As Joseph Smith had himself crowned the wives!” was met with silence, even “King, Priest and Ruler over Israel on Earth” Honeymooners? Come inside. though it felt as though the psychic tempera- before his murder, so, figuratively, do ture of the room spiked as my shirt and I ap- Mormons-at-large. Under the present cloud Buscando para Viagra? proached. To me, this Squatters Pub and of our own mendacity, our “kingdom” is not Brewery beer campaign had arrived like an unlike that of Tom Green and company: a Hey amiga, with the cool haircut, inversion-clearing winter storm just in time small grouping of sun-bleached trailers at- I’ve got something for you. for the Salt Lake Olympics. Here was an al- tached to each other to form a family com- ternate response to the jack-in-the-box ghost pound in the desert. Insulated, determined Ah, senorita, may we rip you off? of polygamy, a novel stance that played with to keep from acknowledging certain realities, Just a little bit? layered ironies while sporting an embrace- we, with Green, “the peacock of polygamy,” able pride in the state’s not-so-hidden pecu- routinely misjudge how our passion for our liar practice. beliefs and the beloved way we live will play No. No gracias. No. We shake Or so I thought. in the sin-sick world we claim to be the anti- our heads. Our mission is for dote to, a world whose approval we never- Christmas angels, tall bottles N the end, Mormon polygamists, their theless relentlessly seek. of pura premier vainilla, and apologists, the corporate Church, and For this reason, when we feel misunder- I even T-shirt-wielding, renegade Saints stood, we are inclined to simply blink in- a switchblade for our nephew. like me all open a window on Mormonism comprehensively past the invisible but rigid that is epitomized by Tom Green and his borders of our lives and see only what we sprawling clan. Isolated and certain, a man, need to see: the Kingdom of God in minia- Corner stall in the mercado, his five wives, and a growing number of chil- ture, a Zion constructed in our minds so dirty walkway, pairs of angels dren, found themselves lost in the deftly that it becomes both the center of life lie in stacks. Cuanto cuestan, grandiosity of their holy lifestyle of coopera- as well as its distant horizon. A kingdom not tive effort and domestic bliss. And they felt unlike Tom Green’s. I ask the shy vendadora. strong—so they took their show on the road. Cinco, she says. They fully believed that even if others did not NOTES Too much. What are they made of? agree with them, they would respect them, Made of cow bone, real, genuine, and if not respect them, be condemned by 1. Richard S. VanWagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A their disbelief. Green and his wives were History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 177. she answers in English. living in a hot-house culture not far from a 2. This phrase was coined by Edward W. I want them for my mother, I say, dream, not unlike the Mormon population at Tullidge. See Claudia Bushman, “Edward W. Tullidge and offer three dollars for two. large, and not unlike I myself am, perpetually and the Women of Mormondom,” Dialogue: a Journal of She wraps them in paper, floating in the ether of exile. Mormon Thought 33, no. 4 (winter 2000): 15–26. Even well-traveled Mormons and those 3. D. Michael Quinn, “Plural Marriage and and smiles. who ostensibly mix with outsiders Mormon Fundamentalism,” Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought 31, no. 2 (summer 1998): 1–68. somehow maintain a cloister wherein they, we, seem to see everything through a taut When I unwrap them later, paradigm of Them vs Us. And we tend to they smell of rendered fat, believe our own lies, with devastating con- To comment on this essay or read com- and turn my fingers black. sequences. We believe we are Christian ments by others, please visit our web- without acknowledging what generally ac- site:
MAY 2003 PAGE 11 12-13_Editorial.qxd 5/21/2003 9:24 AM Page 12
SUNSTONE
what her ward ought to get cracking on— FROM THE EDITOR you name it. Beverly was an idea factory. But deeper than that, she was Christian. She’d try to tell those of us who worried from afar that SEEING BEVERLY she was too trusting of some people, too ready to invite them into her home, that her goal in helping was all part of her missionary By Dan Wotherspoon work. But the truth is she simply saw their goodness, even when it was hidden from most others. Mom’s desire to share stories Thanks so much to great friends who played key roles in organizing and making our two recent and ideas and wisdom came from a deep soul regional symposiums so successful! In San Francisco, the amazingly energetic Richard Rands, who and good heart. My sister Sharon shares co-organized the 2001 Sunstone West symposium and, without waiting to be asked to help again, those same qualities, and this story owes called us last fall to say he’d picked a date and had already arranged for the hotel! He and other much of its joy to their habits of seeing spirit committee stalwarts—Janet Brigham Rands, Glenn Cornett, Sterling Augustine, and Kim and of always finding good in people. McCall—then fielded the bulk of the proposals and outlined a great conference before we in Salt Lake even had to do a thing! They also helped cheerfully through all the “less fun” stuff—such as OM died on a Wednesday, fol- dealing with us headquarters folks and all our stressing over costs, attendance, and the minutiae of lowing a joyous Sunday. Three preparing abstracts and other program essentials. I too often fall into an exaggerated kind of edi- M years after their friendship had tor’s “Stop the presses! This can’t stand!” communication style, but Richard and the others smilingly begun, Matt had come to Church with her. accepted my apologies and kept moving forward. And he had felt great about it—even moved. We were blessed again this year to have help from Becky and Kirk Linford in organizing the Matt is one of several people Mom and Washington, D.C. symposium. The Linfords have been regional symposium gurus for years, first in Sharon had invited into their San Diego Chicago and then, after moving, in Washington, D.C. We’ve caused them a ton of stress through the home through the years. They’d helped him years, and this year, Becky was in the end-game stages of completing her doctoral dissertation! clean up and dry out, only to be disap- Still, they always responded with love and good humor. In fact, if you buy—uh, I mean, when you pointed time and again as he backslid into buy (we’re a non-profit organization, after all)—the tape of Robert Kirby’s wonderful talk about his rages and other self-destructive habits. He coping in the “Merry Old Land of Odds,” the incredible, booming laughs you’ll hear above the rest is sweet but broken. Sunday was exciting for are Kirk’s. Thanks, you two, for your many gifts. Mom, for “missionary Bev,” but it was mostly Huge thanks also to Doug and Pam Condie and to Gary and Berenice Theurer who opened a good day because a man’s spirit had tri- their beautiful homes for “focus group” meetings the evening before our symposiums. Both gather- umphed, even if just for too-fleeting a mo- ings—with the Condies in Oakland and the Theurers in Darnestown, Maryland—were energetic, ment, over his demons. thoughtful discussions about Church and Sunstone issues. Thanks to you and the many bright, Beverly’s Monday began with a happy sur- forthright friends and thinkers who participated, we have many new ideas to chew on as we con- prise, a call originating in the Salt Lake air- tinue to focus on ways to make Sunstone more effective in its outreach and desire to host discussions port. Grandson Patrick—I mean, Elder that will energize both minds and hearts. Our thanks also to Steve Mayfield, SUNSTONE’s faithful Kennedy—was calling his mom, Sharon, as friend and photographer/taping maestro, for joining us and working so hard at both symposiums. he and other missionaries from his MTC dis- trict prepared to board a plane for the Tennessee Nashville Mission. Beverly an- S SOME OF you may have heard, I few glimpses, but I’m writing more about swered the phone and had the chance to talk wasn’t able to attend this year’s friends and strangers who pass through our with her grandson. But things got tougher. A Sunstone West symposium because lives and leave indelible marks on our hearts. Mom had a stomachache—not too bad at of the sudden passing of my mother, Beverly first, but by day’s end, it had reached the Wotherspoon, 16 April. She began her week HE LAST FEW years of Beverly’s life point where she couldn’t find a comfortable feeling just a little sick. She became worried were spent at a rather slow pace. resting position. Sharon began to worry and enough about her increasing discomfort to T Decades of struggles with weight had decided to stay home from work the next agree to go to the hospital, as it turned out, left Mom, at age seventy-two, somewhat con- day. less than twenty-four hours before she died fined to home, or at least limited to adven- Tuesday morning, the two of them de- of a fast-moving infection—undiagnosed tures that didn’t involve a lot of walking. Still, cided they should head to the hospital. The until too late to treat. To those of you who she loved to read, to think, to visit with kids phone rang. It was the Relief Society presi- learned about our family’s loss and sent com- and grandkids, friends, and anyone whose dent. Mom’s visiting teacher had been medi- forting wishes and blessed us with so many path crossed hers. She was by nature social; tating and felt a strong impression that other kindnesses, please know how much we but by circumstance, her world of relation- something was up with Sharon. She had appreciate your friendship and support. ships had shrunk dramatically from those of called the Relief Society president, who had As my feelings for my mother and her life her more enthusiastic and energetic years. called Sharon. “Yes, something is wrong. I are still very tender and haven’t yet settled Even though her life’s circle had shrunk need to take Mom to the hospital.” The reply into ordered lines or clear frames suitable for and her mind’s vision had narrowed a bit, was immediate: “I’ll be right over to help.” sharing in a column like this, I’ve decided to Mom still wanted to share. And, for some After talking in the waiting room for thirty reflect instead on her final few days and the reason, she got on a missionary kick. She had minutes or so, Sharon and the president sweet week our family shared following her ideas about how the work should be done, heard a “code blue” announcement but passing. Beverly will show up, of course, in a how she might friendship people herself, didn’t know it was for Beverly. They were still
PAGE 12 MAY 2003 12-13_Editorial.qxd 5/21/2003 9:24 AM Page 13
SUNSTONE
chatting ninety minutes later when the social dered her, cooled her, prepared her for but recall the analogy at the heart of Barbara worker came out to explain that Mom’s passing. Sharon spoke the feelings of our Kingsolver’s wonderful novel The Bean Trees. breathing had stopped for a time and she was family heart in saying that Jesus Christ himself The story’s protagonist, Taylor Greer, is a now on a ventilator. The worker’s job para- could not have received more loving care than young woman on a cross-country adventure meters prevented her from being too specific, our mom was given. Clearly, Judy shared who, by journey’s end, has adopted an aban- but she did indicate that Beverly’s condition Beverly and Sharon’s gift for seeing beauty in doned child she names “Turtle” and has seemed serious. things not outwardly lovely, for seeing some- forged a simple but light-filled life with a Then Dad called from Sacramento. thing divine in those she met. A few hours small cast of friends, each of them gifted but Sharon’s cell shouldn’t have been on in the after this anointing, beautiful Beverly was not whole, but whose failings and odd ways hospital, and he never calls during the day, soaring. are still somehow ennobling. While Taylor but he wanted to clarify Sharon’s travel plan and Turtle look together at pictures in a li- for coming to Sunstone West on Friday. Four INALIZING funeral and burial brary reference book, Turtle recognizes a Wotherspoons—Dad, Sharon, Dan, and arrangements, my sisters worry some plant that looks like the bean trees that grow Jeanine, who lives in the Bay Area—were F about dressing Mom in her temple near their home. She’s partly right, for wis- going to have a small reunion. After receiving clothes. The bishop makes the perfect call, teria, the plant she points out, is also in the the news from Sharon, he immediately called asking a wonderful sister from the ward to join legume family. me, Jeanine, and our brother, Steve. us for the day. She knew some of the tricks The analogy’s beautiful secret unfolds as “Beverly’s sick; they’re not sure what’s up, but and “just in case” thought to bring a portable Taylor reads how wisteria is able to thrive it’s not looking good.” curling iron. The end result was perfect. even in poor soil because of microscopic A couple of hours later, the practical- We returned home to a surprise. Maggie bugs, rhizobia, that live on the plant’s roots. minded wife of Beverly’s faithful home was busily cleaning Mom’s bathroom and The rhizobia draw nitrogen from the soil and teacher arrives. “How are you holding up? closets. Maggie is another friend Beverly and convert it to fertilizer that feeds the vines. I’ve brought some water and power bars.” Sharon had made along the way. She is good- “I like this,” I told Turtle. “There’s a Soon, Mom’s intuitive visiting teacher shows hearted yet frustrating in her obsessive-com- whole invisible system for helping up. The group is together as the doctor ad- pulsions. Half-hour-long conversations with out the plant that you’d never guess vises that Beverly likely won’t last through her might never stray from an original two- was there.” I loved this idea. “It’s the night. The bishop arrives, passing the thought theme. She brings a suitcase full of just the same with people. . . . The doctor in the doorway. books wherever she goes. But we were truly wisteria vines on their own would Calls are made. Jeanine, a registered stunned by her gift that day and for the next just barely get by, . . . but put them nurse, scrambles to get on a plane. Steve will several days. “You know,” she declared, together with rhizobia and they get off work and hurry over. I pull my name “Beverly would not have wanted anyone but make miracles.” and Jeanine’s off the Sunstone West program me to clean those rooms.” As con- and do my best to give John, our symposium fused as Maggie is most of the time, coordinator, all my “don’t forget” list of she was right. things to do, since they’ll be his now. I won’t Beautiful services follow beau- be able to fly to San Diego until Thursday. tiful service. A stranger, a compas- Sharon’s ex-husband, Vince, calls his wife sionate healer, had laid her hands Diana to bring the grandchildren to the hos- on a head and dying body, and pital, then trades out the rest of his firefighter salved a family’s grief through her shift and rushes to the hospital himself. washing and honoring of our mom’s beauty. A caring ward had known FEW hours earlier, in Beverly’s ICU my mom and sister and couldn’t room, veteran nurse Judy notes the help responding, matching their A doctor’s orders for stepping down gifts. Circle closed. Mission com- the medications sustaining Mom’s life. She plete. Beverly is laid to rest. knows Jeanine is desperately trying to get to Mom’s bedside, and she decides to delay im- S I watched and reflected plementing the orders until Jeanine arrives. on all that had unfolded in About 4:00 a.m., Sharon, Steve, and A the nine days between Jeanine are gathered at Mom’s bedside. Mom is Mom’s happy Sunday and her sweet comatose; her temperature spikes. Knowing memorial service, I couldn’t help the infection’s typical course, Judy had expected it. “Bev, I think we should give you a AFFIRMATION sponge bath and see if we can Gay and Lesbian Mormons bring down your temperature.” And for the next hour or more, announces its 2003 Conference to be held someone none of us had ever 10–12 October, Salt Lake City. before met, slowly, lovingly, FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT
MAY 2003 PAGE 13 14-17_donor list and survey results.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 14
SUNSTONE
tellectually, and remain part of the larger FROM THE SUNSTONE BOARD community as well.” One in five (21 percent) cite Sunstone symposiums as a valued connection to the community that provides access to ideas and to spiritual and intellectual pursuits. Another DEFINING THE SUNSTONE COMMUNITY: 9 percent specifically cite the diversity of thought, experience, and perspective the “AND THE SURVEY SAYS . . .” Sunstone community brings them.
Meaningful Connection to Others. According to By Michael J. Stevens and Julie K. Curtis many respondents, the Sunstone community helps them feel connected to other people. More than a quarter (27 percent) say the pri- S THERE A Sunstone community? And sarily feel part of it. Of respondents who mary role Sunstone fulfills in their lives is a if so, what role does this community agree there is a community, just 41 percent confirmation that they are not alone and I play? In the dialogue and lingo of consider themselves definite members. others within Mormonism have similar ques- Sunstone writers, readers, and Symposium Another 38 percent say they are only “some- tions, doubts, and feelings about the Church. presenters, the term “Sunstone community” what” a part of this community. The re- One person writes, “It has enlightened me is not uncommon. But for a community to maining respondents clearly feel more and comforted me with the assurance that exist, its members must acknowledge the marginalized from the broader community: there are other seekers like me.” Another says community and its role in their lives. The es- 10 percent say they do “not really” consider simply, “[I’m] not the Lone Ranger.” tablishment of a community around themselves members of it, 6 percent say they Another common theme, cited by 13 per- Sunstone is not a stated part of the are “not at all” a part of it, while 5 percent cent of respondents, is that the Sunstone Foundation’s mission, but approaches and aren’t sure. community gives them a sense of belonging practices that contribute to the give-and-take and fellowship with others. In several cases, of community are identified in our mission: WHAT ROLE DOES THE SUNSTONE people giving this response also mentioned honest expression, sharing of experiences, COMMUNITY FILL IN YOUR LIFE? living in rural areas or places without large open examination and inquiry, authentic ser- LDS communities. Another 12 percent de- vice, and the responsible interchange of The most poignant responses in the scribe the community as a “lifeline” for ideas. (See full mission statement in staff survey came with the question of what role deeper religious discussion and sharing of box.) the Sunstone community fills in people’s ideas they aren’t able to have in person. The Sunstone board of trustees is com- lives. The answers we received were rich and Other “connection”-oriented responses mitted to serving the broader Mormon com- varied, in many cases reflecting the complex- about the role of the Sunstone community munity by fulfilling the mission of the ities of how individuals reconcile faith, intel- include: foundation as best we can. Consequently, in lect, inquiry, and conscience. We have •A source for conversation and interac- the October 2002 issue of SUNSTONE, we in- categorized the responses below. (Note that tion with others interested in things LDS (9 cluded a survey asking readers to respond to because some responses contain multiple percent) several questions to help us better under- ideas, the total percentages for this question •Friendships and access to authors or stand the Sunstone community: whether it add up to more than 100 percent.) others who have changed my life (7 percent) exists, who belongs, what role it plays in in- •A better understanding of others’ experi- dividual lives, and its relation to the LDS Information, Enlightenment, and Intellectual ences and points of view (4 percent). Church. We thank all who took time to re- Pursuit. The single most common response spond, and we provide here an overview of (34 percent) about the role of the Sunstone Open Exploration and Dialogue. Survey re- what we learned from you. community in people’s lives is the impor- sponses also reflect how Sunstone friends tance of the magazine itself. One respondent value the open exploration and exchange of IS THERE A SUNSTONE COMMUNITY? writes, “I read the journal and reflect upon ideas that are central to the foundation’s mis- the opinions expressed. Such reflection is sion. About one in five (19 percent) say the Overwhelmingly, the answer is “Yes!” Of valuable to me, even when I disagree with Sunstone community’s valued role is allowing the 187 people responding to this question, the views.” for open exploration and honest discussion 83 percent either agree or strongly agree Nearly as many (31 percent) say the about sensitive issues and experiences within there is a Sunstone community. Just 3 per- Sunstone community allows for intellectual Mormonism. Another 13 percent describe cent say there definitely is not a community learning, pursuit, and a broader under- the community as providing a needed, inde- around Sunstone, and 13 percent say they standing of ideas, faith and gospel truths. pendent voice that goes beyond the scope of aren’t sure. According to one person, “It is the vehicle for mainstream Church publications and cur- my personal spiritual growth. It has provided ricula. A few respondents (4 percent) note DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF the challenging, thought-provoking venue that the community offers an outlet to freely A MEMBER OF THIS COMMUNITY? for me to remain interested and engaged in express themselves and their thoughts. my LDS heritage.” Another put it differently: Although many believe there is a “It helps validate my sense that it is possible Relationship with LDS Church and Culture. Sunstone community, many do not neces- to be LDS and still think critically, explore in- Interestingly, a number of respondents (12
PAGE 14 MAY 2003 14-17_donor list and survey results.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 15
SUNSTONE
percent) assert that the Sunstone community INTEREST IN LOCAL SUNSTONE AND THE MISSION makes it possible for them to remain involved SUNSTONE COMMUNITIES OF THE LDS CHURCH as members of the Church and to be happier for it. According to one person, “It has kept me After exploring the role of the The final survey questions queried re- in the Church by illustrating that there are Sunstone community as a whole, the spondents about whether Sunstone con- others who question and think and still are survey inquired about things we as board tributes positively to the general mission of able (like Eugene England) to function and and staff members could do to further the the Church. Most of the 180 people who re- contribute to it, despite disagreeing with much foundation’s mission. The first question in sponded to this question believe Sunstone of the literal doctrine and dogma.” Another this section looked at possible interest in does play an important contributing role to person writes, “For years, this community has fostering more localized Sunstone commu- the Church’s mission, with 77 percent either allowed me to hang on to Mormonism.” nities. Of 173 who responded to this ques- “agreeing” or “strongly agreeing” that it does. On the other hand, a smaller proportion (7 tion, the majority (54 percent) say they However, a significant number feel more am- percent) state that they value the Sunstone would definitely be interested in local biguous, with 16 percent saying they aren’t community as a sustaining link to the LDS Sunstone community gatherings. A sure. A smaller number (8 percent) believe Church even though they are no longer active quarter (25 percent) say they aren’t sure Sunstone does not contribute positively to members. As one respondent shares, “It is im- whether they would want to participate, the Church’s mission. Since this survey was portant to me to read essays and articles from while nearly as many (21 percent) say they conducted among readers of the magazine, thoughtful people interested in Mormonism, would not be interested. we are not surprised to find that respon- both those who have remained involved and Following up to this question, the survey dents, by and large, see Sunstone as a posi- even active in the Church as well as others asked respondents to suggest activities to tive force. (like me) who couldn’t, but are still interested.” help establish and strengthen their local When asked to comment on their re- Other responses related to individuals’ re- Sunstone communities. While 10 percent sponses, approximately a third did so. Of this lationship to the Church include: feel the magazine and current symposium of- group, 22 percent assert that Sunstone •Counterbalances the Church’s authori- ferings provide enough, others suggest addi- broadens thinking, knowledge, and enlight- tarianism, which can be rigid and stifling (6 tional activities such as: enment beyond what is offered in the percent) •Informal local gatherings—open Church’s mainstream programs and publica- •Helps Mormonism seem more sane, houses, potluck dinners (20 percent) tions. Another 20 percent say it increases more humane (3 percent) •Regional symposiums (16 percent) faith, charity, and agency while helping “For years, this community has allowed me to hang on to Mormonism.”
•Provides an ecumenical, Christ-centered •Informal study groups or open discus- people become more Christ-like and less alternative within the Church (3 percent). sions (11 percent) dogmatic. Other common themes include: We believe these findings are an impor- •Local workshops (8 percent) •Sunstone creates the only “safe” place for tant validation of Sunstone’s mission because •Contact points or information to get in those with diverse points of view to commu- critics occasionally accuse us of destroying touch with “Sunstoners” in one’s local area (5 nicate (16 percent) and a forum for dis- faith. On the contrary—individuals who percent) cussing topics the Church won’t address (11 have a deep, spiritual need for open and Additional suggestions include picnics, percent). honest inquiry indicate that without some- concerts or performances, regular lecture or •The Church needs open, honest and re- thing like the Sunstone community in their speaker series, and Internet-facilitated email sponsible dialogue to fulfill its mission (15 lives, they most likely would have lost their groups, chat rooms, or web sites. percent). connection to the Church. The board is pleased to report that •Sunstone helps some people remain in under the direction of publisher, William the Church (11 percent), and serves as an Little Significant Role in My Life. Not all re- Stanford, many local contact persons have important lifeline to many (7 percent). spondents feel the Sunstone community been established and online chats have al- •Through Sunstone, LDS leaders can learn plays a significant role in their lives. In fact, ready begun. (For more details, visit more about what non-mainstream members 11 percent of those who returned surveys say
MAY 2003 PAGE 15 14-17_donor list and survey results.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 16
SUNSTONE
Others (5 percent) say that when whether, they believed Church leaders and their responses to this question, about a Sunstone’s tone is negative towards the members in general would hold that quarter (26 percent) say that most Church, its doctrine, or leaders, it loses any Sunstone contributes positively to the gen- Church leaders and members do not claim to have a positive impact. eral mission of the Church. Three-quarters know what Sunstone is really about and (75 percent) of the respondents to this suggest they might be more positive if ATTITUDES OF CHURCH LEADERS AND question do not believe that Church they were familiar with its aims and activ- MEMBERSHIP REGARDING SUNSTONE leaders and members in general would feel ities. Nearly as many (23 percent) say the that Sunstone positively contributes to the Church is not hospitable to anyone who Despite the generally positive view of Church’s mission. Just 3 percent think gen- questions, including Sunstone. According Sunstone survey respondents hold, most eral attitudes of Church leaders and mem- to 19 percent of the comments, respon- clearly feel Church leaders and the general bers towards Sunstone are more benign, dents believe members and leaders have a membership do not share this view. The while 21 percent are not sure. widespread fear that Sunstone is subver- final survey question asked respondents Of the 53 people who elaborated on sive and unsupportive of the Church
2002 SUNSTONE E DUCATI
William S. Bradshaw Richard W. and Lindy Palfreyman $2,500 and up Bonnie B. Durbano-Burtenshaw Mark Palmer The Estate of Richard W. James Stacy Burton Ralph J. Payne Anonymous (1 donor) Anne and Fred Christensen Carl W. Poll Susan Christensen Phyllis Purdy $1,000–$2,500 Marden and Bess Clark Randal K. Quarles Molly M. Bennion Blaine S. Clements Richard D. Rands Jeffrey R. Bohn Thomas D. Coppin Robert A. Rees Cole R. Capener Richard J. and Julie Cummings Mary Ellen Robertson Richard L. Castleton David and Karen Gardner Dee R. Melvin Rogers Kelly and Nancy Fife Marlene M. Fansler Karen Rosenbaum Rebecca England and Jordan Kimball Sherman and Bula Fitzgerald Linda Rosenlof Armand L. and Ruth Mauss Christopher C. Fuller Dawn B. Sandberg J. Frederick (Toby) Pingree Ervan R. Geller Waldraut Schlegel Sam Stewart Marian J. Gray Jan Shipps Donna and Leonard Wald Layne Hamilton Linda Sillitoe Nola W. and Lew Wallace Kristine Haglund Harris Barbara G. Smith Earl M. Wunderli Nancy E. Heigl G. Bruce Smith Anonymous (5 donors) Joyce P. Houghton Edgar C. Snow Virginia G. Huber Mack C. Stirling $400–$999 Jeanette E. Hugh Sandra B. Straubhaar Nancy and Omar Kader H. Richard Thomas Dale A. Beckstead Richard and JoAnn Keller Shari B. Thornock Blaine L. Carlton and Norman B. Koller Arland Thornton Marilyn ThankBushman-Carlton Garold K. Kotter Renee Tietjen Julie K. Curtis O. Marvin Lewis Sid Titensor Dale G. Johnson Arnold Loveridge Karl Thatcher Ulrich Marvin Rytting Don R. Mabey Lois S. Van Dusen Berenice and Gary Theurer E. W. Madsen Richard M. and Susan C. Walter Robert K. and Marcia Madsen Shauna and Merrill Watts $100–$399 David B. Mayo Gary M. Watts Kim Bateman Patrick McKenzie James D. Westwood Joseph C. Bentley Frances Lee Menlove Lee and Marilyn White Joseph and Gertrude Black Carrie A. Miles Clayton R. Williams James W. Blan Maevonne R. Moench Delmar and Enid Young Wayne and Phyllis Booth Mary Ann and Anthony Morgan Anonymous (34 donors)
PAGE 16 MAY 2003 14-17_donor list and survey results.qxd 5/21/2003 1:43 AM Page 17
SUNSTONE
while 11 percent say they think Church that Sunstone can help broaden this toler- this community and refining the way it is leaders dislike what they can’t control ance and continue as a valued, vital forum manifest at the individual and local levels. and “wish Sunstone would go away.” for those who seek. The Sunstone staff and board welcomes fu- Approximately 17 percent say that the ture engagement and dialogue about the Church’s orthodox view prefers rigidity TAKING THE SUNSTONE community we share with you. We partic- and blind followers rather than the inde- COMMUNITY FORWARD ularly welcome your suggestions and ac- pendent voice Sunstone represents. tions as we work together to strengthen the Some (11 percent) offer a more concil- We can interpret responses to the Sunstone community. iatory perspective by suggesting that survey as a resounding “Yes!” about the ex- Church leaders and members need to be istence of the Sunstone community and its more tolerant and encouraging of ques- value to those whose lives it touches. At tions and sincere thought. Undoubtedly the same time, we recognize plenty of For a more complete breakdown of survey these respondents share the hopes of many room exists for broadening the reach of responses, visit
ON F OUNDATION D ONORS
Lisa J. Ficker Christopher B. Moore $5–$99 Robert C. Fillerup Sandra D. Noakes Jay A. and Susan G. Aldous Megan Fotheringham Richard K. Olsen Mary Anne Andersen Ladd Fowler David G. Pace Floyd M. Anderson Harry R. Fox Eduardo Pagan Emy Andrew Jack Frost Scott E. Parker Margaret Atkinson Robert F. Gallagher Betty Ruth Parker Carolyn Barrani Donald L. Gibbon Lois M. Parrish W. Lee Beardall Mark and Janet Gustavson Eloise S. Paull Patricia S. Beltran Lorelei Hafen Hills John D. and Marsha Peters Amy Bentley Richard G. Hills Thomas J. Pillar Gerald Bessey Connie Cannon Holbrook Allison Pingree Christopher Bigelow Gary Huxford Ty Pritchett Sugata Biswas Ian C. Hyde Boyd L. Robertson Marie Blanchard Louise Moser Illes Bruce G. Rogers Bruce K. Bourgeous Mark D. Jamieson Gary C. Rummler Douglas R. Bowen Duane E. Jeffery Candadai Seshachari Karl and Jane Braithwaite Buckley C. Jeppson Ruth N. Silcock Duward J. and Alice L. Brown C. H. Jex Kerry Smithson Frederick S. Buchanan Marylou Johnson Leon and Colette Spackman Allen B. Buxton Ann M. Johnson Roy W. and Susie E. Spear Thom Carden Brent T. and Marilyn Johnson LaVal W. Spencer Thelma E. Carey Margaret E. Kenney Earl L. Steele Kyle Cattani Rinda T. Kilgore Ann Stone Michael G. Chard Katherine Koldewyn Dick and Katrina Swett Phil Clegg You!Glen R. and Marijane Lambert Douglass and Susan Taber Scott and Julie Cooper Anthony J. Lapray Stephen E. Thurman R. Craig Costello Charles Larson Rhoda W. Thurston John A. Cox G. Olof Larson Gil and Marva Tobler Benjamin L. Crue Clark R. Layton Sandra B. Truex Robyn Davis Dale C. LeCheminant Alden B. Tueller Ganie B. DeHart Roger A. Leishman Stewart Tuttle Mario S. DePillis Linda Lindstrom Joy Walsh Lula C. DeValve Kent I. and Kathleen D. Lyons Deborah Fillerup Weagel Alton S. Donnelly Romel W. Mackelprang Beryl Wheeler Vickie Stewart and Alan D. Eastman Ann J. Madsen Charles K. White Paul M. Edwards Michelle Macfarlane William and Doris Workman Phillip M. Eyring Karma and Frank McLeskey Anonymous (75 donors) Craig W. Miller
MAY 2003 PAGE 17 18-23_corn_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:46 AM Page 18
SUNSTONE
CORNUCOPIA
SUNSTONE invites short musings: chatty reports, cultural trend mount the 11,312-foot summit, a stand of Engelmann Spruce sightings, theological meditations. All lovely things of good report, shades the road. That day, as I passed through their shadows, please share them. Send submissions to:
Peculiar People THE EVILS OF THE DOLE . . . Percent Saying Spending Is Too Low For:
ORMONS ARE MORE FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE than the rest of the nation on some issues, but sim- M ilar to the national average on other issues. Results are based on the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center on an annual or biannual basis between 1972 and 2000. Roughly equal percentages of Mormons and non-Mormons believe we are spending too little on education (61 percent nationally compared to 64 per- cent of Mormons) but Latter-day Saints are less likely to think we are spending too little on welfare (20 percent nationally compared to 12 percent of Mormons).
PAGE 18 MAY 2003 18-23_corn_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:46 AM Page 19
SUNSTONE
All-seeing Eye A SWEET REMINDER FOR “SWEET SPIRITS”
S PART OF HER SELF-APPOINTED MISSION TO remind herself and other Mormon women to smile A more often, best-selling author, poet, playwright, and performer Carol Lynn Pearson has now added “designer” to her list of titles. In collaboration with artists at Latter-day Specialities, Pearson has created a scoop-necked, cotton top in- tended to encourage LDS women, as she puts it, to “Laugh! Get slightly impudent! Eat chocolate!” We’ve been told this injunc- tion is soon to be read over the pulpit, so sisters—get busy on your two years’ supply! The shirts are available in white only, in sizes S, M, L, and XL. To place a credit card order, call Latter-day Specialties at 888- 622-5505. Price is $14.95, plus $3.00 shipping. But you will re- ceive $2.00 off the total if you mention “Sunstone.” To order by check, send it to Carol Lynn Pearson, 1384 Cornwall Ct., Walnut Creek, CA 94597. Same shipping, pricing, and discount applies when you mention Sunstone. Please add sales tax for California customer orders.
a scalpel's slip from contentious litigation. Nurses’ hands min- one head, a crown of thorns upon another. ister to the sick and dying, holding up a head to sip from the Hands, as metaphor, are so closely associated with our per- cool cup of life. Our hands knead the dough to form the loaves sonality, will, and intentions that they represent our very char- of our daily bread; they prune the fruitful tree and gather the acter and worthiness before the Creator. “Who shall ascend bountiful harvest. With hands, we build our homes and into the hill of the Lord?” asked the Psalmist. “Or who should hearths, and with the same hands, erect prisons, gallows, and stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure cathedrals. heart . . .” With our hands, we wave hello but also goodbye. We wring Our hands. They serve our will, for good or ill. our hands in despair, then clap them in joyful approval. We JACK FROST salute the flag; we write to our mothers and fathers and long- Colorado Springs, Colorado ingly pen odes to home from distant battlefields. With hands, we dig graves to bury fallen comrades and lay roses upon their The Rest of the Story caskets. We shake our fists in anger and defiance and make of them “NOR BY LETTER AS FROM US” weapons of violence. Beneath God’s “awful hand” Kipling’s England held dominion over palm and pine. IKE MOST CHRISTIANS, LATTER-DAY SAINTS We extend the right hand of fellowship. With hands, we generally believe the books of the Old and New confer or deny privilege and power, yet “the left hand knows L Testaments were written by the people to whom they not what the right hand is doing.” We raise our right hand are ascribed. Among biblical scholars, however, debates rage both to swear and withhold allegiance, to sustain and object. concerning the authorship of nearly every book in the Bible. With impassioned hands, great minds record their inspira- One “red flag” indicating the possible pseudepigraphal na- tions in literature, sciences, architecture, music, and art. ture of a book or portion of scripture is raised when the text’s Anyone who has watched the hands of pianist Oscar Peterson message reveals a significant theological shift from an author’s interpret the crucifixion and resurrection story in his Easter other writings. Sometimes surreptitious circumstances sur- Suite has experienced emotions more deeply poignant and rounding the “discovery” of a text fuel such suspicion, such as touching, even to an irreverent old skeptic, than any sermon Hilkiah’s finding of the “lost book” of Deuteronomy (described could evoke. in 2 Kings 22) that resulted in centralizing sacrifice in the With hands, men mockingly placed a jeweled diadem upon Jerusalem temple—something that directly benefited Hilkiah,
MAY 2003 PAGE 19 18-23_corn_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:46 AM Page 20
SUNSTONE
Mormon Media Image
HEN ARTHUR, THE NEW APPRENTICE MORTICIAN ON HBO’s hit show Six Feet Under, mentioned that he frequently W babysat for his Mormon cousins, LDS ears perked up. After all, the groundbreaking series that showcases a family of undertakers is hardly traditional family entertainment. (In that same episode, Arthur sends his cousins an audio tape asking how their efforts at “spreading the gospel in Kansas City” are going.) But when the following episode centered around the death of a polygamist who presided over a family of four wives and sev- eral children, Latter-day Saints might wonder if the series is starting a new trend. “Daddy,” as the head of the clan was known, wrote his own book of scripture (titled the Book of Daddy, of course), home-schooled his chil- dren, and sent his oldest daughter at a very young age to be trained as a fu- ture wife. One can’t help but be curious about what Mormon tinges might Arthur, left, a new apprentice, works on his first next find their way into the liberal show. Perhaps a character who’s body on HBO’s series, Six Feet Under. Republican?
a temple priest. Another is Ezra’s “discovery” of a lost part of him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be trou- Moses’s Law that helped him reform Israel and instituted the bled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as celebration of a new feast (Neh. 8:13-18). from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no In the New Testament, the clearest example of a book that man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not scholars suggest might be a “pious fraud,” a scriptural text come, except there come a falling away first, and that written in the name of someone else in order to support the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. . . . writer’s theological designs, is Paul’s second letter to the Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I Thessalonians. told you these things? (II Thes. 2:1-3, 5) The apostle Paul allegedly wrote both I and II Thessalonians This reverse in millennial expectation convinces many to the early saints in Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia. scholars the letters were not written closely together at all. Both letters strikingly resemble each other in form and struc- Several verb tense shifts also suggest these two letters ture. Both open nearly identically (I Thes. 1:1; compare II were written many years apart. In II Thes.1:4–5, Paul praises Thes. 1:1-2; no other Pauline letter contains this opening). the Saints for the “persecutions and tribulations that ye en- Both describe Paul’s labors among the Thessalonians in very dure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of similar wording (I Thes. 2:9; compare II Thes. 3:8), and both God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, include Paul’s admonition for the Saints to follow his example for which ye also suffer” (italics mine) In I Thes. 2:14, how- in manual labor (I Thes. 4:11; compare II Thes. 3:12). ever, Paul praises the saints for enduring persecution, “for ye Many other similarities cause some scholars to believe the let- also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even ters were written in close proximity in time to each other. Others as they have of the Jews.” In I Thessalonians, the persecution reject this idea because the two letters differ dramatically re- is past, but in II Thessalonians, it is ongoing. There are many garding the nearness of Christ’s second coming. In I other examples of similar shifts (see, for instance, II Thes. Thessalonians, Paul teaches that he believes the second coming 3:11-12; compare with I Thes. 4:10-12, 5:14). On the basis is imminent, even hinting that he might live to witness it: of these verb tenses, some scholars believe these two letters For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that were actually written in reverse order; that II Thessalonians we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the was actually first. Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the But many scholars believe a more probable explanation, Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, one that fits all evidence, is that II Thessalonians was not with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of written by Paul at all, but by a later member of Paul’s church God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we who felt a strong need to soften Paul’s rhetoric suggesting the which are alive and remain shall be caught up together imminence of Christ’s coming. These scholars theorize that with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: in order to help replace in the minds of his or her fellow and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (I Thes. 4:15- saints the preeminence of I Thessalonians’s view of Christ’s 17, emphasis mine) imminent return, the writer of II Thessalonians copied the This immediacy is directly refuted in II Thessalonians: first letter as closely as possible, using the same opening and Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our letter structure. But in order to create a distance from the Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto millenarian pitch of the first letter, the writer adds the
PAGE 20 MAY 2003 18-23_corn_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:46 AM Page 21
SUNSTONE
caveat, “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, To Every Thing There Is a Season . . . neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (II Thes. 2:2, italics mine). To IF WE COULD HIE TO KOLOB increase the chance that the letter would be perceived as le- gitimate, the writer also added a signatory clause at the con- EDITOR’S NOTE: We note with great sadness the passing of clusion of the letter: “The salutation of Paul with mine own Stanley B. Kimball on 15 May 2003, just days before this issue of hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write” (II Thes. SUNSTONE went to press. Stan, the author of this short reflection on 3:17). This gambit may very well have worked in that eternal timekeeping, was a noted teacher and historian, and a big- writer’s day, but scholars today note that this is the only in- souled, life-loving man whose heart and smile touched many. More stance in which Paul uses such a closing. Scholars further thorough notes on Stan’s life and many contributions will follow in theorize the writer deliberately created the tense problems to our next issue, but, until then, we’re pleased to run this sweet note give the impression that II Thessalonians was written before from Stan about some comforting thoughts he’d found during the I Thessalonians. closing years of his wonderful life. In short, the great majority of the evidence suggests that II Thessalonians was written by someone hoping to replace I CCORDING TO ABRAHAM 3:1–4, THE GIANT STAR Thessalonians. The writer consciously retained Paul’s core Kolob is near the throne of God and governs all teachings but tried to help the church in Thessalonica better A planets of “our order” (our galaxy?). Latter-day Saints deal with Christ’s delayed coming. also understand that Kolob determines celestial or God’s time, BRIAN H. STUY in which one day equals 1,000 years of our time. That fact Lehi, Utah gives us a ratio of 1 to 365,000 and a formula: X earth years di- vided by 1,000 times 24 earth hours yields God’s time in ours. Lighter Minds From this formula, we can construct a table. (Thanks to Professor Scott Mortensen of Dixie College for help with the LATTER-DAY SNIGLETS mathematics.) God told Adam and SNIGLET IS A WORD THAT DOESN’T APPEAR IN Eve that if they ate of the EARTH TIME GOD’S TIME the dictionary but accurately describes something we forbidden fruit of the tree 1 WEEK 1.66 SECONDS A are all familiar with. For example, “teleprocrastina- of knowledge of good 1 MONTH 7.2 SECONDS tion” is the act of always letting the phone ring at least twice and evil, in that day, 1 YEAR 1.5 MINUTES before you pick it up, even when you are only six inches away. “Thou shalt surely die.” Here are a few favorite Mormon sniglets created by David Well, as scriptures teach, 10 YEARS .24 HOURS LeSueur of Littleton, Colorado: Adam did not die during 100 YEARS 2.4 HOURS one earth day, he lived 1,000 YEARS 24 HOURS Breadstick—When you take the sacrament and three pieces 930 earth years. It was clump together. possible for Adam (and Eve) to live 930 years and still die Caffeinilization—The thought process that convinces within one day if that day was measured in celestial time. This someone it is OK to drink Coke. celestial time concept may help explain the alleged long life Footboolean Logic—The reasoning process that explains spans of many Old Testament characters. It may even partly why it is OK for Steve Young to play football on Sunday, and it explain the many New Testament affirmations that “the is OK for me to watch him play football on Sunday on televi- kingdom of God is at hand,” and that “the hour is near.” sion, but it is not OK for me to drive to the stadium to watch When we speak of the age of this earth, we talk in billions of him play football in person on Sunday years. Some biblical literalists insist that the world was created Gulag Acappellio—The awful rumbling sound brethren in six 24-hour days, and “young earthers” talk about some make while trying to sing their opening hymn when the priest- 200,000 years. However, if we use the above-mentioned ratio hood meeting pianist is not there. of God’s time to earth time, a billion of our years is only some Holey Roller—When a child drops Cheerios and one rolls 2,740 celestial years. down the aisle. The argument that the earth was created according to celes- Oxisinthemireside—Rationalization that allows you to buy tial time comes from Figure 1 of Facsimile Two in the Book of fireside refreshments on Sunday because you forgot to shop on Abraham, the explanation of which reads: Saturday. Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the ce- Slip-out-the-back-Jack Mormon—Someone who sits in the lestial, or the residence of God. First in government, back of the chapel for sacrament meeting and leaves right after the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The the sacrament. measurement according to celestial time, which celes- Sunnic boom—The sound Primary children make when tial time signifies one day . . . to a thousand years. shouting “beam” in the song, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.” There are also disagreements as to how long homo sapiens Variousplaces—Where everyone goes after church in safety. have been on earth. Some, both in and out of the Church,
MAY 2003 PAGE 21 18-23_corn_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:46 AM Page 22
SUNSTONE
argue that man/woman has been on earth only about 6,000 [The priesthood] was conferred upon me from the fa- years. Scientists think homo sapiens appeared some 250,000 thers; it came down from the fathers, from the begin- years ago. In God’s time-frame, however, 250,000 years is only ning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before 250 days, less than a year, a figure those who favor the shorter the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, time span might consider. even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is From this, we can speculate a bit. For example, I am sev- Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me. enty-five years old and therefore have lived 27,375 earth days, (italics, mine) but only about 1.8 hours in God’s time. At this rate, when I re- All previous publications of Abraham 1:3 read: “even the right turn to my first home, I will have been gone around two of the firstborn, on the first man, who is Adam. . . . “ hours, hardly enough time to be missed. I probably will walk There are two manuscripts of this portion of the book of right back into my messy office, turn on my Urim and Abraham in the LDS archives, one in the hand of Warren Thummim, and pick up whatever I was working on before it Parrish, written about 1837, and the other, about 1841 by was my time on earth. Willard Richards. Both served as scribes for Joseph Smith. My mother, who died in 1971, has been gone about forty- Prior to the 1981 revision, only the Parrish manuscript con- five minutes. I will be with her shortly, and, best of all, my wife tained the word “or.” Every other published version of and children will not be long behind me. I find that a most Abraham, including the first edition in the Times and Seasons, comforting thought. whose editor was Joseph Smith, reads: “even the right of the STANLEY B. KIMBALL first born, on the first man. . . .” (see boxes below) St. George, Utah Does this change in one word potentially alter the meaning of the passage in any significant way? It is difficult to say, for Mormon Miscellaneous the ambiguous construction of the verse allows for several pos- sible interpretations. But in each alternate reading, the inter- ADAM’S NAVEL pretation hinges upon the identity of “the firstborn.” The use of this term in scripture is usually a reference to Jesus (see COLUMN DESCRIPTION. This new Cornucopia column couldn’t Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15, 18; Heb. 12:23; D&C 76:54, 67, 71, 94, be more aptly named. Not only is “Mormon Miscellaneous” the 102; 77:11; 78:21;88:5; 93:21-22). And in the versions of the name of a publishing company owned by column author, Van Hale, verse that use the word “on,” firstborn would most likely be in- but the title also captures its essence: short introductions and de- terpreted as a reference to Jesus: the right of the priesthood in- scriptions of notes, gleanings, historical tidbits, and fascinating doc- herited by Jesus as the firstborn of the Father was conveyed to trinal developments that might otherwise escape notice. Hale is the Adam, then through the fathers to Abraham. Yet in the Parrish perfect person to write this column. He’s the author of a number of and 1981 versions, which use “or,” the term firstborn would articles and papers on religious history and doctrinal development seem to refer to Adam. This is unusual, for Adam is often re- and, for the past twenty-three years, has hosted a religious radio talk ferred to in scripture as the “first man,” the “first father,” or the show. He is currently host of “Religion on the Line,” a weekly, two- “first creature,” but not the firstborn. hour, call-in radio show on KTKK 630AM in Salt Lake City, Sunday How might Adam be viewed as the firstborn? Several ways evenings from 5:00–7:00 p.m. spring immediately to mind. Instead of the view (shared by many Latter-day Saints as well as non-LDS Christians) that HE QUESTION OF HOW ADAM WAS CREATED— Adam is unique or formed by special creation, perhaps Adam’s often phrased in the shorthand of “Did Adam have a origin was by birth. This interpretation harmonizes with T navel?”—has fed theological speculations for cen- Brigham Young’s view that all physical bodies (presumably in- turies. And, like most questions of this nature, no clear prefer- cluding Adam) are created through the process of birth: ence has emerged about whether Adam’s body was the result He created man, as we create our children; for there is of a birth or a special creative act. For Latter-day Saints with no other process of creation in heaven, on the earth, proclivities toward such questions, I wonder if a very small in the earth, or under the earth, or in all the eternities, textual change in the 1981 edition of the Book of Abraham text might WARREN PARRISH (1837) WILLARD RICHARDS (1841) have some bearing on these mus- . . . even from the beginning, . . . even from the beginning of time, ings. yea, even from the beginning, The verse in question is Abraham or before the foundation of the earth, or before the foundations of the Earth, 1:3, whose intent is to explain how down to the present time; to the present time, Abraham became a rightful heir of even the right of the first born, even the right of the first born, the priesthood. The small change or the first man, who is Adam, on the first man, who is Adam, comes near the end of the passage: or first father, through the fathers, or first father through the fathers the word “on” was changed to “or.” unto me. unto me The 1981 version reads:
PAGE 22 MAY 2003 18-23_corn_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:46 AM Page 23
SUNSTONE
1837 manuscript (Warren Parrish) or This idea that Adam’s physical body was produced by birth 1841 manuscript (Willard Richards) on may also have been something Joseph Smith was alluding to in 1842 Times & Seasons on his 16 June 1844 sermon in which he discusses concepts he 1851 Pearl of Great Price on learned while preparing the book of Abraham: 1878 Pearl of Great Price revision on Where was there ever a son without a father? And 1902 Pearl of Great Price revision on where was there ever a father without first being a 1921 Pearl of Great Price revision on son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into ex- 1981 Pearl of Great Price revision or istence without a progenitor? and everything comes in this way. (History of the Church 6:477; also Words of Joseph Smith, 380). that is, that were, or that ever will be (Journal of The development of the Prophet’s thought on a number of Discourses 11:122; also 6:31, 101, 275). concepts has been widely discussed, and this could be one ev- In another place, Young expresses even more specific disbelief idence of his evolving understanding, for his 1830 rendering that Adam was a special creation: of Adam’s creation (see Moses 3:7) provides no support for the Look for instance at Adam. Listen, ye Latter-day idea that Adam’s earthly existence began by birth rather than Saints! Supposing that Adam was formed actually out by special creation. His work on the book of Abraham (ex- of clay, out of the same kind of material from which pressed in 1837 through the “or” used in the Parrish manu- bricks are formed; that with this matter God made the script and in 1844 in this June discourse) may have led him to pattern of a man, and breathed into it the breath of believe Adam was born. life, and left it there, in that state of supposed perfec- So, does the change of one small word in the 1981 Pearl of tion, he would have been an adobie to this day. He Great Price make a big difference? I haven’t decided, but for would not have known anything. those who champion the “Adam has a navel” end of the argu- . . . You believe Adam was made of the dust of this ment, this small change may provide some scriptural support. earth. This I do not believe, though it is supposed that VAN HALE it is so written in the Bible, but it is not, to my under- Draper, Utah standing. You can write . . . that I have publicly de- clared that I do not believe that portion of the Bible as CORRECTION. In our March 2003 issue, we failed to identify the Christian world do. I never did, and I never want Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby as the author of the to. What is the reason I do not? Because I have come short essay, “My New Church ‘Quiet Book’ Is a Palm Pilot.” It to understanding, and banished from my mind all the was noted in the table of contents but inadvertently left out of the baby stories my mother taught me when I was a child column’s introduction. Our apologies to Kirby and our readers. (Journal of Discourses 2:6).
Sign of the Times ONE-STOP STAIN REMOVAL
F YOU WANT A THOROUGH CLEAN-UP, the strip mall at the corner of 5300 South and 700 West in I Murray, Utah, might be just the place for you. You can take not only your shirts and dresses in for dry-cleaning but also your videos and DVD’s for a clean-up of a different sort. Clean Flicks, a Utah-based company, specializes in creating “family-friendly” versions of videos and DVD’s by editing out profanity, violence, and nudity (see SUNSTONE, Oct. 2002, p. 76).
Cost of dry-cleaning a tuxedo: $5.00. Cost of cleaning up the movie The Tuxedo: $15.00.
MAY 2003 PAGE 23 24-27_a_bean_chata.qxd 5/21/2003 8:45 AM Page 24
SUNSTONE
2003 Eugene England Memorial Personal Essay Contest, First Place Winner EVENTUALLY APPROACHING CHATA By Kent R. Bean
WAS THE ANSWER TO CHATA’S PRAYERS, ALTHOUGH unable to concentrate on anything, talking constantly about I’m not sure she knew she was praying. She had witnessed nothing.” She whispered, “I left, I’ll tell you now.” I too much in her fifty years of life, and her mind had weak- “You were frightened?” I asked. ened, collapsed. She would walk the streets of Villa Nueva, “Yes,” she said, “I’ve never felt comfortable around the insane. shouting angrily at any man in uniform. Her brown eyes I would rather see a bloody wound—like a gunshot—than be would flash at the sky, certain that death would come from a with the mentally ill. At least with a wound, you can see what’s passing airplane. Sometimes she would wander in the market, wrong. Who knows what drives the minds of the insane?” and a conscientious neighbor would return her home. Chata’s mother clutched rosary beads in her brown, tired hands and UCH CONVERSATIONS ABOUT Chata were not un- said daily prayers for Chata. common. Villa Nueva was not a small village—it con- I gleaned information about Chata from other sources. I S tained several thousand people—but many of its inhab- could not ask her directly about her pain, for her yoke was itants knew the story of the Chinese family. They lived in the hard, her burden heavy. ruins of the once-opulent summer home of a former president “Yes, elder,” said Doña Rosa, still calling me by my mis- of Guatemala. It stood brazenly at the head of the town, its sionary title even though I was no longer a missionary, “Chata falling facade still somehow magnificent. Chata’s mother was a was very peculiar when she returned from Cotzal.” pura chapina, pure Guatemalan, and her father was from main- Doña Rosa lifted a creme-orange cup to her lips and sipped land China. Chata told me with pride that her father was a dis- her coffee. She blew at the contents of the cup and gazed over ciplinarian from another age who encouraged the develop- it at the television. She was an attractive woman in her fifties, ment of that within her that was purely Chinese. She explained but her weathered face insinuated many more hard years than that he encouraged his daughters in all things, but restricted time could contain. I had been warned that she had been a their mother to the home. He distrusted her ladina heritage. prostitute in El Salvador, that I should not associate with her. But her restriction could not stop the village’s roving tongues, “How did she act?” I asked. hungry for gossip. “Bien raro, strange,” she said, still gazing over her cup. Then I asked a man named Rolando about Chata. He lived at the she looked at me, a memory filling her face. “She would come other end of Villa Nueva, near the edge of a gorge. During the here to my store, and when she saw me, she’d act as if we were rainy season, the rains would turn the streets near Chata’s the best of friends and we hadn’t seen one another in years. house into rivers. The water would rush down, carrying trash ‘Oh, Doña Rosa!’ and on and on. She invited me to her house and rocks in its wake. It would empty into the gorge with a for coffee. I went once,” she said, and then lowered her voice, melancholy fury. “I went more to get back some deposit bottles from her.” The “You live with la china?” asked Rolando in a hushed voice, secret out, her voice returned to its normal volume. “She made as if communicating a scandalous truth, even though we sat in such a fuss. The reality is we were never too friendly before she the privacy of his living room. His pale features hid a certain went away the last time, so why she would treat me as such a nervousness, a sense of injustice. I told him that she always friend, I don’t know.” treated me with great care. She said she was my mama and I Doña Rosa looked down at her coffee. “But she was so busy, was her bebe. She considered me her adopted son. “Yes,” he said, “did you know she had a son?” KENT R. BEAN is a Ph.D. candidate in American “She has his picture hanging in the front room,” I said. culture studies at Bowling Green State University “He committed suicide”—again the hushed tone—“over a in Bowling Green, Ohio. He is married and has three woman.” daughters. Chata had never spoken to me of him, had never even men- tioned his name. I knew nothing of his father, nothing of the
PAGE 24 MAY 2003 24-27_a_bean_chata.qxd 5/21/2003 8:45 AM Page 25
SUNSTONE
situation of his birth, nothing of his life or his death. I had lis- gale me with stories of Guatemala, stories of heroism and tened to Chata for innumerable hours recounting her adven- decay. Her eyes gleamed at me through so much experience. tures as a child in Villa Nueva, her adolescence in the national The deep brown of her face and the countless wrinkles illumi- school for nurses, her adulthood spent in hospitals and clinics nated her Chinese eyes. She laughed several times, sometimes throughout all of Guatemala. Yet her son didn’t exist in the sto- talking so rapidly that I lost the gist of her Spanish. ries she told me. What had begun as a simple dinner conversation turned Chata’s sister Estela, into a nightly monologue. two years away from the Each night Chata would stroke that would blind fix my dinner, sit across her and then kill her, said from me, and smoke and to me one rare night at talk. I listened, nodded, supper when Chata was occasionally said, not sitting opposite me, “Really?” or “I didn’t “Do you know about know that.” And she Chata’s son?” She whis- talked and talked. I could pered the words. see in her eyes a need, a “No.” need I somehow met just “His name was Enrique. by listening. He killed himself. That’s Her sister and mother why Chata never speaks of began to notice a change him.” She looked at me in Chata. Soon even with large brown eyes. She neighbors commented on was five years younger her recovery. Chata began than Chata, but she (Left to right): Victor (Estela’s husband), Chata’s mother, to attach herself to me looked twenty-five years Chata, Celia, Estela quite severely. She ceased younger. calling me elder and in- I didn’t know what to say. “Never?” stead referred to me as bebe and mihijo, my child. She said this “No, never. He committed suicide because of a woman. She with laughter in her eyes, but I knew that her feelings for me rejected him and he came home, went to his room—your were deep. room, now—and put a pistol against his head. Chata found She began to share darker moments from her life. She him. She never speaks of him.” spoke of her time in Cotzal, the terror and sickness she felt And she never did. Chata locked certain things inside her- when the army had burned a man alive for allegedly aiding the self. Valor required her to sustain her griefs in silence. But her guerrillas. She had often been called by the military to treat small body was not up to the task of containing such huge se- wounded soldiers or prisoners. Chata wrote for me her experi- crets, and she collapsed. I entered her life at this time, by ences in a piecemeal narrative, born of a wounded mind and chance. I lived in the ruins of the family’s home, paying for a clothed in troubled Spanish. bedroom and food. Chata’s mother or Estela usually served the During my visits to the military base, I was amazed to food. Chata’s niece, Celia, ran through the house and the yard see things that disconcerted me, such as holes per- with the enthusiasm of childhood, a light of hope among so fectly made in the ground. Later I understood that many darkened adults. When I did encounter Chata in that they were prisons for those who supposedly helped house she would say, with great courtesy and a slight bow, the guerrillas. Where, what’s more, in a pit, no one “Buenos días, elder,” and retire to her room. But one evening, in could hear the cries of the unlucky ones, seeing as her mother’s absence, she fixed dinner for me. Placing the food how they were not only put there but the soldiers in front of me, she sat opposite me, lit a cigarette, and poured used them as latrines. herself a cup of coffee. What Chata witnessed in Cotzal had affected her deeply: She began speaking. I listened. She spoke more and more, the military’s constant pursuit of guerrillas, the sudden and un- growing ever more animated. She told me about nights spent as expected violence against the innocent, and the silent disap- a nurse in Cotzal, battling typhoid fever, which weakened her. pearance of so many, never to return, their families forever She had only aspirin with which to check the fever. She told me wondering. She wrote: of the customs of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala, cata- At the end of four years, I began to notice some prob- loguing the different beliefs and practices of different groups in lems that I hadn’t ever felt before: even though several different places. She told me of their natural remedies for sick- of my relatives were soldiers, my ex-husband also was, ness, disease, impotence. I listened and nodded. She spoke but I felt hatred for all uniformed people. The planes with great sweeps of her arms, her cigarette careening wildly in and helicopters frightened me. In the end, I had symp- her hand as she talked, tracing strange glyphs in the air. toms that manifested themselves each day more She fixed dinner for me the next night, again sitting to re- strongly. I became worried. I visited the hospital and
MAY 2003 PAGE 25 24-27_a_bean_chata.qxd 5/21/2003 8:45 AM Page 26
SUNSTONE
they immediately diagnosed me with psicosis de guerra, “Where will we stay?” psychosis of war—for science, incurable, for God no. But Chata had anticipated all of my questions, even going And so Chata left Cotzal, left her many years as a dedicated so far as to telegraph her friends in Cotzal of our intention to nurse, and retired to her mother’s home in Villa Nueva. I was visit them. We left the next week on a bus to Santa Cruz del told she often wandered aimlessly, watching the sky anxiously, Quiché. We stayed in a hotel that night in Quiché, talking qui- and sometimes screaming at passing soldiers. etly with the owner and several other guests. They asked about She didn’t do that any more, and her mother and sister our destination. thanked me, although I couldn’t accept their gratitude. I was “Cotzal?” said the owner, shaking his hoary head in disbe- simply a good listener with a sincere face at a time when Chata lief. “You don’t want to go there, surely.” needed those two things more than anything. That I, born and Chata explained that she had been a nurse there several raised in Utah, in a distant desert foreign in every way to the years before and that she wanted to introduce me, her son, to wet streets of Villa Nueva, would play an important role in the several of her friends. Calling me “mihijo” always caused con- life of this woman, born in the 1940s from the union of a fusion, and I had to explain that I was her adopted son— Chinese man and a Guatemalan woman, filled me with a sense adopted by love. Chata never explained how a six-foot tall, of disbelief. She had needed me, and I was there, even though I blonde-headed gringo could be the son of a five-foot-two had done nothing consciously to make my life touch hers, nor Chinese Guatemalan: I was her son; that was enough. would I have known how to touch her even had I been aware. The hotel owner took me aside before I retired for the night. Villa Nueva was my last missionary area. Chata knew that “Look, joven,” he said, “I know you’re not from here. I don’t my days were numbered, and she saddened—although it was know what this woman has told you, but Cotzal is not a safe a common sadness, the product of her now stronger mind. She place. There has been violence there. I’ve heard terrible stories. had told me she would not say goodbye to me on my last day Men murdered by night, women and children molested and in Guatemala. I didn’t believe her. She had said the pain would killed. Atrocities. Don’t go there. Make an excuse to this be too great. I told her I would return to Guatemala, but she woman who says she’s your mother, and don’t go there.” feared I wouldn’t. She was true to her word: she wasn’t there “I’ll be okay,” I reassured him. the day I left. “No, listen, you don’t understand. You’re not from here. These things don’t happen where you’re from. They happen RETURNED A year and a half later with my sister and here.” brother-in-law. We stayed for two weeks and spent much I thanked him but knew that I would go if Chata went. I time touring. We took Chata with us to the town of Antigua. She told us stories of the former inhabitants of the ND WE DID go, early the next morning. The bus ride town, the many disasters that had passed because of volcano was as torturous as Chata had said it would be, with or earthquake. I returned again two years later and spent the A our old bus crawling and lurching over rocky and summer with Chata. I was writing and reading and thinking rutted terrain. We would cross one mountain only to descend about the direction of my life. Chata again sat with me each and begin to cross another. In the afternoon, the fog gathered night, filling me with stories, most of which I had heard several after the rain, and we traveled through a monotony of white. times by now. She loved me deeply, and I loved her, but she We arrived after some six hours of swaying and rocking. didn’t need me as severely as before. An indigena called out, “Marta Alicia? Marta Alicia?” I was I was surprised one morning when she came into my room not used to hearing Chata’s given name and asked her jokingly, and said, “Elder, I want to take you to Cotzal.” “Who is Marta Alicia?” Chata laughed weakly and needed my I looked at her, hoping I could see in her eyes the proof that help to stand and descend the bus. Dressed in the traditional this was merely a passing notion. I couldn’t. garb of Cotzal, the indigena embraced Chata and then Chata “Aren’t you frightened?” I asked. presented me to her: “Here is mihijo.” The indigena’s eyes “No,” she said, the wrinkles of her face moving deter- widened, shocked by my incongruity in this place. minedly. “I have many friends there.” She told me how many Chata needed badly to rest, and we went with Chata’s friend of the indigenas, the indigenous people, were dedicated to her. to the home she shared with her mother and several brothers “I was not like other ladinos. I understood racism. When I was and sisters and their children. The children were surprised to younger, I experienced the disdain of the other children be- see me, most running to hide. One brave soul approached me, cause my father was Chinese. I also felt the disdain of my fa- demanding something. I could not understand his language of ther’s brothers because my mother was Guatemalan. So be- Ixil, and I felt what I had felt many years before as I had lis- cause I understood the pain of prejudice, I always treated the tened uncomprehendingly to the world of Spanish. indigenas with respect.” “Hablas español?” I asked him. I could see in her tired eyes her dedication to going to “Sí, vos,” he answered. “And you?” Cotzal. I tried to appeal to her sense of motherly protection. “Is Chata told me the next day that the man who operated the it safe for gringos so deep in the mountains?” telegraph station wanted to speak with me. Several people had She cocked her head slightly, “Pues, I wouldn’t ask you to go asked the family with which we were staying if they could visit if I thought it wasn’t.” with me. I could only presume that they had so few visitors
PAGE 26 MAY 2003 24-27_a_bean_chata.qxd 5/21/2003 8:45 AM Page 27
SUNSTONE
here—and even fewer North American visitors—that I was wanted to invoke that privilege. But I had some time before the something of a novelty. The telegraph operator instructed me in bus left, and I needed to spend a few moments without Chata. the intricacies of telegraph operation, demonstrating his knowl- I walked through the streets of the city, struggling up hills and edge of Morse Code, another language incomprehensible to my carefully walking down. The rain had fallen almost nonstop ears. But then he began to talk about the atrocities of Cotzal. He since our arrival, a slow drizzle, frustrating just by its persis- took me to the door of the telegraph office. A sprinkle of rain tence. Suddenly the rain fell harder, and I looked for cover. I cooled the air. He pointed to a was near the facade of the spot only feet from where we Catholic Church and ran stood. “There,” he said, a sense under its protective shelter. of wonder in his voice, “a preg- As I stood, watching the nant woman was stabbed in the rain and contemplating stomach. The army had her and this strange moment in my her husband up here. They life, two men ran from made the husband watch. They down a side street and killed them both.” He stood in joined me under the pro- silence for several moments. tective covering of the “The ground was red for a long church. time after.” “Buenas tardes,” I said. I By chance, that Saturday felt a sliver of fear. night, the Catholic Church was “Buenas tardes,” they an- holding a mass for the mur- swered together. dered and disappeared. Small One was older, his hair brown crosses, each about white with age but his fea- eight inches high, were aligned tures bright with life. The in great columns on two walls. Elder Kent R. Bean in Villa Nueva, Guatemala stands next to other was younger, prob- There were hundreds. Painted a small church called La Voz de Cristo (The Voice of Christ), ably in his early thirties, his in white on the crosses were circa November, 1989. hair black and straight names and ages, a vast cross- under his yellow straw hat. section of men and women, young and old, even children. They looked at one another and spoke some muffled words in Most of the indigenas who surrounded us were dressed tradi- Ixil. tionally. The women wore red cortes, or skirts, woven in the Finally the older one spoke. “What brings you here to pattern of Cotzal. Thin black lines broke the red field and con- Cotzal?” tained even thinner slices of color. Later, Chata explained to me “I have a friend who used to work here. She was a nurse in that the red symbolized the blood of the people, blood which the 1980s.” has been spilt for far too long, and the black was the long night The older one shook his head as if in agreement. “Those of their lives. But in that blackness were moments of color, were difficult times,” he said, not expecting a response. clarity: greens, yellows, blues. Many of the men wore white The younger one, I could see, was anxious to understand pants and a red jacket. They held their straw hats in their me. “What do you do?” he asked. brown, hard hands as they sat. The sound of the father’s voice, “I’m a student.” the curious but tired looks of the congregants, the hauntingly He nodded his head slowly, but his eyes betrayed a curiosity simple music of a marimba band—all combined to fill me with that had not been satisfied. a sense of alienation. And I thought. “A student of what?” he asked. They both looked at me ex- The crosses on the wall represent actual people. The crosses pectantly. represent people who lived here. It all happened here. These “Literature,” I said, but the word tumbled awkwardly out of are not atrocities from which I am separated by time and dis- my mouth, so discordant with the rain and the plants and the tance as I am from the murders and intrigues in history books. blood-soaked earth of Cotzal. This is not like reading scripture, the rejected words of the “What is that?” prophets, the countless deaths in countless wars brought “Books. I read books. I study books,” I said, wondering about by rebellion. This is not like a photojournalist’s essay in how to explain the scholarly study of American literature to a magazine, a gory photograph I can censor with the quick flip two men whose lives had been and would continue to be of my wrist. I have no distance from this. about coaxing the earth to provide them sustenance. Why has Chata brought me here? Both men leaned back against the church and looked at the falling rain, the humble buildings that lined the town E HAD TO leave the next day. I was anxious to go, square. A few moments passed. Then the younger man leaned feeling increasingly morose. I had the privilege of forward slightly, looked at me, and asked, “What’s the good W leaving, and I knew it was a privilege, and I of that?”
MAY 2003 PAGE 27 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:47 AM Page 28
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
“SPEAK THE TRUTH, AND SHAME THE DEVIL”
A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON CHURCH, RACE, EXPERIENCE, AND TESTIMONY
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION. For the second part of SUNSTONE’s examina- NATALIE: [Looking at the survey sheet] Can we start tion of the question “Twenty-five Years after the Revelation on with this question right here? “What has the Church Priesthood—Where Are We Now?” we feel it is important to hear directly done really well in reaching out to African-Americans from black Latter-day Saints themselves, as well as others—spouses, close and blacks around the world?” Well, I think the Church friends, teachers—who deal daily with questions about race and has done an extremely good job in reaching out to Mormonism. To gather as many voices as we could, we wrote letters and Africans and people in other countries. I don’t think the sent a survey that netted many wonderful responses to our queries about Church has done very much at all reaching out to black memories and hopes surrounding the 1978 revelation, experiences with Americans. Black Americans are forced to assimilate lingering racism and folklore surrounding skin color and priesthood denial, into this whole culture, and we have had to reach out to freedom of black Latter-day Saints to share their authentic experiences in each other, but I don’t think the Church has done any- Church settings, the role of supporting organizations such as the Genesis thing to reach out to them. Branch, and reasons for a respondent’s optimism or pessimism about NKOYO: My only complaint about the Church and blacks finding a deep-rooted and comfortable spiritual home in the Church. the whole “blacks and the priesthood” issue is that they As we prepared to publish these responses, however, we received a call just don’t address it enough. The concept seems to be, from long-time friend Natalie Palmer Sheppard who, in lieu of writing an- “If it’s not talked about and swept under the rug, it’ll go swers to our survey questions, offered to invite several friends to her West away.” You just can’t do that with the history of blacks Jordan, Utah, home to discuss these issues. We were thrilled by her invita- and whites in this country, and especially with the his- tion but had no idea how wonderful the evening and conversation would tory this Church has. be! Whereas we had imagined a small gathering for a straightforward dis- NATALIE: I served as Relief Society President of cussion of the survey questions, what happened was an high-spirited, en- Genesis for five and a half years, and what I found here gaged, laugh- and emotion-filled, intensely spiritual four-hour give and in Utah is when people had an issue as a black Latter- take. day Saint and sent letters to the First Presidency, they Even though this gathering took place on 6 May, less than two weeks be- would send the same form letter back that says: “The fore our planned press date, John Hatch, SUNSTONE’s managing editor, and 1978 Revelation speaks for itself.” Well, what is it [the I knew immediately we had to transcribe the audio tapes and make space ‘78 revelation] saying? It’s not saying anything! It’s not in this issue for as much of the discussion as possible. saying anything to appease us in terms of the issues that The following record represents about two-thirds with the evening’s dy- need to be addressed. There are things that need to be namic conversation. Some edits required that we rearrange the order of dealt with. It’s an everyday issue. some sections, bringing a few loose comments into closer contact with sim- KARYN: It’s kind of like, “We let you in; why can’t ilar themes. But we’re pleased to present as much of this spirited give and you be happy just with that?” take with its original flow intact as such constraints allow. We’ve created a NKOYO: They’re trying to say 1978 speaks for itself, separate grouping of the survey responses we received and have placed it yet we feel like it doesn’t, because what does the decla- on our website,
PAGE 28 MAY 2003 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:47 AM Page 29
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
Church was restored in this dispensation. Elijah Abel died in full fellowship of this gospel, having served several missions for the Church, and he had the Melchizedek priesthood. KARYN: One problem I have is the misconceptions about I had a meeting scheduled with a general authority about the Book of Mormon and the mixing of this seed with that seed something totally unrelated, but I took this manual and I and the mixing of the evil seed. I remember a missionary showed him this page and he said, “I have a meeting with the telling me (and this was just in 1986) how I couldn’t marry a First Presidency later this week, I’ll bring this up with them, white man in the temple because I was black and he was white and I’ll get back to you.” He never did get back to me, and that’s and that would be the mixing of the seeds. I said, “From what nothing against him. I think he might have addressed it at that I understand (and I was only seventeen years old at this point,) point and they probably didn’t have any answers. It’s all right to I thought the mixing of the seed was the unrighteous with the tell me you don’t have any answers. It’s all right to tell me, “You righteous. And when I was baptized, I understood I was know, I’m not clear yet, I don’t have any concrete information grafted into your olive tree and became part of the righteous. to give you now.” But at least address it; give an answer! So you would rather have me marry a black man who’s not a KARYN: But President Hinckley has addressed it. When member outside of the Church than a righteous white man in- Mike Wallace interviewed him, he was asked about this issue side the temple? I find that hard to believe Heavenly Father and he said, “I really don’t know why.” would condone that.” LYN: Yes, he did say that. He said it’s basically not pin- I also remember once when I was asked to teach Gospel pointed when it was taken away, why it was taken away, and Doctrine up at Ricks college. I had to give the lesson on “every we don’t know. worthy male”—and I didn’t phrase it as the blacks getting the NATALIE: Can I tell ya’ll what happened when I had to teach priesthood, I phrased it as “every worthy male” receiving the that class on the revelation on priesthood? For this lesson, I blessing of the priesthood—and one guy in the class raised his had a friend come to my ward that day. And I threw the ques- hand and asked, “So how did your family feel when you found tion out to my class: “Why wasn’t the priesthood given back to out you were finally worthy enough to hold the priesthood?” I the blacks until 1978?” Well, everybody in that room had an said, “I want you to show me in any Church doctrine you have answer, including me. And then, after everyone had had their where it says that the blacks were never worthy enough to say, I asked my friend to share some of his experiences meeting have the priesthood!” with President Hinckley about this very question. My friend NATALIE: Be careful what you ask for because all he had to simply stated, very sweetly, “You know, it’s interesting to me do was look in his edition of Mormon Doctrine. It’s in there. that each of you know more than the prophet himself. I’ve RASHEEDAH: That’s right. I learned how prevalent that idea asked him on several occasions why he thinks the Lord had was when one of my missionary companions shoved that book withheld this blessing for so long, and he has told me just in my face in order to tell me why she was better than I was. doesn’t know.” NATALIE: You can also read the discourses of Brigham Yes, everybody had an answer that day but the prophet. Young because it says in there that black people are filthy and Well, the truth is, I respect somebody a heck of a lot more who loathsome people. We can all deal with that, but the problem say to me, “Well, I really don’t know.” is that there are still people today who believe and teach the same folklore. KARYN: Exactly. That is my point, because this was a re- NATALIE: Race isn’t an issue for Church leaders. It is not turned missionary who was asking me this. I said to him, something they deal with daily; it’s not something they have to “Maybe it wasn’t so much us being worthy enough to have the make a decision on unless somebody brings it up. They don’t priesthood as it was an issue of you being worthy enough to ac- have to, but we do, because every day we are reminded be- cept me as an equal to have that blessing and to be able to cause we are black and we are LDS, whether anyone talks practice it.” The whole room went quiet. Of course some said, about it or not. “No, that’s not true; that’s false doctrine.” BEATRICE: I seriously question that any of us legitimately JOHN: [Reading survey questions] How prevalent today are deals with race on a daily basis. I think it is a mistake to auto- some folklores like the idea that black skin can or will be matically assume that a challenging encounter with a person of “lightened” as people become more righteous? a different ethnicity is due to intentional prejudice or racism. NATALIE: Shoot, if that were true, I should be white! RICH: [One of my issues] is, besides Darius Gray being a role KARYN: Transparent at least; looking like Michael Jackson at model for me, when I look at conference, I have to ask, “Where least! [Lots of laughter] is the black man in the Quorum of the Twelve who’s repre- NATALIE: And if I’m a descendant of Cain, I’m OK with that senting me?” That’s an issue for me; it may not be an issue for because Noah put all the righteous in the ark, so I’m supposed other people, but it’s an issue for me. I know there are a lot of to be here! black men who are worthy to be up there. So where are they? RASHEEDAH: Ham and Egyptus lived! Their son became NATALIE: And what I want to see is a black woman sitting Pharaoh; I’m a descendant of royalty. How many white people on the Relief Society general board. can say that?! [Lots of laughter] I don’t need to do my ge-
MAY 2003 PAGE 29 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:47 AM Page 30
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
nealogy to find out. I know I’m a descendant of royalty! [More kick them for any choice they make. laughs] BETH: But that’s what I’m talking about. It’s the knowledge NATALIE: It’s a total contradiction to me for someone to tell people ought to have. me to join their Church and tell me I will be punished for my NATALIE: But who gives them that knowledge? own sins and not for Adam’s transgression, but, “by the way, KARYN: I’ve had people come up to me and say, “What you’re cursed.” would you rather be referred to?” TAMU: I have tried to prepare myself all I can with knowl- NKOYO: Exactly. People can do that on their own. edge about Church doctrine and history. . . . You get knowl- NATALIE: But a lot of people don’t feel comfortable doing edge so you can put yourself in a position so someone cannot that. tell you that you were a fence-sitter in heaven, so someone KARYN: Yeah, but I’m not going to get up every time and say, cannot tell you you’re a descendant of Cain, because nobody is “Hi, my name is Sister Karyn Dudley, but you can refer to me going to dictate to me who I am when I know I am a child of as the ‘black woman’ in the ward.” God, just like they are. RASHEEDAH: Can I ask a question? Why does it matter? BEATRICE: Oh, it matters to some people. NATALIE: It matters to me. KARYN: The key is that the Spirit will discern to you what RICH: It matters to me. the issue is sometimes. It’s like the time I went to the temple and someone said to me, “It’s so nice to have a Negress in the temple today.” I said, “When I was baptized, Well, she wasn’t trying to hurt any- I understood I was grafted one’s feelings. She was just trying to express as best she could her excite- into your olive tree and ment about having someone in the temple other than [those who were became part of the righteous. just like her], and that’s how it came So you would rather have me out. Now, I could have gone stomping off to the temple presi- marry a black man who’s not dent, “That woman called me a a member outside of the ‘Negress!’” But she was expressing a love for having a sister of a different Church than a righteous culture, with a different experience, white man inside the temple?” in the house of our Father. It was probably a more spiritual experi- Karyn Dudley ence for her just to witness that. BETH: I need to say one thing here about the problem of white folks, like me, not knowing BEATRICE: As long as you don’t call me the “N” word, I’ll an- whether to call you a “black sister” or an “African-American swer. sister,” or whatever. RASHEEDAH: I think we as blacks, African-Americans, BEATRICE: Yes, one yea,r we blacks want to be “black;” an- Negroes, colored, whatever you want to be called—we have a other year, we’re “African-American.” A couple of years ago, responsibility to be mindful of the difficulty people have re- we were “Afro-American.” lating to people who are different. Regardless of ethnicity, re- NATALIE: Can I just say Jesse Jackson can never and will gardless of religiosity, regardless of socio-economic levels—if never determine who I am? I am a black woman. I was born a you’re different, there’s a degree of uncertainty and insecurity black woman, and I’ll die a black woman. involved. BEATRICE: We cannot change what we want to be called The Church, the brethren, the leadership of the wards and from year to year and think that people are going to keep up the stakes are too busy focusing on the salvation of mankind to with that. . . . There is no singular black voice, and we have worry about what to call somebody. I would think that if given white people the impression that there is a singular black someone’s old and walking with a cane, and it looks like she’s voice. Jesse Jackson says so, but there’s not. about to drop because she’s ninety-seven years old, and she We have the duty, the moral duty, to no longer be strangers calls me “colored girl,” I’m going to say, “Yes, ma’am, what can but to help people out and let them know there’s no black I do for you?” ‘Cause that’s what she grew up with, and that’s voice. If I were a white person, I’d just say, “I’m not really up what she understands. If they use the “N” word, and that’s on this. I hope you’re not offended, but tell me what you prefer what they grew up with, you’ve got to set them straight, but to be called.” See we can’t put people in a Catch-22 and then with respect and dignity. However, if they’re my age and they
PAGE 30 MAY 2003 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:47 AM Page 31
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
want to use a term that’s been deemed derogatory, then there’s NATALIE: I’m not minimizing that. But what I am saying is an issue to address. that I empathize with people. My empathy comes from who I When I was working at BYU in the Creamery, this lady, who am. My work in this Church and in this gospel is to bring souls had to be well into her eighties, came up to me at the cash reg- to Christ. And if we’re going to bring souls to Christ, we ister and took my hand and said, “I’m so glad to see you here.” cannot say, “So what if they hurt your feelings? Get over it.” It’s And I knew exactly where she was going with this. And I said, not that simple for some people. “Well, thank you very much, ma’am.” She said, “We had a girl RASHEEDAH: But did Christ not tell Peter to lay down the who worked for us in Florida.” And I said, “Oh, did you like sword, and then he healed the soldier’s ear? We can’t just at- her?” She said, “Yeah, we did.” tack. Christ went through hell for us. He was offended beyond NATALIE: But you know what, ya’ll? With all due respect, offense. He got over it. We need to get over it. most of you here are secure in who you are. You know who NATALIE: In being soldiers for Christ, we need to be able to you are, and you feel good about yourself, and you feel secure empathize with people on their level and sympathize with in your membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- people on their level. A woman came up to me in Crossroads day Saints. . . . I’m perfectly fine with who I am in the Church. Mall, and I said to her, “I haven’t seen you forever!” (I’d met I’m fine being the only black family in my ward. But there are her through Genesis group.) And she said, “I don’t go to that a lot of black Latter-day Saints with real issues, and real con- Church anymore. I won’t ever go to that Church again.” I said, cerns, and real questions about their membership in this “Why?” and she said, “I think somebody needs to get up in a General Conference and apologize to black people.” Besides Darius Gray being a I may not agree with her on that issue—that’s not the point. The role model for me, when I point is that I understood where look at conference, I have to she was coming from because my son left this Church because he, a ask, “Where is the black man black young man, was mistreated in the Quorum of the Twelve and abused because he was black. And he will never, ever come back who’s representing me?” . . . to this Church again. (Well, he might, because I pray for him every I know there are a lot of black day.) This woman left the Church men who are worthy to be up with her children because of the abuse they felt. All I’m saying is I there. So where are they? felt, in that moment, that it was my Kimberlee and Rich Mills responsibility to make her face her own demons. I have always felt I will never let any of these white Church. We can be secure, but we have to acknowledge that people take away my salvation. But everybody isn’t the same. there are people out there who are hurting. They have been of- BEATRICE: We can’t say across the board that people leave fended, and whether we think they should be offended or not the Church because of racism. I was a stake missionary, and I doesn’t change the fact that they feel offended. They’re upset by went into many, many homes. We fellowshipped people of the person who called them a ‘nigger’ and said, “What is this color, and many still left for varied reasons not related to race. person doing in my Church?” My bishop was very sensitive to the temporal and spiritual Retention in this Church among black Latter-day Saints is needs of all families, and in cases where food was an issue, he very poor because of the way we’ve been treated in this generously provided groceries or access to the bishop’s store- Church. The reason I go to Genesis group and participate in house. it—it’s not for Natalie Palmer Sheppard—it’s because there are NATALIE: But that’s insulting. It’s like you’re paying them to people who need us there. Everybody in this room probably come! knows that at one time in my life, I went downtown and went BEATRICE: See! See! We’ve got to have balance. If he hadn’t to the Church office building and demanded to see the given them food, somebody would be calling him a racist. If he prophet. Part of what happened during that experience is Ezra does, people say he’s insulting. Taft Benson said to me that “if you joined the Church for the people in the Church, you didn’t join for the right reasons anyway. So you need to re-evaluate why you are here.” LYN: Our parents joined the Church in 1973. I’ll tell you, if BEATRICE: If that advice applies to you, why shouldn’t it everybody was fellowshipped the way our family was fellow- apply to anyone in the Church? shipped, nobody would ever leave the Church. We were in
MAY 2003 PAGE 31 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 32
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
Michigan, and we couldn’t have left the Church if we wanted to. I was six, so Karyn would have been about five, but I can remember the first time we ever stepped foot in the church at BETH: I want to talk about what you said earlier about chil- sacrament meeting at 6:00 in the evening. There was standing dren, about my raising my children up in the Church and their room only in that place. trying to attend Young Men and Young Women. Now two of KARYN: They had to open the curtain because everyone my kids are twenty and eighteen, and they’re inactive, al- wanted to see the black family! though they’re still trying to answer the question of “Who am LYN: People who hadn’t been to church in years came be- I?” I would love them to have had sisters like you come and cause they heard a black family was coming. Once we set foot visit our ward and be involved in their lives and to try to fel- in the doors, there was no way we were getting out. It was text- lowship together with them. We didn’t know a lot about book, how they fellowshipped us. We heard the new member Genesis when they were growing up. That’s my concern right discussions; they introduced us to a family with kids who were now. That your strength will go into our children. I don’t want our ages; we had a stake missionary family who also had kids my [younger] son to leave the Church. He decided to get bap- the same age—we had someone to identify with on various tized; he’s been baptized. But I don’t have a male figure in my levels. I don’t remember my parents having “official” callings, home right now who’s showing him how to be involved in the but they received something to do. My dad was assigned to Church, how to pass the sacrament and use his priesthood. I’m work with the youth, and things like that. Later on, my mom a white woman raising bi-racial children, and I need this was Primary president. We weren’t going anywhere. We were just to- tally loved into the gospel. I think a lot of it is individual at- It’s a total contradiction to titudes. We always say you shouldn’t have to be told every little me for someone to tell me thing, but sometimes you do. It needs to be said: “Everybody to join their Church and should be treated the same way in tell me that I will be pun- the Church, no matter what— black, white, fat, skinny, old, ished for my own sins and young.” It’s the Church! Everybody not for Adam’s transgres- should be treated the same, fellow- shipped the same, given positions, sion, but, “by the way, and helped along in the gospel. KARYN: I remember when I first you’re cursed.” Natalie Palmer Sheppard got to my [Ricks College] ward, with daughter Destinae how they would just look at me. They’d say things like, “Wow, she knows the hymns.” I’d say, “Well, don’t you? We’ve been strength. That’s why I come to Genesis, that’s why I bring my singing them for how many years?” They’d say things like, children to Genesis. I do try to teach them the love of Christ, “She takes the sacrament like we do, and says amen like we but sometimes you need a little more than that. do.” And I’d be like, “Yeah, I go to the same Church you do, so When I took my kids to Genesis, they were so excited. They yeah, I know the songs because we’ve been singing them for- said, “Mom, can we go back there next week?” And I had to ever.” say, “Well, it’s not every week; it’s next month.” They were TAMU: My testimony was solid strong when I was growing saying, “Can we go back and see our people?” That’s literally up, and when I got to Utah, my first experience was in the Salt what they were saying. Lake Temple when someone came up to me and said, “What is KARYN: The first time I came to Genesis was the twentieth that nigger doing here?” Had I not had the strong testimony anniversary of the revelation at the tabernacle. Being a member when I joined the Church, had I not been nurtured, had I not for thirty years and seeing a bunch of black LDS people singing been fellowshipped, I may not have made it past experiences “Come, Come Ye Saints” . . . I was so overcome I couldn’t even like that. Instead, I can go back to my ward where I was fel- speak, I couldn’t even breathe, my tears were so thick. All lowshipped, and I can tell them what happened in the temple, those years, I had thought it didn’t bother me that I was the and they can say, “What!? That was not right; we need to only black family in the ward, that I was the only black person handle this right now.” Had I gone back to my ward and people at activities. I didn’t realize how much of an impact it had on had said, “Well, you know how it is; get over it,” I wouldn’t be me. It let me know I was missing something that I didn’t even here. My testimony is solid because I was nurtured and loved realize I was missing. into the gospel, and not everyone has had that experience. TAMU: When I introduce people to Genesis and tell them to
PAGE 32 MAY 2003 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 33
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
come because it’s a support group for black Latter-day Saints, wrong.” If you are afraid to say those things, there’s fear. And they tell me it sounds like a radical group or an apostate group. where fear is, faith is not. So many people who join this Church won’t attend Genesis NKOYO: They say everything else from the pulpit: Don’t and won’t attend Black Student Union at BYU because it puts drink; don’t smoke; don’t have sex; don’t get tattoos; don’t get them in a spot where it makes them feel like they are different piercings. What about saying something about racism? from the rest of the members of the Church. Not knowing that NATALIE: I’m not the one who tells President Hinckley what they are already different! to do or whether to make a statement, even though I think it No one in Utah looks at me and says, “You were born under would do a world of good; that’s not my place. But I’ve heard the covenant.” They all ask me, “How long have you been bap- bishops say to black people, “You don’t belong here because tized?” or “Where did you get married?” I tell them in the L.A. you’re black,” and they say it that blatantly. We need to educate Temple, and they’re so surprised. “You did?” Not only are you people because we still have bishops and stake presidents dealing with the things that come from white people, we also saying things like a stake president said to me once: “Go ahead get it from people of color who think that because we are all in and sleep around because black people are sexual creatures by this gospel, we are all treated the same way. Just because I look nature. We’ll give you a temple recommend anyway.” at a white person and say, “You are my brother,” doesn’t mean RASHEEDAH: What stake president is this? I ought to go to that he’ll look back at me and say, “That’s my sister.” him for my interviews! [Lots of laughter] TAMU: I also think Joseph Smith was a prophet of his time, and President Hinckley has built buildings and temples all NKOYO: I have a friend; she’s twenty-six years old, and she around the world. So maybe he is not the one who is going to always says, “Why do I have to always work so hard to make speak knowledge to power on this issue. Maybe it will be white people feel comfortable around me? When do I get to someone else. feel comfortable?” But I do think with the things that are happening, the dead are NATALIE: I feel really good that I am the black woman that not resting. Elijah Abel is not resting; Jane Manning James is not most of these white people meet. Everybody’s got their little resting. There are people who are receiving revelation. Margaret stereotypes and images about what it’s like to be a black [Blair Young] received revelation to write that play [I Am Jane]. person, and I’m so glad I get to be the black woman that these Darius and she—the spirit brought them together to write those people meet and get their impressions from. No brag, just fact. books [“Standing on the Promises” trilogy]. People are not sitting RASHEEDAH: That’s why, whenever I go to a new ward, my still; people are not being quiet. I have people coming up to me very first fast and testimony meeting, all I have to do is in tears, saying, “I never knew blacks had the priesthood before spend two minutes introducing myself. Should I? Maybe; 1978; I don’t know where my testimony is at now.” maybe not. But my black behind stands up at the pulpit and I do think we have a responsibility to speak out and speak I qualify myself. That way, no one is ever going to accuse me up, because when the time comes, we do not need people in of being ignorant and unknowledgeable with the gospel or there who are pining for high positions in the Church. And I anything else. I stand up and say, “Hi, my name is Rasheedah see this a lot with a lot of black men. They start out, and they Corbitt. Some of you, if your kids are bad, they might see say a lot, and they speak up, but the closer they get to that red me, because I’m a probation officer. And all you Salt Laker seat, the quieter they get. [Expressions of agreement] They get [University of Utah] folks—too bad for you; I’m a Cougar.” a little bit quieter and say, “Things are all right.” Well, things So boom, right there, I’ve just told them important things: are not all right; all is not well in Zion until all of God’s children I’m employed with the state, a government official. I’m edu- live together. I’m not asking for perfection, I’m just asking for a cated. I’m a BYU graduate. chance. I’m just asking to be able to go to Church and not have TAMU: But you don’t hear white people standing up there to qualify myself. and saying, “I went here, and I did this.” To me, it’s crazy we When President Hinckley spoke about the questions the even feel like we have to do that. media were asking him and what he considered the Church’s We can say what we want to say in this room today, but pressing issues, I waited for him to say “blacks and the priest- nothing is going to change until somebody says in General hood.” [1998 October General Conference. See Ensign (Nov. Conference meeting, “Racism in the Church is wrong.” By not 1978):70–72.] I waited for him to bring it up. It hurt me to saying it, they’re condoning it. They’re condoning Brigham tears that he did not bring it up. I don’t expect an apology, even Young’s statements; they’re condoning John Taylor’s state- though some beliefs still exist within the Twelve, even though ments; they’re condoning things that need to be repudiated. A some of those feelings still exist within this Church, within the statement may not stop everything, but it will make people powers that be. President Hinckley could have said something think, because, by not saying it, they’re condoning it. about racism in the Church, but he did not even mention it. And where there is fear, there cannot be faith. And if you are That says something. afraid to say what the truth is, if you are afraid to say, “It NATALIE: When I was Relief Society president of the Genesis doesn’t matter whom you marry as long as you get married in group, Darius Gray and I received hundreds of emails from the temple.” If you are afraid to say, “Hatred and racism are black Latter-day Saints who were equally upset, if not more so,
MAY 2003 PAGE 33 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 34
SUNSTONE Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
when President Hinckley changed the subject instead of really talking about blacks and the priesthood during his 60 Minutes interview. And we can sit here and be very secure in our mem- NATALIE: What do you think the purpose of Genesis is? bership in this Church, but are we really doing our jobs as RASHEEDAH: A bunch of angry black people. . . . No, no, Latter-day Saints if we fail to recognize that there are black just kidding! [Lots of laughter] members in this Church who are unhappy and insecure in NKOYO: I’ll be the first to admit that when I got a Genesis their membership? newsletter on my mission, I was like, “What is this?” I thought, Do you realize in Africa, nothing changes when people this is probably a bunch of angry black people. But when I fi- join the Church? Not one thing changes about their cul- nally attended after my mission, I found it was a place where ture—they don’t need to change one thing to be a member people had strong testimonies despite the things they had of the Church. They can come to Church bare-chested; they gone through with certain members of the Church. can play the same kind of music as before; they don’t have to KARYN: The sad thing is, my parents were baptized in ‘73, change their culture. The only time they have to change is I’m thirty-five years old. I was thirty years old before I heard when they go to the temple. We try to sing gospel music in about Genesis five years ago. our ward, and it’s like the freakiest thing that ever happened! TAMU: That’s because when people heard about it, they If you’re talking about an organization as big as the Church, thought it was some break-off faction of the Church of a bunch and you bring in thousands of people in the name of Jesus of angry black people. Christ, then you need to be mindful of what they are leaving behind when they be- No one in Utah looks at come a part of this Church. BEATRICE: Tell me some me and says, “You were things that [black Mormons] born under the covenant.” leave behind when they join? NATALIE: Their music, their They all ask me, “How long culture, the cultural things they used to do together. have you been baptized?” BETH: The little boys have to or “Where did you get cut their hair a certain way in order to pass the sacrament. married?” I tell them in the They have to dress like white L.A. Temple, and they’re so people in order to fit in at Church. At least that’s how it is surprised. “You did?” in our ward; kids have to change Keith and Tamu Smith and family who they are to fit in. TAMU: At BYU, you cannot have braids—you cannot have corn rows—because white RASHEEDAH: Don’t they have Spanish-speaking wards? guys started doing this and BYU said it is an extreme hairstyle Why aren’t there all-black wards? and it is not natural. Now you tell me, how many Hispanic BEATRICE: But that’s different. That’s a language difference guys, how many white guys you see with bleached hair—and and barrier. it doesn’t look natural at all! RICH: Maybe we ought to have an “all ebonics” ward. There’s a problem, and people can pretend like it doesn’t [Laughter] exist. When Church publications will not publicize the fact KEITH: Hispanics weren’t denied the priesthood though. that a black man, that’s on record, had the priesthood prior to Some Hispanics may have been, if they had darker skin, but 1978, there’s a problem, and they’re burying their heads in the most weren’t. The reality is that Genesis was organized as a sand. Why are we hiding all of this stuff? Not only does it seem support group for the African-American population at that like the Church doesn’t care about black members and their is- time in Utah because of the situation created by their not sues, but when white members find out, they drop out be- having the priesthood. It offered support and the opportunity cause they feel like the Church has been dishonest with them. to relate to people they couldn’t in their own ward. Hispanics Or they get mad at us when we tell them these things, and they didn’t have that issue because they were being brought into the accuse us of teaching false doctrine, and then we don’t get any Church and had the opportunity to receive the full blessings support from the Church to back us up. the Church offers. People will say things off the record. Say it on the record. BEATRICE: I think we need Spanish-speaking wards and Say it so people can hear it. Tell the truth, and shame the Laotian wards, etc. But I don’t think we need a black ward. devil. Amen! NKOYO: I think it’s wrong to have all those wards and not
PAGE 34 MAY 2003 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 35
SUNSTONE Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
have a Genesis branch in every major city in the U.S. together in a Church publication. When I go to Church audi- RICH: I think that’s just separating people, though. tions, they always want me to audition with a black man. I was NATALIE: I don’t think we need a black ward. in a video, and they totally cut my husband out of it. NKOYO: No, nobody’s wanting that, but there is a difference KEITH: What complicates that is the past teachings of the between having a black ward and having a Genesis group. prophets who have said that to mix race is wrong. Some of the KARYN: Related to that, let me tell you something about leaders in the past have said some very specific things, and Alieshia, my daughter. She’s thirteen years old, and one day, there are older generations who are holding onto those. My she was looking around the house at the pictures on the testimony is in the gospel and in Jesus Christ, and part of that wall. I have beautiful pictures of the temple, of a family testimony is to understand that men make mistakes. Whether being sealed, of a child being baptized, of the First they’re a prophet, whether they’re a bishop, they make mis- Presidency. And she said, “How come we don’t have any takes. black people on our wall? How come the only pictures of NKOYO: Frankly we can say Christ suffered, that he went black people on the wall are of me and you and the rest of through hell and all that. Well, I’m sorry, but I’m living in re- the family?” I got to thinking, I have Church pictures on my ality. The reality is I’m a weak human being who’s offended by wall. And I thought she was straight with herself and her another weak human being saying something offensive. place in the Church, but she started asking these kinds of RASHEEDAH: I don’t have any aversion to being a support or questions, and she needed a way to relate to the Church on to being a sounding board and taking up arms in defense of my black brothers and sisters or anyone who’s seeking truth and My daughter is thirteen years righteousness in life. I just think it’s important for me to be mindful that old, and one day, she said, God runs this Church and I made covenants—and I’m not good at “How come we don’t have any keeping all my covenants, but I’m black people on our wall?” . . . the one who’s responsible for keeping them. And if I get ticked off The Church is telling her she can at President Hinckley, I have to be get married in the temple, but she careful how I express it. And if I get ticked off at Brigham Young or doesn’t see it. They’re telling her Bruce R. McConkie, or anyone of she can get baptized, but she the past, I have to be careful how I express it, because they’re still doesn’t see it visualized anywhere. anointed. And if I get ticked off at Karyn and Alieshia Dudley my bishop, I have to be careful. I had a bishop in Virginia tick me off so bad I damn near flipped her level. They’re telling her she can get married in the his desk over on him. . . . He told me “I didn’t have to get mar- temple, but she doesn’t see it. They’re telling her she can get ried in the temple and I didn’t have to marry a Latter-day Saint baptized, but she doesn’t see it visualized anywhere. They’re because I’m not going to likely find a black man in the South.” telling her she can get all these covenants, but she doesn’t see That’s what he said. He may have been right, but he had no a picture of it in any of her Young Women manuals. They’re right to say that to me. He had no right to contradict my God all white. Where does she get a role model in the Church, and his prophet to my face. besides me and family members, that looks like her? But we have to be careful with how we sympathize and how RASHEEDAH: Get her a brown crayon and a picture of the we help so that we don’t create discontentment between “Joe First Presidency and let her take care of it. [Laughter] Latter-day Saint” and “Hierarchy Latter-day Saint.” We’re not KEITH: But to complicate that, you don’t see people of color out to make people ticked off at President Hinckley because in the manuals or the general publications we use on Sundays, we think he’s kind of a bigot or a total bigot. Now I’m not but you see them in all the public relations materials the saying I think President Hinckley’s a bigot; I don’t think he’s a Church puts out. bigot. [Everyone agrees] I’m just saying that as an example of TAMU: The Church has taken my family’s picture to use in how we have to be mindful that our goal is to bring souls unto public relations efforts. You know what? They’ll take me and Christ and not to tick people off at the Brethren. Coddling Keith’s picture and then I end up looking like a single black people can create that kind of tension. woman on welfare because they always cut my husband out of NATALIE: I don’t think we’re talking about coddling so the picture. They will not include my white husband, who I much as just being mindful of them and their issues. was sealed to in the Los Angeles Temple. They will not put us RASHEEDAH: I’m not trying to say that any of us should turn
MAY 2003 PAGE 35 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 36
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
a blind eye and a deaf ear to ignorance. If someone uses a was twenty years old and people told me that, it made me so derogatory term, you need to confront it and deal with it. mad I wanted to spit. But it really may not be what the Lord Because you can embarrass and shame someone without has in mind at this time. And until his time is right, we have to cussing or raising a hand. rise to our callings and see what God has in store for us. TAMU: But they have to say things because people’s lives are being ruined. You have women at BYU trying to commit sui- BEATRICE: The population of this Church is just as diverse cide. You have a young couple, friends of mine, who were told and varied as the general population, because that’s where the by his religion teacher that interracial marriages (and it was members come from. As long as there’s a church, we are going read to him from a book), that interracial marriages are wrong. to have people who have different ideas in this church. People He went to the head of the religion department, who called his do not change from the outside in. People change from the in- teacher. This teacher said, “Well there’s another teacher in here side out—not because someone says something from the who’s a bishop, and he’s had five interracial couples come to pulpit. True change comes from a spiritual prompting. . . . him, and he’s counseled all of them not to get married because TAMU: But you know what? If what they said over the they’re interracial couples.” He said that they should marry pulpit did not make a difference, you could go to BYU and have into their own religious and cultural backgrounds. Now I ask double ear-piercings. It does make a difference what people say you? If we were a white couple and one of us has a lot of over the pulpit. It does make a difference because people hear money and the other doesn’t, would he counsel us not to get the Prophet say it and they take notice and start judging you married because we don’t come from the same background? Of course not. But he looks at skin color and thinks that’s a I just think it’s important for me reason not to get married, all be- cause [some] book says so. to be mindful that God runs this So you speak up and say, “The Church and I made covenants. most important thing is to get married in the temple and it We have to be careful with doesn’t matter to whom.” You get how we sympathize and how up and say: “Hatred is wrong. Bigotry is wrong.” And until you we help so we don’t create do that, you’re going to have things like this happen. You’re discontentment between “Joe going to continue to have black Latter-day Saint” and “Hierarchy women leaving the Church, black women leaving BYU, black Latter-day Saint.” Rasheedah Corbitt women trying to commit suicide on the BYU campus. Unless it has happened to you, you can sit by [whether you act in accord with it or not]. It does not back and say, “Oh, it won’t change anything.” Well, why not change your heart, but it changes your actions and what you try it and see? do in public. BEATRICE: I didn’t say it won’t change anything. All I said is KEITH: It is a sifting of the wheat and the tares. When the that there will always be racists in our society. 1978 revelation happened, quite a few members left the TAMU: You’re right, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try Church and had their names removed from its records. So it to fix that and do something about it. may not change a person’s heart, but it does force them to a BEATRICE: Having said that, if Rosa Parks hadn’t refused to point of commitment and decision with the gospel of Jesus give up her seat, where would we be now? Yes, the Lord can Christ. . . . and will inspire people to perform courageous and pivotal Maybe it is time for Church leaders, the men who are so acts, but we need to always remember that we do not have the willingly followed, to come out and say something. You cannot big picture here. change a person’s heart, that is true, but if we go back to Bruce TAMU: The gospel is true, but we all have a responsibility to R. McConkie and Brigham Young, the men who made these make positive change happen, to stir that pot. statements, whether they were made as an oracle of God or as their personal opinions, they are still being quoted, and they are still being published in current Church publications. That, KARYN: My scariest thing is I’m teaching my child one then, has influence on what happens today. How much of an thing, but then she goes out and hears other things from other influence will they continue to have? people. She’s told that things are one way, and they aren’t the BEATRICE: But it may not be the Lord’s time. And when I way I’ve taught her. So my issue is the acknowledgement and
PAGE 36 MAY 2003 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 37
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
the examples of strong black LDS people who have been in the fireside because there are some Polynesian kids and some Church. She learned about black pioneers from me. She didn’t Latino kids who aren’t getting along. It’s an issue of diversity. learn there were black pioneers in Primary, she didn’t learn As I tried to find a theme for firesides like this, I looked for about them in Young Women. She didn’t learn about it when a way that would allow the youth to realize they are all beau- we were celebrating Pioneer Day. tiful even though they’re different, that would help them see RICH: The majority of LDS people don’t know about black they need to come together to learn about and respect the pioneers. I have friends who are shocked when they hear that beauty of their differences. I came up with a theme, and when there were black pioneers. I ran it by a friend, he asked, “Where is that scripture? I’ve KARYN: I couldn’t stand Pioneer Day. My view on it was, “So never heard it before.” I had to explain that it wasn’t a scrip- what? They were free to walk. They were free to go from wher- ture; I had made it up. It’s how I feel about the youth in the ever they wanted to wherever they wanted. My ancestors Church. The theme was, “Let my children be fashioned in all didn’t have that freedom to walk. They were prisoners, they colors, shapes, and sizes that their diverse beauty might couldn’t leave when they wanted to.” So I didn’t have an un- blanket the earth like a tapestry.” When you think of a tapestry, derstanding of Pioneer Day. When I found out there were you think of all the beautiful colors that come together as a black pioneers, I was like, “What? Tell me something again!” pattern to create something beautiful. Then I started to read, and I was like a sponge while I read My dad was a black man in the Church in 1972. Someone about black pioneers. To be in the Church thirty years and not asked him then, “How can you stay in a Church where you know there were black pioneers! To find the parallel to can’t even baptize and bless your own children?” He said, “The someone you could relate to. I found every black pioneer book reason is, regardless of what I am able to do and not able to do, I could and just read and read. My excitement was such that I the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true wanted to get up in General Conference and shout out, “You gospel, and if I’m blessed by it, my posterity will be blessed.” It all know there was black pioneers? I had no idea there was was hard for a black man to let his white brothers baptize his black pioneers. Let me tell you about it!” kids, and when they get sick, he couldn’t lay his hands on their TAMU: How validated, how important did we all feel this head and use the power of Heavenly Father to heal them. last Women’s Conference when President Monson quoted Jane He’s been a stake missionary, ward clerk, and loves home Manning James? I was crying because I know who she is. In teaching. And now his thing is, “I haven’t had a minute’s rest my ward, when I taught my lesson, nobody knew who she since I got the priesthood!” [Laughter] was, but as my responsibility, I told my ward members who NATALIE: I remember when I came to Utah twenty years she was. I let them know that the twenty-fifth anniversary of ago, I met black members who were striving very hard not to priesthood being restored to blacks is being celebrated this be black. And here I was, this black woman who came to Utah year. I think that is our call. angry but always remained a black woman. I never felt that in KIMBERLEE: I just got a new calling this week, and the first order to be LDS I had to be anything but who I was. As a result lesson I have to teach is on “Walking by Faith.” And I’ve strug- of that, I’m looking at them today, and they say to me, “How gled to find what I might teach and how I might approach this. have you maintained your testimony in spite of it all?” Well, in And all I’ve thought of so far is the story of Jane who literally spite of it all, my mother taught me to love Jesus Christ as my walked by faith. She walked by faith to the Mormons. That’s Lord and savior—so long before I became a Latter-day Saint, I what I want to share with people in my ward. had a true love of Jesus Christ as my savior. The only way I could be a Latter-day Saint is to remain true to who I am. Whatever our calling is, whatever type of work we do on a KARYN: I prayed about coming to Utah. I was a single black daily basis, we are put there for a reason. We are put there to mom, living with my brother. I knew I couldn’t stay with him educate those individuals about who and what we are. When forever, so I called my mom to see if I could come home to we talk about racism in and out of the Church, racism and Michigan. She said I wasn’t supposed to go home. I thought, prejudice as a lack of knowledge, we need to understand that “I’m not supposed to go home? You’re always supposed to be our calling is to educate people. Knowledge is power; we’ve all able to go home!” She told me I had to get down on my knees heard that, and we’ve all seen that. and find out where I was supposed to be. I did get down on KARYN: When I moved into a different ward, I debated my knees, and my mom was right. whether to go to the new ward or continue in my old ward, be- RASHEEDAH: We are all here for a reason. cause the thought of having to go through “pioneering into a KARYN: You’re exactly right, because I got a blessing and my new ward” was unappealing. My new neighbor, bless his heart, blessing told me I needed to go to Utah and educate and bring said maybe I could just slip in the back and “check things out out the beauty of diversity in the gospel. I was told that I for a couple of weeks and they won’t notice you.” My dad said, would be in Utah to educate and show diversity in the Gospel. “Yeah, just walk up there incog-negro and hang out for a few My dealings would be with the youth, and I’ve been able to do weeks!” [Lots of laughter] You can’t just slip in there and not that as the Genesis youth advisor. President Gray will email me be noticed! But it was good of my neighbor to think I wouldn’t and tell me I need to go to an area and present a stake youth be noticed.
MAY 2003 PAGE 37 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 38
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
TAMU: You have a testimony. It’s not your job to say this is a great church and there’s no racism; it’s your job to say this is a RASHEEDAH: I think it’s important for the readers of your great church but there are some problems—just like in fami- magazine to know that as Latter-day Saints, and more specifi- lies and in marriages, there are struggles and problems. cally black Latter-day Saints, we are united. We have different RASHEEDAH: We’ve been beaten, and we’ve been flogged ways of expressing ourselves and we may disagree, but when spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and, in some cases, physi- it’s all said and done, I’ve got Nat’s back, she’s got mine, I’ve got cally. We’ve earned our testimonies, and we’ve been blessed Rich’s back, he’s got mine, and so on. I’ve got everyone’s back with the knowledge and the understanding and the determi- here, and I know they’ve got mine. Because the bottom line is, nation we have. What all of us would like to see, even if we we’ve all come to a knowledge. We’re dealing with difficult is- express it differently, is for everybody to gain that. sues, an emotionally pressing situation, and in some cases, a spiritually pressing situation, but we know we support each other and the Lord will sustain us all. NOTES ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS BEATRICE: We should also bear in mind that there are Caucasian brothers and sisters who have our backs and our RASHEEDAH CORBITT was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the best interests at heart. sixth of ten children. Her family moved to New Jersey when Rasheedah RASHEEDAH: Now I have to admit I’ve let some of these is- was eleven, and it was there she and several other family members joined the Church in June 1980. She served a mission in the Washington Tacoma Mission from 1991–92. She’s a Ricks What I need to do is take what College graduate in criminal justice and has a bachelor’s degree from BYU in so- all of you have given to me ciology. She now lives in Salt Lake City and try to build my faith back and works as a juvenile probation officer for Salt Lake County. She enjoys ath- up, because yes, I can say that letics, music, and great conversation.
I’m in this Church because of LYN DUDLEY, age 36, and KARYN the Spirit, but I still have to DUDLEY, age 35, were born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan where their come to grips with blacks in the parents joined the Church in February 1973. LYN moved to Provo, Utah, in Church and why, if I have had 1988, is single, and has worked in the Utah County Recorder’s Office for the problems with it, I would want to past eleven years. She enjoys sports, ask another black person to music, and theatre. KARYN moved to Provo in 1990. She is single with a Nkoyo Iyamba belong to this church. daughter, Alieshia, age 13. She is a cus- tomer service representative for an inter- national nutritional supplement com- sues we’ve discussed today become a wedge between me and pany. She is currently serving as the youth advisor in the Genesis Branch my testimony that I busted my butt for. I’m a returned mis- and is the singles’ representative in the Bonneville First Ward. She enjoys sionary, and I let these things wedge themselves between me art, acting, cooking, and camping. and my testimony. This discussion has humbled me and NKOYO IYAMBA joined the Church at age nine, along with an older helped place me in a position to better educate people. It brother. She served a mission from 1996–97 in the California comes down to a broken heart and a contrite spirit and faith in Sacramento Mission. She just recently completed a master’s degree in the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes down to prayer, scripture study, communications from BYU. She has now moved back to her hometown loving one another as I have loved you. It comes down to the Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is working as a freelance journalist. Lord is in charge and he will heap the rewards and conse- She is a member of the Minneapolis First Ward and enjoys theatre and all quences on those who deserve them. other media arts, dancing, and reading history. NKOYO: What I need to do is take what all of you have given to me and try to build my faith back up, because frankly, KIMBERLEE MILLS has a degree in behavioral science, social science, after two-and-a-half years here—yes, I can say that I’m in this and health from the University of Utah. She will begin course work in Church because of the Spirit—but I still have to come to grips BYU’s Graduate School of Social Work in the fall. She and her husband, Rich, have been married for six years and have two children, a boy and a with blacks in the Church and why, if I have had problems girl. Kimberlee enjoys arts and crafts, working out, playing with the kids, with it, I would want to ask another black person to belong to and making sure everyone is happy. this church.
PAGE 38 MAY 2003 28-39_ROUNDTABLE.qxd 5/21/2003 8:48 AM Page 39
SUNSTONE
Twenty-five Years after the Revelation—Where Are We Now?
RICH MILLS has been a Church member for five years, and he and Kimberlee were sealed in the St. Louis Temple in March 1999. He is a recent BYU graduate in social work SECTION I: PRIESTHOOD and, like Kimberlee, has been admitted to BYU’s Graduate School of Social Work to begin this fall. He enjoys singing, acting, sports, and hanging out with great people. Hands upon my head I feel the warmth of His love. BETH SEALEY is a lifelong member of the Church, who twelve years ago, along with her Inseparable with the powers of Heaven; husband, moved from Southern California to Midvale, Utah. He joined the Church two I am bound for eternity years later, and they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Now separated, they are the parents of eight children, ranging in age from three to twenty. Beth has enjoyed a decade- Full of power and glory long career and volunteer interest in working with people with mental challenges and, for Is the authority I hold. the past five years, has owned and operated her own cleaning business. She enjoys sports, I control the elements: especially swimming, and she and her family are looking forward to reviving their The winds, the waters. camping skills this year. Animals respect my dominion over them. NATALIE PALMER SHEPPARD has been an active member of the Church for twenty The Priesthood years. She and her husband, James C. Sheppard, are the parents of five children— Sets me above the world. Ronnie, Jackie, Nataliej, Stormy, and Destinae—and the grandparents of four. They cur- Above trifle contentions, rently live in West Jordan but are building a home in South Jordan. Natalie is a social worker for the State of Utah. She has served in many Church capacities including Gospel And thoughts of men. Doctrine teacher and Relief Society president for the Genesis Branch. She has also served My honors lie in the in the mission leadership of the Genesis Branch. She is a temple worker in the Jordan Home, Church, and with God. River Temple. I am commanded to attend regular meetings. KEITH and TAMU SMITH were married ten years ago in the Los Angeles Temple. Learn to use the priesthood Keith was born and raised in the Church, spending his early years in California and Properly and Righteously. Washington state. Tamu was raised by her grandparents in San Bernardino and Fresno, California; she joined the Church at age ten. They have lived in Provo since 1996. Keith I am taught to immerse those of a is a former youth corrections officer but has been working recently as a certified nursing Broken heart and contrite spirit, assistant and is pursuing an X-ray technician’s degree through Weber State University. Bless the sick and afflicted, Tamu is a hairstylist and full-time mom to eight children, with a ninth child due in June. Perform other sacred ordinances, and Enter the new and everlasting covenant. BEATRICE (pseudonym) is a black convert of eight years. She is in her mid-fifties and lives in the midwest. She had been visiting a friend in Utah when she received an invita- I learn I am a tion to join in this conversation. In her eight years of Church membership, she has held God, in embryo. several significant callings. I am striving for Perfection. Since the beginning, my Brothers have awaited this Calling. Are we ready? Am I ready? For BE SURE TO ATTEND THE 2003 SUNSTONE The Meeting. SYMPOSIUM, 13–16 AUGUST, AT THE SALT That day when LAKE SHERATON CITY CENTRE HOTEL. Every creature shall meet the Creator And behold His glory. IN ADDITION TO ITS REGULAR SMORGAS- Him, the source of All BORD OF TOPICS, THIS YEAR’S SYMPOSIUM Priesthood Power and Authority. WILL FEATURE SEVERAL PAPERS AND PANELS On the agenda A record. REFLECTING ON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY Every act, blessing And work performed OF THE REVELATION ON PRIESTHOOD AND In the name of Jesus Christ THE CHURCH AND LIFE EXPERICENCES OF —JERRI A. HARWELL BLACK LATTER-DAY SAINTS. Jerri Harwell lives in Salt Lake City and is a member of the Genesis Branch. From The Meeting, a book of poetry by Jerri A. Harwell. © 2003 Jerri A. Harwell.
MAY 2003 PAGE 39 40-41_centerfold.qxd 5/21/2003 1:46 AM Page 40
SUNS
SUNSTONE GALLERY
TO BE ABOUT DOING THINGS
FAVORITE, SOMEWHAT MYSTICALLY ORIENTED, Marybeth has been about doing things in individual, marriage, grandmother gazed into young Marybeth Raynes’s future and family therapy in a private practice setting. She also presents Aand pronounced: “Your life will always be about doing regularly at conferences and workshops. things.” That herald felt right to the teen, for years earlier, in her Marybeth’s own spiritual sensibilities led her to an intense own spiritual peek through the veil, Marybeth had already come study of mysticism that reinforced an interest in psychological and to know her life’s calling involved helping others. spiritual developmental theory, the idea that although faith and Her parents were her first teachers in how to do that effec- life journeys may appear quite diverse, they share key underlying tively. Marybeth grew up in Reedsport, Oregon, the oldest of eight similarities. Always making connections, Marybeth is a regular children. Her father was an elementary school principal, and her Sunstone contributor. She used to write a regular column, “Issues mother, an enthusiastic reader always interested in discussing of Intimacy,” had the November 2001 SUNSTONE cover article on ideas and the world. Marybeth recalls, “Dad would constantly the link between spirituality and sexuality, and gives frequent pose questions to us. While driving, he’d point out a scene and symposium presentations. She says she finds so many things in- ask how we might render the proper perspective in a drawing, or trinsically interesting, that she’s always working on four or five at dinner, both parents would outline real situations and ask how projects at once. we might approach a helpful solution.” She continues, “From my parents, I learned to marry ideas with practice” ICHAEL SCHOENFELD’S PORTRAIT beautifully Marybeth entered BYU at seventeen and emerged just one captures the smile and light and compassion of month past her twentieth birthday with a psychology degree and M someone whose life, she states, “has become increas- two minors. She describes her BYU experience glowingly, espe- ingly joyous.” As a child living along the Oregon coast, Marybeth cially interaction with mentors such as psychology professor Joel recalls she could always feel and hear the ocean in the back- Moss. “He modeled for me how to think outside categories, and ground—a steady, calming, “aural umbilical cord” that helped through his interest in egalitarian families, I became excited her feel connected to something big, something intrinsically whole. about studying relationships and family dynamics.” “Even in the face of crises—whether personal, involving friends, Marybeth served a mission to Austria, where her mission or in matters of faith—I’ve always sensed an inherent meaning- president, Arthur Watkins, helped her gain a healthy perspective fulness to life.” A favorite remark by Victor Frankl illustrates this on the Church: “I had always sensed that an internal connection sense: “What is demanded of man is not, as some existential with God was more important than any religious form, and he philosophies teach, to endure the meaningless of life; but rather to helped reinforce that, clearly seeing all the organization flaws but bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in always remembering the beauties of the gospel and reveling in the rational terms.” chance to be in the Lord’s service.” Even if she has yet to fully grasp this herself, she seems on her After her mission, she finished a master’s in marriage and way. She describes her own mystical connection and the role it family relationships, then, following an eight-year marriage that plays as she goes about “being about something,” as a “delicious- produced three wonderful children—Teri, Nathan, and Sara— ness, a throb, a taste of joy in the background that functions much she returned to graduate school in social work, and subsequently in the way the sound of the ocean once did.” A good accompani- worked in Salt Lake County’s mental health system. Since 1986, ment for a life energetically engaged in fulfilling its promise.
PAGE 40 MAY 2003 40-41_centerfold.qxd 5/21/2003 1:46 AM Page 41
TONE
PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL SCHOENFELD
MAY 2003 PAGE 41 42-45_a_peterson_resolving problems.qxd 5/21/2003 1:46 AM Page 42
SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN
RESOLVING PROBLEMS FOR MISSIONARIES WHO RETURN EARLY
By Levi S. Peterson
Y GENERAL INTEREST IN THE PROBLEMS whose son had just returned unexpectedly from Brazil for facing missionaries who return early derives from medical reasons. Most of the participants in this group are M the fact that I attempted to return early from my mothers of missionaries who have returned early. Their grief mission in French-speaking Belgium during the summer of and sense of personal failure have touched me deeply, mostly, I 1955. Crippled by doubt, anxiety, and depression, I wanted suppose, because of the guilt I felt—and continue to feel— desperately to go home. However, unable to foresee anything over having disappointed my own mother, not by coming but a painful readjustment in a thousand former relationships home early, but by marrying outside the Church, an even if I turned up early at home, I finally decided to stay. I was far greater calamity for her. I have gathered close to a hundred from happy, feeling coerced by my mother and the mission email postings from the participants in this group. I will refer president as well as anxious and depressed. I am pleased to say to several of these messages in the following discussion, which that my emotions eventually stabilized, and the final months I hope will illuminate some of the problems associated with of my mission proved pleasant, so I judge now that I did well the early return of missionaries and help point to ways these by remaining. But I hadn’t been wise to go on a mission in the missionaries and their families can be reintegrated more first place. I see that I was an unlikely candidate for a mission. quickly into conventional Mormon life. During the winter of 2002, my interest in the early return of missionaries was heightened by a discussion on AML-List, an NDOUBTEDLY THE PHYSICAL or emotional ail- email discussion group sponsored by the Association for ments that send some missionaries home early would Mormon Letters. I was surprised by the number of participants U have emerged regardless of their whereabouts. But who commented on the disillusionments of mission life and there is no question that the stress of missionary life triggers on the ostracism facing those who return early even for justifi- many such ailments. It makes some companions even more in- able reasons. The eye-opening fact for me was that the early re- compatible than they would have been under normal circum- turn of missionaries is a social problem of major proportions. I stances. It fuels nervous breakdowns and psychotic breaks. It therefore organized a panel on the topic for the 2002 Salt Lake feeds depression and feelings of worthlessness. It induces psy- Sunstone Symposium that was attended by a standing-room- chosomatic illnesses of the body. only crowd. The panel was titled, “Ostracize, Condole, or The problem begins long before the missionary reaches a field Congratulate? What to Do When Missionaries Come Home of service, first in an unrealistic expectation as to the nature of Early.” I was astonished and pleased that the Deseret News sub- missionary life. New missionaries enter the MTC with vast hopes sequently ran a detailed and favorable summary of the panel. I for two years of beatitude and bliss. Immediately an unpleasant have drawn many ideas from my colleagues on this panel.1 militaristic discipline is imposed on them which, unlike boot My fund of ideas on this subject also grew through my pas- camp, will last throughout their service. Another consideration is sive participation in another online group, LDS Early Released the guilt screw that is tightened down at the MTC, eliciting con- Missionaries E-group,2 to which I was directed by a niece fessions of hitherto unadmitted sexual sins, for which the new recruit, usually male, is summarily sent home for a period of LEVI S. PETERSON is professor emeritus of overt repentance. Once in the field, missionaries encounter cul- English, Weber State University. He and his wife ture shock. Furthermore, they quickly learn that they spend Althea currently live in Issaquah, Washington. A most of their time in a disappointing search for someone who version of this essay was read at the 2002 Sunstone will take their message seriously. Perhaps their greatest disillu- Northwest Symposium, held in Seattle, sionment is the unrelieved stress of incompatible companions Washington, 19 October 2002. bound to them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
PAGE 42 MAY 2003 42-45_a_peterson_resolving problems.qxd 5/21/2003 1:47 AM Page 43
SUNSTONE
One would expect that missionaries who return early for rank and file members easily assume serving a mission, like justifiable medical or psychiatric reasons would find a good baptism and the temple endowment, is an indispensable deal of comfort and support among their friends and neigh- step toward exaltation, as one mother in the email group bors at home. Evidence, however, shows otherwise. If any- made clear. This woman’s son had elected to return from his thing, an aborted mission seems worse than none at all. Young mission for surgery, without the approval of his mission Latter-day Saints have been taught to view their mission as a president, because the doctors available in his mission test of their devotion to the Lord; now they feel they have would not define his ailment as serious enough to justify failed that test. Furthermore, the shadow of a dishonorable re- surgery. Although offered the option of returning to his mis- lease hangs over them. Their honest explanations ring hollow. sion, he chose to marry. Trying to encourage another strug- They feel their friends suspect them of lying in order to cover a gling mother, she wrote: more shameful reason for an early return. They themselves At first it was painfully horrible to deal with the wonder whether they should shame and heartbreak have stayed on, ignoring their that comes from a physical symptoms more res- mission cut short. . . . olutely or exercising greater I will always have a control over their anxiety and ABORTED MISSIONS pain in my heart for depression. [his] decision to get SEEM WORSE THAN NONE AT married instead of fin- MONG THE GRIEVING ALL. MISSIONARIES HAVE BEEN ishing his mission, mothers on the early TAUGHT TO VIEW THEIR MISSION but it’s his choice. . . . returned missionaries Another thing that A AS A TEST OF THEIR DEVOTION email group is one whose son was told me [by way had returned early from Brazil TO THE LORD; NOW THEY FEEL of comfort] was that a with bleeding from the bowels. THEY HAVE FAILED THAT TEST. mission is not a She comments on the embar- saving ordinance. rassment that his appearance of Temple endowments full health gave: and sealings are, but a It seems that the gen- mission isn’t. That eral public sentiment is didn’t seem to help if the returned missionary isn’t confined to a bed, in a me much then or now, but at least remember that in wheelchair, waiting for a major operation, etc., [he] the back of your mind. What your son does from here shouldn’t be home on a medical release. Anyway it on is the important thing. gets difficult to explain sometimes, and many times it Despite this mother’s inability to derive comfort from the idea just sounds like excuses. So I just state the facts (He’s that a mission is not one of the saving ordinances, others in the home on a medical release. He has chosen not to go email group took it up eagerly. One wrote: back out. He is going to school at the University of I was glad to get the message about a mission not Arizona) and let the people take it from there. [being] a saving ordinance. . . . I’m going to pass that This embarrassment appears to have something to do with the along to my daughter. I know sometimes she still feels fact that most missionaries who return early for health reasons that she failed us, failed the Lord in some way, failed do not resume their missions, although most of them intend to our ward, and most of all herself. And she did nothing do so when they first arrive home. Several puzzled mothers wrong but catch something. commented on this quick loss of motivation. In response, a Even greater difficulty faces missionaries who are sent home missionary who had returned because of unexplained early for disciplinary reasons, something universally viewed as headaches posted the following explanation: unjustifiable among Mormons. Those sent home for failing to To be right in the middle of it, to be pulled out of it, confess sexual sins before going out or for a serious infraction and to have to deal with all the people asking you of mission rules, as in the recent case of seven missionaries why are you home, what did you do to get sent home, who were sent home as a group for acquiring tattoos as a what your parents think, what you are going to do in prank, are often given a term of probation following which the future, if you want to go back, if you are going to they can resume their mission. In essence they are disfellow- go back, if you enjoyed your time as a missionary, and shipped. Missionaries who commit serious sexual sin while in all the other repetitive questions that I know I’ve been the field are ordinarily excommunicated. The problems of re- asked—it is too frustrating to even think about a mis- suming a normal Mormon life confronting any disfellow- sion right now. shipped or excommunicated person are exacerbated for mis- The emphasis upon missionary service is so great that sionaries because their early return makes their disgrace so
MAY 2003 PAGE 43 42-45_a_peterson_resolving problems.qxd 5/21/2003 1:47 AM Page 44
SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN
public. The compulsion to conform is so unremitting among [our son] would feel this way, and for a while he did. Mormons that we have a hard time knowing how to relate However, we helped him get above those feelings by comfortably even with those known merely to smoke and talking it out with him. drink, let alone with persons known to have been disfellow- shipped or excommunicated. So the attempt of early returned HAT MIGHT BE done to ameliorate the problems missionaries to explain their unexpected presence is bound to facing early returned missionaries and their rela- be embarrassing, sometimes exceedingly so. They and their W tives? The following ideas might prove helpful, relatives offer abbreviated and evasive explanations to which particularly if they were preceded by a general change in atti- friends and neighbors respond with a not always tactfully sup- tude among Church members. pressed skepticism. One improvement would be to disentangle missionary ser- Relatives of such missionaries predictably respond with a vice and social stratification within the Church. At present, a high degree of shame and grief. A mother whose son had been successful mission of a son or daughter bolsters a family’s sent home after only three days in the MTC reported that, after status within a ward and stake, so much so that, until a recent four months, her son still had no plans to return: First Presidency directive stopped the practice, families made The hardest thing for me is to be patient with him. missionary farewells high-scale social events comparable to Most of the time I want to shake him. He isn’t doing temple weddings, dictating the program for their offspring’s bad things like smoking, drinking, and that kind of farewell sacrament meeting and providing a sumptuous open thing, but he just won’t go to church. He seems lost, house for relatives and ward members. The recent directive angry, bored, tired, indifferent. It kills me to think ending family-dominated missionary farewells is encouraging how he sparkled on the day of his farewell. evidence of a growing recognition that the status factor in mis- Another mother, reporting that her son had been sent home sionary service has gotten out of hand. from the MTC only three days before his scheduled departure A second improvement would be to establish a more effec- for a foreign mission, wrote: tive screening of missionary candidates in order to better antic- I really feel like someone had died. I have lost both ipate who might be predisposed to physical, emotional, and my parents, and I think their deaths were easier to spiritual inadequacies. To be truly effective, such an endeavor handle. I cry every time it gets quiet, when I go to implies a general acceptance among Church members that the bed, or I see a missionary on the street, or when I look missionary force will be reduced and a fuller recognition that at my son’s mission pictures. The two months while there are other ways besides a mission for young men and he was at the MTC, and even while we were getting women to demonstrate commitment to their religion. Church him ready, were the BEST days of MY life. A wonderful leaders would have to stop giving such strong emphasis to emotional HIGH, I have never felt before. Now I feel at the every-worthy-male-member-a-missionary theme. Parents ROCK BOTTOM. My son has gone on with his life. He would have to resist the temptation to use a mission as a device is back to work, he goes to church (but with his for stabilizing recalcitrant sons. friends in another ward), he has bought a car and is moving on. He does not want to go back. The mother of one of the seven mission- aries sent home early for getting a tattoo—considered a grave violation of mission rules even though the tattoos were small and inconspicuous—re- ported that her son, though feeling his punishment had been unjustifiably harsh, had managed to swallow his pride, express contrition, and return to fulfill his commitment in another mission.
However, she noted that he was the only (SALT LAKE CITY: SUNSTONE, 1991) one of the seven to do so: The others were so devastated, they were angry and didn’t want to hear anything more about the mission, and in some cases, the FREEWAY TO PERFECTION Church. We were very afraid CAL GRONDAHL
PAGE 44 MAY 2003 42-45_a_peterson_resolving problems.qxd 5/21/2003 1:47 AM Page 45
SUNSTONE
Screening for physical debilities during the required phys- widely acknowledged that missions are not for everyone. For ical examination is presumably already as effective as it can get. example, teachers and ecclesiastical leaders could emphasize Certainly I’m in no position to say that a more ruthless the difficulties of a mission even as they encourage the young screening of physical ailments is in order. As for emotional ail- to aspire to missionary service. Firesides featuring candid dis- ments, one member of the early returned missionary panel, cussions by both regularly returned and early returned mis- Kathy Tyner, whose son had received an honorable early re- sionaries could help those pondering a mission make up their lease because of a paralyzing phobia of making door presenta- minds about the risks. tions while tracting, recommended a much more thorough A third improvement would be to allow missionaries who psychological probe of prospective missionaries. Louis confess hitherto undisclosed sins after they arrive in the MTC Moench, a psychiatrist on our panel, pointed out that trained to work out their repentance with the mission president psychologists would have to verify the results of a standard without being automatically sent home. The present practice personality inventory by interviewing each of the two thou- needlessly cuts willing missionaries from the available prosely- sand persons who apply for a mission each week—a prohibi- tizing force and condemns a large percentage of them to future tively cumbersome and costly process. However, he believes a inactivity or apostasy. So deeply ingrained is the present prac- few questions related to emotional health on the present med- tice, however, that I view this recommendation as unlikely to ical questionnaire could, without prohibitive cost, be more receive serious consideration. consistently utilized in screening applicants for missionary ser- A fourth improvement would be to expand the non-prose- vice. lytizing options available to missionaries. Most, if not all, mis- Elder M. Russell Ballard’s address to the priesthood as- sions should offer, besides traditional proselytism, service in sembly of the October 2002 General Conference announced disaster assistance, public building projects, literacy pro- what could be a new determination on the part of the grams, and interfaith welfare projects. A number of the cases I Church to scrutinize more thoroughly the spiritual prepara- read about on the email list involved missionaries whose tion of prospective missionaries, which would presumably physical or emotional disorders might have proved adaptable reduce the percentage of those who return early. Elder to service other than traditional proselytism. It would seem Ballard warned the youth at that assembly, the Church feasible for the Church to expand to other missions the non- “cannot send you on a mission to be reactivated, reformed, proselytizing opportunities already available in a few missions or to receive a testimony. We just don’t have time for that.” along Utah’s Wasatch Front. He also informed bishops and stake presidents that theirs is A fifth improvement would be to expand Church social ser- “the responsibility to recommend only those young men and vices for early returned missionaries and their families and to women whom you judge to be spiritually, physically, men- make the availability of these services more generally known tally, and emotionally prepared to face today’s realities of to local leaders and the membership at large. Given the ap- missionary work.”3 Whether this address represents an au- parent inconsistency with which stake presidents and bishops thentic long-range shift in Church policy on screening po- help early returned missionaries resume a conventional ward tential missionaries or is simply a standard (though extraor- life, a methodology for dealing with them should be a standard dinarily compelling) general conference speech aimed at part of the orientation of a stake president or bishop. There is motivating young Church members to be more fervent and some evidence that the Church is headed in this direction, un- obedient remains to be seen. fortunately at a very slow pace. While a more thoroughgoing screening of prospective mis- Given the tardiness with which changes of policy and atti- sionaries by those who must approve their applications is de- tude occur among Latter-day Saints, perhaps the most produc- sirable, I for one believe that self-screening will prove more ef- tive endeavor for those seeking reform in the present matter is fective. That is, an improved orientation about the nature of simply to publicize the problems through discussing them, as missionary work will allow individuals to better judge their my colleagues on the recent Sunstone panel did, and as the own fitness for a mission. One way to implement such a policy mothers who subscribe to the early released missionaries would be to establish probationary periods of service, at the e-group are doing on an ongoing basis. end of which a candidate for a mission could elect to return home with honor. The first week in the MTC could be defined NOTES as such a period, for example, and the first month’s service in the field as another. Or two-year missions could be segmented 1. The panel included, besides myself, Kathy Tyner, writer of children’s sto- ries and essays; Christopher Bigelow, marketing copywriter and editor of into six-month blocks, with missionaries being given a chance Irreantum, magazine of the Association for Mormon Letters; Gae Lyn Henderson, to return home honorably at the end of each block. instructor of English at Salt Lake Community College; Thom Duncan, play- Less radical, perhaps, would be simply to encourage wright and theatre entrepreneur; and Louis Moench, psychiatrist. throughout the Church a more realistic lore about the nature 2. This group may be accessed at MAY 2003 PAGE 45 46-48_a_duncan_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 1:47 AM Page 46 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN MATTERS OF THE HEART: REACHING OUT TO ONE OF THE FEW REMAINING MORMON MINORITIES By Thom Duncan CAN’T REMEMBER HIS NAME, BUT I REMEMBER HIS least one General Authority of that time to bemoan in print face. He was tall with flowing brown hair. As he spoke, his that he would rather his son return from a mission in a body I eyes were filled with that bright light of enthusiasm bag and virtuous than alive and stained with the sin of fornica- common to others like him. His smile was as wide as all eter- tion. We never really found out why he had come home early. nity, the great secrets of which he was pledging the next two And, quite frankly, I soon forgot all about it. At least, I thought years of his life to reveal to the world—or at least to that part I had. of the world where he would soon be serving his mission. As a young priest and convert of just two years, I consid- EARS LATER, AS I contemplated how to structure a ered him one in an ever-expanding pantheon of heroes whose play I was working on, this young man’s predicament great example I one day hoped to follow. In the great tradition Y came back to me. It seemed just the hook I needed of Alma the younger, or Parley P. Pratt, this young man with upon which to hang my dramatic exploration of the problems shining hair was going on a mission! involved in the relationship between an “Iron-Rodder” father I don’t remember his farewell, but I’m sure it was mar- and a “Liahona” son. But it was only a hook—or so I thought velous. In those days—in Southern California, at least—a de- at the time. The play, eventually entitled Matters of the Heart, parting missionary was treated like a Favorite Son with spe- was really my attempt to suggest a middle ground of tolerance cially printed programs with a portrait on the front, where intellectual extremes could peacefully co-exist. announcements from the pulpit inviting everyone over to the But, as has often been the case with my plays, the audience parents’ home for a feast, and a sure-to-be-stirring farewell tes- had a different idea of what the story was about. The first pro- timony by this latest member of God’s Army heading to the duction of Matters of the Heart took place in 1986 in a tiny front lines. basement of the Provo Town Square. It was directed by Tom No, I don’t remember the farewell, but I do remember the Rogers, and he decided to follow every performance with an distinct lack of celebration when he returned about six months audience discussion. What I learned from those discussions later. Quite suddenly, one day, he was just there. In contrast to has so profoundly affected me that I continued the practice in his going, there had been no months-long announcements a later production of Matters and will continue to do so. from pulpit or parent to mark his return. One Sunday, he just I had written what I thought was a diatribe against the dam- sort of showed up in the foyer. aging constraints of a too-fundamental religious worldview. I Though there was no official announcement of his return, was certain I had made such blindingly logical arguments as to there was certainly enough gossip—especially among us why liberalism was the better way that everyone would leave the priests, who reacted with consternation and confusion at one theatre with their lives changed forever (if they were Iron- of our idols falling from grace. Had he lost his testimony? He Rodders), or with their values vindicated (if they were seemed healthy enough, so if it were for medical reasons, Liahonas). Apparently, my audiences saw a different production. didn’t they let sick missionaries complete their missions at Oh, they had an occasional artistic question such as, “What is home? Or, God forbid, had he been sent home because of that the symbolism of the blanket hanging at an angle over the arm of most heinous of sins, the loss of virtue, which had caused at the sofa?” But what amazed me, and stayed with me to this day, is how many members of the Church, feeling themselves disenfran- THOM DUNCAN is a playwright and recovering chised in some way, found the play therapeutic, if not cathartic. technical writer who is a founder of the Nauvoo One woman, a recent divorcée, said with tears in her eyes that Theatrical Society. He may be reached at not only had she felt “left-out” of the Church but she and her fa- PAGE 46 MAY 2003 46-48_a_duncan_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 1:47 AM Page 47 SUNSTONE And then there was a young man—one of many, as it turned mission. The stake president chose to characterize this as, in out—who had been only six months on his mission before his words, “Satan entering the heart of this young man.” coming home (like the character in the play) for ideological • Another time I was at a stake conference at which a reasons. He said that this had General Authority, a member been the first time since his re- of the Seventy, was the main turn he had felt that someone speaker. At one point, I saw understood his agony. LISTENING TO his whole frame begin to shake in what I took to repre- HESE EXPERIENCES sent the Spirit of the Lord as listening to audiences AUDIENCES OF MY PLAY, I RECEIVED MY he proclaimed in stentorian T were the beginning of FIRST EDUCATION ABOUT MISSIONARIES tones: “To you young men my education in the plight of WHO RETURN EARLY, THAT SUBCLASS OF who don’t want to go on mis- missionaries who return early, MORMONS WHO ARE “JUST ONE STEP sions, I have this to say: that subclass of Mormons ABOVE DIVORCED WOMEN IN THE HIER- ‘What makes you think you which the main character in ARCHY OF THOSE WITH WHOM IT IS have a choice?’” Matters calls “just one step I believe statements such as above divorced women in the NOT WISE TO ASSOCIATE.” this, and others from even hierarchy of Those With higher pulpits, may put an un- Whom It Is Not Wise to realistic perspective on mis- Associate.” sionary service, reinforcing the Why is that? What is it idea that every young man is about an early returning missionary that causes some of us suited for missionary work. My experience is that not all are. to think less of them? Unless the early release is for medical At least not all are capable of doing the door-to-door thing—a reasons, we tend to think (either to ourselves or aloud to spiritually draining activity if there ever was one. others) that something went wrong. The work was too hard, What would we lose if, for example, we suggested mis- and Johnny couldn’t take it. Did Allan get a Polynesian girl sionary work as something purely voluntary rather than ex- pregnant? Did Dan start reading the Journal of Discourses and pected? Certainly, we’d have fewer missionaries in the field. thus lose his testimony? But wouldn’t we have better missionaries? Any returning mis- Even if a missionary is released for medical reasons, some sion clerk will testify that seventy percent of the most suc- always have a nagging concern that maybe the illness was cessful work is performed by thirty percent of the mission- merely psychosomatic. (This very suggestion was given to aries. The emphasis on the voluntary nature of mission service me by an overzealous assistant to the president upon would most certainly cut down on the gossip and heartache learning of my one-week bout with severe hay fever at the that encircle missionaries who come home early, or haunt beginning of my mission: “You know, Elder Duncan, some mis- sionaries don’t really want to be out here, so their minds make them sick.”) HY MIGHT SUCH thoughts exist in our W culture? I don’t have a sure set of answers, only opin- ions drawn from my own experi- ence, yet I believe they may have some relevance. • In a previous stake, my then- (SALT LAKE CITY: SUNSTONE, 1991) young son and I went to the fa- thers-and-sons outing at which our stake president spoke about young men going on missions. He said recently a young man FREEWAY TO PERFECTION had been in his office who had said he didn’t want to go on a CAL GRONDAHL MAY 2003 PAGE 47 46-48_a_duncan_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 1:47 AM Page 48 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN those who never go. How many of you would think ill of Do not judge them. Do not think they are spiritually inade- Brother Smith if he were never called to be Sunday School quate. Do not think they are cowards. Do not think they don’t president? have a testimony. You don’t know why they have come home Or maybe all that is needed is to change missionary-related early, and unless they want to tell you, you may never know. rhetoric. Maybe we can still encourage every young man to Don’t ostracize them from your activities. Love them. Reach serve while reminding people how to treat those who chose out, and include them.” not to go or who, for whatever reason, don’t remain in the field for the full term of their call. DON’T LIKE the fact that, while I still can’t remember the An example. Recently, my bishop read a letter to the high name of the early returning missionary of my youth, I still priests group about the Church’s encouraging mothers of I see his embarrassment as he stood in that foyer in 1965. children born out of wedlock to put the babies up from Not so long ago, a young man in our ward returned home six adoption. The letter was signed by the First Presidency, but months early. I asked him why. “Medical reasons,” he said. what my bishop said after reading the letter was the most Actually I knew why, and it wasn’t for medical reasons. The inspiring. He cautioned us against adversely judging those stigma attached to those who appear to fail in the “Lord’s er- in the Church who chose not to follow the First rand” is so strong that this returned missionary felt he had to Presidency’s admonition. lie to be accepted back into the fold of Christ. I believe there should be more of this attitude. I would love I would love to live long enough to see the tragedy of an one day to hear a speaker in general conference say something early returning missionary such as my play expresses become a like: “To all young people desirous of going on missions, the thing of the past. I want nothing more than to see Matters of the Lord is proud of you. He will be by your side at all times. A Heart become a quaint literary oddity. I pray for the day when mission is a wonderful experience. And might I add a few an audience engaged in a post-production discussion finds words of caution to you, concerning those who may choose nothing more interesting to talk about than the symbolism of a not to go or who may, for whatever reason, come home early. blanket spread across the arm of the couch. FOR SLEEP Into evening, after the swallows flew vespers for the deaf by writing their prayers on the pink and gray surface of the slippery dusk, two sat, again, staring into the night eye of New Hampshire. One held the other (but it does not matter whose soft hand cupped the shoulder of whom). The cry of patient birds withdrew into the lilac. A cricket chirped once, easily mistaken for the screen door spring. This could be a story unfolded to illustrate a point, or just be a story, but only the couple could really tell it. Young Wittgenstein suggested words as pictures to nibble at truth, to frame it briefly. They sit, these two, in the barest moonlight and talk so softly we cannot hear what they say. We see them, though, and know them, and one word slips through. “Enough,” one of them says, “enough.” —ROBERT PARHAM PAGE 48 MAY 2003 49-51_a_moench_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:49 AM Page 49 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN NEW HOPE FOR EARLY RELEASED “FISHERS OF MEN” By Louis Moench MISSIONARY SERVING IN THE CARIBBEAN SOUGHT had had enough of proselyting and was going home. His com- treatment from a local medical doctor for fever and panion tried unsuccessfully to dissuade him as he threw his A weakness. Incorrectly diagnosed as having a liver dis- belongings in his suitcases, phoned for an airplane ticket, ease, he was given medication. The next morning, perhaps be- caught a taxi, and headed for the airport. His companion cause of the medication, he felt utterly dysphoric, left his com- called the mission president for advice and was told under no panion, went into the mountains, and crawled into a small circumstances should he let the elder get on the plane. crevasse, burying himself with leaves and waiting to die. After Arriving at the airport in a second taxi, this companion found a while, dismayed at finding himself still buried but very much that the plane had already completed boarding and was begin- alive, he rose and went down the mountain. Rejoining his ning to taxi. Not needing to be commanded in all things, he re- companion, he discovered he could not account for a partic- lied upon his own inspiration. He called in a bomb threat. The ular time span. Wondering what he could have done during plane returned to the gate as airport police rapidly surrounded that time, he began to worry about the various possibilities in- the phone booth. cluding the most unacceptable (which to him were sexual •A missionary in Scandinavia was returned home to Salt transgressions). He converted worry to a memory and memory Lake in the middle seat of the airplane row, a muscular elder to a certainty and went to confess to his mission president that sitting on either side. This young servant had become unusu- he had done something awful but couldn’t remember what. ally energetic one week, got grandiose ideas about how best to Disbelieving the story, the mission president encouraged him serve in God’s army, and tried single-handedly to attack the to return to his district, rest some, and then go out and serve Russian embassy. He was pulled off the wall of the embassy the Lord for the final three weeks of his mission. But he could compound by Russian soldiers with automatic rifles aimed at keep nothing else on his mind, and the mission president fi- him. nally agreed to send him home early. •A missionary in an Eastern city was demoralized over •After a week in the MTC, a dorm room of missionaries news of his sister’s impending divorce, his parents’ recent found one of their members staring ahead, undistractable, un- move, and his grandmother’s cancer. Worried, he had been willing to talk, eat, or move, and still sitting in clothes he had distracted as he was bicycling along a wet street in the rain. A not taken off from the day before. Several hours later, his par- car slid into his path, breaking his leg. During his recovery, he ents were asked to make the long drive to Provo to pick him was sent by the mission president to see a psychiatrist. His up and take him to a Salt Lake hospital. There, during therapy, therapy was supportive, emphasizing the many positive things he disclosed that while rolling over in his bed, he thought he about his life and mission experience. It helped him see he was had inadvertently rubbed his genitals against the sheet, and, if just undergoing a unique streak of adverse experiences that so, it may have been for an erotic purpose. So, since any move- was not characteristic of his life in general. Things would ment might put him in jeopardy of repeat behavior, something clearly get better. Two weeks later, the psychiatrist received a too distressing for him to talk about, he could neither move letter that this missionary was about to leave his mission early. nor talk. The letter had been written from a hospital bed where he was •A missionary in a Midwestern city was determined that he recovering after having been struck by lightning. • A bishop who was a senior partner in a large business firm LOUIS MOENCH is professor of clinical psychiatry was treated in the hospital for severe and debilitating depres- on the faculty of the University of Utah and is in sion. His treatment was a success, and he was called to be a private practice at the Salt Lake Clinic. He is a mission president. After a year of service, he disclosed to his former member of the Sunstone board of trustees. psychiatrist in a follow-up phone call that he had found it nec- MAY 2003 PAGE 49 49-51_a_moench_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:49 AM Page 50 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN essary in the past few months to send twenty-five missionaries sions as well, the list of casualty inducers also includes eating home early because of physical or mental disorders. Some disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood thought he was a compassionate leader, empathizing with mis- sexual abuse, conditions that typically manifest themselves by sionaries for whom the work was too much of a struggle. young adulthood. Others thought he was simply getting the deadwood out of the My father, one of the first psychiatrists in Utah, spent a long mission. time trying to get the Church to address this dilemma by • A missionary in Germany simply adding a few screening was sent to the mission home questions about mental health two weeks before his sched- to the physical exam question- uled release because pre- naire for prospective mission- Christmas transfers had left THE PHILOSOPHIES OF aries. After several years, the him without a companion. MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS questions appeared. After he had done three days of With the burgeoning busywork in the mission office, NATURALLY COMPETE WITH knowledge of medical and the mission president handed REVEALED RELIGION. THE CHURCH mental health science, we him a plane ticket and release IS NOT EAGER FOR PSYCHIATRISTS know a great deal more now eleven days early so he could TO BE FORGIVING SIN OR THINKING about what motivates human be home in time to spend behavior and how to treat Christmas Eve with his family. THEMSELVES THE DIAGNOSTI- aberrancy. And I have happy I was involved with all but CIANS OF SAD, BAD, OR MAD. news: the Church has come one of these instances of early along, albeit somewhat slowly releases as the professional and but catching up. one as the missionary. I will The Missionary Committee not tell you which missionary has taken a very positive turn story was my own. toward recognizing the need for science as well as faith in keeping missionaries functioning. The VER SINCE ORTHOPEDIST William Smith chiseled most important factor in this equation is the message in a very away at the young Joseph Smith Jr.’s tibia, and Brigham recent letter to local leaders: “Bishops and Stake Presidents E Young and assistant army surgeon General Robert should not submit a recommendation until they are satisfied that Barthelow discovered their mutual disdain for each other, the the Elder or Sister is physically, mentally, and emotionally able to Church has been wary of the medical profession—and even serve.” more so, the mental health profession. Many mental health Under the missionary executive committee, headed in a professionals have thought themselves the discoverers and very enlightened way by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, the missionary keepers of the knowledge of what motivates human behavior, department includes a medical committee of fifteen physicians and therefore the rightful purveyors of standards of moral and and also an emotional health committee. These committees ethical behavior. Hence, their philosophy naturally competed function to train priesthood leaders; screen applicants; recom- with revealed religion for ownership of the basic standard. The mend calls of physicians to mission areas; and provide ser- Church is not eager for psychiatrists to be forgiving sin, inter- vices, consultations, or medical referrals in the MTC and in the preting transgression, or thinking themselves the diagnosti- field. They assist in decision-making for early return, connect cians of sad, bad, or mad. It didn’t help for the chair of the de- missionaries to treatment in the case of medical return, and, if partment of psychiatry at the newly created four-year medical desired, provide time-limited mental health services. When an school at the University of Utah to refer derisively to President early return is necessary due to mental health issues, they offer David O. McKay and the Quorum of the Twelve as “Papa Dave treatment and even counsel families of early returnees. All of and the Twelve Dwarfs” right after the Church had made an these services have become available since 2001. enormous financial contribution to keep the new medical The missionary committee screens approximately seven school afloat. On the other hand, mental health professionals hundred applications per week. A physician looks at each ap- were not encouraged with the Church when Elder Bruce R. plication, trying to spot potential problems and catch them McConkie’s unauthorized book, Mormon Doctrine, cross-refer- very early. Screening physicians can also ask for further infor- enced “Psychiatry” with “Church of the Devil.” mation from the applicants’ priesthood leaders or from profes- The Church has a dilemma. It calls young men to serve mis- sionals who have treated the applicants in the past. If a call is sions at an age when the major psychiatric disorders are likely issued and a missionary gets as far as the Missionary Training to appear. Schizophrenia and bipolar mood disorder, for ex- Center, a branch of LDS Family Services as well as a medicine ample, typically emerge in late adolescence or the early twen- branch is there. Someone struggling with either emotional or ties. With significant numbers of young women serving mis- physical health can receive counseling while still in training. PAGE 50 MAY 2003 49-51_a_moench_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:49 AM Page 51 SUNSTONE One of the main challenges for missionaries in the MTC is communities. If, following these tests, agreement is reached adjusting to regimentation just at a period in life when the de- about the returnees’ prospects for success, they are eligible velopmental issue is the establishment of independence and to return to the field. Not all are successful. Among those autonomy from authority. This situation creates conflicts. serving actively on missions, there were four suicides in When missionaries get out in the field, they are no longer on 2001, two by people who had come home early, been their own. treated, and were just about to go back out again. A while ago, Elders Russell M. Nelson and Cecil O. Apparently they could not resolve the pressures from home Samuelson, both physicians, toured much of the world, iden- and family to go back out with the reality of the traumatic tifying the best medical care available in many countries, experiences they had faced on their missions. mostly in underdeveloped nations, and establishing collabora- As they work with early returnees, what do the staff of the tive arrangements for treating missionaries. The missionary emotional health committee find? Many of these mission- medical committee also advises mission presidents, as do sev- aries seem to be suffering the same kinds of symptoms as re- eral doctors serving medical missions in the field. Not all turning war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. leaders avail themselves of this opportunity. There remains in They have born the tremendous emotional load of trying to many mission presidents a strong conviction that faith is the do their best and finding it not good enough. Many have only needed nostrum. been broadsided by their illnesses, not understanding, Utilizing local facilities and professionals greatly reduces thinking they just had to work harder. And work harder they costs and the likelihood of missionaries being sent home early. did, until they failed. Most have to deal with a mission out- For instance, 82 percent of those who receive mental health come they did not choose. These missionaries must learn to counseling while on their missions stay to complete their ser- grieve the loss of the expected mission success, and often the vice. The emotional health committee has produced guidelines whole family must grieve as well. Interestingly, however, for treatment, which include recommendations for counseling when families come to meetings the emotional health com- and even the judicious prescribing of medicine, if necessary. If mittee sets up, the issue of the stigma associated with an counseling or drug therapy gets more complicated, the mis- early return very seldom comes up. The focus is more on un- sionaries are usually sent home for treatment. derstanding the circumstances and the emergent illness and Recently, the committee prepared information for priest- planning for the next step forward. hood leaders recommending ways they might help early re- In treating these missionaries, counselors emphasize a few turnees, including guidance on answering queries about things. They help missionaries see that complete agency and why someone has returned early, how to balance the self-reliance are myths, that their offering is accepted by the straightforwardness needed to decrease stigma with the Church and by the Lord, that we are saved by grace after all we early returned missionary’s need for privacy, and helping can do. The goal is to help missionaries retain a positive sense leaders realize the importance of welcoming early returnees of who they are.1 home. Early returnees for medical reasons are counseled to What about “OI’s?” OI’s are those who return on their “own connect with medical services. In addition, the committee insistence,” not for physical or mental health reasons. What has helped create an emotional health clinic along the happens to these missionaries afterwards? A recent survey Wasatch front that averages three to four new cases each shows that the majority of them are still active in the Church week. These efforts have had mixed success. 90 percent of and functioning well. Reasons for this degree of successful ad- missionaries who return early for medical reasons go back to justment have not been studied. finish their missions, although not necessarily to the same Previously, about 3.5 percent of missionaries returned early, mission. However, of the early returnees for mental health whether for medical or emotional reasons, discipline, or by reasons, only 20 percent are sent back to the mission field, their own insistence. In the last few years, that number has and unfortunately, of those, a fairly substantial number re- gone up substantially to about 6.6 percent. That leaves ap- turn early a second time. proximately 93.5 percent who stay to complete their mis- Two psychiatrists and several psychologists counsel early sions—a rather astounding percentage for any endeavor in- returnees for up to three months, if desired, focusing on volving young people in transition, especially one so fraught goals that range, depending on needs, from helping mis- with stress and reward. sionaries return to the field to simply making adjustments to being home and getting on with their lives. In order to re- To comment on this essay, or to read comments by others, visit our turn to the field, missionaries who come home early for website: MAY 2003 PAGE 51 52-57_a_ferre_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:50 AM Page 52 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN “IF YE HAVE DESIRES TO SERVE GOD . . .” By Richard Ferre S ELDER GREEN TURNED IN HIS MISSIONARY cian assigned to the area for medical support. Each day Elder application, he was unaware he would be packing into Green awaited for relief that never came. He awoke each day to A his suitcase alongside his white shirts and triple com- the relentless task of appearing to be excited about the work bination a genetic predisposition for severe anxiety disorder. and behaving and hoping that what his mind thought about— He and his bishop had already thoroughly reviewed his health escape through suicide—would not become a reality that day. and emotional profile. Elder Green had reported he could re- In spite of his parents’ pleas to see his mission through and the call only that he was sometimes worried as a teenager. “Getting mission president’s encouragement for him to continue, his things right” was considered to be a positive attribute, and burdens consumed him, and he knew in his heart he would Elder Green never considered that he might be truly perfec- die if he did not go home. Despite the shame he knew he tionistic. At the Missionary Training Center, he felt genuinely would face by returning early, he knew, through his fear, he inspired by the dedication and enthusiasm of his fellow mis- could not survive another day in the field. No balloons greeted sionaries. He was determined to put everything right before him at the airport. the Lord. Frequent confessions and constant worries about his worthiness became the first signs that his anxiety was abnor- OR MOST YOUNG men and many young women in mally high. Occasional panic states contributed to a growing the Church, the desire to serve a mission has been in- sense of alarm that he was feeling overwhelmed and out of F stilled from an early age. Children easily project them- control. Nevertheless, he kept these fears to himself and two selves into foreign lands to serve as they sing “I hope they call months later, he arrived in a Spanish-language mission. me on a mission. . . .” It is not so easy for them, however, to Elder Green returned home after seven months in the field. envision the rigors of missionary work. Anxiety, obsessive thinking, and depression had pursued him A proselyting mission has unforeseen perils. Missions de- and finally overwhelmed his ability to function as a missionary. mand consistent and high levels of energy. The pace is relent- Fear was his constant foe; sleep came only after hours of tor- less, and there is no vacation. The structure of mission rules tured, intrusive thoughts; peace of mind became something he often leaves little choice about how to find effective relaxation could no longer attain. He could not keep his mind on and rejuvenation. Mission goals require performance, and con- teaching. He felt he had failed the people he was supposed to stant quantifying often leads to demoralizing comparisons be- teach, his mission president, and God. He felt unworthy of tween missionaries that can discourage even the most capable, God’s grace and could not go to him in prayer. since many already have high perfectionistic tendencies. The Elder Green’s mission president was perplexed. He was un- physical, emotional, and mental demands on a missionary derstanding but unprepared to cope with the severity of this place great stress on the brain’s ability to regulate its own in- missionary’s suffering. They counseled together, sought for ternal functions. Brain chemistry is regularly taxed as the restorative solutions, and obtained medication from a physi- brains of missionaries try to adequately regulate focus, concen- tration, delayed gratification, sleep and wake cycles, and sus- RICHARD FERRE is associate clinical professor in tained energy even as the usual methods of escape and relax- psychology at the University of Utah and is the med- ation are not available. ical director of child and adolescent psychological If a missionary has a particularly vulnerable body system, services at Primary Children’s Hospital. He is also a whether physical, mental, or emotional, the stress of mis- member of the emotional illness committee of the sionary work will likely uncover this weakness. This includes Church’s missionary department and a psychiatrist working with knee injuries, diabetes, asthma, as well as mental illness. In LDS Family Services in its clinic that serves early-return mission- particular, missionaries with a predisposition to emotional and aries. He and his wife, Janis, have three children. mental illness, either by heredity or prior illness and/or PAGE 52 MAY 2003 52-57_a_ferre_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:50 AM Page 53 SUNSTONE trauma, may find the mission experience exacerbates that pre- One of my experiences counseling a troubled missionary disposition, and they often develop a complete syndrome of before the establishment of the missionary clinic demonstrates emotional symptoms. When an illness significantly impairs just how important this new program is. It was with a young function, counseling or medical treatment may intervene man who had a clear chemical imbalance, whom I saw some while the missionary is still in the field and prevent him or her four months after he had left his mission. He was not yet re- from having to return home. Still, some anxieties, such as the leased, still technically on a medical leave, and he was at- kind Elder Green experienced, will not yield to will power or tempting to live by missionary rules. His stake president had priesthood blessings while the missionary is living under the referred the missionary to his family’s primary care physician stresses of an active proselyting mission. If an elder destroys a to get help for his depression. The physician was unclear as to knee while playing basketball on preparation day, that elder how to treat the illness but prescribed a frequently used anti- cannot continue to walk every day on the injured knee if that depressant medication. When I finally met with the elder, he knee is to heal. How can we expect something different in the said he was waiting to see what the medication would do for case of debilitating emotional injuries? him. He was still depressed and did not know what to do about resuming his mission. HE NUMBER OF mis- He wanted to return, but in the sionaries who have had condition he presented in my T to return early from office, I knew he would only their service has become an in- re-traumatize himself if he creasing and significant con- SOME ANXIETIES went into the field again. The cern to Church leaders. And persistence of his illness and they have reacted with com- WILL NOT YIELD TO WILL POWER his unresolved mission status passion and a new under- OR PRIESTHOOD BLESSINGS were a great frustration for his standing of how the trauma of WHILE THE MISSIONARY IS LIVING whole family. early return affects both the UNDER THE STRESSES OF AN Contrast this young man’s missionary and family. Because experience with Elder Green’s, of the continuing stories of ACTIVE PROSELYTING MISSION. who had an appointment missionaries coming home within three days of returning early without appropriate ac- home. His symptom pattern cess to psychiatric and psycho- met all the criteria for both an social services, leaders piloted anxiety disorder and a severe a program to provide imme- depressive disorder. Hoping diate access through LDS Family Services in collaboration with desperately to be able to complete his mission, he had ex- a local psychiatrist. The missionary and family are seen by a hausted himself, so, when I met him, he appeared profoundly team of mental health professionals. Families, who very often distraught, sleep-deprived, frightened. And he felt extremely do not understand the nature of mental illness and feel the shamed by his failure. His family was equally upset and didn’t missionary could easily return to the mission field if he or she understand what had happened to their son. He told me he would just have enough will power, are taught about the na- was certain his mission president was disappointed in his ture of the missionary’s illness and how they might respond failure to remain in the field. He felt unworthy of God’s ap- helpfully to the challenges of early return. To support each proval and blessing. other through the process of healing, the missionaries are also After listening to Elder Green describe his descent into de- invited to join a group of other missionaries who have similar pression, we talked about how the experience had created challenges. Family Services therapists contact bishops and trauma for him and his family. He had not completed the ex- stake presidents to help them understand what the family is pected two-year mission. He still felt pressure from family and facing and to help them respond effectively and compassion- leaders to return to the field. He desperately wanted to finish ately to the unique nature of this experience. his mission, but thoughts of going back to the place where he For the past three-and-a-half years, thanks to the mis- collapsed filled him with dread. He recalled feeling trapped sionary clinic for emotional illness, missionaries released early with no escape, and thinking about the mission experience can be seen within a few days of their return from the field, if triggered feelings of panic. they live along the Wasatch Front. Obtaining an appointment with a local psychiatrist typically takes two to three months. HEN A MISSIONARY has this type of a traumatic When there are no balloons and banners at the airport, seeing event, true healing requires the experience to be the missionary immediately and providing a spiritual context W reframed in a psychological as well as a spiritual in which to understand the trauma of early release helps the context. Both missionary and family need to grieve the loss of healing process begin right away. the mission they had anticipated since childhood. The grieving MAY 2003 PAGE 53 52-57_a_ferre_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:50 AM Page 54 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN process allows everyone involved to recognize they did not to him so he could heal and learn how to take spiritual consciously choose this outcome. The missionary had in good power over his temporal state. The time was now available faith desired to serve the Lord and was willing to sacrifice two for him to understand the nature of his inherited illness and years of his life to fulfill that service. He had even persisted in what treatments might be effective in managing his illness the mission field to the point that he compromised his health for the rest of his life. By investing this time now, Elder and could have perished had he not come home when he did. Green would be far less susceptible to the destructive po- Both missionary and family must be reminded that those who tential of his illness in his future service to himself, his apply for missionary service have already self-selected to face a family, Church, and community. The Lord was doing as he highly challenging work that others choose not to even at- promised: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them tempt. Moreover, they must understand that those who elect their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be to go are much more likely to be self-critical, to think they are humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble not working hard enough. Hence, more than most people, themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before these missionaries are already predisposed to feel that failed me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things be- performance of any kind makes them unworthy as a steward come strong unto them” (Ether 12:27). of Christ. Humility means to be “teachable.” In Elder Green’s weak- The story of Abraham and Isaac is very helpful in reframing ness, he was teachable, and he strongly desired to regain such missions cut short. By responding to God’s instructions to power over his mind and body so his spirit could do what it sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham was faithful to his desire to was sent here to accomplish. In such moments of under- serve God. And Abraham had every intention of following standing, the Spirit of the Lord speaks and confirms his love through on his covenant, even to the point of killing his son. and compassion for his servants, his missionaries, and testifies God understood the commitment of Abraham to be true and to them that he knows who they are individually. I have been faithful. And the angel said, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, blessed over and over again to be a witness of God’s love, and I neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou so testify to the missionaries. Elder Green was no exception. I fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only felt an overwhelming, powerful sweetness and tenderness son from me” (Genesis 22:11–12). from the Spirit confirming God’s enduring love and concern Elder Green had done everything he could to fulfill the for this devoted and worthy, yet wounded young man. covenant he had made with God, even to the peril of his own life. But God had intervened and said, in effect, “Do not any- MONG THOSE MISSIONARIES who return early be- thing that would further harm this beloved son, for now I cause of emotional illness, many often experience ad- know he fearest me, seeing that he has not withheld even his A ditional psychic trauma in feelings of shame that lead health and safety from me, even to the peril of his own life.” to a profound sense of unworthiness. Elder Smith, a young Elder Green had proven his devotion, and he needed to un- man I was able to serve in the missionary clinic, fell into a psy- derstand that further sacrifice of his health was not required by chotic depression one year into his mission. His confused God or the Church. It was enough: the Lord had stayed the thought processes vacillated between his believing he had the “knife.” capacity to baptize six people, then sixty, then six hundred Also helpful in counseling is to understand that time is rel- converts, to his believing he had denied his testimony and ative with God. He understands the intents of our hearts. The therefore would become a son of perdition. Despite his desire parable of the laborers in the vineyard helps us realize that the to continue serving in the field, his function collapsed. Upon number of hours spent in labor is not the critical issue, since his return home, his rumination continued darkly with addi- all who labored during whatever time they were employed tional fears about sexual preoccupations. Convinced he was no were rewarded equally: “every man a penny.” The Lord of the longer worthy to plead before God, he abandoned church at- vineyard had contracted with each laborer for a penny, tendance, scripture reading, and prayer. Over several months, notwithstanding some had started working earlier than others. limited professional and ecclesiastical intervention had made The Lord then states: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will little change in his preoccupations. His illness brought pun- with mine own? . . . So the last shall be first, and the first shall ishing despair, and fear froze him into isolation. be last: for many be called, but few be chosen” (Matthew When I met Elder Smith, he explicitly described his 20:1–16). wounds, his hopelessness, how he had betrayed God, and how Elder Green had completed a “full-time” mission for the God had abandoned him. It was more painful for me to expe- Savior. He had labored as long as he could in the temporal rience empathetically his ravaged spirituality than it was to un- world, with its vicissitudes, its pain and suffering. Based on derstand his mental illness. Elder Smith concluded his history my own inspiration, I instructed Elder Green that the Lord by stating he had heard about the missionary clinic and had had now turned the remaining time of his consecrated mis- been convinced he must overcome whatever barriers were in sion over to him. Elder Green had given the time to the his way so he might find his way to the clinic. Lord, and now the Lord was returning this consecrated time I asked if he could feel the Spirit in this idea that compelled PAGE 54 MAY 2003 52-57_a_ferre_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:50 AM Page 55 SUNSTONE him to believe the clinic could offer him a solution to his de- First Presidency statement: spair. He was confused. “I mean, in all your distress, the Full-time missionary service is a privilege for those thought that you should set your feet to a path of recovery was who are called through inspiration by the President of clear,” I told him. “This inspiration has given you direction and the Church. Those individuals not able to meet the some beginnings of comfort. You are here to find the healing physical, mental, and emotional demands of full-time that has eluded you, and I sense the Spirit confirming that you missionary work are honorably excused and should did receive inspiration to travel here today, against all odds. If not be recommended. . . . Missionary service is ex- God can speak to you, even if you feel that you are a son of tremely demanding and is not suitable for persons perdition, then he surely knows you and has profound com- whose physical limitations or mental or emotional dis- passion for you.” ability prevent them from serving effectively. . . . Such In this moment between the elder and me, I felt the pro- individuals are not often able to enjoy a successful mis- found love of which I spoke. He began to feel it too. sion, and they place an undue burden on others (First Arguments of the mind can perhaps reassure, but they can Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 11 never convince the heart as can Dec. 2002). the spirit of compassion. With I perceive this directive as correct medication and inten- the realization that the de- sive psychological interven- TOO OFTEN mands of missionary work as tion, Elder Smith improved re- presently structured place a markably over the next three MISSIONARIES ARE CONFUSED level of performance that all months. I had felt, and he fi- worthy members of the nally came to understand that THAT PERFORMANCE DETERMINES Church may not be able to the deepest hope for healing WORTHINESS BEFORE THE achieve. Some young people his soul was his strong desire SAVIOR, AND THIS NOTION may desire to go on a mission to reclaim his friendship with RESTRICTS THEIR PERSONAL but have never really consid- God. That hope would compel ered the cost of rigorous mis- him forward. Before formal ACCESS TO HIS HEART. sionary life and therefore come prayer, scripture reading, or unprepared physically and so-called Church activity, he emotionally. Others who are simply needed to dare to greet impaired emotionally or phys- Jesus, his friend, on the ically by the temporal chal- journey home. lenges of their bodies and The parable of the Prodigal Son helps us understand that, to brains truly are being placed in harm’s way when sent on mis- some degree, we are all lost in this world, but the memory of sions. The mission field, despite mission calls to physicians to what it felt like to be loved is what allows us to turn, to step help with medical intervention, cannot truly support and pro- onto that path home again, even when we feel we have failed tect missionaries either predisposed to, or clearly impaired by, miserably. Too often, missionaries are confused that perfor- significant illness or physical limitation. Even an under- mance determines worthiness before the Savior, and this no- standing and empathetic mission president cannot provide tion restricts their personal access to his heart. Christ’s grace sufficient nurture in these cases. The directive of the First flows from the bowels of his mercy. He invites all to sit at his Presidency is a result of their realizing over the past ten years table and sup with him. He denies to none the sacrament of that sending missionaries into the field without adequate his friendship. I find I must frequently revisit the issue of screening for conditions incompatible with the present de- works versus grace with missionaries who have been wounded mands of missionary service will almost invariably lead to by their very desire to serve God—a wounding all the more early release and heartbreak for the missionary and family. tragic because it is based on misunderstanding. True, their ser- Nonetheless, the injunction by President Kimball that every vice did not meet all their anticipated personal and cultural ex- worthy young man should serve a mission still holds tremen- pectations, but this fact does not disqualify them from the dous sway in LDS culture. The desire to serve is impressive, yearning reach and healing power of God’s love, God’s grace. even in the most impaired. We as a community of saints are now faced with a difficult dilemma. How are we to protect and RESIDENT HINCKLEY HAS recently instructed value those who may not have the capacity for a standard two- priesthood leaders to “raise the bar” with regard to year proselyting mission and yet provide them opportunities P who is eligible for missionary service. The Brethren’s to serve the Lord as they feel commanded to do? continuing concern over early released missionaries and the Through the Spirit, I have felt the Lord’s intense compassion trauma missionaries may experience in the mission field if for all I have been fortunate to serve in the clinic. Their service they become ill, prompted the issue of a December 2002 to others, to whatever degree they have broken their hearts, MAY 2003 PAGE 55 52-57_a_ferre_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:50 AM Page 56 SUNSTONE A MISSION TO HEAL R ECOVERING FROM THE T RAUMA OF E ARLY R ETURN has been recognized and honored by the Lord. Working with “If ye have desires to serve God, ye are called. . . . !” In this them has impressed upon me that the boundaries for service Church, we do not lack young people with strong desires to must be extended. The sincere desire of so many youth to serve. My prayer—and my experiences in the missionary serve missions for the Church, including those with disabili- clinic give me hope it can and will come true—is that families ties, seen or unseen, must compel us to rethink what it means and leaders will learn to view the strengths and weaknesses of to prepare for a mission. We must begin to help youth increase their young charges with eyes of love and compassion, but also in emotional intelligence and functional capacity, but this is with eyes of insight, that they can be inspired in ways they only a beginning. We must ourselves change how we view haven’t yet conceived how to help these beloved sons and missionary service, about the limited ways we understand daughters find the exact way and manner in which they might someone’s “desire to serve God” and what it means to “be serve their desire and call “to the work.” called to the work.” We must reopen our hearts and minds to Ministry to missionaries who have been injured in the work see that how they can serve and not just where they serve is of of the Lord is a sacred service. I am grateful I have had the joy paramount importance. of walking with these servants for a while on their journeys. CREATION One author didn’t note his daughter’s birth in his daily diary. And Conrad wrote as his child lay dying. Some think genius demands a cyclop’s eye, bulging, bloodshot, never looking right nor left, no tender gazes lingering. Take a Berryman dragged behind his muse like rags and tin cans behind a bridal car speeding away to bliss. Yet Maughn told of the painter, a woman possessed, her work as bad as her dedication was pure. Vehicles stuck in 5th gear. Sometimes we’re no use, can’t do the shopping stops, can only make a dash for it or break down at the side of the road. Here is a quiet Oriental page where my eye rests on brushstrokes scant print ample space Balance stills this frenzy. —CAROL HAMILTON PAGE 56 MAY 2003 52-57_a_ferre_missionaries.qxd 5/21/2003 8:50 AM Page 57 SUNSTONE 2003 BROOKIE AND D.K. BROWN MEMORIAL FICTION CONTEST THE SUNSTONE EDUCATION FOUNDATION invites 3. Each entry must be accompanied by a cover letter that writers to enter its annual fiction contest, which is made pos- states the story’s title and the author’s name, address, tele- sible by a grant from the Brookie and D. K. Brown family. All phone number, and email (if available). Each cover letter entries must relate to adult Latter-day Saint experience, the- must be signed by the author and attest that the entry is her ology, or worldview. All varieties of form are welcome. Stories, or his own work, that it has not been previously published, sans author identification, will be judged by noted Mormon au- that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and thors and professors of literature. Winners will be announced will not be submitted to other publishers until after the con- in SUNSTONE and on the foundation’s website, RULES: 1. Up to three entries may be submitted by any one au- 2002 BROOKIE & D. K. BROWN AWARDS: thor. Four copies of each entry must be delivered (or post- Sunstone Awards ($300 each) marked) to Sunstone by 31 July 2003. Entries will not be re- Lisa R. Harris, “Topless in Elko” turned. A $5 fee must accompany each entry. Mari Jorgensen, “The Angel in the Pin-Striped Suit” 2. Each story must be typed, double-spaced, on one side of Moonstone Awards ($200) white paper and be stapled in the upper left corner. The author’s Joy Robinson, “A Leaf, a Bowl, and a Piece of Jade” name may not appear on any page of the manuscript. Eugene Woodbury, “Blessing Giver” The Sunstone Education Foundation 343 N. Third West, Salt Lake City, UT 84103 Phone (801) 355-5926 • Fax (801) 355-4043 • Email MAY 2003 PAGE 57 58-63_a_paul_conflict_FINAL.qxd 5/21/2003 1:49 AM Page 58 SUNSTONE Would God deceive us for our good? DOES GOD ALWAYS REVEAL THE SAME THING TO EVERYONE? ON SUSTAINING PEACEFUL CONTESTS OVER RELIGION By Charles Randall Paul N A COMMUNITY TRYING TO BE OF ONE HEART ertheless acting in good faith, we must recall a basic tenet of and one mind, are serious conflicts always a sign of igno- Christianity: Even if we are born into a Christian tradition, we I rance, stubborn pride, or outright evil? Can important dis- are each supposed to be “born again,” to become a convert agreements exist between people who are living as God wants ourselves, to receive our own persuasive witness through the them to live? In confessional language, can there be conflict be- Holy Spirit. We as Latter-day Saints especially insist on this, tween those who have the Spirit of God with them? I believe the pressing our young people to seek the conviction of Christ’s di- Latter-day Saints offer some interesting insights to these ques- vinity provided by an individual experience with the Holy tions—insights that can help us improve the way we engage in Spirit.2 honest conflicts within our religion and with other religions. In the Christian tradition, the original apostles—who had spent forty days being taught by the resurrected Jesus—were I. THE KEY WITNESS IS INVISIBLE accorded a special status of “eyewitness.” Stephen’s and Paul’s subsequent theophanies also allowed them this same sort of WHILE MOST BELIEVERS respect God’s divine right to re- special status of having seen the resurrected Lord. Jesus seemed main silent and invisible, they wish—especially in times of se- to temper the importance of seeing him resurrected, however, rious conflict between believers—that God would make his when he told Thomas, “Because thou hast seen me, thou hast will more clearly known to everyone. When people in reli- believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have be- gious conflicts are willing to bend their wills to the will of God, lieved” (John 20:29). The evidence for believing without seeing why does God not make his will more clearly evident to them? was manifest on the Day of Pentecost when Peter explained to In Christian terms, why didn’t Jesus make his divine identity his mainly Jewish audience that the time Joel prophesied had clearly and obviously known to all, and why today is the truth finally come in which God would “pour out [his] Spirit upon of God transmitted by a Holy Spirit that is not clear and ob- all flesh” (Acts 2:17). Jesus had earlier told the apostles that, vious to all sincere believers? In the spirit of an honest child after his ascension, they would receive power when the Holy who asks, “Where is God?” an adult Christian might ask “Why Spirit came upon them, and they would be his witnesses unto is the key witness to the will of God invisible?”1 the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1: 8). To understand the key dynamics of how conflicts can and The crucial moment for Christianity that occurred at do still arise among leaders and congregants who are each nev- Pentecost, and that has been repeated in millions of lives since, is the moment a person hears a witness for Christ’s unique role CHARLES RANDALL PAUL, Ph.D. is the president of in the world and is moved by the Holy Spirit to believe and the Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy. This convert to a new way of life. That God persuades people to paper is based on a speech he gave at the inaugural change their hearts through an invisible yet palpable en- Conference on Conflict, Religion, Diplomacy and counter with the Holy Spirit is the classic Christian model for Peace, held at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, 26 conversion. The invisible Holy Spirit is experienced holisti- April 2002. He may be contacted at PAGE 58 MAY 2003 58-63_a_paul_conflict_FINAL.qxd 5/21/2003 1:49 AM Page 59 SUNSTONE and within a person such that a change of one’s deepest desire interpreted the Holy Spirit correctly. They assume that if the results. others do not agree on this correct interpretation, those others Soon after Pentecost, conflicts arose over the correct way of either lack sufficient intelligent capacity to understand, or they leading a Spirit-inspired life, conflicts that are still with us. are so habituated to false traditions that they do not sincerely Pentecostal conversion did not provide each convert precise consider the truth when presented to them, or they are cow- details about all aspects of moment-to-moment living. What ardly or evilly rejecting the true religion which Deity desires does the Holy Spirit require after baptism and after we give our them to embrace. This kind of persuasive engagement, be it hearts to Christ? What does God will now? The history of ever so polite, is tainted by underlying assumptions of bad Christianity is in large part a history of conflicting views over faith. The pious opponents’ views of God and true religion the response to that question. When people disagree about seem to allow them no other alternatives. what the Holy Spirit is saying, they often find that the Holy Is there a way to overcome this disrespectful assumption of Spirit affirms their own interpretations. Believing that God bad faith? Can we find a satisfying perspective to help keep would not contradict himself, they then assume the other par- intra-religious (and interreligious) conflict from turning bitter ty’s interpretation is wrong. and disrespectful? Might we somehow understand conflict generated by differing—even contradictory—but equally holy II. THE ASSUMPTION OF BAD FAITH revelation as a helpful gift from God, an appropriate practical communication that encourages us to learn (among other A DIVINE SCANDAL seems inherent to religions that reveal things) that we cannot reduce God to our forms of logical con- Deity as one who cares for all persons alike. The scandal con- gruity nor figure out all his mysterious ways? sists in God’s apparently intermittent and uneven communica- tion of truth. Should not a caring God make ultimate divine III. CLOSE ENOUGH TO EDIFY truth universally obvious to any sincerely seeking it? Many of us Latter-day Saints believe truth is universally clear. I sense We believe all that God has revealed, all that God now this belief is at the heart of our most serious intra-religious reveals, and we believe God will yet reveal many great conflicts. We assume that because God makes truth quite ob- and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. vious and available to any who “lack wisdom,” those people —ARTICLES OF FAITH, 9 who do not want to admit the truth as we have understood it are acting in bad faith. IT APPEARS TRUE that God does not impose one view of re- Many believers in universal truth, be they theistic or athe- ality into the world. On the contrary, as the Hebrew Bible re- istic, do not trust those who disagree with them about truths ports, when humanity all spoke the same language and be- which they believe are universally obvious. Many universalists came one people desiring to work together to build a tower to believe that all have equal access and capacity to heed the take them to heaven, God thwarted their unified plan by mul- Truth. Thus, often intra- and interreligious disagreements are tiplying their language into many tongues and scattering the based on the unspoken assumption of the interlocutor’s stu- people throughout the earth (Gen. 11:1–9). As Milton illus- pidity, naiveté, or bad faith. This assumption—that is, be- trated in Paradise Lost, even at the outset, if God had desired lieving that the religious or ideological opponent is either de- there to be only one opinion, he would not have created Eve. mented, duped, or devilish—leads the other to feel Further, if God had desired there to be merely two innocent disrespected, patronized, or condemned. It insidiously under- opinions, he would not have let Satan slip into Paradise. More mines honest engagement of religious differences because profoundly, if God had desired to assure no diversity of people will not overtly admit such offensive beliefs about their opinion in heaven, he would not have created angels with opponents. Since the truth is not spoken, the communication freedom to rebel and wage war against his love in his very has a sense of falseness and shallow civility. presence (Rev. 12:7–10). Even if there is good will for those who disagree over reli- We Latter-day Saints understand opposition as a condition gion within a religious community, there is an unavoidable dif- of existence itself, for God and all (2 Ne. 2:11). Further, we ficulty that many times causes conflicts to become con- also understand that God wills that sincere love, not con- tentious. It begins with assuming there will be a very close tentious envy, be manifest in the inevitable eternal tension of correspondence between the thoughts and feelings of two or comparative differences (Abraham 3). more people inspired by the Holy Spirit because that Spirit Joseph Smith was inspired to say to his people: “What would not give contradictory inspiration. When people dis- power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth cover they disagree about what the Holy Spirit is saying, this his puny arm to stop the Missouri River in its decreed course . assumption often fosters either self-doubt or suspicion of bad . . as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge faith in the others’ ability, character, or sincerity. from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints” (D&C When two Latter-day Saints disagree seriously about what 121: 33). Our tradition’s rather unique notions of continuous the Holy Spirit is saying to them, they often begin with the revelation and an open scriptural canon provide promising thought that the Holy Spirit could not be revealing contradic- possibilities for patient attitudes in dealing with conflict.3 tory information. Each therefore assumes only he or she has This doctrine of continual revelation anticipates new MAY 2003 PAGE 59 58-63_a_paul_conflict_FINAL.qxd 5/21/2003 1:49 AM Page 60 SUNSTONE learning about more great and important things. At the same the opportunity to speak privately with a current member of time, it tempers any absolute certainty by calling into question the Quorum of the Twelve. He had been talking about any interpretation of God or truth that is final and total. If in- methods for interpreting the scriptures with the help of the deed many great and important things are yet to be revealed, Holy Spirit. I know the Twelve seek the guidance of the Holy the new revelation provides a broader context for the current Spirit in prayer and they require unanimous agreement before knowledge of the Saints. Such a doctrine requires a perspec- announcing any decision as inspired of God. Hence, I asked if tival humility for those who receive the truth from the Holy he thought an inspired unanimous agreement of the apostles Spirit. It leads us to grasp divine revelation not as a final expe- reflected that each one of them had received from the Spirit the rience of mystical unity so much as an experience of infinite fe- identical idea and feeling in answer to their prayer. After a long cundity. God is not finished, but enormous and ever-growing. pause to consider, this fine man responded, “Close enough.” President David O. McKay, I think “close enough” might be a good catch phrase for un- quoting Alexander Pope, derstanding our tradition’s way of managing intra-religious described his experience conflicts. If precise agreement or identical understanding is Perhaps, of the infinity of divine not provided by the Holy Spirit in the apostolic councils, then in God’s revelation as climbing up we should not expect it either—whether in families, commu- from the dark valley to the nities, or societies. When we have a serious difference of reli- thought sunny mountaintop and gious perspective, we should patiently wait for those who dis- being amazed to see more agree with us to come “close enough” that we might stand about his valleys ahead and Alps loyally together without requiring a unanimous consensus. We upon Alps!4 can respect the effort and good will of others who are striving children, St. Paul said God to change our views, and we can feel edified by our mutual granted different spiritual longsuffering love for one another, even as we maintain the in- there lies gifts of knowledge and tegrity of our differences. Just as we believe in a social power to human beings to Godhead in which God the Father, the Son, and the Holy a blessing edify them or build their Spirit are said to be three individual embodied personages, in thinking strength, not to cause con- united in purpose and love, but not ontologically one person fusion (1 Cor. 14:26–33). (D&C 130: 22), I hope it is not impudent to speculate that that is In 1831, when some perhaps even members of the Godhead are free to have their Latter-day Saints were re- own opinions as long as they are close enough for them to never ceiving spiritual manifesta- stand together in a loving loyalty that inspires faith and trust in tions and gifts that seemed those who look to them for salvation. precisely strange or without meaning, Joseph Smith IV. ETERNAL AMBIGUITY sure, exactly pronounced the following revelation to them: [God] giveth not account of any of his matters. . . . the same, I, the Lord, reason he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, or totally with you that you That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide may understand. . pride from man.” —Job 33:13, 16–17 complete. . . he that re- ceiveth the word A HINT IN the Hebrew scripture calls into question the funda- by the Spirit of mental assumption that a caring, communicating God will al- truth receiveth it as it preached by the Spirit of truth . ways reveal the same things in the same way to all righteous . . [so] he that preacheth and he that receiveth, under- seekers. Said the prophet Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not stand one another, and both are edified and rejoice to- your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. gether. And that which doth not edify is not of God, For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways and is darkness (D&C 50:12, 21–23). higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” Note this revelation does not say communion with the Holy (Is. 55: 8–9). Further, there are narrative examples in scripture Spirit of truth will produce complete certainty or identical mu- and myth of divine communications that purposely confuse or tual understanding. The promised understanding is found in mu- benignly deceive men for some important purpose. Perhaps, tual edification and joyfulness, not in knowing the exact same thing in God’s thought about his children, there lies a blessing in the in the exact same context. I believe we Latter-day Saints provide mortal state of lower thinking, partial thinking, contradictory a remarkable contemporary case study of how individuals can thinking—thinking that is never precisely sure, exactly the enjoy joint revelations from the Holy Spirit without requiring same, or totally complete. Perhaps the veil (never a total con- complete agreement that the Spirit has spoken exactly the cealment) between Deity and humanity is like clothing—a same thing to those involved. blessed partial veiling to help, not hinder, man. A personal story illustrates this idea: A few years ago, I had Perhaps full disclosure that allows no possibility of miscon- PAGE 60 MAY 2003 58-63_a_paul_conflict_FINAL.qxd 5/21/2003 1:49 AM Page 61 SUNSTONE ception or misinterpretation is an oxymoron. Total disclosure sible intelligible experience. Is it ever truthful to give the whole would effectively display nothing because total disclosure of all truth and nothing but the truth without any ambiguity? Is not actual and possible relevant differentiations or perspectives of infinite ambiguity itself also possibly the Truth? an event would be so massive as to allow no human intelligi- bility, no referential frame between perspective differences, V. ORTHOPRAXIS TRUMPS ORTHODOXY and no useful concealing of data that makes this and not that from one intelligible point of view. No man can see all of God AS LATTER-DAY SAINTS, we can be comfortable believing in and continue to live as a mere human, because this would the possibility of disagreement between good-hearted, intelli- mean seeing all that God sees as God sees it—to become God. gent, faithful souls who sincerely appeal to God for light and What we call human beings are persons living between veils direction. A familiar story provides a midrash on this topic. It that partially cover God, others, and ourselves. In this regard, is the story of Joseph Smith’s chastening of Church leaders for we as Latter-day Saints, even with our modern prophets, main- excommunicating an elder who refused to stop teaching that tain Almighty God has plans for the world we know not of before the Fall, animals could speak. Joseph said: (Alma 29:3–8). Again, this idea suggests patient humility is I did not like the old man being called up for erring in prudent when engaging in conflicts over ultimate questions. doctrine. [Others] have creeds which a man must be- Humility is a useful thing for eventual gods to understand, lieve or be asked out of their church. I want the lib- after all. It is an attitude of sincere interest in the creativity of erty of thinking and believing as I please. It feels so other human and divine beings. It is a virtue in that it allows good not to be trammeled. It does not prove that a God to be more than he has been to us, but it also sets up tests man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine of loyalty and love that defy a finished understanding of divine (History of the Church 5: 340). identity. (This is one moral from the story of the binding of Joseph did agree to excommunicate Church members who Isaac.) slandered him or openly claimed that he was a fallen prophet It seems possible that if, for the good of our souls, the divine or that the Church was a sham. For Smith, one might err in economy requires humans to experience interrelated par- doctrine without sin, but it was sinful to err in disloyalty. Like tiality—particularity and diversity—perhaps God’s method for most religious groups I have studied, we Latter-day Saints de- accomplishing this involves inspiring humans with ideas and rive continuous strength from our social solidarity more than feelings that are, or seem, mutually incompatible. God would, from our doctrinal unity. Loyalty to our current prophet and therefore, affirm contradictory truths in the souls of diverse, solidarity with our community trumps creedal agreement. sincere seekers. Paradoxically, to give all humans (who cannot Heresy of thought is not encouraged but can be tolerated if we grasp all the truth the way God can) the identical partial truth live in accordance with the moral codes and do not publicly would give them a false sense of reality by misrepresenting to criticize Church programs and leaders. Orthopraxis outweighs their feeble understandings some great truth they would find orthodoxy, and we are considered orthodox if we hold a incomprehensible. The alternative to this possibility, total dis- temple recommend. Still the orthodox confession of faith in closure that does not allow the slightest misunderstanding or order to hold the recommend is limited to stating that we be- difference in meaning from that of God’s, seems beyond pos- lieve in the Godhead, the atonement of Christ, and the restora- tion of ancient priesthood authority to Joseph Smith and successor apos- tles. No further definitions or sys- tematic theological explanations about the nature of God, Christ, atonement, or priesthood are re- quired. When we go to the temple to- gether, all dressed in the same white robes, we listen to and privately ponder the ritual without open dis- cussion. The temple ceremony un- derscores our social solidarity through group silence while al- lowing us to interpret the ritual and doctrine by ourselves. As we wor- ship God in the “tangle of our minds,” theological thinking is, I be- lieve, a delight to God—as long as it MACADE enhances our love for him and our fellow man. MAY 2003 PAGE 61 58-63_a_paul_conflict_FINAL.qxd 5/21/2003 1:49 AM Page 62 SUNSTONE VI. CONTESTATION VERSUS CONTENTION better. It is a contest of patient, forthright persuasions. Let the contest continue with good will towards all—seeking discern- L ATTER-DAY SAINTS ARE taught that conflict in the form of ment of those who are not interested in our good, and of those contest is the way Christ engaged with Lucifer, and it should who are. Let us not assume that all those opposed to our reli- be the model for all our honest conflicts over ultimate matters gious ways are opposed to our good. of human belief and allegiance. The Savior did not revile in angry accusations against the devil but stated the truth with di- Let such pure hate still underprop rectness, and subsequently, went beyond the lecture to sacri- Our love, that we may be fice himself in a loving act that aimed to move all devilish Each other’s conscience. hearts to repentance. The Christian God shows eventually to And have our sympathy all that his criticism of the world is coupled with a sacrificial Mainly from thence. love for the world. God does not—indeed, cannot—force anyone to repent. We’ll one another treat like Gods Latter-day Saints believe that And all faith we have God, the Holy Spirit, works to In virtue and in truth, bestow Let us entice and persuade the On either, and suspicion leave human heart without doing To Gods below. not the heart’s work of freely giving —H.D. Thoreau itself to God. After all, what is assume left but persuasion among Had it been God’s will, he could have made all eternal persons who cannot ul- mankind of one religion. that all timately torture or kill each other to get their way? Had God pleased, he could have made you one nation: those Let me venture a very loose but it is his wish to prove you by that which he has be- opposed paraphrase of a very familiar stowed upon you. Vie with each other in good works, for to passage of LDS scripture, D&C God you shall all return. He will clarify to you what you to our 121:41–44: “The power of have disagreed about. God is his persuasive love that —Qu’ran: Counsel 42:8; The Table 5:48 religious patiently, without compulsory means, leads people to desire ways are to combine their souls with BELIEVE CONFLICT, as peaceful tension, will be found opposed God to expand together eter- in Zion, where freedom and individuality will increase the nally. No other power has thus I love of God and man. Conflicts between God and those he far worked so well in moving loves are ultimately contests of loving persuasion. Only to our intelligent souls. God’s loving through sincere, long-suffering love does God truly win our good. persuasion speaks the truth, hearts to freely love him; and in the long run of eternity, it which includes the offensive seems that is how God expands joyfully himself. Might it not request that we change our be so for us? course to a higher one; but after his critique, he acts with such intense love for us that we are persuaded his loyal friendship To comment on this essay, or to read comments by others, visit our will suffer even death for our good, and will even endure after website: PAGE 62 MAY 2003 58-63_a_paul_conflict_FINAL.qxd 5/21/2003 1:49 AM Page 63 SUNSTONE According to LDS understanding, mortality is designed to be ambiguous, to sensus. It leaves room for loyalty to the Church without precise agreement about test our most fundamental desire without God’s obvious presence. Mortal life pro- true interpretations of doctrine. vides us as eternal persons an experience of memory loss whereby we can more Tenth, we believe in continuing charismatic revelation from God to individ- freely choose to become authentically new creatures. God is apparently absent uals; however, we have developed a system of stewardship that keeps order among from the world, but the Holy Spirit quietly “tempts” us to desire to become more the millions of prophets in the Church. Only one prophet is called to receive reve- godlike while the devil and others tempt us to desire to be less. (See Alma 3: lations for the entire community. Our personal communications from God are 26–27.) given for our own stewardship, not for others. We might receive vast knowledge 2. In comparison with other world religions—traditions that emphasize the from God beyond the level of our small stewardship, but that knowledge is for our social solidarity and natural well-being of the community—the Christian em- own expansion and is not to be shared with others. This practical system is one of phasis on individual conversion and immortal salvation is remarkable. Over the the most powerful of all methods to avoid schism. centuries, the individualistic aspects of Christianity eventually infused the mores 4. David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals: Selections from the Discourses of David O. of Western Europe. These mores were compatible with Locke’s concept of inalien- McKay (Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953), 113. able individual rights that became the main doctrine of the United States’ deistic founders. Subsequently, most Americans hold as self-evident truth that individuals have “rights” at birth. It is possible that the American proclivity to distrust com- munity demands over individual demands is also a derivative of the New Testament bias that places the Kingdom of God in a personal friendship in the end of time with Jesus. The priority of salvation in “personal relationship with” Christ trumps more traditional ways which flourish through prosperous relations in fam- ilies, tribes, and nations. (See Matthew 10.) 3. Along with our affirmation of what God has revealed and our continual seeking for more light and knowledge, we Latter-day Saints have several social customs that also allow us to maintain social solidarity in the face of diverse opin- ions. Our customs tend to diffuse our desire for schism by allowing some conflicts to remain unresolved. What are some of these customs? First, and perhaps most important, we as a Church have a preferential bias to- ward recent statements of the living prophet over statements of prior prophets and IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT scriptures. We listen to our prophet in general conference every six months to grasp what God might have revealed to him for our benefit. for Jim Whitten Second, we tend to distrust systematic theology based on rational analysis or historical exegesis of scripture. Requiring God to remain safely defined in a con- ceptual or legal box seems too confining and complete. We cannot purchase cer- In January of the final year tain security. (Here the nominalist bias of our view of freedom shows itself. God of the millennium, bypass surgery simply must be radically free—so free as to be able to disobey or institute new laws.) We prefer homiletics to analytics and tend to seek our inspiration from the left my heartbeat wavering, Holy Spirit in prayer and scripture reading for personal direction in daily action, not for a coherent “once and for all” understanding of the cosmos. Third, we have no professional theologians nor theology schools. Every a winter wound thumping against member is a closet theologian with opinions about the mysteries of the divine my pillow hard enough to make me economy that carry no weight of authority for the Church. Fourth, our lay clergy ensures that our congregational leadership will switch at afraid to sleep, until the young least once every five years. This keeps any particular leader’s view of reality or “how things ought to be” from becoming permanent. The same thing occurs subtly when our prophet dies and another replaces him. Revelation is continu- man with powerful shoulders ously open to reinterpretation based on the changed perspectives of the people said, “If I felt like that, I’d be and the new prophets. Fifth, we have fast and testimony meeting each month in which any of us can kissing my wife every day.” rise to speak from our heart what the Holy Spirit inspires. Here, under the influ- ence of the Spirit, we can prophesy, chastise, or express truth as we see it, yet we have no authority to force the congregation to heed our view. Outside forsythia delivers Sixth, like all lasting faith traditions, we describe our religion as essentially Spring mornings, the goldenrod changeless even as it nimbly changes to meet new demands. Indeed, we talk of prepares underground to brighten God who is the same forever in that he is always worthy of our trust no matter what changes he experiences. road ditches in autumn. Seventh, we preach from the Book of Mormon that contention is of the devil (3 Ne. 11:29). Therefore, the attitude with which we engage differences is crucial. We are urged to maintain soft voices and a gentle tone even when engaging in critical Pileated woodpeckers ratchet reprimands. We believe if humility and love prevail, conflict need not be con- holes in a beech tree we thought tentious. Eighth, we emphasize eternal salvation as an everlasting social experience of was healthy in the expectant hum continual marriage, friendship, kinship, and spiritual/material procreativity, which of late summer and I lie awake, are all interesting activities because of their infinite variety and beauty and their love-expanding results. This implies a need for continuous respectful negotiation my wife’s hip fused to mine of differences in heaven as on earth. This is the practical side of the LDS theological tension between those doctrines that lean toward a convergent rest in an all-is-one Deity and those that lean toward divergent infinitely adventurous Deities. The by body warmth, burning in the early latter, one might suppose, will try to peacefully engage their differences eternally, bloom of a man who already lives where blue or a war between heavens is possible. Ninth, the LDS temple ritual is a social experience of symbols that are engaged evenings meet the mountain granite. mainly by participants in silence. This allows us as individuals to quietly interpret the most important mysteries of godliness in our own way without a forced con- —LARSEN BOWKER MAY 2003 PAGE 63 64-66_c_nielsen_opposites.qxd 5/21/2003 8:51 AM Page 64 SUNSTONE NONSTANDARD DEVIATIONS OPPOSITES IN ALL THINGS By Michael Nielsen IKE MANY OTHERS throughout the Theory supported an attack. A rabbi such as the World Council of Churches and world, I’ve closely watched the news talked—far too glibly, I thought—about the the National Council of Churches also spoke L these past few weeks. As I write, U.S. “Muslim attack on America” and our need to against a U.S.-British invasion. They decried and British soldiers are fighting in Iraq. They retaliate against it. I spoke about beating the reality that “the most powerful nations of seek to carry out the wishes of their leaders swords into plowshares and turning the this world regard war as an acceptable instru- to rid the world of Saddam Hussein, or at other cheek. Such sentiments were not pop- ment of foreign policy.” Among Christians, I least of his influence. ular that day. was most impressed with the statement of As you might guess from my previous In the days leading up to this discussion, I the United Church of Christ, which argued column (SUNSTONE, Dec. 2002), I am disap- had looked for statements by religious that by going to war, “we admit our lack of pointed President Bush and Prime Minister groups or leaders regarding the possibility of commitment to use other means to resolve Blair decided the time for diplomacy had run war. I had found an interesting article, human conflict. It is a resounding ‘no’ to out. I’m not convinced they put an earnest “Statements on War by Religious Institutions God’s eternal ‘yes’ to humanity,” as well as effort into seeking a diplomatic solution. and Leaders” in the Atlanta Journal- with Pope John Paul II’s strong declaration: Bush seems to have much more of a “my way Constitution, the largest newspaper in my “No to war! War is not always inevitable. It is or the highway” attitude toward international area, that compiled twenty-nine statements. always a defeat for humanity.” Yet despite diplomacy than I prefer in my president. I Of those, twenty-five were against the rush to such pleas from religious leaders, and com- love my country and think that there is much war, two were basically noncommittal in pletely disregarding the voices of millions to admire about the United States of their position, and two favored the war.1 throughout the world who demonstrated in America, but I worry we are on a course that, Those cited as favoring the war were support of further attempts at diplomacy, instead of preventing conflicts, will lead to Rabbi Jerome Epstein, head of the United U.S. and British forces attacked. more. I am disappointed in what seems to be Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and In the course of my search for statements the U.S.’s new doctrine of international rela- Richard Land, president of the Ethics and by religious figures regarding the impending tions—attacking if we feel a threat, rather Religious Liberty Commission of the war, I looked for LDS pronouncements. than if we are attacked. This approach seems Southern Baptist Convention. Epstein argued Would the Church of Jesus Christ take a not only out of step with the gospel, but also that “history has also taught us that, at times, stand on the issue of the pending war?2 It with the standard of fairness upon which our those who seek peace must fight for peace,” turns out that the answer to my question was justice system is based. A comic strip sums it while Land’s point was that “the resort to no. And almost. up for me: Two men are in jail, talking about lethal force, authorized by a legitimate au- No, the Church did not issue a statement why they are there. One explains, “So, long thority, is sometimes the price human beings about the possibility of war with Iraq, at least story short, it turns out for the rest of us that have to pay for living in a moral universe.” not about whether it might be a “just” or a ‘pre-emptive strike’ is ‘felonious assault.’” Those opposing the war, or at least urging morally defensible war. It seemed to me that U.S. and British leaders to delay an attack such a position might be defended from the FEW weeks before the U.S. and and try further diplomatic efforts, ranged Book of Mormon story of Nephi’s slaying of British invasion, I was invited to par- from Unitarian Universalist Association Laban. From this story, one could argue that A ticipate in a panel discussion on the President William Sinkford, who said “The one leader’s death may at times be necessary possibility of war in Iraq. The discussion was question in this difficult discussion must be for the greater good that many people could part of the campus “People of Faith” week, more than simply, ‘Do we go to war?’ Raw thereafter live more righteously. But, to be and we were explicitly encouraged to allow power cannot heal those wounds hidden in honest, this has never been one of my fa- our positions to reflect personal religious the human heart that lead us to conflict,” to vorite stories, nor have I been convinced that views. From the outset, it was clear that mine the Muslim American Society, which urged the utilitarian ethic it implies is very often the was a minority voice that day, not only be- “all peace-loving people and nations to do best way to judge between competing cause I was the sole Mormon but also be- everything in their power to avoid war, and choices. Still, if Latter-day Saints were in- cause I opposed an invasion. A conservative resolve all pending issues through peaceful clined to invoke this story, it might be well- Christian spoke about his experience in the means.” suited to a pro-war stance in this instance military and how he believed Just War Interdenominational Christian groups, where the stated objectives of the war are to bring about regime change in order to facili- MICHAEL NIELSEN has a doctorate in psychology and teaches at Georgia Southern tate Iraqi freedom. University in Statesboro, Georgia. Most of his research focuses on psychological aspects of The “almost” answer to my question came religious life, and his website PAGE 64 MAY 2003 64-66_c_nielsen_opposites.qxd 5/21/2003 8:51 AM Page 65 SUNSTONE How we might meet the needs of adults with grown-up concerns if we constantly self-censor our thoughts and keep silent our earnest questions? his “personal feelings” and “personal loyalties ciples of the enforced religion may be.”3 If concern for their future but was geared to- in the present situation.” He spoke of the this was true when the world faced Hitler’s ward parents, especially those “who may be complicated world in which we live and in fascism, would it not also be true in the face given to cynicism or skepticism, who in mat- which the Church operates. Invoking the of Hussein’s dictatorship? ters of whole-souled devotion always seem to justification of “defend[ing] your families But, as President Hinckley stated, “there is hang back a little. . . .” His goal is to warn even unto bloodshed” (Alma 43:47) on the opportunity for dissent” regarding the war. parents to not show through speech or ac- one hand, and the commandment to “re- And I was particularly touched by his state- tions their doubts or questions to their chil- nounce war and proclaim peace” (D&C ment that “we can give our opinions on the dren, lest they cause them to stumble and 98:16) on the other, President Hinckley’s merits of the situation as we see it, but never mistake their holding back for a lack of faith message put us in some ways in a position let us become a party to words or works of in Jesus Christ, the Restoration, or divine much like that of Adam and Eve in the evil concerning our brothers and sisters in guidance in the Church today. I agree that Garden of Eden, faced with apparently con- various nations on one side or the other. yes, some things are not for children’s ears tradictory commandments. Can we be Political differences never justify hatred or ill and eyes. Learning and development are fruitful and multiply, while refraining from will.” Truer words were never spoken. slow, continuing processes, and the ability the forbidden fruit? Can we defend our fami- The fact that President Hinckley sug- even to understand existential questions is lies while we renounce war? I am grateful to gests that it is fine for Latter-day Saints to beyond young children. His caution that we President Hinckley for his candor as he ad- disagree with his or our neighbors’ inter- as parents should never “lead a child, . . . mitted the difficulties we face as individuals pretations and positions on the Iraqi war re- even inadvertently, away from faithfulness, trying to make moral choices, as well as the minds me of Eugene England’s call for us to away from loyalty and bedrock belief simply difficulty our Church leaders face as we move appreciate the way the Church forces us to because we want to be clever or indepen- from being a regional church to being a more reach beyond our comfort zones, to interact dent” is a very important message.4 Doing international one. Some of my feelings and with people who see things somewhat dif- such is the sin of pride, for such motives seek positions differ from his, but honest discus- ferently than we do. Indeed, he put so only to build up oneself without regard for sion of issues is always constructive. much value in this idea, he argued that this the effect on others. This is hardly a moral alone is “why the Church is as true as the thing to do. N this spirit of offering honest, per- gospel”—that we can’t fully live the gospel Yet, I’m left to wonder what Elder sonal feelings, I confess I am uncon- without living in full brotherly and sisterly Holland’s answer would be about how we I vinced that the example of Alma is as association with others. It is precisely this might meet the needs of adults with grown- relevant to the present situation in Iraq as is fact—that our church accomplishes so much up concerns if we constantly self-censor our the call in the Doctrine and Covenants. good through opportunities it gives us to in- thoughts and keep silent our earnest ques- Perhaps it is because I am more persuaded teract with and serve others we may or may tions? After all, we cannot know the sweet by the message of D&C 98:23, which sug- not agree with—that underlies my confusion without knowing the bitter. How can we gests that reacting with force and violence is about one of the other April conference talks. truly understand faith without knowing permissible but less desirable than re- doubt? fraining from violence or retaliation. I also N fairness, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland took For me, faith and doubt are in constant question the Bush administration’s goal of on a very difficult topic. His message was contact with each other, like the two sides of establishing a new form of government in I motivated by his love for children and a coin. Wouldn’t a coin cease to be what it is Iraq. Although I would like to see benevolent governments throughout the world, is it possible to accomplish this by force? Elder David O. McKay, speaking as a member of the Twelve during the first general conference following the U.S. entrance into World War II, warned against this: “Nor is war justified in an attempt to enforce a new order of government or even to impel others to a particular form of worship, however better the gov- ernment or eternally true the prin- JOEL KAUFFMANN MAY 2003 PAGE 65 64-66_c_nielsen_opposites.qxd 5/21/2003 8:51 AM Page 66 SUNSTONE if it had only “heads” or “tails”? If my sense of is our response, which may move toward ei- December as I attended a funeral for a dear taste only detected “sweet,” would the things ther despair or hope. When faced with disap- friend. One of the most generous and kind I taste remain “sweet”? If it is true, as Elder pointments of any kind, which do we select? men I had ever met had died in a senseless Holland says, that in the Church “there is no We may have strong reasons for despair. In traffic accident when another driver de- place for coercion or manipulation, no place the case of the war, many people around the cided to take off her coat while traveling at for intimidation or hypocrisy,” then where is world are troubled by the implications of seventy miles per hour. Her car crossed a the room for honest doubt and genuine U.S. policies. They also are shocked by the median, and my friend was gone in an questions? pictures U.S. media does not show, images of instant. The call to balance our faith with the de- children whose mangled and charred bodies As my family and I drove the many miles mands of our rational mind seems impor- cry out against war. As Gandhi said, “what to attend the funeral, we were reminded re- tant; it feels right to me. I don’t know how difference does it make to the dead, the or- peatedly of reasons that it made sense to be well the analogy of the way our senses work phans, and the homeless, whether the mad hopeful—the generosity of people from years can be extended to this area, but if there is destruction is wrought under the name of to- ago when we lived in Illinois, the many kind- much similarity between the two, then per- talitarianism or the holy name of liberty and nesses offered by strangers who later became haps it is instructive to note that senses de- democracy?”6 Indeed, despair would seem close friends. However, our strongest re- prived of opposition may lose their ability entirely understandable in response to such minder to hope came when we learned a to function properly. For example, in classic inhumanity. niece had been born nearby, in Iowa. It research on vision, cats were placed in a And yet, I believe hope is the better seemed somehow appropriate to us that the limited environment—a room that had choice. Despair is debilitating. Instead of loss of one person was paired, in a sense, only vertical stripes. After the cats extended progress, despair promises only stagnation. with the birth of a new life. period of time in that room, the researchers Ultimately, if despair is our primary re- Death and birth. War and peace. Doubt recorded the cats’ brain activity while ex- sponse, we may as well reach the conclusion and faith. Despair and hope. Opposites are posing them to both vertical and horizontal expressed on a coffee mug I once saw: “Life inherently connected to each other. Neither stripes. When the cats viewed the vertical sucks. And then you die.” Really, what would we, nor our children, can understand one stripes, their brain cells responded with in- be the point of any kind of positive action? without the other. creased activity—a normal response. But One of Mormonism’s central philosophies when they saw the horizontal stripes, the is that people can change. We can grow, even To comment on this essay or read com- brain cells showed negligible response. The if only in small steps and one line at a time. ments by others, please visit our web- experience of viewing only one type of We can improve as we interact with others site: PAGE 66 MAY 2003 67-69_c_burton_borderlands.qxd 5/21/2003 1:50 AM Page 67 SUNSTONE but just don’t get the media play or stick in our collective LDS subconscious the way our our home-grown extremists do. BRAVING THE BORDERLANDS . . . In this column, I explore a couple of questions. First, among those who move be- yond the LDS Borderlands, why do a few be- come religious zealots, extremists, or even ON BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS outlaws? Second, what might we do to avoid such outcomes? Reviewing the history of a few recent extremists might offer some an- By D. Jeff Burton swers to both questions. A GREAT DEAL of attention has been paid recently to the Elizabeth Smart abduction story and her dramatic recovery. Brian David Mitchell, who upon leaving the Borderlands morphed into “David Emmanuel Isaiah,” is FIGURE 1. GROUPS IN THE LDS ORBIT an extreme example of someone whose 1—CORE MEMBERS: true believers, unwaveringly journey beyond Mormonism was full of tur- supportive, the acceptable. moil and mental instability. By all accounts 2—BORDERLANDS MEMBERS: those who consider Mitchell was once a card-carrying, Group 1 themselves faithful to and part of the Church but don’t fit comfortably in Group 1. Mormon. But he developed personal prob- 3—MEMBERS-OF-RECORD ONLY: non-participa- lems with the Church that somehow could tors, non-believers, non-supporters. not be overcome with help from his friends, DOTS—previous members, prior investigators, and family, routine prayer, nor common sense. non-LDS family members. Eventually, as we know too well, Mitchell came to see himself as above and beyond all other members, including the Prophet him- self. Although he was excommunicated from N MY FIRST column, I introduced the on, most seem eventually to regain a sense of the Church, he still considered himself to be concept of the “Borderland” member. A peace and find various pathways to a happy an important part of the latter-day I Borderlander could be someone who life and a connection to divinity. Others Restoration initiated by Joseph Smith. holds an unusual but LDS-compatible out- struggle for a long time—the individual sto- Mitchell had several traits common with look on life, a distinctive way of thinking ries of people in Group 3 and beyond are as others who have become Restoration-related about faith, belief, and testimony, a different varied as people’s faces. Unfortunately, a few fanatics. He believed that God was working view of LDS history, questions about a partic- fly wildly into extreme and fanatical situa- solely through him, that all who disagreed ular aspect of the Church, reduced or modi- tions that are not good for them or anyone with him were wrong, that converting people fied activity, or feelings that they somehow associated with them. to his way of thinking was important, that don’t meet Group 1 acceptability criteria. If we were to rank-order all those associ- “lost” parts of the gospel were to be restored Statistics hint that as many as 80 percent of ated with the Church according to “Mormon through him (e.g., polygamy, blood atone- those baptized worldwide either leave the zeal” we might find a normal distribution ment), and that breaking the law was accept- Church, are asked out, or move to Group 3 curve something like that shown in Figure 2. able in pursuit of his goals. (or beyond) during their lifetime. A few in- Note that Group 1 members typically lie to habit the Borderlands, hoping to keep their the right of the “norm” since, as noted, most CHRISTOPHER FINK’S EXPERIENCE is Church affiliations alive. LDS members do not participate regularly. also instructive. He fled the Borderlands, and As readers of past columns may have sur- However, Group 1 folks are not the most following a revelation he received in 1998, mised, my hope is for all who question their zealous: those I will refer to as extremists or eventually tried to form his own movement. Mormonism to sojourn in the Borderlands fanatics.1 Like Mitchell, Fink received revelation “for until they have thoughtfully and prayerfully Does Mormonism spawn more than its the Church,” criticized LDS leaders, tried to determined their best course for the future. I share of religious extremists? Most of us will convert people to his thinking, and eventu- have seen some jump directly from Group 1 recall non-Mormon outliers like Jim Jones ally broke the law. Unfortunately, his strange to Group 3 or beyond, and a few who jump and David Koresh, but are there a propor- dietary beliefs almost resulted in the starva- right off a cliff into the dangerous shoals tionate number of extreme Jews or Catholics? tion of his twenty-month-old baby. After below. Those who take the time to carefully We regularly hear of Latter-day Saints who fleeing the police and a society that rejected evaluate their situations while in the feel they are called to be the Prophet. Are his extreme views, he was eventually caught Borderlands often determine that returning there Catholic extremists who routinely de- and sentenced to jail for child abuse. to Group 1 or staying in the Borderlands is mand to be Pope? Do fanatical Jews regularly How did it come to this? The young the best course of action for themselves and pop up claiming to be the Messiah? I’m not Christopher Fink began going with his their families. Among those who do move certain there are not, for perhaps they exist mother to the Mormon church after she sep- arated from her husband in 1983. She and D. JEFF BURTON is an author and a member of the Sunstone Board of Trustees. her husband later divorced, and she took MAY 2003 PAGE 67 67-69_c_burton_borderlands.qxd 5/21/2003 1:50 AM Page 68 SUNSTONE able to communicate directly with Deity, when it runs amok, might be the major con- tributor to the creation of LDS extremists . It is difficult to know with any precision GROUP 1 whether it was mental or emotional prob- ROUP lems versus theological or doctrinal disagree- G 3 ments that led the foregoing Saints’ to break NUMBERS with the Church and fall into fanaticism. So OF PEOPLE in what follows, I will focus instead on the issue of someone’s religious maturity. This is a more general category, but one with greater EXTREMISTS potential helping us understand how we might help others steer clear of extremism or avoid becoming extremists ourselves. In 1981, James W. Fowler wrote an en- lightening book that may offer some clues. In Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human ZEAL Development and the Quest for Meaning, Fowler suggests we may all be grouped into Figure 2 one of six “faith stages” through which we move as we mature.2 According to Fowler, Christopher to live in Salt Lake City. By all nicated from the Church because of their personal faith (perhaps including “testi- accounts, Fink was active in the Church and criticisms of its policies, doctrines, and lead- mony” in LDS thought) is a continuum, a true believer. His beliefs turned extreme in ership. Again, both at one time had been stretching like a series of slopes and plateaus 1995 when he broke with the Church over considered regular Mormons. Ron claims to from sea level to the misty heights of the its policy of accepting the option of abortion have served in three bishoprics. tallest mountains, with six grand steppes in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the Why did it happen? There are no defini- where people tend to congregate. Fowler has mother. Fink created a website that promised tive answers, but their rapid journeys beyond found that few people inhabit the final two "plain truth in regard to all things" and criti- the Borderlands apparently began with their stages, to the last of which he assigns such cized modern-day Mormonism as too lax. excessive interest in polygamy. persons as Jesus Christ, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. However, Fowler’s first four faith IN ANOTHER CASE, Cody Judy jumped on- ONE OF THE most notorious and extreme stages are crowded. And Latter-day Saints of stage at a 1993 BYU fireside devotional and acts of LDS zealotry occurred in 1978 when all shades will recognize themselves and held Apostle Howard W. Hunter hostage. another “Immanuel David” (apparently pop- others on one of the plateaus, or struggling Thousands of student attendees saw Judy ular cult names, reversed in this case) killed up the rocky trails between stages. carrying a briefcase he claimed held a bomb. himself. The next day, his wife threw their Stage One faith is a fantasy-filled, initi- Judy demanded that Elder Hunter read a seven children and herself off the tenth floor ating phase, usually experienced only in letter proclaiming Judy the new president of of a downtown Salt Lake City hotel. Motives early childhood, where a person is perma- the Church. Elder Hunter refused, and the for her suicide and murder of her children nently influenced by the examples, moods, nervous crowd sang hymns during a ten- are not entirely clear, but one surmises stories, and symbols of visible belief systems. minute standoff that ended when a group of Rachel David was obeying her husband’s di- The taboos, participatory habits, cultural ex- students rushed the podium and subdued rective. pectations, and symbolisms of the religion Judy. He was arrested and sentenced to fif- are formed at this stage. Fowler’s description teen years in prison but was released in ASED on these stories, and returning of an adult stuck in Stage One faith will be 2000. to my first question—“Why do some recognized by many LDS people (but with How did this young man become a fa- B Mormons become religious zealots uneasiness): natic? Again, the answers are not entirely and extremists?”—some common threads in For every child whose significant clear but seem to be related to emotional or their personal histories appear to be broken others shared religion in ways that mental health problems. In an interview with homes, unreasonable fear, feelings of not proved life-opening and sustaining KSL-TV, Judy said the incident was an aberra- being accepted by the group, religious frus- of love, faith, and courage, there tion caused by temporary depression over tration, mental instability, and personal must be at least one other for personal problems. He eventually accepted rigidity. Another commonality is problems whom the introduction of religion, parole to a halfway house, agreeing to com- with Church authority and control. Some while equally powerful, gave rise to plete a mental illness treatment program. cannot submit to authority while others, like fear, rigidity, and the brutalization those who blindly follow the zealots, seem to of souls. . . . [This often results] in RON AND DAN Lafferty became well known desire to be completely controlled. the emergence of an adult with a to Utahns in 1984 when they ritualistically Another reason Mormonism may hatch very rigid, brittle and authoritarian murdered Dan’s sister-in-law Brenda and her extremists is because of its unique and won- religious personality.3 baby daughter. Both embraced “blood atone- derful principle that Latter-day Saints have In Stage Two, a person—again usually ment” and are now in prison for acting on the ability to receive revelation for them- during his or her youth—moves beyond that bizarre belief. Both had been excommu- selves. This Restoration teaching that we are Stage One and appropriates stories, morals, PAGE 68 MAY 2003 67-69_c_burton_borderlands.qxd 5/21/2003 1:50 AM Page 69 SUNSTONE and symbols into his or her life but usually in scribing Stage Five, Fowler uses such ideal- 3. Ibid., 132. a one-dimensional, literal way. Beliefs are in- istic descriptors as “alive to the paradox and 4. Fowler suggests most “faith communities” es- corporated into life with literal interpreta- truth of contradictions . . . unifies opposites tablish limits as to how far up the faith stage ladder it expects its members to climb. Patterns of nurture and tions, as are moral codes and attitudes. in mind and experience . . . commitment to instruction prepare children and youth to grow up to Sacred and historical “stories” become a justice is freed from the confines of class, na- the acceptable stage—but not beyond it. This level of major means of giving unity and value to ex- tion, religion, and community.” Stage Six is development becomes a sort of “center of gravity” that perience. Adults who never move past Stage said to be characterized by “perfect love, lack encourages those below it to reach up while at the Two see the world as based on reciprocal fair- of division, universalizing faith, being heed- same time discouraging others from moving beyond ness and justice: blessings are predicated on less of threats to self,” and other idealizations. it. And converts are attracted to various churches obedience; misfortunes derive from sin; life is So what might we do to avoid the creation based on their acceptable developmental level. Fowler writes that most organized religious groups in a formula. The inherent limitations of literal- of LDS fanatics? If we can trust Fowler’s stages the United States adopt Stage Three as the acceptable ness and excessive reliance upon reciprocity approach, we might help avoid future ex- ceiling level. This would also appear to be true of The as a principle for constructing an ultimate tremists and fanatics (at least in our own Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. environment can result either in an over-con- families and wards) when we assist our chil- 5. For Stephen’s story, see “Explorations of trolling, stilted perfectionism, or in their op- dren and others to move through at least to Openness,” SUNSTONE (Dec. 2002): 56–59. posite—an abasing sense of badness Stage Three while they are becoming young embraced because of mistreatment, neglect, adults. Then if they find themselves in the or the apparent disfavor of significant others. Borderlands or beyond, they may have a Some traits attributed to adults caught in better chance for a suitable, positive out- Fowler’s first two faith stages certainly reflect come. Perhaps more generally as a church, behavior of the LDS zealots described earlier. we could avoid the “loss” of some members if Stage Three is characteristic of many loyal Stage Four members were more readily Group 1 Church members. Its structure is in- accepted into Group 1. Unfortunately, in the fluenced strongly by interpersonal relation- minds of many Group 1 members, a Stage ships. It is a “conformist” stage wherein Four faith seems unacceptable, frightening, persons are acutely tuned into the expecta- and even threatening. As we discussed in ear- tions and judgments of others. The Stage lier columns, Borderlanders also share some Three person has adopted a cluster of beliefs of the responsibility for making themselves and values but rarely reflects on or examines better understood, and therefore less chal- them as a system. They are the water she lenging, to those within Group 1. Perhaps swims in, the lenses through which she views approaches and descriptions like Fowler’s LEAVING and judges the world. Authority rests in categories can be valuable in this area as worthy others such as parents and church well.4 Who can breathe such a word! leaders. Stage Three persons have achieved a Its letters are the same comfortable outlook and strong personal WILL explore the possibilities of sus- identity. taining an acceptable Stage Four per- that have always dried to stone Stage Four faith is characterized by the I sonal LDS religion in a future column. In tensions of (1) group definition vs. individu- my next column, I will update “Stephen’s” ality, (2) subjectivity and unexamined feel- love story and share some of your responses —it’s not easy to drown, the throat ings vs. objectivity and critical self-reflection, to his dilemma.5 coats with soot: a gutted raft (3) living for others vs. the quest for self-ful- that is not a cliff, drifts fillment, (4) the importance of absolutism vs. the uncertainty of relativism, and (5) the Please send me any of your willingness to live by faith. In Stage Four, re- thoughts, experiences, or tales as if its name was broken off ligious symbols lose their literalness and are from life in the Borderlands. translated into conceptual meanings. The —just Goodbye, the word D. Jeff Burton self, no longer sustained mostly by others, doesn’t have you to hold close adopts an independence in reactions, inter- 2974 So. Oakwood Dr. pretations, and judgments of external and in- Bountiful, Utah 84010 ternal events. Authority and responsibility MAY 2003 PAGE 69 70-71_c_olaiz_image of christ.qxd 5/21/2003 8:52 AM Page 70 SUNSTONE MORMON MEDIA IMAGE “OUR JESUS IS YOUR JESUS” NEW DVD PRESENTS REASSURINGLY FAMILIAR IMAGES OF CHRIST By Hugo Olaiz ATTER-DAY SAINT FILMMAKERS “specific direction about how the film should duce etchings by Doré and other paintings have typically been reticent to depict ‘depict [Jesus Christ] in ways that by Bloch, James Tissot, and Clark Kelley L Jesus. In Man’s Search for Happiness, [Christians] understand and in ways that are Price. we see Christ’s pierced hands but never his familiar to them.’” Merrill was promised, by face. In The First Vision, we get dazzle-blurred blessing, “that [he] would find the right HE Jesus of Finding Faith in Christ de- glimpses of a white-bearded Son who looks person to play the Savior.” picts the attitude LDS men are taught exactly like the Father. And, in the late The actor who plays the part of Jesus is T to emulate: dignified but not solemn; 1980s, when LDS leaders wanted to make Danish LDS convert Tomas Kofod—a mean- sensitive but not effeminate. This is a Jesus available a film about Jesus, they simply pro- ingful choice on two levels. On the one hand, who can smile, hold children, and even play moted someone else’s depiction of Christ— both Hollywood and LDS artists have canon- with a butterfly. But it is also a Jesus who can an evangelical production called Illustrated ized an Anglo-Saxon, not Semitic, command the storm to be still and Scriptures: The Book of Luke. image of Jesus. On the other, the lame to rise and walk. All this has changed. With the April issue Kofod’s national origin re- Above all, it is a masculine of the Ensign, subscribers in the United Sates, inforces the connection Jesus—a Jesus who walks Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and with some of the neo- with vigor on dusty New Zealand received a DVD copy of Finding classical European roads and greets his Faith in Christ, a new film depicting events in artists the Church disciples with a strong the life of the Savior. The film is intended to has been celebrating handclap on the reach not only members of the Church but for years: Bertel shoulder. also non-LDS audiences. Thorvaldsen and Some hints of LDS “The film has been prepared to coincide Carl Heinrich theology aside (i.e., a with an eastern television advertising cam- Bloch. greater emphasis on paign in North America directed toward “The images of Jesus’ atonement at those who are not members of the Church,” classic Christian art, Gethsemane instead of explains the Ensign article. “Viewers are in- the paintings of Karl on the cross; focus on a vited to ‘ask a Mormon neighbor’ for a free Block [sic] and the etch- resurrected, living Jesus), copy. The DVD can be given away or loaned, ings of Gustave Doré came Finding Faith in Christ is a sig- or you can invite others into your home to into my mind and became the in- nificant development in LDS efforts watch it.” spiration for the visual depiction of Christ,” toward proclaiming an orthodox Jesus. To Among other things, Finding Faith in Merrill wrote for Meridian magazine. But the multitude of folks who still ask, “Do Christ includes many clips from the LDS-pro- Merrill goes one step beyond a mere sugges- Mormons believe in Christ?” this movie an- duced movie, The Testaments of One Fold and tion of a classic Jesus; in Testaments, he actu- swers with an emphatic, “Yes—And our Jesus One Shepherd, which represents the Church’s ally recreates classic depictions of is the same as yours!” most ambitious attempt to date to present an Jesus—some ten scenes that are faithful, Perhaps unique among Church media image of Jesus that looks familiar to both LDS tableaux-like reproductions of works of art campaigns, this film preaches virtually and non-LDS audiences. familiar to much of the Christian world. nothing distinctively LDS. It has no depiction The directive to The Testament’s film- Thus, when Jesus heals a blind man, the cos- of Christ’s visit to ancient America, no scrip- makers to choose a conventional representa- tume design, the backdrop, and the actors’ tural citations from outside the Bible, and tion of Jesus came from President Gordon B. poses all come from Bloch’s Christ Healing the only a brief, muted reference to the Hinckley, who gave director Kieth Merrill Blind Man. Other scenes in the film repro- Restoration (a caption at the very end of the film that declares the resurrected Christ “has reached out to restore His gospel today”). HUGO OLAIZ is news editor for SUNSTONE. At a time when approximately 50 per- cent of U.S. households own a DVD player, PAGE 70 MAY 2003 70-71_c_olaiz_image of christ.qxd 5/21/2003 8:52 AM Page 71 SUNSTONE Left: Carl Bloch’s painting, Christ Healing; Above, same scene from the new Church DVD, Finding Faith in Christ. Finding Faith in Christ is also a sign of how Del Parson’s quintessentially Mormon por- Latter-day Saints have, after all, made our far the Church is willing to go in applying trait of “the red-robed Christ” was replaced copies of Thorvaldsen’s Christus more fa- new technologies and using the media to with a more universally recognizable mous than the original. Could the imitation convey its message. “For the first time,” says painting by Heinrich Hofmann. This same of classic art in Finding Faith in Christ be the Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of Hofmann painting is displayed at multiple cinematic equivalent to James E. Talmage’s the Twelve, “we are combining the power of locations in the recently renovated visitors heavy borrowing from Frederick W. Farrar members and missionaries with media to centers in Temple Square and figures and Alfred Edersheim as he composed Jesus help the world understand what we know prominently on “Articles of Faith” book- the Christ, or Bruce R. McConkie’s reliance on about the Savior.” marks distributed to visitors. the same Victorian authors in his Mortal The effort to present a Jesus that will Messiah series? When Mormons recycle look familiar to non-LDS audiences can be OW are we to interpret this new Christian classics, are we validating aspects of seen in other recent Church media as well. Mormon fascination with repro- mainstream Christian tradition—or are we About two years ago, in missionary editions H ducing classic representations of using that tradition in an attempt to validate of the Book of Mormon in all languages, Christ? Through LDS visitors centers, we ourselves? Left: Carl Bloch’s painting, Christ Healing by the Well of Bethesda; Right, same scene from the new Church DVD, Finding Faith in Christ MAY 2003 PAGE 71 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:52 AM Page 72 SUNSTONE UPDATE CHURCH REACTS TO ELIZABETH SMART’S PRESIDENT HINCKLEY ADDRESSES RETURN AND ABDUCTOR’S ARREST CONTRADICTIONS OF WAR AND PEACE IN A STORY that has captured the world media’s attention for DURING THE APRIL 2003 General Conference, LDS President almost a year, 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart was safely recov- Gordon B. Hinckley stated that “we are to renounce war and pro- ered on 12 March 2003, nine months after being abducted at claim peace” but went on knifepoint from her Salt Lake home. “I thank my Heavenly to express his support for Father,” said Elizabeth’s father, the war against Iraq. “In a Ed Smart, the day after the re- democracy, we can re- covery. “I have a stronger testi- nounce war and proclaim mony than ever that He lives, peace,” said President. that He cares about each of Hinckley. “[But] there are us.” In a rare move, the LDS times and circumstances Church News made the Smart when nations are justi- case the lead story for the 15 fied, in fact have an oblig- President Gordon B. Hinckley addresses March issue, with a photo of ation to fight for family, General Conference on the Iraqi war Elizabeth and her parents on for liberty, and against the cover. A press release by tyranny, threat, and oppression.” Elizabeth Smart the First Presidency expresses Quoting from chapters 43 and 46 of Alma, President. “thanks for the prayers and Hinckley likened the current U.S.-led war against Iraq with the help of many people who have sought Elizabeth since her dis- Nephites’ defense of their religion and liberty. “We are a appearance.” freedom-loving people,” he said, “committed to the defense of The alleged abductor, Brian David Mitchell, is a former stake liberty wherever it is in jeopardy. . . . It may even be that [God] high councilor and temple worker who eventually became a will hold us responsible if we try to impede or hedge up the street preacher and self-proclaimed prophet. Within twenty- way of those who are involved in a contest with forces of evil four hours after Mitchell’s arrest, LDS officials issued a press re- and repression.” lease clarifying that One of the strongest criticisms of President Hinckley’s re- Mitchell had been previ- marks comes from University of Utah professor Ed Firmage, ously excommunicated, who argues the defensive wars justified in the Book of along with his wife Wanda Mormon are very different from the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In a Barzee, for pursuing letter published in the 24 April Salt Lake City Weekly, Firmage “bizarre teachings and a writes: “Mormon, or Moroni . . . took up arms to defend their lifestyle far afield from the own land and their own people who were under assault. . . . teachings of the Church.” When this was departed from, [these prophets] denounced Police sources believe their own people and prepared to die.” Mitchell may have ab- Of Mormon attitudes toward war, BYU professor Ronald W. ducted Elizabeth in order Walker has observed that historically: “LDS leaders . . . have fol- to fulfill a revelation com- lowed a generally consistent path. Scripturally conservative and manding him to take ‘other-worldly’ in stressing personal salvation, they have usually plural wives. According pursued restraint in their own conflicts while supporting the to a story in the Salt Lake AP FILE PHOTO bearing of arms in national wars” (in The New Mormon History, Tribune, Mitchell married Brian David Mitchell D. Michael Quinn, ed. [Salt Lake: Signature Books: 1992], Elizabeth as a plural wife 290). in a ceremony performed at the foothill camp above Salt Lake Last October, the Church issued a rare statement rebutting City where the teen was being held. Just hours after the story a perception that Elder Russell M. Nelson’s October 2002 unfolded, LDS Public Affairs personnel mobilized to remind General Conference sermon, “Blessed Are the Peacemakers,” the media that the Church does not endorse polygamy. was an anti-war talk (SUNSTONE, Dec. 2002, 75). When Elizabeth Smart was abducted on 5 June 2002, many ward members and neighbors participated in search parties DURING GENERAL CONFERENCE, that missed by only a few hundred feet the camp where the RAIN—AND PROTESTERS— teen was being held. Over the months, the Smarts’ stake center in the Federal Heights neighborhood became a familiar back- FALL ON TEMPLE SQUARE drop as national and international media converged in Salt IN A LIVE version of a classic Cal Grondahl cartoon, many Lake City to cover the story. April 2003 General Conference-goers used umbrellas to pro- PAGE 72 MAY 2003 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:52 AM Page 73 SUNSTONE tect themselves from both rain and protesters as they waited in line outside the LDS Conference Center. The first General Conference since a federal court ruled the LDS Temple Square plaza to be public space turned out to be one of the coldest, dampest weekends in LDS conference history. It was also one of the most tense, with Latter-day Saints and anti-Mormons “anxiously en- gaged” in exercising free speech rights. Tired of hearing a Baptist group attack the LDS faith, Provo resident Peter Larsen and a group of friends en- gaged in a “yelling match” with the Baptists and sang “God Bless America” and “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,” in an attempt to muffle Baptists’ shouts and hymns. Travis Dlobies, from Syracuse, went to Temple Square to protest the protesters—sometimes with comical results. As the Salt Lake Tribune reports, one humorous moment came after a rather large man Ronald Young speaks with reporters after his release as an yelled to the conference-goers, “You are going to hell Iraqi prisoner of war. Inset: Young shown on Iraqi TV following his capture unless you repent,” to which Dlobies yelled back, “And you can go to McDonald’s and buy a hamburger or CHURCH BUYS DOWNTOWN MALL you can eat fat-free food at Subway and lose 100 pounds like Jared.” Despite the signs, chants, and heckling, no se- WORRIED ABOUT A potentially rundown downtown Salt rious incidents were reported nor arrests made. Lake City, LDS officials announced the Church’s purchase of Some conference attendees felt the frigid weather was God- the Crossroads Plaza mall directly south of Temple Square. sent, as it may have discouraged more protesters from showing This purchase adds to the Church’s already significant down- up. Of a hundred or so demonstrators expected, only a town holdings, which include the ZCMI Center and the Inn at handful actually appeared on the plaza. Temple Square, the mall parking lot on West Temple, and the For the first time in Church history, people had to pass Key Bank Tower on the corner of South and Main. through metal detectors in order to gain conference admission. “We need to make certain those blocks [next to Temple Square] remain vital in every way,” said Bishop H. David LDS CASUALTIES, POW, IN IRAQI WAR Burton, the Church’s presiding bishop. “That’s what really prompted us [to buy the mall]. We bought an insurance policy AT LEAST THREE LDS soldiers have died in Iraq, and a to make sure the vitality of the blocks will remain.” fourth has been rescued after spending three weeks as a The Church plans to launch an ambitious redevelopment of prisoner of war. LDS fatalities include Navy Lt. Nathan D. 15 acres of mall that includes the ZCMI Center and Crossroads White, of Mesa, Arizona, whose fighter jet was apparently Plaza. The plan could include more street-level shops, offices, shot down by a Patriot missile, and Marine Staff Sgt. James and family entertainment-oriented businesses. Cawley, from Roy, Utah, who was killed in a Humvee acci- Some observers suspect that Church policies requiring dent during combat. Both White and Cawley had served stores on its property to close on Sunday may cool the interest missions in Japan, married Japanese nationals, and leave be- of big-name retailers. Current Crossroads tenant, Nordstrom, hind wives and children. had previously announced plans to relocate to Salt Lake’s LDS fatalities also include Chief Warrant Officer John Gateway Center and has stated that the Church’s purchase of Darren “J.D.” Smith, of Taylorsville, Utah, whose Black the mall will not affect that decision. Hawk helicopter went down in a sandstorm in the Kuwaiti “We feel we have a compelling responsibility to protect the desert. Smith had been stationed in Italy, where he had ear- environment of the Salt Lake Temple,” said President Gordon lier served an LDS mission, and leaves behind a wife and B. Hinckley during General Conference. “The property needs two daughters. very extensive and expensive renovation. We have felt it im- Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., was one of perative to do something to revitalize this area. But I wish to seven POWs whose photographs were taken by Iraqi authori- give the entire Church the assurance that tithing funds have ties and broadcast around the world. Young’s Apache heli- not and will not be used to acquire this property. Nor will they copter went down 24 March during a combat mission south of be used in developing it for commercial purposes.” Baghdad. After bring captured, beaten, and taken to Iraqi au- In a similar move, the Church also bought most of the thorities, he was rescued south of Tikrit on 13 April. Ronald block north of the Ogden Temple. According to LDS and his wife Kaye Young belong to the Lithia Springs Ward in spokesman Dale Bills, Church leaders have not yet decided the Powder Springs Georgia Stake. how they will develop the Ogden land. MAY 2003 PAGE 73 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:53 AM Page 74 SUNSTONE People audience of students and faculty at Utah Valley State College. “And one of the main messages of the New Testament is that DECEASED: Historian Dean L. May, of a we are to be peacemakers. Many LDS leaders in the past have heart attack. Dr. May was a professor at said that the Church is against war.” the University of Utah, a fellow of the Just days after Proulx’s arrest, President Gordon B. Hinckley Utah State Historical Society, and a past said in General Conference that people have the right to dis- president of the Mormon History sent on matters of war “so long as they do so legally” (see story, Association. He was also a prolific writer page 72). “I’m sure my name has crossed President Hinckley’s who celebrated the courage of Mormons desk,” reflects Proulx. pioneers in crossing the Atlantic, their re- NAMED: Jill Mulvay Derr, as managing sourcefulness in irrigating a barren land, and their altruism in director of the Joseph Fielding Smith creating the economy of Zion. May’s most recent book, Three Institute for Latter-day Saint History, at Frontiers: Family, Land and Society in the American West won the BYU. Derr succeeds Ronald K. Esplin, Mormon History Association Best Book Award. SUNSTONE’s who held the position for more than six- next issue will include a more extensive tribute to May. teen years and is now directing the APPOINTED: Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Joseph Smith Papers project. Derr cur- Jr., of the First Quorum of the Seventy, as rently teaches history at BYU and is co-au- new BYU president. A retired physician, thor of several important studies, including Women of professor of medicine, dean of the School Covenant: The Story of Relief Society and Women’s Voices: An of Medicine, and vice president of Health Untold History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 Sciences at the University of Utah, CRITICIZED: LDS Senator Orrin Hatch Samuelson has been a General Authority for not taking a strong stand against since 1994. polygamy. During a town meeting in “It will be [Samuelson’s] responsibility to keep BYU in ro- Southern Utah, members of the anti- bust health, growing and maturing as one of the great polygamy group “Help the Child Brides” teaching universities of this country and the world,” said told Hatch that in the towns of Hildale President. Hinckley as he announced the appointment and Colorado City, thirteen- and four- during a campus devotional. teen-year-old girls are forced into plural Samuelson, who has never been a BYU student, teacher, or marriages with older men. “I’m not here administrator, is seen by many as a moderate who believes in to justify polygamy,” responded Hatch. “I know people in diversity of opinions and in open dialogue. He replaces Merrill Hildale who are polygamists who are very fine people. You J. Bateman, whose administration style was at times perceived come and show me evidence of children being abused there, as authoritarian and controversial. and I’ll get involved.” A recently enacted Utah law makes WITHDRAWN: Despite a BYU decision taking a second wife who is under eighteen punishable by not to suspend him following an arrest up to fifteen years in prison. for an act of civil disobedience, peace DEBATED: Richard Dutcher’s Brigham City, during the annual activist Caleb Proulx has decided to conference of the Association for withdraw from the university. “As time Mormon Letters. Utah Valley State went on, I felt strongly that I didn’t College philosophy professor want BYU to get dragged into a lot of Michael Minch called the film “im- negative press,” says the 22-year-old moral” because it portrays morality photography major. “I don’t want to in back-and-white terms: “Dutcher make civil disobedience and its fit with the gospel an issue at certainly seems to have intended this point. The real issue is the war and my opposition to it.” that Brigham City would be a ve- Proulx gained a high profile at BYU in early March as he or- hicle which would draw people to Mormonism,” Minch said. ganized and promoted debates about the Iraqi war and distrib- “But I suggest that persons paying close attention to this film uted anti-war armbands among students. On 24 March, he would find the moral vocabulary of the community in this film was arrested, along with seven other activists, for a war protest unsatisfactory, thin, unappealing, and perhaps even offensive.” in which they blocked an entrance to the Salt Lake City Marilyn Brown, who is currently writing the novelization for Federal Building. Brigham City, disagreed with Minch’s analysis, calling Brigham “The Doctrine and Covenants says in section 98 that we are City “a true classic” and praising the movie for showing how a ‘to renounce war and proclaim peace,’” Proulx recently told an community can experience hope in the face of hopelessness. PAGE 74 MAY 2003 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:53 AM Page 75 SUNSTONE DIALOGUE APPOINTS NEW EDITORIAL through 2009. Named new editor is Karen Marguerite TEAM—AND THEY ARE NO STRANGERS Moloney, a professor of English at Weber State University. Professor emeritus Levi S. Peterson has accepted the appoint- FOLLOWING A SIX-MONTH search, Dialogue: A Journal of ment as associate editor. Moloney and Peterson will succeed Mormon Thought has just announced the appointment of the Neal and Rebecca Chandler, who have served as Dialogue co- team that will be in charge of editing the journal from 2004 editors since 1999, and Keith Norman, who, since 2000, has served as associate editor. Moloney’s involvement with Dialogue goes back to 1977 when she spent two months in Virginia as an intern for then- editor Mary Bradford. Following her internship, Moloney re- mained on the journal’s staff for a while longer and served on the editorial board from 1979–82. Moloney holds a Ph.D. in modern British and Anglo-Irish literature from UCLA and has published poetry and essays in Dialogue, SUNSTONE, Twentieth Century Literature, and other venues. “Karen is a long-time Dialogue supporter and author,” observed Dialogue board chair Armand Mauss in an inter- view with SUNSTONE. “She has built a distinguished career in teaching and in publishing. She has a wonderful grasp of literature and the English language, and she will be a ter- Passing the Torch: Karen Moloney (left), who 26 years ago served as Dialogue intern for editor Mary Bradford (right), rific editor.” has just been appointed as the journal’s new editor. Associate editor Peterson is a retired professor of English and a prolific writer. He is the author of short stories, novels, Solar Flares Moroni Wants Beer—Even on Sundays Behind the Numbers THE TOWN OF Moroni, Utah, is considering allowing WHEN PARLEY P.Pratt attempted to open a mission in Chile beer to be sold on Sundays. According to a story published in 1851, there wasn’t a single Mormon in Latin America. Now in The Pyramid, Steve Peterson of the Moroni Valu-Mart there are more than four million. According to BYU professor told the city council that the current law penalizes him by Mark L. Grover, by the year 2020, more than half the church the loss not only of beer sales but also sales of other items membership will be located in Latin America. beer customers are likely to buy. The council is studying “In the past fifty years, the Church in Latin America has the matter. gone from less than one percent of the Church to what it is now, about 37 percent” said Grover at a recent presentation at A “Golden” Contact? BYU. “More importantly, . . the international Church is pri- SWEET HOME ALABAMA screenwriter C. Jay Cox will make marily Latin American, with over 70 percent” of the interna- his film directorial debut with Latter Days. According to tional membership located there. The Power of the Name Badge Mormonism for the Clueless A 25-YEAR-OLD man in American Fork, Utah, was recently ALTHOUGH NO ONE has yet published Mormonism arrested for impersonating an LDS missionary. Wearing slacks, a for Dummies, Deseret Book is publishing a series of titles white shirt, a tie, and a missionary tag, the man allegedly en- tailored for an audience similar to that of the Dummies se- tered a computer store in American Fork and told a salesman ries. The collection, partially authored by Clark L. and he was running an errand for an LDS bishop who needed a Kathryn H. Kidd, so far includes: Food Storage for the computer for a disabled member of his ward. The man walked Clueless, Ward Activities for the Clueless, Family History for out with a computer but was later arrested on charges of theft the Clueless, and On My Own . . . and Clueless. The books are by deception and giving false information to a police officer. retail priced between $5 and $18. MAY 2003 PAGE 75 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:53 AM Page 76 SUNSTONE and the award-winning biography Juanita Brooks: Mormon In Focus Woman Historian. Peterson is perhaps best known for his award-winning novel, The Backslider. With Moloney living in Utah and Peterson in Washington MORMON STUDIES GAINS MOMENTUM state, the pair will rely heavily on the telephone and email to Has “Mormon Studies” finally been born as a serious academic carry out their duties. discipline? Evidences of gestation have been appearing for the past The new Dialogue team also includes Brent Corcoran as pro- several years, but new signs seem to signal its arrival. duction manager, Todd Compton as history editor, Karen IMPORTANT MARKERS SUGGESTING Mormonism might Rosenbaum as fiction editor, Lisa Bickmore as poetry editor, make an interesting subject for disciplined study have long Timm Archer as book review editor, and Linda Sillitoe as per- been appearing. Books from the past two decades, such as Jan sonal essay editor. Warren Luch will continue in his position as Shipps’s Mormonism: the Story of a New Religious Tradition art director. (1987), Harold Bloom’s The American Religion (1992), and The new team has issued a call for papers for a special the- Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling’s Mormon America (1999), matic issue on war and peace. Queries, proposals, and manu- have heralded Mormonism’s legitimacy as a religious tradition scripts can be submitted to PAGE 76 MAY 2003 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:53 AM Page 77 SUNSTONE BYU-based programs—the Institute for the Study and of Utah Valley State College’s philosophy department and others Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, the Richard L. Evans from BYU and elsewhere. During the short formation meeting, at- Chair for Religious Understanding, and the Joseph Fielding tended by some twenty individuals, an organizing committee Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History—as well as was nominated and charged with developing a constitution and Signature Books and the Smith-Pettit Foundation. The confer- governing bylaws. And Benjamin Huff, a doctoral candidate in ence also boasted a “Who’s Who” of presenters ranging from philosophy at Notre Dame, was installed as secretary. BYU phi- Latter-day Saints Richard L. Bushman, Truman G. Madsen, losophy professor James Faulconer has subsequently been Kathleen Flake, Jill Mulvay Derr, and David L. Paulsen, to no- named as chair of the organizing committee. table thinkers such as Yale’s Marilyn Adams and Nicholas For inquiries, or to add your name to the society’s contact list, Wolterstorff and distinguished non-LDS “Mormon watchers,” email Huff at MAY 2003 PAGE 77 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:53 AM Page 78 SUNSTONE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: NEWS STORIES OFFER INTIMATE LOOK AT THE HINCKLEYS PRESIDENT GORDON B. Hinckley and his wife Marjorie Pay Hinckley have been featured in several recent news articles as they celebrated their 66th anniversary, and some of the stories paint quite a candid portrait of Mormonism’s “First Couple.” Was it difficult for Sister Hinckley to handle the home and family during her husband’s long absences early in their marriage? asked a Deseret News reporter. “No,” said Sister Hinckley, “I liked to be in charge. Then he’d come home and start running things, and I’d say, ‘Wait a minute; I’m in charge here.’” Weary of attention, the couple doesn’t go out very much. According to daughter Virginia Pierce, President Hinckley “tried once [to step inside a Wal-Mart] during a visit to St. George, [but] never got past the door. He was mobbed.” According to a Deseret News story, President Hinckley likes to scan the pages of the news- © BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY paper looking for things on sale—hardware items usually. But when he sees something he needs, he has to send a family member or a security guard to get it. Recently, as he couldn’t accurately describe to his secu- rity guard a part needed to repair the washing machine in his apartment, President Hinckley showed up unannounced at a small parts shop in Sugar House, got the part, and fixed the washer himself. The couple doesn’t watch TV except for the news, but they read newspapers, books, and scriptures. Once a month, they hold an informal family home evening with their extended family, of whom between thirty and fifty typically show up. Every week, the couple visits what President Hinckley calls their “hideaway”—the old homestead where they raised their family. There they enjoy relaxing, working in the yard, and planting trees. President Hinckley usually hands his security guard a shovel and puts him to work, too. For the rest of the week, President and Sister Hinckley live in their downtown apartment on the top floor of the Eagle Gate building. Sister Hinckley has also been in the news as BYU officials have just announced the Marjorie Pay Hinckley Chair in Social Work and Social Sciences. Funded by several donors, the chair will help bring national experts to BYU’s College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences for week-long visits. Sister Hinckley is ninety-one years old—one year her husband’s junior. She and President Hinckley met in their LDS ward more than eighty years ago. They have five children, twenty-five grandchildren, and twenty-nine great-grandchildren. LDS-THEMED SCHEME DEFRAUDS the Presiding Bishopric clarifies, “This system is the only au- thorized way for local Church units to have a presence on the MORMONS AND NON-MORMONS ALIKE Internet.” AFTER A YEAR-LONG investigation, FBI agents arrested the The new webpages contain ward and branch information leader and seven other key individuals in a large investment such as location, meeting times, and a calendar of events. fraud scheme whose premise had ties to Mormonism. While basic information about Church units is available to Claiming to be in charge of a $1.6 trillion offshore trust created anyone, more detailed information is available only to Church by descendants of Joseph Smith, San Diego, California, resi- members who request and obtain a password and a login dent John Franklin Harrell and the others stand accused of name. The site includes information about stakes, wards, tem- having swindled some $50 million from people in a scam that ples, and institutes of religion. The same information can also stretched from Florida to Oregon. Promising 100 percent an- be accessed via PAGE 78 MAY 2003 72-79_news_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:53 AM Page 79 SUNSTONE other expressions of faith. An FBI spokeswoman, Jan Caldwell, cluding one in Alpine, Utah, where many of the Beehive State’s said Harrell “did not hesitate to threaten to kill people if he swindles took place. found out they were working for the government,” claiming During the April 2003 General Conference, President that anyone double-crossing him would be dealt with by a Gordon B. Hinckley warned the Saints “against ‘get rich’ powerful shadow government called the “Committee of 300.” schemes and other entanglements which are nearly always de- Harrell had some thirty “associates” across the country, in- signed to trap the gullible.” Cybersaints DISCIPLINE—OF A DIFFERENT KIND by Scot Denhalter HE WORLD OF INTERNET MAILING LISTS One list member ex- provides us with the most extensive array of special- plicitly denies this link T interest groups imaginable. Individual Latter-day to sexuality. “For me, Saints have for some time been able to find support and in- and for a lot—maybe struction within a community of like-minded Church most—paddling is an members who gather from around the world in their own unpleasant discipline. digital classroom to discuss that single obsession that makes Sexual intercourse is a life worth living. And proving once again there is no behav- reward. We get pad- ioral phenomenon that cannot be found within the society dled, most of us, for of the Saints, now there is even a mailing list for LDS men discipline, not as fore- who believe their wives should spank them for their misbe- play.” havior. Psychologists, how- “LDS Disciplinary Women” MAY 2003 PAGE 79 80_aol.qxd 5/21/2003 1:53 AM Page 80 SUNSTONE AN OLIVE LEAF AN INEFFABLE EXPERIENCE By Leonard Arrington As the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reve- Presidency and the Twelve to stay for a pri- lation on priesthood draws closer, SUNSTONE vate conference. In a spirit of fasting and continues to celebrate the arrival of this “long- prayer, they formed a prayer circle. Kimball promised day.” In his memoir, Adventures of a opened by saying he felt impressed to pray Church Historian, Leonard Arrington com- to the Lord and ask their permission to be piled the following eloquent description of the “mouth.” He went to the altar. Those in at- revelation and the days leading up to it. tendance said that as he began his earnest prayer, they suddenly realized it was not HE MOST EXCITING single event Kimball’s prayer, but the Lord speaking of the years I was church historian through him. A revelation was being de- T occurred on June 9, 1978, when the clared. Kimball himself realized that the First Presidency announced a divine revela- words were not his but the Lord’s. During tion that all worthy males might be granted that prayer, some of the Twelve—at least the priesthood. . . . two who have said so publicly—were trans- As a historian, I sought to learn the particulars and record ported into a celestial atmosphere, saw a divine presence and them in my private diary. The following account is based on the figures of former presidents of the church (portraits of dozens of interviews with persons who talked with church of- whom were hanging on the walls around them) smiling to in- ficials after the revelation was announced. Although members dicate their approval and sanction. Others acknowledged the of the Twelve and the First Presidency with whom I sought in- voice of the Lord coming, as with the prophet Elijah, “through terviews felt they should not elaborate on what happened, I the still, small voice.” The voice of the spirit followed their learned details from family members and friends to whom earnest search for wisdom and understanding. they had made comments. . . . At the end of the heavenly manifestation, Kimball, weeping Of all general authorities, [President Spencer W.] Kimball for joy, confronted the church members, many of them also was probably the most inclined to disregard ancestry and cul- sobbing, and asked if they sustained this heavenly instruction. ture in his dealings with people. George Albert Smith asked Embracing, all nodded vigorously and jubilantly in their sanc- Kimball, in his early years as a member of the Twelve, to watch tion. There had been a startling and commanding revelation specifically over the Indian nations. Kimball so embraced this from God—an ineffable experience. assignment that he reached out to all peoples. He was certainly Two of the apostles present described the experience as a pained that some could not receive the blessings of the priest- “day of Pentecost” similar to the one in the Kirtland Temple on hood and could not be sealed to their families in the temple. In April 6, 1836, the day of its dedication. They saw a heavenly 1976, two years after he became president, Kimball began a personage and heard heavenly music. To the temple-clothed systematic program of prayer, fasting, and supplication, asking members, the gathering, incredible and without compare, was the Lord to rescind the rule denying blacks the priesthood. the greatest singular event of their lives. Those I talked with Special emphasis was placed on this effort during the two- wept as they spoke of it. All were certain they had witnessed a month period beginning in April 1978, when every day he put revelation from God. . . . on his sacred clothes and went alone into the Holy Room of the temple for meditation, prayer, and supplication. N the Sunday that followed the announcement, a When the First Presidency (then consisting of Spencer number of worthy black members of the church in Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, and Marion G. Romney) met with O New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City, and Hawaii were the Twelve each Thursday in the sacred upper room of the ordained to priesthood offices. Young black men stepped for- temple, Kimball spoke of these visits and invited the members ward to serve missions. The following week, a number of to share their feelings. Some sent him private communications black families went to the temple for their endowments and of substance, reviewing scriptural allusions and policy pro- sealings. When Kimball was interviewed after the announce- nouncements by church leaders. Others spoke to him pri- ment, a great weight off his shoulders, he simply declared, vately. Still others spoke earnestly in their meetings. There was “Isn’t it beautiful?” fasting and prayer. On June 1, 1978, at the regular temple meeting of the gen- Adventures of a Church Historian (Urbana: University of eral authorities, Kimball asked the members of the First Illinois Press), 175–79. PAGE 80 MAY 2003 ibc_127.qxd 5/21/2003 1:55 AM Page 1 REWIND: 2003 SYMPOSIUM WEST AND WASHINGTON, D.C. ~CASSETTE R ECORDINGS ~ Symposium West~18–19 April, San Francisco Airport Clarion SW-01. IS THERE A CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE? SW-51. COPING IN THE “MERRY OLD LAND OF ODDS” RICHARD RORTY ROBERT KIRBY SW-22. THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN: ORTHODOXY, PRIESTHOOD, SW-61. MORMONISM AND GENETICS TEMPLE MARY V. RORTY TODD COMPTON SW-62. THE JOURNAL OF CAROLINE BARNES CROSBY SW-23. JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM, TO SHINE A LIGHT ON A NEEDED EDWARD LEO LYMAN, KRYS CORBETT SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS SW-63. READER’S THEATRE PERFORMANCE: LYNN CHRISTENSEN, MEL TUNGATE EASTER IN THE EYES OF THE WOMEN SW-24. THE COMPLETE CONCORDANCE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON, BY LAURA HANSEN, MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON, TODD COMPTON, GEORGE REYNOLDS. THE MAN, THE BOOK, AND ITS USES JANET BRIGHAM RANDS, JOAN PETERSON TERRY TERMAN, LADD FOWLER SW-64. GOD AT THE KITCHEN TABLE: TEACHING YOUR RELIGIOUS AND MORAL SW-25. SPOOF. IN SUPPORT OF POLYANDRY BELIEFS TO YOUR CHILDREN RICHARD RANDS, GLEN CORNETT, MARY ELLEN ROBERTSON SCOTT COOPER, DEVERY ANDERSON SW-32. THE CHURCH’S UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF RACE: NEW PERSPECTIVES SW-71. TWO ROADS TO THE TRUTH: APPROACHING HISTORY THROUGH NEWELL G. BRINGHURST, ARMAND MAUSS RESEARCH AND IMAGINATION SW-34. 101 REASONS TO AVOID THE OMNIS JUDITH FREEMAN, WILL BAGLEY DAVID H. BAILEY, KIM MCCALL SW-72. SIN, SKIN, AND SEED: MISTAKES OF MEN IN THE BOOK OF MORMON SW-35. COULD JOSEPH SMITH HAVE WRITTEN THE BOOK OF MORMON? PART III: THOMAS W. MURPHY, GLENN CORNETT THE CASE AGAINST AUTOMATICITY SW-73. SING-ALONG. TRADITIONAL SACRED HARP SING. MORMON HYMNS IN ROBERT A. REES, JANET BRIGHAM RANDS THEIR PRIMITIVE VERSIONS SW-41. WILL THE REAL LAMANITES PLEASE STAND UP? CHRIS THORMAN ARMAND MAUSS, THOMAS MURPHY SW-74. PANEL. THE WAR WITH IRAQ THROUGH A RELIGIOUS LENS: SW-42. A BIOGRAPHER’S BURDEN: DECONSTRUCTING ROBERT REMINI’S HOW DOES RELIGION INFORM OUR CHOICES? JOSEPH SMITH AND WILL BAGLEY’S BRIGHAM YOUNG ROBERT REES, BILL BENAC, PAUL MONTCLAIR, STAN CHRISTENSEN NEWELL G. BRINGHURST, WILL BAGLEY SW-81. RAISING OUR MIDDLE EAST I.Q.: WHAT? WHY? WHO? HOW CAN I HELP? SW-43. PANEL. PEACE PROSPECTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST OMAR M. KADER OMAR KADER, J. BONNER RITCHIE Washington, D.C.~2–3 May, Hilton Arlington and Towers DC-01. RAISING OUR MIDDLE EAST I.Q.: WHAT? WHY? WHO? HOW CAN I HELP? DC-31. NATIONAL CULTURE, PERSONALITY, AND THEOCRACY IN THE EARLY OMAR KADER MORMON CULTURE OF VIOLENCE DC-11. SPEAKING IN A PROPHETIC VEIN: HUGH NIBLEY AS SOCIAL CRITIC D. MICHAEL QUINN BOYD PETERSEN, EDGAR C. SNOW DC-41. COPING IN THE “MERRY OLD LAND OF ODDS” DC-12. THE LIBERAL RELIGIOUS TRADITION IN MORMONISM: A PERSONAL VIEW OF ROBERT KIRBY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY DC-51. DIGITAL RITUAL: THE EMERGENT DIGITAL IDENTITY OF THE MORMON BRUCE L. BAKER, DAN WOTHERSPOON CHURCH DC-13. “DO WHAT IS RIGHT”—ACTIVISM IN TODAY’S WORLD NICK HALES, JINELLE MONK DENISE NELSON DC-52. DID MORMON MUMMIES FIND A HOME AT THE CARLOS MUSEUM IN DC-21. PANEL—REFLECTIONS ON WAR: COMPETING LOYALTIES, COMMANDS, ATLANTA? ON THE TRAIL OF THE MISSING JOSEPH SMITH MUMMIES AND AND IMPULSES PAPYRI TERRY KESTER, NANCY KADER, J. BONNER RITCHIE EDGAR C. SNOW DC-22. PANEL—THE PROCLAMATION ON THE FAMILY: THE WAY WE OUGHT TO DC-53. A PLACE CALLED “LITTLE UTAH” BE, OR THE WAY WE NEVER WERE? PARKER BLOUNT BRAD HESS, DORYL JENSEN DC-61. LDS PRAXIS: INTEGRATING GOSPEL TEACHINGS WITH SOCIAL ACTION DC-23. CHOOSING THE RIGHT AND OTHER CONSUMER TRENDS: REFLECTIONS WARNER WOODWORTH ON MORMONS, MARKETING, AND ART NEAL CHANDLER, JULIE K. CURTIS To order, send this form, call, or email Sunstone • 343 N. Third West, Salt Lake City, UT 84103 (801) 355-5926 • Fax (801) 355-4043 • Email Tape #: ______Tape Prices 1–2 = $8.00 each Name: ______3–4 = $7.50 each 5+ = $7.00 each Address ______Buy 7 tapes, get an 8th free! City ______Total # of cassettes at (circle) $8.00 $7.50 $7.00____ Phone/email ______= $ ____ Payment (Circle one) Check Visa MasterCard Discover Card # ______Exp. Date: ______Shipping add 10% to total above = $ ____ Signature ______Total = $ ____ Cover_127.qxd 5/21/2003 8:43 AM Page 1 SUNSTONE Nonprofit Org. 343 N. Third West U.S. Postage PAID Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1215 Salt Lake City, UT Permit No. 2929 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED ession Social An r x p i e e t D y D i s o r d blems e o r Pr h Healt U n c o n f e s s e d S in s Doubt Pressure