Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive

Theses and Dissertations

1987

Behind the Veil: The Heavenly Mother Concept Among Members of Women's Support Groups in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Allen W. Litchfield Brigham Young University - Provo

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd

Part of the Mormon Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Litchfield, Allen .,W "Behind the Veil: The Heavenly Mother Concept Among Members of Women's Support Groups in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (1987). Theses and Dissertations. 4882. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4882

This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. behind the veil the heavenly mother concept among members of womens support groups in the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints

A thesis presented to the department of sociology brigham young university

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts

by alienallenailen W litchfield august 1987 this thesis by alienallenailen litchfield is accepted in its present form by the department of sociology of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of master of arts

eardellgardelldelldeildeli Jajacopsonjacobsonjac60stoncopson committee chairman

7 fucfufud C cutC marie cornwallcuicommitteeui member

cu i rigdig 1 lawrecelawre ce A young coryimitteecoryfmittee memberabermber

r cyrucyxu 11 OScig019 7 auaaoa date jamesjamestjam t duke department chairman acknowledgments

the author expresses sincere thanks to instructors and friends in the departments of sociology at the university of lethbridge alberta and dalhousie university in halifax nova scotia especially remembered is reginald bibby as one who introduced the author to the field of sociology the experience at the brigham young university has been a very satisfying one major credit is owing to the committee chairman cardell jacobson for his encouragement positive leadership editing writing tutorials counsel and friendship marie cornwall has been most generous in allowing the use of these data for this study and providing guidance in areas from feminist theology to statistical analysis larry young a fine creative teacher has always been helpful and motivating all provided helpful comments and criticisms all the way through the process other members of the faculty that have been especially important in the authors graduate training are james duke bruce chadwick richard johnson and tim heaton we acknowledge the research support for the study provided partially by the college of family home and social sciences of brigham young university thanks go to the church education system for allowing the author to take a sabbatical to work on this project dale lebaron and phillip redd always provided promotion and encouragement in this endeavor more than anyone else the author thanks his wife gladys for her willingness to go through this experience with him and for providing the motivation and time that allowed for the thesis to be completed thanks to their six children for their understanding and concern the author is grateful for his parents who have provided a heritage of support and motivation and parentsinlawparents in law for their help throughout the process

iiilii111 TABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES v chapter 1 introduction 1 overview of chapters 2 historical context of female deities 4 the development of an LDS heavenly mother 5 literature review and theoretical discussions of mother 10 the study of the LDS heavenly mother concept 18 chapter 2 DEFINING TERMS AND STATING propositions 20 dimensions of religiosity 20 feminism 23

alienation m 26

salience m m 27 specific propositions to be tested 28 summary of propositions 36 chapter 3 methodology&methodology 39 the target population 39 questionnaire 41 demographic profile of the WSG population 42 rationalizingoperationalizingOpe the scales 58 testing the scales 62 correlationsintercorrelationsInter among the religiosity scales 66 chapter

4 RESEARCH FINDINGS m 0 m 68

belief in heavenly mother 0 0 68

salience of mother in heaven m 72

predictors of mother in heaven salience 0 79

feminism and alienation as predictors of salience m 86 chapter 5 SUMMARY AND conclusions 92

APPENDIX m 97 references 0 0 114114.114 iv LIST OF TABLES table page 1 predicted correlations between religious dimensions and belief in heavenly mother 31

2 predicted correlations between religious dimensions and salience of heavenly mother 3561351135

3 WSGs marital status compared to random LDS sample and US national figures 43

4 number of children reported by WSG women 45

5 WSGs years of education compared to random LDS sample and US national figures 46

6 household income of WSG population 48

7 frequency of attendance at sacrament meeting 4949.49

8 comparison of levels of alienation random LDS sample and the WSG population by gender 51

9 NORC 1983 and WSG population on their personal concern about womens rights by gender 53

10 agreement patterns of NORC sample and WSG on question regarding negative impact on young children when mothers work 53

11 NORC 1984 sample and WSG population on desirability of legal possibility of abortion in various circumstances 54

12 NORC 1983851983 85 sample and WSG population selfassessmentself assessment on liberalconservativeLiberal Conservative continuum 56

13 varimax factor pattern of eight feminism items 61

14 varimax factor pattern of eight alienation items 61

15 item analysis of religiosity scales 64

16 item analysis of feminism alienation and mother heaven scales 65

v 18 comparison of belief in god jesus christ satan and heavenly mother 69

19 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients between belief in heavenly mother and dimensions of religiosity and demographic variables 70

20 multiple regressions of religious dimensions on belief of mother in heaven by gender 72

21 frequency of thinking about heavenly parents by gender 73

22 percentages having felt love from heavenly parents compared by gender 74

23 comparison of men and womens frequency of discussing various religious topics by percentage 75

24 percentage comparisons by gender on items related to salience of mother in heaven 77

25 agreement with reasons the church does not know more about heavenly mother by gender 78

26 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients of religiosity scales and belief and salience of mother in heaven by gender 80

27 standarizedstandardized regression coefficients and explained variance belief in and salience of mother in heaven regression models for women 82

28 standarizedstandardized regression coefficients and explained variance belief in and salience of mother in heaven regression models for men 83

29 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients of mother in heaven belief and salience with feminism scales by gender 86

30 feminism scale averages by gender for two ways to understand the nature and roles of heavenly parents 88

31 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients of mother in heaven belief and salience with alienation scales by gender 88

32 agreement with the ordination of women to offices of the priesthood by gender 94

viVI chapterschapter1CHAPTER 1 introduction

I1 had learned to call thee father thru thy spirit here on high but until the key of knowledge was restored I1 knew not why

in the heavens are parents single no the thought makes reason stare truth is reason truth eternal tells me ive a mother there eliza R snow 180418871804 1887

among well known feminine deities in world history are the following egyptian goddesses nut and isis the greek deities athena wisdom and war aphrodite love artemis hunting demeter agriculture and hera wife of zeus the parallel roman goddesses venus diana minerva vesta and juno ishtar in phoenicia later adopted and adapted by many palestine nations indian sub- continent deities such as lakshmi prosperity sarasvatiSarassaraswativati learning durga wife of shiva and the leading mother figure among the hindus parvati or uma motherhood karnagikannagi chastity and naparamitaprajnaparamitapralnaparamita the mother of all budihasbuddhasBuddhas norse goddesses friggbrigg wife of odin freyja love and beauty and hel underworld and the aztec female deities chalchiuhtlicue running water and tlazolteotltiazolteoti pleasure and illicit love conspicuous by their absence are western twentieth century goddesses monotheistic modern religions havent contributed great female deity figures the closest the mainstream western judeochristianjudeo christian religions have come to producing a female god is mary the virgin mother although being declared the queen of heaven by pius in the 1950s she has never risen above the status of secondary god or a sort of dowager queen mother other female gods are branded heretical products of deviant cults and even mary is stripped of all divinity by most protestant groups western religions may have angels not important ones like gabriel but singers or background supporters of the heavenly program who are presumed to have female identity and some female saints primary gods however in traditional judeojudeochristianchristian culture have been painted in a variety of ways but one near universal has been that they all have been patently masculine one interesting exception to that pattern is the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saint heavenly mother made famous among the latterlatterdayday saints hereafter LDS or mormons by the hymn 0 my father noted at the beginning of 2

the chapter while female deities have often been associated with primitive societies the LDSLIDS church is a modern americanfoundedamerican founded institution female deities are sometimes thought to be found only among groups not far removed in time from motherrulemother rule or matriarchy and yet the mormon faith is strongly male oriented most often grass root critics of male hegemony in religious myth and organization among theologians feminists and social scientists have called for and developed alternative asexual or androgynous gods in the mormon case highly placed patriarchal leaders established and continue to support the doctrine of mother in heaven this would seem to be an interesting anomaly or exceptional case little work however has been focused on the issue of the female god of the latterdaylatter day saints mauss 1984 the objective of this thesis is to examine the part heavenly mother plays in the religious thinking and lives of an unique population of mormon feminists and the men in their lives of special interest is the extent to which mother in heaven theology within mormonism provides these feminists within the faith a perspective which allows loyalty to their conservative church the thesis will report findings from a survey of latterlatterdayday saint women whose names appear on the mailing lists of four LDSLIDS womens support groups three research issues are addressed to what extent do these men and women believe in a mother in heaven 2 how salient is mother in heaven theology in their lives and 3 what are the correlates of belief in and salience of a mother in heaven

overview of chapters

the thesis is divided into five chapters the present chapter details the historical place of female deities the development of a mother in heaven in mormon history and docdoctrineteine and reviews the literature and previous research that touches on this matter these presentations lead into a discussion of why the study is focusing on these matters included in chapter 2 are discussions of the major dependent and independent variables such as feminism alienation and aspects of religiosity the research questions and propositions conclude this chapter 3

chapter 3 includes a description of the target research group the questionnaire and the method of data collection the research population will be described in demographic terms and compared to LDSLIDS and US national samples finally aspects of methodology such as operational definitions and description of scales are presented in chapter 4 the findings of the survey research are described the fifth chapter presents the conclusions and implications 4

the historical context of female deities

merlin stone in when god was a woman and the paradise papers claims that at the dawn of religion god was a woman 1976 pg 17 anthropologist james preston mother worship suggests that mother worship is as ancient as history although mother worship has trailed off somewhat in many modern cultures preston holds that it has historically remained strong even when actively suppressed edwin james the cultcudd of the mother goddess demonstrates the strong tradition of female gods from egypt to india to greece to rome the egyptian goddess nut apparently began as the leading god in the cosmos even giving ra his start jensen tells about sedna a female deity and primary god of many eskimo tribes pg 14243142 43 see also gael hodgkins ronald johnstone explains that the trend seemed to be that in horticultural societies female gods dropped down a league to the status of hindutypehindu type consorts greekstylegreek style specialists and generally helpers rather than directors 1983 pg 167 he associates the decline of the power and majesty of the female deities with the advance of men in the economic social and political realms once all of the major religions had reached their maturity they strongly resembled one another both in their depiction and treatment of women and in the degree and type of religious involvement granted their female adherents women were defined as inferior to men and dependent on them the religious tasks open to them were peripheral or at best serving in nature pg 169 the decline of female deities ran parallel to the lowering of the status of earthly females bearing that typical decline in mind we proceed to a discussion of the judeochristianjudeo christian teachings regarding women and the broad rejection within that religious tradition of female deities lindsey heeren and mason 1983 outline some historical examples of this rejection phenomenon and of control and suppression of female deity worship in the judaic tradition As presented so graphically in the isaac singer short story from which the recent movie yentlyenti was made the jewish tradition became decidedly antifeministanti feminist discouraged at times even forbidden from studying talmud seated in secondary places in the synagogue and barred from leading any religious ritual women were clearly marked as inferior and dependent an example in the old testament and talmud is 5

the custom of finding women ritualistically unclean by virtue of their womanhood leviticus 12 explains that a woman is unclean for 40 days after the birth of a male child but is socially and religiously outcast for 80 days after the birth of a female A durkheimian analysis would suggest that the disappearance of everything with even a hint of anything feminine in heaven was a reflection of the societal values and beliefs of the culture christianity built upon this maledominantmale dominant base it is true that jesus according to the new testament accounts treated women in fair and more equal terms than the jewish tradition suggested for example he allowed women to be his disciples mary and martha are boldly in violation of tradition according to the indications in the four gospels especially luke 10 but these samples of the writings of paul clearly reflect the prevailing culture 1 let your women keep silence in churches if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home pg 1456 2 wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands the husband is the head of the wife pg 1486 3 suffer not a woman to teach not to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence the woman being deceived 1 was in the transgression pg 1508 4 I1 will therefore that the younger women marry bear children guide the house pg 1510 of course various apologists rewrite and reinterpret these kinds of teachings in an effort to make them more palatable today others defend these notions as being eternal absolute and from a divine source whatever the approach the scripture displays its bias and is based on male experience rather than universal human experience lee pg 4 by the fifth century the last vestiges of dissenting female deity had been controlled by orthodox christianity anything vaguely resembling or associated with a female god over the next centuries could be branded as witchcraft and stamped out with cruel coercion yet ironically mormonism with its concept of a mother in heaven was born in this christian antifeministanti feminist setting the interesting questions are what kind of goddess can be developed within this framework will the female deity have to fit the existing structure or will the existence of a female deity within mormonism allow changes in existing structures attitudes doctrines and practices

the development of an LDS heavenly mother 6

joseph smith and other early church leaders taught that gods and human beings were on different levels of development and perfection but were on the same road going the same direction the present gods just had a head start the famous quatrain written by the man who would later become the fifth president of the church and approved by smith teaches that As man is god once was and as god is man may become lorenzo snow 1919 people could through faith obedience and ordinances be exalted in pairs male and female together to the stature and position of the gods in fact this highest level of exaltation was not available to a single man or woman who did not have a 11 celestial11celestial marriage that could only be done in the mormon temple for time and all eternity doctrine and covenants pg 266 and 268 this theology made a female deity not only a possibility but even required unless in their evolution candidates for godhood became asexual or androgynous the mormon gods were certainly not that at least the orthodox gods were not the early mormon teachings had a vague connection to the hindu concept that the male is by himself incomplete and inert and must be joined together with a feminine nature the eliza R snow poem turned into a hymn titled 0 my father quoted on the first page of this chapter appeared in 1845 and caused no great stir because the doctrine was not an alien one historical information seems to indicate that the concept originated with the prophet joseph smith and was spelled out in poetic form by the creative snow smith 1895 ballard 1921 huntenHunterhuntershunter1945hunter11 9451945 not much theology followed about the newly identified divine mother A somewhat suspect thirdhandthird hand abraham cannon journal entry quoted by wilcox pg 10 describing zebedee coltrins experience with smith and their vision of the heavenly family including father mother and son was not made public for decades and never has been promoted by the church many statements by church leaders implied support for the doctrine however most of the teachings are 11 common sense extensions of ordinary earthlifeearth life experience wilcox pg 11 one of the most interesting approaches to the issue was developed by the apostle erastus snow he suggested a shakerlikeshaker like god that was both male and female journal of discourses 19 pg 26970269 70 church leaders have denied denounced or reinterpreted his statements ever since A number of apostles such as early apostle orson pratt promoted during the plural marriage period the years 7

mid 1800s to the turn of the century during which the LDSLIDS church taught and practiced polygyny the teaching that there were several perhaps many mothers in heaven 185318532 pg 159 there was little claim to direct revelation on the matter usually just a logical assumption based on the need to produce many spirit children some of the pronouncements around the turn of the century regarding the divine mother were embedded in a relatively progressive wave attempting to raise the status of women generally the apostle james E talmages talk of 1902 announced that woman was mans equal and that our eternal mother was an equivalent deity with the same goals and purposes that the father is involved with tabernacle talk of april 27 1902 the first clear and unequivocal official statement carrying the weight of the first presidency on the existence of heavenly mother was delivered by them in 1909 A part of that proclamation reads as follows all men and women are in the similitude of the universal father and mother and are literally the sons and daughters of deity theoffspringthe offspring of celestial parentage smith pg 351 and 355 these pronouncements were delivered during the late stages of the period of LDS history that some call the golden era for women in the church heavenly mothers increased visibility according to a durkheimian analysis may have been a reflection of the somewhat improved lot of women in the church during this time period mormon suffragettes were experiencing some considerable success at the church and national level one of the most capable and famous emmeline B wells friend to national suffrage leaders anthony and stanton served as general president of the relief society from 1910 till her death in 1921 the relief society is a LDS womans organization that began in 1842 as a benevolent society and became a spiritual educational and for a period of time a political and economic resource for the women of the church women had a good deal of control over church organizations and publications for females alexander catalogues the diminution of autonomy that women leaders experienced from the turn of the century to 1930 pg 13536135 36 statements by the leading church brethren promoting women like the following were made less often after the era ended this statement is by the sixth president of the church joseph F smith in 1895 prior to being installed as president 8

why shall one sex be admitted to all the avenues of mental and physical progress and prosperity and the other be prohibited and prescribed within certain narrow limits women may be found who seem to glory in their enthralled condition and who caress and fondle the very chains and manacles which fetter and enslave them let those who love this helpless dependent condition and prefer to remain in it enjoy it but for conscience and for mercys sake let them not stand in the way of those of their sisters who would be and of right ought to be free womens exponent august 1895 warenski suggests that the patriarchal leaders of the church during this time period were not as far ahead of their time in their attitudes towards womens rights as the myths suggest she holds that they only seem so now in comparison to the more recent leaders who if they have moved since then have shifted further away from principles and practices of meaningful equality for women in the period of the 1920s through the 1940s eternal motherhood was stressed by a number of the church leaders over a span of years mother in heaven had by this time become a role model the model usually developed by men for mothers of the church heeren lindsey and mason explain that for cormonsMormormonsmons mother in heaven is properly seen as elevating the conjugal relationship into the eternal realm pg 403 melvin J ballard an apostle in the church in describing the mother of heaven during a mothers day address in the salt lake tabernacle said that she was ilaa companion to the father the mother of his children emphasis mine the choice of words his rather than their should not be taken as theologically significant but as an expression of a man coming out of a patriarchal

mind set 1921 9 pg 3 mary daly in her book beyond god the father had more in mind than the simple creation of a god the mother who reflects female inequality that is so profoundly felt on earth some LDS women and men may be similarly dissatisfied with a heavenly mother that produces spirit children and does the heavenly housework it would be unfair and inaccurate however to claim that all church leaders see or describe mother in heaven in those terms although she continues to be heavily veiled apparently for the sake of reverence and modesty she is it if It 11 variously described as elegant restrained queenly I1 nurturingitnurturing beautiful musical refined noble and the like kimball p4pa wilcox pg 13 in short she is the perfect traditional mormon woman in an exalted state modern church leaders like bruce R mcconkie the mormon doctrinal authority of the last two decades continued to 9

declare that we are all offspring of an eternal mother pg 516 the former president of the church spencer W kimball mentioned the hymn 0 my father the document coming nearest to being accepted as scripture that mentions specifically the divine mother in a general conference address he then characterized the importance of heavenly mothers influence by the following comparison knowing how profoundly our mortal mothers have shaped us here do we suppose her influence on us as individuals to be less 1978 pg 4 the doctrine of mother in heaven is not slowly slipping away into oblivion because of emphasisdeemphasisde or directionredirectionre if anything the teaching may be more prevalent and prominent than it has been in previous eras that may be significantly a result of the interests and efforts of LDS women to know and understand her some may take the position of patricia holland in her address at a 1 recent brigham young university womens conference I have never questioned

why our mother in heaven seems veiled to us for I1 believe the lord has his reasons for revealing as little as he has on that subject furthermore I1 believe that as women we can know much more about our eternal nature than we do and it is our sacred obligation to identify that to teach it to our young sisters and daughters if holland pg 51 others may deal with the veil somewhat more directly such as grethe peterson in a personal response to the wilcox sunstone article she cautiously asks for a search for personal and institutional revelation on the matter if we attempt to answer all the unanswered questions about the role and nature of our heavenly mother we may be guilty of constructing our own theology and yet it is necessary to explore these questions if we are going to understand ourselves and our beliefs peterson pg 17 the voices of patriarchal church leaders calling for increased understanding of mother in heaven have not been heard discovering why more information about her has not been delivered to the members by church leaders is impossible the standard answer is that the lord has not revealed anything further one mormon theologian suggested that a possible reason for this position is that the leaders are anxious to avoid the development of a sort of mariology of the kind found among roman catholics turner it is possible to survey church members to see if they accept that the father does not want his children to know more about the mother or if they think that the prophets have not sought to know more 10

roughly half the LDS church members in the US today have been born since the social changes of the 1950s and gos regarding the roles of the sexes so many mormon women have been touched by those social changes that it seems inevitable that these issues will swell and grow in importance to put the matter of heavenly mother in a theoretical context let us now consider social scientific writings that have dealt with or have application in the area of female deities

literature review and theoretical discussions of heavenly mother

sociological theorists have been concerned with religious questions some have focused specifically on these matters perhaps because female deities are nearly unheard of in western cultures few of the classical theorists have spent any time discussing specifically the implications of worship of female gods it may be that sociologists have not dealt with this topic in any depth even in the few cultures that claim a female deity partly because most of them are men and the matter seems trivial to them spretnak pg 6 ann oakley argues that there are three main reasons for the lack of research and theory in areas such as this the sexist interests and personalities of sociologys founding fathers emphasis hers the preponderance of men within a profession which reflects their interests and views of reality and the ideology of gender that leads people to see the world in sexually stereotyped ways 1974 pg 27 some of the prevailing theories may be used to illuminate the subject even if the social scientists did not deal directly with the matter of the goddess auguste comte rejected his mother church in favor of the positivist society but in his last years he turned to mysticism and a revolutionary humanitarian religion after the blossoming of his idolized and obsessive love for clothilde de vaux comte taught in his religion of humanity lectures that man could become more altruistic and less selfishly disposed through the worship of women although during this stage in his life comte was being guided by his heart more than good research and clear thinking he may have stumbled on to an idea with promise he was after all consciously making a religion according to edward caird 1885 pg 164 the idea of building a religion is one adopted by a number of modern 11

theologians and may serve as the basis for reintroducing a feminine god into christianity contemporary feminist critics of religion can be placed on a spectrum ranging from those who revise to those who revolnevolrevolttf1 suggests goldenberg pg 13 among those that want to be attached to a form of religion some believe that the making of a religion that is compatible with feminism must be done on a new foundation they suggest that the patriarchal religions have nothing to offer women and have sought for new definitions of the transcendental anne kent rush declares that 111tit is my belief that reforming emphasis hers patriarchal religions is just not possible the very institutions are contradictory to feminism women need to create new theory and practices for themselves 1976 pg 384 others according to carolyn osiek discern that their call is to remain within the traditional religious structures pg 26 they select from among numerous ways of coping with the conflict and she describes the following five strategies marginalistmarginalist loyalist symbolist revisionist and liberationist pg 294329 43 the last three approaches are different modes of building or at least renovating a religion LDS women do not have to introduce a goddess to the heavens since one has been a part of the theology since the early days of the church but many members may want more than the teaching that such a deity exists therefore once a religious group has made a prominent place for a god the mother in their theology as have the cormonsMormormonsmons it is possible to determine whether those in the faith for whom the goddess is most salient are different in any way from those for whom she is not this will be one of the major efforts of the thesis karl marx not unlike many of the intellectuals of his day thought religion to be man made he didnt see it as a good and helpful creation the sigh of the oppressed creature 196419649 pg 43 was one of the labels he gave the institution of religion in the same article he called religion the opium of the people pg 44 and argued that it tended to interfere with them seeing their situation correctly and being motivated to improve their lot promoting false consciousness religion was an effective tool of the dominant class in maintaining their advantaged positions feminist marxists often suggest that the judeojudeochristianchristian male god justifies the rule of men here on earth as it is in heaven 12

the heavenly mother doctrine could be seen from a marxist position to be aimed at defusing the legitimate concerns of the oppressed underclass women in the religious group by promoting a view of the female god as a celestial version of what the male oppressors in the church wanted women to do and be here on earth accept the quiet unheralded role of service and care perhaps women could be more easily controlled and exploited the doctrine also personalized for women in the church the reward in heaven that was to compensate for the wretched nature of their life here on earth the marxist theoretical framework provides a possible functional explanation for the role of heavenly mother in mainline LDSLIDS doctrine especially the heavy veiling or lack of doctrinal development of the goddess heeren lindsey and mason comment along these lines patriarchy among mormons is seen as justified by the order of heaven heavenly father plays a more prominent role in heavenly matters than does the mother of his spirit children thus should it be on earth 198419849 pg406pg 406 it is possible that a somewhat adapted neomarxistneo marxist position could be developed along the lines that the female deity could be a symbol that might unite and move to action and revolution the women of the church this idea is in fact taking shape among marxist feminists for this to happen the eternal mother figure would have to be understood in terms that would promote this kind of reaction and the underclass almost by definition is usually not in a position to define the deity in ways that might seem to undermine the advantages of the dominant group however engels presented the notion of new religions acting as forerunners of revolutionary social change and this kind of development is at least possible with a new understanding of god the mother as one of the major planks in the platform of a revolutionary party of women or feminists of mixed gender the heavenly mother concept would then become contested terrain between interest groups research must determine whether feminists in the LDSLIDS faith who want to maintain loyalty to their religious tradition are using the doctrine of a heavenly mother in a quietliquietpiquiet revolutionary ll way max weber considered religion as capable of being a independent creative social force that could lead to real social change this theory would allow that the doctrine of a female god was capable of producing changes in the social relationships among the believers elizabeth cady stanton believed that this was 13

possible and suggested that the first step in the elevation of woman to her true position as an equal factor in human progress is the recognition of an ideal heavenly mother to whom prayers should be addressed as well as to a father volivolavol1 pg 14 in the LDSLIDS situation the doctrine of a heavenly mother especially if she was drawn in terms similar to the ways the male god was pictured could create an ethic of equality and reduce the level of patriarchal dominance among the believers in this way god the mother could act as a mechanism of prophetic change for the church as a whole the research can test the existence of an equal female god among the target group however research cannot measure the willingness of the leaders of a church that is highly centralized in so far as the production of doctrine is concerned to pursue or accept such a position emile durkheimwurkheimDurkheim supported a view that religion is entirely a social phenomenon however religious ideas and symbols were said to be important perhaps mans most fundamental experiences and symbolized the social group gods were reflections of a collective societal ideal or collective representations of the values of the society so if it is at once the symbol of the god and of the society is that not because the god and the society are only one the god of the clan can therefore be nothing else than the clan itself PurdunpundurkheimDurpirkheimpurkheimkheim 1915 pg 206 following that lead judith baskin argues that viciously patriarchal rabbinic judaism life left women at a severe disadvantage 9 subordinate in every aspect of pg 4- 5 she suggests that the religious leaders claimed to mirror what they took to be the heavenly reality above pg 14 but the implication is clear in her writing that the mirror is turned the other way the sexual oppression of the jewish culture was reflected in their patriarchal theology see also umansky and goldenberg durkheimsDurkheims view that the gods were a reflection of the social group has been widely accepted quite often especially in the 19th century and early 20th century experts even proposed that matriarchal societies were the only ones that could produce a female god engels was among those that seemed to adopt that view A more recent example of this idea is the work of elaine pagels 1979 she documents the existence of a god the mother figure in gnosticism and suggests that the station of the goddess is symmetrical to the important role devolved to women in the gnostic community she fails to acknowledge that the worshworshipip of female deities is not necessarily incompatible with the most patriarchal forms of social 14

organization webers study of hindu society convinced him that the mere existence of female gods was not always a sign of equality among the sexes in that society rudiger schott states that the issue is complex and that absolute reductionism in the relationship between the status of women and existence of goddess in the religious beliefs ought to be dispensed with permanently he colorfully suggests that this idea be given11given a decent burial in the cemetery of

anthropological figments together with the aboriginal horde 9 group marriage and primitive promiscuity pg 354 preston agrees that there is not always a simple and direct match between the status of women in a society and the 11 relative11relative position of gods to goddesses pg 327 although symbolic forms and religious expressions can be shown to be related to the human societal situation and experience warner declares that there is no logical equivalence in any society between exalted female objects of worship and a high position for women pg 283 lindsey heeren and mason suggest that their research with the LDSLIDS confirm that this is so and state that the belief in a divine female is not necessarily associated with greater malefemalemale female equality in secular affairs 11983983v pg 2 while it would be impossible to predict with accuracy the types and gender that the gods will take on given an understanding of the social structure of the people there is obviously a relationship between the two from a durkheimian perspective the LDSLIDS heavenly mother acts as an expression of the highest aspirations of mormon society it would be possible to test that theorys application in this area by determining whether members of the church with more joint or egalitarian marital relationships see the relationship between heavenly parents in more equal terms than those with highly segregated conjugal roles AR radcliffebrownradcliffe brown promoted the analysis of religion from the view point of the social functions that it served rather than from its origins the social function of a religion is independent of its truth or falsity the religions which we think to be erroneous or even absurd may be important and effective parts of the social machinery 195219529 pg 154 from this approach a thorough study of the function that heavenly mother serves would yield the best results interested social scientists would want to know whether the doctrine of a female god affects how women and men see their role that is to say what does heavenly mother do for 15

the people that worship her are there differences between those who worship her with zeal those that accept her existence passively and those who reject her does she serve a special function for feminists carl jung the swiss psychpsychiatristpsychologistpsychiatristi atristpsychpsychologist0 109log ist studied mythology extensively he was convinced that archarchtypesarchetypestypes of gods were deeply rooted in the collective unconscious patterns of human thought which have developed through the centuries jung taught that religion played a significant role in human life by allowing people to express their unconscious need for religious experience he believed that religion1freligion can only be replaced by religion goldenberg pg 47 expressing jungian psychology neumann summarizes the mother goddess role in religion

thus the feminine the giver of nourishment becomes everywhere a revered principle of nature on which man is dependent in pleasure and pain it is from this eternal experience of man who is as helpless in his dependence on his mother that the motherchildmother child figure is inspired forever anew this motherchildmother child figure then does not betoken a regression to infantisminfantism in which an adult becomes a child or is moved with nostalgia by the mothers love for her child rather man in his genuine identification with the child experiences the great mother as a symbol of the life on which he himself the grown up depends quoted by greeley 1977 pg 111 the jung school would not see the heavenly mother figure as a step backward to primitive religion but a healthy attachment to a concept that provides security and psychic nourishment one research question that will be tested is the hypothesis that more LDS women than men will reach out to her for that comfort identity and spiritual guidance durkehimDurke him and sigmund freud had made a real contribution with their discovery of symbol however both had somewhat negative views on the subject and considered symbol as something to be overcome or controlled later social theorists described symbol as socially constructed and absolutely necessary this is the argument of peter berger and thomas luckmann in the social construction of reality they draw attention to the subjectivist area of religious social reality precarious social reality requires that a belief system be constructed so that an image of reality exists for the members of hethet society and religion plays one of the central roles in that process berger describes in the heretical imperative how modern men and women are obliged to be heretics that is they are compelled to 16

choose the religious symbols which govern and shape their lives this position suggests that the concept of gods is not a given but rather that it is open to change and development blacks and other ethnic groups have changed religious symbols and myths in their struggle for change some examples are the black madonnas and christs of africa and the virgin of guadalupe feminists have also reworked scriptures hymnbookshymn andbooks rituals in any effort to divorce the various concepts from gender in monotheistic traditions they have developed asexual and androgynous gods the problem many mormons may have is that they have attached themselves firmly to alternative world views such as feminism and cant approach the alter in the same way again some say they cant approach the alter at all that there can be no such thing as a mormon feminist warenski pg 20 they suggest that choosing the world view of the feminist makes impossible the acceptance of the contrary world view of the LDSLIDS many mormon women are trying to meld those world views however A witness of that sort of attempt are the LDSLIDS women who are involved in various womens support groups across the nation one of which is the exponent II11 group the womans exponent was a bimonthly paper produced in salt lake city from 1872 until 1914 when it ended publication and was replaced by the church controlled relief society magazine funded entirely by subscriptions womans exponent was not owned or operated by the church although it enjoyed thethe encouragement and goodwill of some of the leading brethren in the church there were clear though unofficial ties to the relief society for example emmaline B wells was editor of the paper while serving as a counselor and then president of the relief society at the general church level in spite of those connections the paper had a distinctly feminist tone and dealt directly in an unselfconscious way with feminist issues of the day by way of illustration the paper presented material on the potential of women to make contributions outside the home the need for women to be strong minded and independent a theological challenge of some of the anti- feminist statements of paul in the new testament a call to end double standards of moralitymorali tyll and the sexual exploitation of young women equal pay for equal work better conditions in the home for women the need for exercise and other health improvements for women and the benefits of female suffrage utah women had 17

received the vote in 1870 but their suffrage was rescinded in 1887 by federal order and not restored until utah statehood in 1896 A group of boston women published in july 1974 the first issue of exponent II11 as mormon sisters inc the hope was to recapture the feminist spirit of the first exponent paper the interest in such a publication is indicated by the circulation increase to over 2000 in the first year other expressions of LDSLIDS feminism are the publications such as sister saints and groups like mormons for ERA local informal groups help meet the needs of many LDSLIDS women the majority of these women are apparently striving to hold on to their religious community and their commitment to some level of feminist principles an excellent article expressing that twofoldtwo fold concern is the implications of feminism for brighambrig ham young university by elouise bell 1976 one of the central interests of this study is the part played by the goddess in that striving for harmony heavenly mother is an element in the belief system and construction of reality for many LDSLIDS this traditional female deity symbol acts as a LDSLIDS universeuniversemaintainingmaintaining agent that helps them believe that society has to be the way it is one of the ultimate meanings that makes up the mormon symbolic universe the female god has become a cultural and theological tradition that claims some social authority within the church and must therefore be exercising some influence on the members of that faith one of the hypotheses of this work is that heavenly mother plays a role in the construction of reality that makes the melding of world views possible andrew greeley has studied female deities in some detail he found that some 10 percent of both male and female catholics in america reported that they were extremely likely to imagine god as a mother 1981 pg 210 the NORC 1983 and 1984 national surveys found almost a quarter of the respondents fl extremelyflextremely likely to have the image of god as mother come to their minds when the subjects were encouraged in 1984 and 1985 to identify on a continuum between mother and father which way they were more likely to picture god less than 10 indicated a point on the continuum between the mother end and the middle on the continuum but almost a quarter of the 989 subjects indicated the midpointmid point between father and

mother 2 leaving the balance or about twothirdstwo thirds on the father side 18

interestingly greeley found that those men who are able to see god in mother terms were more likely than other men to pray regularly had better reported sexual relationships expressed a higher level of social concern and were closer to their own mothers women who reported a similar strong image of god as mother on the other hand prayed more often reported poorer sexual relationships but still were closer to their mothers than other women greeley wonders where the image comes from if unlike the mormon situation if surely it does not originate in any educational or spiritual direction experiences they have had pg 212 he concludes without any direct evidence that the creation of the image as mother results from experiences with women in which they sense that god has disclosed herself to them pg 212 he sees that position as being entirely a positive one LDSLIDS people may be more likely to have these experiences due to the institutional support for the image of a mother god the thesis will attempt to measure the level of experience that mormons report seeking and having with her

the study of the LDSLIDS heavenly mother concept

the study of attitudes related to the LDSLIDS goddess deserves attention for more than just the sake of exploring an unusual religious dogma and its effect it is a potentially important one that could contribute to a better understanding of the possibilities of increased equality and integration between the sexes in a religious organization characterized by male chauvinism heaton 1987 the concept of heavenly mother may mediate or exacerbate a latent conflict between feminism and patriarchy in the LDSLIDS church feminism and patriarchy at least the way they are usually defined seem to be incompatible for some mormon women warenski pg 525352 53 unless one or both of these philosophies are significantly redefined requiring 11 considerable compromise pg 17 warenski suggests that many LDSLIDS women feel they can only be juggled successfully by a schizophrenic or ignorant person she concludes that these two schools must eventually admit irreconcilable differences and part company one or the other must die or one or both must make massive compromises to stay together in another effort to reduce the tension caused by this lack of fit between these two principles LDSLIDS women and to a lesser extent men 19

who are concerned and in a state of conflict may turn to heavenly mother at a rate and intensity well beyond the less feminist church member devotion towards and interest in a mother in heaven may act as a tensionreducingtension reducing agent for some LDS feminists caught between their commitment to religious values and social values they hold precious and sacred this is possible when the feminists find support from a theology that gives prominent place to a female god this challenge of co existenceaccomodation and revolutionchangerevolution change in a religious organization and how these matters are resolved make this an important study an active interest in and especially personal development beyond the official mormon party line of the concept of a mother in heaven that is equal to the father may signal a questioning or even rejection of traditional mormon patriarchy and movement towards a more feminist position if a sizable active committed elite in the LDS church are determinedly moving in that direction it may signal that some shifts albeit perhaps modest and gradual ones are possible within the church in this area A new era of increased equality between the sexes in the LDS church may be on the horizon the collection of articles edited by charlene spretnak the politics of womens spirituality 1982 documents the efforts of many non LDS women to develop a variety of new religions with a feminist slant or focus equally worthy of study are the efforts of members of churches that have been historically resistant to changes in the relationships between the sexes to move themselves and their churches to more egalitarian modes of belief and operation with regards to the sexes A new religion is not really being developed in these cases but when changes are introduced that alleviate stresses and strains and that allow the sexes more equal opportunity for religious expression and satisfaction in a religious group then in fact a significant process worthy of study has occurred 20

CHAPTER TWO

defining terms

many terms were used in the previous chapter that are used widely in social scientific research but which have not been defined herein the purpose of this section is to outline conceptually what the various terms mean and how they are used for the purposes of this study prior to the presentation of the research question and propositions the literature dealing with religiosity feminism and alienation is voluminous and therefore can be only lightly touched upon

dimensions of religiosity

this section is heavily indebted to the cornwall et al 1986 article the dimensions of religiosity A conceptual model with an empirical test A growing consensus in the literature is that religiosity is far from being a monolithic homogeneous whole mueller pg 1 and is best treated as a multidimensional phenomenon cornwall 1986 pg 226 the dimensions used in this study are derived from the cornwall crossclassificationcross classification of three constituent parts of religiosity religious belief commitment and behavior and two forms of religiosity personal and institutional it should be mentioned that this typology without translation may have less direct application among religious groups other than the cormonsMormormonsmons the six dimension model was found in the study to be useful in studying the idiosyncratic features of the religiosity patterns of latterdaylatter day saints pg 242 the dimension of religiosity most commonly used by researchers is doctrinal orthodoxy lenski 1961 or the idealogical dimension glock 1965 others have labeled it belief faulkner and dejong 1966 or 11 creedal11creedal assent king and hunt 1975 some researchers separate out the intellectual dimension glock or the knowledgeknowledgeabilityability of religious tenentstenants from this dimension others argue that simply possessing religious information is not a useful measure king and hunt 1972 one problem that has been addressed but not really solved is that the belief dimension as it is usually defined and measured tends to be biased toward the orthodox position of certain historic ie traditional fudeojudeo christian expressions of religiosity McGuimcguiremcguinerb pg 88 mcguire points out that by these measures a devout quaker might score low on belief religiosity as would members of liberal 21 denominations this is not a serious concern for this research study because various religious groups are not being compared with each other however liberal members of any denomination would appear less religious than conservative members according to mcguire pg 88 this will affect the present study using the standard belief orthodoxy scales will give the liberal LDSLIDS women and men lower scores yet it may not be correct to contend that conservative persons are necessarily more religious another dimension is the affective or emotional component clocksglocks label for this area is the experiential dimension this encompasses feelings towards religious beings objects or institutions and is belledlabelledlagabelled religious commitment by cornwall et al pg 227 they cite mol who defines commitment as focused emotion or emotional attachment to a specific focus of identity pg 216 mol contends that commitment is ivanan important mechanism for maintaining religious identity cornwall pg 227 A third dimension is the behavioral subsuming the if ritualisticifritualistic dimension of glock this includes worship membership in a religious group church attendance or participation in certain sacraments hours spent in church scripture study prayer and financial contricontributionsbutionsbunions to religious organizations glock and stark later split their ritualistic dimension into ritual or public behavior and devotion or private behavior 1968 religious and ethical behaviors or effects of the other dimensions on actual behavior are also included in the behavioral component of religiosity the distinction between institutional and personal religious practice has been highlighted by cornwall and her colleagues and belledlabelledlagabelled modes of religious involvement they cite dittess 1971 distinction between the explicit mode public social institutionalized and formalized and the subjective mode deeply held personal attitudes values loyalties and commitments pg 22728227 28 the personal mode circumscribes the three dimensions beliefs feelings and behaviors that are related to if personal and individualized religion if the institutional mode is comprised of the three dimensions beliefs feelings and behaviors that are related to formalized and institutionalized religion pg 228 cornwall and her colleagues then crossclassifycross classify the two constructs the three components of religiosity and the two modes of religiosity to produce a classification scheme of the following six dimensions of religiosity traditional and particularistic orthodoxy spiritual and church commitment and religious behavior and participation 22

traditional orthodoxy measures acceptance of traditional christian doctrines some of the usual items associated with this dimension involve the existence of god satan and life after death particularistic orthodoxy measures acceptance of beliefs peculiar to a particular religious group in this case those of the LDSLIDS church this institutionallybasedinstitutionallyi nstitutio nalnai ly based dimension may not be very useful for much of the judeojudeochristianchristian tradition however among some sects and cults this dimension could be measured readily for example among the jehovahs witnesses a measure could include attitudes regarding blood transfusions measures such as acceptance of the prophetic call of joseph smith and the book of mormon as scripture can be used among the Morcormonsmormonsmons A composite measure of general orthodoxy among the LDSLIDS could be obtained by combining the two orthodoxy dimensions for the purposes of this study however it may be important to track the acceptance or rejection of the general beliefs not unique to mormonism and the beliefs associated with affiliation with the LDSLIDS spiritual commitment is the dimension of religiosity which encompasses the personal faith relationship with the transcendental cornwall et al pg 229 the concern here is the way in which people personally feel about deity and the strength of those feelings this dimension has received little attention in the empirical research church commitment has also been widely ignored in the literature this dimension involves the attachment identification and loyalty of the individual toward the church organization pg 229 it seems theoretically possible that a person could score high in 11 spiritual11spiritual commitment tv yet low in church commitmentcommitmentil or vice versa statistical analyses confirm that these scales vary independently of each other in fact among the LDSLIDS church commitment has been shown to be more closely related to institutional dimensions 11 particularistic11particularistic orthodoxy and 11 religious11religious participationparticipartica patio n than the personal dimension spiritual commitment cornwall and her colleagues note a 7171.71 correlation coefficient between church commitment and particularistic orthodoxy pg 240 the church commitment dimension should apply best to members of religious organizations that promote allegiance to a specific somewhat exclusive and easily distinguished religious body the data set available for the present study does not include a broad measure of it religious behaviorif however included in this dimension are behaviors which are considered to be religious but may not be directly attached to membership or participation in a religious community personal prayer and 23 scripture study are the only two 11 religious11religious behaviors monitored in the present study others behaviors that would fall into this category are giving to the poor encouraging others to believe in a religious principle or providence forgiving others seeking guidance from god and the like religious participation is a very commonly measured dimension the standard measure here is usually church attendance or involvement in various sacraments other possibilities are a measure of participation in church organizations and amount of financial contribution as a percentage of income not all religious groups offer or emphasize the same range of meetings activities and lay participation for that reason cross comparisons between different religious groups on this dimension must be handled with some caution since all of the subjects of this study are associated with the same religious organization in the same part of the world the united states it should be possible to infer from the data meaningful church participation rates cornwall and her colleagues place dimensions of religiosity that do not fit the six dimension conceptual model into a peripheral category they argue that items such as communal friendships intellectual or knowledge dimensions and the experiential and consequential dimensions are an antecedent or a consequence of religiosity pg 231 congregational friendships and networks clearly are influential in two directions coming out of and contributing to religiosity but considered notvinotvvnot part of being religious pg 231 being informed about bible trivia is described as a trivial aspect of the religious life the person who claims religious experience will often exhibit higher levels of religious feeling beliefs and behaviors pg 232 likewise the persons high on these dimensions may be more likely to seek and find religious experience while there is a twowaytwo way relationship experience is not religiosity the consequential dimension may interact with and have an influence on ones level of religiosity but is said to be more a consequence than a dimension of religiosity from a pragmatic position the present data set measures none of these aspects thus the study will consider only the six dimensions measured in the data

feminism

websters dictionary definition of feminism is the theory of the political economic and social equality of the sexes or organized activity on behalf of 24 womens rights and interests A wide range of persons and organizations today would hasten to claim that they are in full agreement with that gentle and fair brand of gender equality they would not all agree on what it meant however no definition would satisfy all feminists or be practical for every branch of research on the matter the search in this section is for a conceptual definition that will guide and permit this particular study we will show that for the purposes of this study a moderate definition would seem more useful feminism has sometimes been characterized as irrational strident and destructive with a broad range of interests and varied agenda for change some agenda items of certain highprofilehigh profile radical feminists have shocked and alienated many moderates the feminists a new york group formed by titigracegrace atkinson issued a manifesto in 1970 the document called for the end of marriage denounced love said to promote vulnerability dependence etc called for the elimination of heterosexual sex and promoted the development of extrauterineextraflextra uterine means of reproduction donovan 1985 pg 143 valerie solanisssolanicsSolaniss SCUM society for cutting up men encouraged the development of parthenogenetic reproduction a type of reproduction that involves an unfertilized gamete of the kind found among some lower plants and invertebrate animals morgan 1970 pg 514- 519 shulamith firestones dialeticdiabeticDialetic of sex called romance an opiate pg 146 and advocated the end of the incest taboo pg 209 martha shelley declared that lesbianism was the heart of feminism and the womens liberation movement pg 127 the right to unrestricted abortions has been demanded by many of the radical feminist movements in addition some feminists attacked religion in general or some particular expression or faction of religion naomi goldenberg proclaimed in 1979 that judaism and christianity would both wither away because of the feminist assault on patriarchalism she warned her readers of the futility of efforts to reform judaism and christianity pg 25 she described god tumbling toppling fallingfailing fading and dying in the face of the feminist inroads every woman working to improve her own position in society or that of women in general is bringing about the end of god pg 10 in this climate conservative mormon leaders declared feminism synonymous with sexual license homosexuality abortion and the destruction of the family and church charlene spretnak catalogues similar reactions among much of the christian right in her article about their holy war against feminism pg 470496470 496 A radical feminist definitiondefinitioh cannot be used for the purposes of this study for a 25 philosophical rather than a practical reason using a triathlon to measure the fitness level of senior citizens is imprecise and foolish because almost none of them will finish the course alive an extremely radical conceptual definition with an operational definition designed to capture a measure of the acceptance of those values simply will not pick up enough of the target research group of mormons to be useful presumably few feminists carrying the most radical views will be involved in a church like the LDS mary daly points out that while controversial issues like the ones outlined above are related to feminism they are not necessarily feminist issues A woman could be a feminist without endorsing any of these ideas her simple litmus test was that a feminist believes that women must be responsible for their own decisions olive banks states that defining feminism objectively is impossible but finally settles on the following definition A feminist rejects the traditional subordination of women enshrined as it was and is in law custom and religion and claims a new relationship between men and women which would give women greater control over their lives 1986 pg 2 stanley and wise 1983 offer a three part definition feminists accept the fact that women are oppressed agree that their personal experiences and those of other women confirm that fact and attempt to raise their feminist consciousness to see a new reality 1983 pg 515551 55 mary bader papa in christian feminism 1981 says that a feminist need not support abortion or even ordination for women but must be independent and choose to define for herself who she is and why she is pg 63 she suggests a number of criteria that could be incorporated into an operational definition including belief in equal opportunity to work for equal wages in all quarters of the labor market and encouragement for women to be involved in a broad range of roles traditionally closed to them rosalind delmar suggests a baseline definition a feminist is someone who holds that women suffer discrimination because of their sex that they have specific needs which remain negated and unsatisfied and that the satisfaction of those needs would require a radical change pg 8 some radical feminists have denied the possibility that a man could be a feminist on the other hand simone de beauvoir referred to feminists as those women or even men who fight to change the position of women 1972 some self proclaimed feminists suggest that the subtlest form of sexism is to see feminism as strictly a womans issue others see feminism as a midpointmid point or transition stage between a lexisexisexistsexistpatriarchst patriarch and a truly nonsexistnon sexist inclusive humanist both positions 26 described by daniel maguire pg 80 for the purposes of this study we will accept delmars position that in the eighties it is essentially impossible for a man to be considered a feminist feminism is increasingly understood by feminists as a way of thinking created by for and on behalf of women gender specific delmar 1986 pg 27 A man may however to a greater or lesser extent accept feminist values therefore we may speak of attitudes of feminism among men being associated with various variables without claiming that any of them are actually feminists in summary spelled out or implied in many moderate definitions and descriptions of feminism are some attitudes that can be measured by survey among latterlatterdayday saints 1 feminism must involve a concern for the rights of women 2 feminism would not lock women into only traditional roles of wife and mother although a feminist could legitimately choose one or both of those roles 3 if she did make that choice that would not preclude her from carrying other roles as well 4 A feminist would decry any unjust treatment of women in the job market on the basis of gender 5 feminism announces that there is no justification for sexual discrimination in religious areas many of the feminist manifestos and theories go well beyond these five basic points but questions dealing with the five more moderate issues listed are expected to produce some variance in a survey of LDS persons and so are preferred

alienation

dictionary definitions of alienation include mention of severing of relationships estrangement becoming indifferent or averse to someone or something once loved and withdrawing or separating from a former attachment beyond its common usage in daily interaction the concept of alienation has become a dominant one in the social sciences in this century schiller hegel marx marcuse buber fromm and marcel are a few who have made extensive use of the concept in their thinking robert nisbet calls alienation the perspective of our generation 1953 pg 15 C wright mills suggests that no idea no theme no problem is so deep in the classic tradition as that of alienation 196096001 pg 115 because a notion has been the focus of a good deal of study doesnt mean that a definition is obvious in his exhaustive twovolumetwo volume anthology on alienation sykes explicitly declines to provide a definition for the concept that is the titletitlditl e of his 27 work 1964 schacht claims that the term now covers such a wide and diverse area that various authors are often talking about totally different and even mutually exclusive experiences 1970 instead of trying to discover a common unity and consensus on the matter we will discuss how the matter will be dealt with in this thesis seeman describes five types of alienation 1959 pg 78391783 91 powerlessness in the marxian sense meaninglessness not knowing what to believe formlessnessnormlessnessnorm lessness anomie or the operabilityinoperabilityin of social norms isolation lowiflowaflow reward values to goals or beliefs that are typically highly valued in the social group pg 789 and estrangementselfestrangementself psychological alienation or the gap between actualities and aspirations elements of all of those types are involved in our attempt to measure alienation from the church among this population we are interested in monitoring feelings that ambitions relative to the church are beyond an individuals grasp and that there is no satisfactory solution the questionnaire measures two aspects of alienation towards the church criticism of and dissatisfaction with church leaders and programs is an area of focus among some of the questionnaire items this area includes feelings of powerlessness and self estrangement it is a measure of feeling that individual needs are not being met by the church and specifically by church leaders the other sort of alienation measured in the data set is a feeling of being not completely integrated not belonging not being a full member or equal participant considering our discussion of feminism it seems possible that women involved in a patriarchal church might feel some of those things in seemans typology these matters have more to do with isolation and meaninglessness colin wilson declared that the outsider would seem to be a basically religious person 195619569 pg 261 this population is filled with basically religious persons we will examine whether some of them feel like outsiders in the church and the relationship between those feelings and attitudes towards mother in heaven

salience

prominent in the propositions and methodology is the concept of centrality or salience salience is prominence or conspicuous projection outward or upward from its surroundings two residents of a college town may be equally aware of the existence of the college football team in their area the first person however has never attended watched on TV or listened to a game cannot name a single player 28

and is unsure of whether the team usually wins or loses the second individual buys season tickets for the entire family has not missed a game in fourteen years never misses the television delayed broadcasts the night after the games knows every players name and statistics is an avid member of the booster club designs wardrobe items and home furnishings around the team colors and allows personal moods to be determined by the teams fortunes the first individual although conscious that there is a team has not made it salient in his or her life the football team is highly salient for the second person these extremes are drawn in an exaggerated way for the purposes of demonstration latterlatterdayday saints who accept that a mother in heaven exists may exhibit a considerable range of salience in their attitudes about mother in heaven we expect that mother in heaven will not be highly salient among the general church membership if we find that certain kinds of members of the church have developed and made central the concept of god the mother we would like to discover the variables that are related to this phenomenon

specific propositions to be tested

official and folk doctrine among the LDSLIDS outline the existence of a mother in heaven research can determine the extent to which such a notion is believed by members of the faith the first proposition is based on the long standing and steady doctrinal flow of support from mormon leaders for the existence of mother in heaven and the high reported rate in the literature of orthodoxy for LDSLIDS persons that are involved in the church mauss 1972 photiadis 1965 cline and richards 1965 proposition 1 A significant majority of the latterlatterdayday saints believe in the existence of a heavenly mother however because mother in heaven is heavily veiled not scripturally identified or prominent in theology she will not be accepted at the same level as the better promoted and more generic god therefore proposition liii111.1 A significantly smaller percentage of LDSLIDS will express believe in heavenly mother than express belief in god A relationship is expected between dimensions of religiosity and expressed belief in the mother goddess generally the higher the level of religiosity the more likely a person in the LDSLIDS faith is to accept that there is a mother in heaven proposition 2 the greater ones religiosity the greater ones belief in a heavenly mother 29

we will report both zero order correlations and multiple regression betas in the findings chapter of the thesis to consider the following propositionssubsubpropositions of proposition 2 and similar propositions related to salience it will be helpful to understand the tendency for an individual in the study to be in the same relative position on two variables for example the zero order correlations may show that an individual who is relatively high on the mormon orthodoxy scale is also high on the belief in heavenly mother however to actually determine whether the data supports the various propositions we will look at the relationships among the variables when they are entered into a multiple regression analysis together for example the relationship between mormon orthodoxy and belief in heavenly mother may be strong after the other variables in the model are controlled even if the proposition does not specifically state we advise the reader that for each of the pertinent propositions the implication is that the relationship will or will not be found when other model variables are entered simultaneously into the equation since the doctrine of the existence of mother in heaven is a clear part of the standard teachings of the church belief in her existence will be strongly a function of institutional religiosity and especially mormon orthodoxy that is those that accept joseph smith and the present leader of the church as prophets and the book of mormon as scripture are much more likely to accept specific doctrines and teachings officially adopted by the church proposition 212.1 the greater ones particularistic mormon orthodoxy the greater ones belief in mother in heaven traditional christian teachings have nothing to say about the existence of a female deity in fact they may implicitly deny her this suggests a weak relationship between this dimension and belief in the divine mother however persons in the mormon tradition who are particularistically orthodox will also be traditionally orthodox although the reverse may not be as true the cornwall study 1986 found a correlation of 6363.63 and the correlation in a sample of LDS that does not include many disaffiliated people is likely to be a good deal higher for a sample of active mormons then the following is suggested proposition 222.2 there is no relationship between traditional christian orthodoxy and belief in mother in heaven at the affective level spiritual and church commitment among the LDS are not expected to correlate with each other as closely as do the two dimensions of belief cornwall 1986 pg 240 high levels of spiritual commitment to god should

I1 30 match up with belief in the gods of that tradition controlling for other influences for that reason proposition 232.3 the greater ones spiritual commitment the greater ones belief in mother in heaven church commitment was found to be highly correlated 71 71.71 with particularistic orthodoxy in the cornwall et al study therefore there will be a positive correlation between church commitment and belief in mother in heaven even after controlling for orthodoxy the positive relationship is expected to persist A person highly committed to the church should accept the major tenets of the faith to avoid dissonance that is not to say that the teachings will necessarily be highly central to her or his life style or world view but committed church members are expected to report belief in the divine mother proposition 242.4 the greater ones church commitment the greater ones belief in mother in heaven religious behavior operationalized in the present study as private prayer should theoretically correlate with a belief in a god but there would be no reason to expect any special relationship with belief in a female god the literature similarly offers little guidance regarding a connection between religious participation and belief in mother in heaven therefore proposition 252.5 there is no relationship between religious behavior and participation and belief in mother in heaven table 1 below summarizes the predicted correlations between the religious dimension variables and belief in mother in heaven much research has focused on determining how social correlates relate to various dimensions of religiosity albrecht and heaton 1984 tapp 1971 glock and stark 1965 lenski 1961 fukuyama 1961 lazerwitz 1962 studies have shown relationships between religiosity and education gaede 1974 roberts and davidson 1984 albrecht and heaton 1984 age welch 1981 finney and lee 1977 mindel and vaughn 1978 income occupational status ethnicity jacobson 1987 marital status gender region and transience those matters are influential but are not within the specific scope of this thesis we are interested in how demographic variables impinge 31

TABLE 1 predicted correlations between religious dimensions and belief in heavenly mother

institutional modes personal modes belbeliefbellefig belief part orthodoxy trad orthodoxy church commit spirit commit rel participatparticipate rel behavior positive correlation negative correlation no correlation directly on the belief in a heavenly mother demographic variables will be expected to vary with the dimensions of religiosity however we have discovered no compelling reason to expect a significant correlation between any social correlate and belief in god the mother when the dimensions of religiosity are controlled for this is true at least for the highly homogeneous target research population we are concerned with this purposive sample with an expected low level of variance on many of the standard demographic variables is described in the next chapter we will nevertheless investigate the relationships between belief in heavenly mother and all demographic variables available in the data set the centrality or salience of the female deity to the members can also be examined for example questions that will be monitored include whether people think they have felt mothers love how often they wonder about or discuss her how much would they like to know more about her whether they have sought to know more about her and whether they feel a bond with her the data set will permit a comparison between the reported experience with the love of god the father and god the mother A comparison of the frequency of discussion among the respondents LDS friends of nine gospel related subjects is also possible god and mother in heaven are two of those topics salience is a different issue than the mere acceptance of the existence of the goddess the literature review identified no movement among the official LDS leadership to promote those kinds of devotions and attitudes for that reason the following proposition is suggested proposition 3 A minority of latterlatterdayday saints will report high heavenly mother salience as compared with the prominence given god or other religious concepts and topics 32

if heavenly mother is important to only a portion of the church members we can examine what it is that contributes to that interest and concern for that particular faction what social correlates are associated with high salience of mother in heaven the primary demographic correlate expected to be associated with salience is gender proposition 4 mother in heaven will be more salient for LDSLIDS women than LDSLIDS men notmot only will women report greater salience but women and men in the church will attribute different reasons for the lack of information about god the mother in the LDSLIDS church women may be more willing to attribute the scarcity of theology on the matter to a lack of interest on the part of a patriarchal leadership proposition 414.1 A greater percentage of LDSLIDS women than men will agree that one reason for the heavy veiling of heavenly mother is that the prophets have not sought to know more conversely a lesser percentage of women than men will agree that one reason the church doesnt know more about heavenly mother is that heavenly father does not want us to know more the gender variable is also critical in the explanation of the relationships among dimensions of religiosity and belief in and salience of mother in heaven belief and salience are related in different ways to the modes of religious involvement personalandpersonalpersopensonalandand institutional for women and men proposition 5 salience of mother in heaven will vary with gender and religiosity we have proposed that belief in heavenly mothers existence will be positively correlated with particularistic orthodoxy that is obviously people that believe the doctrines of the church tend to believe its doctrine that god the mother lives however mother in heaven has no active role in mormon doctrine we have assumed more identification with her on the part of LDSLIDS women proposition 4 orthodox men in the church should suffer less conflict with the patriarchal doctrines and practices of the church they are not expected to attempt to have heavenly mother moderate compensate or negotiate the conflict getting close to mother in heaven is not part of the typical mormon male experience therefore no relationship for men between particularistic orthodoxy and salience for the goddess is predicted 33

proposition 515.1 there is no relationship between particularistic mormon orthodoxy and salience of mother in heaven for men women in the church particularly informed and activist vanguard women may react to their concerns about the patriarchal tradition manifest by lower particularistic orthodoxy at the same time they may seize the concept of mother in heaven and make it more central in their lives to mediate the problems created by the patriarchal teachings and organization some women who find they can cling to the orthodox beliefs of the church may not require the goddess to the same extent proposition 525.2 the greater ones particularistic mormon orthodoxy the lesser the salience of mother in heaven for women traditional orthodoxy levels would seem to have little to do with the salience of the mother for men and so no relationship is predicted proposition 535.3 there is no relationship between traditional christian orthodoxy and salience of mother in heaven for men women who struggle with the patriarchal aspects of the church may separate out in their minds the sources of those problems and divorce them from basic tenets of christianity even though the bible and traditional interpretations of god the father are distinctly patriarchal they may not be targeted as the source of the offense as will the mormon institution the reason this may be is that the church regularly and directly demonstrates its patriarchal leanings in an unequivocal way traditional christian tenets perhaps personally reinterpreted may even be embraced for solace this leads to proposition 545.4 the greater ones traditional christian orthodoxy the greater the salience of mother in heaven for women patterns of religiosity suggest that persons who score high on measures of spirituality expressing the importance and centrality in their lives of their relationship with and love of god and their willingness to obey that god would also tend to score higher on a mother in heaven scale these persons are close to and striving for the transcendent spiritual matters are very central to their world views and ways of coping with challenge therefore for both genders proposition 555.5 the greater ones spiritual commitment the greater the salience of mother in heaven for men and women the institutional aspect of the affective dimension church commitment should operate in similar patterns as the institutional aspect of belief LDS 34 orthodoxy for men for whom the conflict is less visible or at least not as real there should be no reason to expect a lessening of commitment to the church and a high level of salience with mother in heaven proposition 565.6 there is no relationship between church commitment and salience of mother in heaven for men women who are concerned about the prevailing patriarchal tone in the church are expected to reduce allegiance to that church and turn increasingly to their mother in heaven proposition 575 7 the greater ones church commitment the lesser the salience of mother in heaven for women there seems to be little apparent reason for the religious behavior or religious participation of men to be related to salience of mother in heaven most simply would not think about her often regardless of their private and institutional religious behavior proposition 585.8 there is no relationship between religious behavior or religious participation and salience of mother in heaven for men the religious behavior of women at least in so far as it is measured in this data set could increase in their efforts to find a solution or spiritual light on the dilemma they face in the church therefore it is predicted that personal prayers and scripture study will be associated with high centrality of the goddess to the extent that the scriptures are perceived as the expression of only the male experience with god this relationship may be diluted proposition 595.9 the greater ones religious behavior the greater the salience of mother in heaven for women the religious participation of women is a different matter the institutional mode in this case of behavior is again expected to have the opposite relationship women who are fully integrated in the organization and especially those who have high profile and timeconsumingtime consuming church assignments will tend to turn to mother in heaven to a lesser extent the marginally participating woman will be more likely to expand the role of the female god in her religious thinking proposition 5105.10 the greater ones religious participation the lesser the salience of mother in heaven for women table 2 summarizes the predicted relationship between the religious dimensions and the salience of mother in heaven 35

TABLE 2 predicted correlations between religious dimensions and salience of heavenly mother

institutional modes Personpersonalpensongl modes women men women men part orthodoxy trad orthodoxy church commit spirit commit rel participatparticipate rel behavior positive correlation negative correlation no correlation

female mormons who find the mainstream LDS patriarchal ideas unsatisfactory are predicted to turn increasingly to more highly privatizing spiritual concepts for religious renewal and strength they may reject the entire package of traditional theology or selectively abandon the offending patriarchal and misogynic elements and try to live with the dissonance that this approach demands feminist women may not necessarily believe in mother in heavens existence at a higher level but heavenly mother is predicted to play a major part for many of those that believe in her in their efforts to gain perspective provide meaning and manage conflict men who are sympathetic to feminist concerns especially those who are involved with and close to LDS women who hold and practice feminist values will also adopt a higher level of mother in heaven centrality proposition 6 the greater ones feminist attitudes the greater the heavenly mother salience the theories and previous research see under discussion of durkheimian theories would point to the likelihood of there being a difference too in the way the role of mother in heaven is understood by members of the various persuasions feminists are more likely than those who hold traditional patriarchal attitudes to describe heavenly mother as a cocreatorco creator and codirectorco director with the father that is they will tend to see the male and female deities as equal partners proposition 616.1gi the greater the feminism the more likely one is to perceive of heavenly mother and father as creatorscocreatorsco rather than entities of equal status but differentiated roles the final proposition has to do with the relationship with alienation people who are highly alienated critical and even angry towards the LDS church across a broad base including teachings leaders and programs are likely to be 36 disaffiliated from the church or operating very much on the fringe general disgruntlement and disillusionment is not predicted to be associated with high salience of mother in heaven however feelings of being not completely integrated not belonging not being a full member or equal participant are expected to be found among women who are sensitive to and concerned about the place of women in the church women who feel this way are predicted to turn to mother in heaven at a higher than average level proposition 7 the greater the feelings of not belonging not being a full member or completely integrated the greater the salience of mother in heaven for women no similar relationship is predicted for men other variables are of possible interest include age education income conjugal relationship employment status marital status and reported marital satisfaction having children and regional residence much research has focused on the relationship between various demographic variables and religious belief salience these relationships have often been found to be important however they are not the primary interest of this study the relatively homogeneous population surveyed described in the next chapter may not display enough variance on most of these variables to lead to a discovery of relationships to salience of heavenly mother anyway however all demographic variables will be analyzed against heavenly mother salience and interesting trends that might be pursued in further research will be reported seven major propositions with a number of sub propositions have been presented these are reiterated below in summary form chapter 3 presents the methodology that will be used to test these hypotheses and a description of the population

summary of propositions

proposition 1 A significant majority of the latterlatterdayday saints believe in the existence of a heavenly mother proposition iili111.1 A significantly smaller percentage of LDS will express belief in heavenly mother than express belief in god proposition 2 the greater ones religiosity the greater ones belief in a heavenly mother proposition 212.1 the greater ones particularistic mormon orthodoxy the greater ones belief in mother in heaven 37 proposition 222.2 there is no relationship between traditional christian hodolyhodoxyorthodoxyort and belief in mother in heaven proposition 232.3 the greater ones spiritual commitment the greater ones belief in mother in heaven proposition 242.4 the greater ones church commitment the greater ones belief in mother in heaven proposition 252.5 there is no relationship between religious behavior and participationparticipartica pationpatlon and belief in mother in heaven proposition 3 A minority of latterlatterdayday saints will report high heavenly mother salience as compared with the prominence given god or other religious concepts and topics proposition 4 mother in heaven will be more salient for LDS women than LDS men proposition 414.1 A greater percentage of LDS women than men will agree that one reason for the heavy veiling of heavenly mother is that the prophets have not sought to know more conversely a lesser percentage of women than men will agree that one reason the church doesnt know more about heavenly mother is that heavenly father does not want us to know more proposition 5 salience of mother in heaven will vary with gender and religiosity proposition 515.1 there is no relationship between particularistic mormon orthodoxy and salience of mother in heaven for men proposition 525.2 the greater ones particularistic mormon orthodoxy the lesser the salience of mother in heaven for women proposition 535.3 there is no relationship between traditional christian orthodoxy and salience of mother in heaven for men proposition 545.4 the greater ones traditional christian orthodoxy the greater the salience of mother in heaven for women proposition 555.5 the greater ones spiritual commitment the greater the salience of mother in heaven for men and women proposition 565.6 there is no relationship between church commitment and salience of mother in heaven for men proposition 575.7 the greater ones church commitment the lesser the salience of mother in heaven for women proposition 585.8 there is no relationship between religious behavior or religious participation and salience of mother in heaven for men proposition 595.9 the greater ones religious behavior the greater the salience of mother in heaven for women proposition 5105.10 the greater ones religious participation the lesser the salience of mother in heaven for women proposition 6 the greater ones feminist attitudes the greater the heavenly mother salience 38 proposition 61 the greater the feminism the more likely one is to perceive of heavenly mother and father as creatorscocreatorsco rather than entities of equal status but differentiated roles proposition 7 the greater the feelings of not belonging not being a full member or completely integrated the greater the salience of mother in heaven for women no similar relationship is predicted for men 39

CHAPTER THREE

target population

the data were collected from a unique LDSLIDS group no random sampling techniques were carried out A small pilot project was first conducted among 20 women and men to refine the questionnaire instrument but since most of the items were drawn from existing survey instruments see cornwall et al 1985 extensive pretestspre tests were not necessary research support for the study was provided partially by the college of family home and social sciences of brigham young university every woman on the mailing list of one of four LDSLIDS womens support groups in the united states was surveyed during the spring of 1986 by mail questionnaire see appendix for a copy of the questionnaire the four groups operate in the following areas of the united states 1 east coast 2 midwest 3 utah 4 southwest this fourth group is much smaller than the others the researchers attempted to locate a similar type of support group operating in california but could not these support groups which have been meeting for the last six or seven years are not sponsored by the LDSLIDS church women can attend the group meetings by invitation only which means that a woman must be attached to the feminist network to be notified of the meetings therefore the women surveyed are in some ways a kind of snowball sample because the mailing lists used were originally generated by personal referral rather than individual joining of an organization the respondents were asked to complete the questionnaire and ask a significant male other husband if married or single LDSLIDS male friend living in the area if not to fill out the mens questionnaire see copy of cover letter in appendix both the female and male respondents were given a response addressed and stamped post card and envelope we will call the female research population the womens support group women hereafter WSG the husbands and single male friends of the WSG will be labelledbelledlagabelled the WSG men the gendercombinedgender combined group may be called the research population or WSG population since those surveyed individuals are the only ones about whom we will attempt to draw conclusions A total of 394 paired survey packets were sent out to women thirtyseventhirty seven were returned and remained undeliverable therefore a total of 357 were presumed to have reached the addressees after the standard reminders and second reminders were sent the number of womens questionnaires returned 40 completed was 296 four more came back blank with refusals to operatecooperateco thus the response rate for the women was 83 the number of men who returned completed surveys was 207 on the surface that would seem to be a less than ideal 58 return rate however only 25 single men returned questionnaires as compared to 63 single women taking those out of consideration in terms of calculating a response rate reduced the possible to 269 of that number 180 returned completed questionnaires for the married portion of the WSG men a more respectable 67 rate was obtained based on comments on the backs of the questionnaires the men were less comfortable with filling out the questionnaire than were women some women returned their questionnaire indicating their husband did not want to participate it is possible that the men that did respond are more interested in what their wives or female friends are doing or in womeniwomenss issues generally therefore the WSG men may be skewed towards closer conjugal relationships and perhaps even sympathy with feminism some respondents were apparently quite concerned about who was doing the survey and how the results would be used phone numbers of the primary researcher and sponsoring research agency brigham young university family and demographic research institute had been provided to the respondents several called and asked searching and suspicious questions until they were satisfied that no harm would come of their participation their concerns were that they the church their womens organization or someone else would be adversely affected reports were received that confirmed that many others checked out the primary researcher through their own networks before responding to the survey the researcher is a female LDS sociologist who has been involved with mormon womens support groups for some time and was able to reassure those who contacted her this information should not lead us to conclude that the WSG is especially paranoid but may point out the delicate nature of these matters although the questions would be considered by many researchers to be inoffensive almost innocuous mormon women confronting the dilemma of loyalty to and misgivings about the church might find them sensitive the high return rate among women who perceived a reason to be cautious may indicate the interest the WSG has in these matters there are some limitations in the purposive sample approach to the research A random sample of the LDS church membership would give the best reading of the present level of attitudes related to these matters among the general 41

membership surveying a large random LDSLIDS sample would allow the formation of conclusions and generalizations to the entire population of the mormon church A random sample would be difficult to obtain both logistically and by reason of the sensitivity of the data women who are members of a LDSLIDS womens support group and their significant male others may give a view of a vanguard group the objective is to find LDSLIDS who are aware able active assertive and associated with others like themselves and at the same time interested in womens issues and rights these couples could give a better picture of the wave of change because they may be most involved in making the waves members of a womens support group would be expected to be more highly feminist than the general church membership and should provide a more concentrated group of subjects with the values and concerns that are being investigated for these reasons it seems preferable to surrender the advantages of a random sample for a better look at a slice of the church that presumably is more aware of and concerned about the dichotomy that mormon women face this elite fringe of women and men may be very similar in makeupmake up to populations in other religious traditions that are engaged in reworking the god symbols and myths

questionnaire

the data were obtained through the use of a fourteenpagefourteen page 145item145 item questionnaire the mens questionnaire was identical to the womens except that it has been gender translated A battery of the standard demographic questions including questions regarding the respondents religious background and experience were asked of the subjects in addition questions measuring various dimensions of religiosity spiritual experience and attitudes about their relationship with god and their church were asked A number of attitudinal questions feelings and beliefs were asked about heavenly mother some parallel questions about heavenly father were asked for comparative purposes questions were asked to determine how frequently heavenly mother is a topic of discussion among friendship groups as compared with other religious matters A measurement of feminism was included questions about personal approval for abortion under a variety of circumstances were asked for married persons conjugal role separateness and connectedness were monitored specifically they were asked 42 which member of the couple usually did various tasks and which made the decisions respondents were encouraged to make any comments on the blank back of the questionnaire

A demographic profile of the WSG population

on some variables the population of women and men connected to the WSG are representative cormonsMormormonsmons in other ways they are supertypicalsuper typical or exemplary cormonsMormormonsmons doing what mormons are supposed to do at an elite level that is far beyond the ordinary among the latterlatterdayday saints but on some variables they are quite exceptional in these ways they can almost be considered a curious aberration in the church attitudes beliefs and ideals found among the WSG population are fraught with surprising contradictions elements of both conformity and nonconformity orthodoxy and unorthodoxy conservatism and liberalism affirmation and contradiction and religious and secular values are found these contradictions are not found at the group level so much indicating a heterogeneous or amorphous collection of persons but rather at the individual level this is a remarkable slice of the LDS church and like many purposive samples not useful perhaps for a broad description of the church but perhaps suited for the specific research questions raised in this thesis age and sex fiftyninefifty nine percent of the usable questionnaires were completed by women the adult church is made up of more females than males and this imbalance is greater in the eastern US where a good share of the WSG population reside the population is not a random sample reflecting any of those trends in demography however the lower number of returned questionnaires from single men may be somewhat a function of the sex ratio in the church goodman and heaton 1986 report that there are 19 active single men over 30 in the church for every 100 similar women this ratio is even more imbalanced outside of the intermountain west and LDS single men over 30 tend to be relatively much less educated than women it is possible that some of the single women who received the questionnaires didnt know any single LDS men in their localities whatever the reason the gender imbalance in our purposive sample is the result of a lesser number of men perhaps receiving and certainly returning the questionnaire 43

the mean age for the respondents is 41341.3 with a standard deviation of 9759759.75 years the median age is 40 with a range of 58 years varying from 21 to 79 years the age patterns of the men and women are almost identical it is important to remember that the majority of respondents are members of an age cohort between the ages of 30 and 50 only about 10 are under 30 and about 10 are 55 and over

family Characcharacteristicharacteristiccharacteristicsteristi goodman and heaton 1986 found that mormons had a higher currently married to percentage than americans in general see table 3 below heaton 1987 calls conjugality or the tendency to be married an important characteristic of the mormon family and claims that Morcormonsmormonsmons have a higher percentage of persons over age thirty who have ever married than any other religious group pg 103 the WSG population is more heavily married than the church average with 82 currently wed see table 3 over 92 of that group are on their first marriage both mean and median number of years married to the present spouse was 17 years almost 80 report that they are happyit or very happy in their present marriage over 87 of the WSG indicate they would marry the same person if they had to do it over again the presently divorced and separated constitute 7 of the WSG population or about the percentage found in the general church population the widowed are uunderrepresentedunderundennde rrnennere presentedrepresented probably because the elderly are not heavily involved in these table 3 WSGs marital status compared to random LDSLIDS sample and US national figures

status afisfi cum condensed condensercondensed IPSLDS ustusz populationpogulation catecorieacategories samplesampie census first marriage 76 76 remarriagedivorceRemarriage Divorce 5 81 remarriagedeathRemarriage Death 1 82 married 82 70 63 divorce 656.5 88588.5 separated 5.59zaz 0 89 divorcedsedivorcedseparatedDivorced SeSeparatedparated 7 7 9 widowed 1 90 widowed 1 4 8 never married 10 100 never married 122 13 ZQSL n497 100 100 100 sources goodman and heaton article 1986 1980 US census and survey data 44 support groups only 1 are over the age of 65 the never married constitute almost 10 of the population goodman and heaton suggest that 19 of the adults over 18 in the church fall in this category the mean age of the never married respondents is 33833.8 with only 14 being over the mean age 41 for the entire group when the WSG population is split by gender the percentages in each category of marital status are roughly parallel A slightly smaller percentage of women are on their first marriage or remarried after the death of a spouse A modestly larger percentage of the women than men are divorced widowed or never married the random survey used by goodman and heaton found that of married couple households 69 were married to members of the church leaving almost a third of the couples with a interfaithinter faith marriage the present study found only 4 of 409 married persons presently married to a nonmember or about 1 goodman and heaton report that of those married to members two thirds were married in the temple marriage in one of the LDSLIDS temples is for all eternity and the more orthodox type of marriage ceremony ninetyfiveninety five percent of the married persons in the WSG population have been married in the temple while the GoodmangoodmanheatonHeaton church wide estimate of couples married in the temple is 45 this research population is more than double that rate these are predominantly mormons who are in many ways meeting the highest level demands of their faith goodman and heaton show a higher number of children born for mormons than the national average 3273273.27 versus 2232.23 pg 95 temple married women had an average of 3463.46 for WSG women the average was also high women who were or had been married reported a mean number of 3983.98 children with a standard deviation of 161.6lgig both the median and modal numbers of children was 4 but a third of the women had five children or more see table 4 the majority of married women who have had none or one child are under the age of 30 this may not indicate a special proclivity for large families among the WSG population beyond the anomaly noted by heaton 1986 regarding the trend for higher socioeconomic mormon families to have more children in addition the groups are not directly comparable in terms of age length of intact marriage and other factors therefore wewillwe will cautiously conclude that the WSG is perhaps roughly equally inclined to have children as mormons of matching demographic characteristics 45

table 4 number of children reported by WSG women

number frequency percent cumulative percent one 12 484.8 484.8 two 27 10810.8 15715.7 three 63 25325.3 41041.0 four 65 26126.1 67167.1 five 44 17717.7 84784.7 six 22 888.8 93693.6 seven 9 363.6 97297.2 eight 4 161.6lgig 98898.8 nine 2 8.8 99699.6 elevenseven 1 4.4 1000100.0 n249 1000100.0

socioeconomic characteristics education is a key measure of socioeconomic status and an important variable related to the WSG population mormon church members are more educated than the general US population goodman and heaton but the WSG population is far above average LDS levels note table 5 goodman and heaton report average rates of 13413.4 and 13 years for mormon men and women respectively pg 97 the WSG population has average rates of 18318.3 and 17417.4 for men and women respectively for a combined mean of 17817.8 with a standard deviation of 212.1 fiftyfivefifty five percent of the respondents have graduate degrees about half of those are women fully a quarter of the WSG population have doctorate degrees slightly less than a third of them are women this is an important factor that needs emphasis US averages quoted by goodman and heaton 12612612.6 and 12412.4 for men and women are surpassed by all but 2 of the surveyed group only 13 of them have not graduated from a university 46

table 5 WSGs years of education compared to LDSLIDS random sample and US men and women

years females malesmaies of education WSGG usu2sn q uaUS WSS ldaLOS ilsilallalia 0110 11 0 16416.4 31831.8 5.5 15315.3 30730.7 12 171.7 39339.3 40540.5 151.5 31231.2 32832.8 131513 15 13813.8 28628.6 14114.1 787.8 25025.0 15615.6 16 or more 85585.5 15715.7 13613.6 90290.2 28528.5 20920.9 18 or more 58958.9 71371.3 20 or more 32032.0 46646.6 median years 18 13013.0 12412.4 18 13413.4 262.6 source goodman and heaton article 1986 1980 US census present survey note the survey population is heavily clustered in the 16 or more years of education category therefore we have chosen to report the percentages reporting higher levels even though similar data was not reported for the other comparable groups

not only should the level of educational attainment of the surveyed group be stressed but the strength of women relative to men must be emphasized among the general LDSLIDS population goodman and heaton found that 28528.5 of the men and 15715.7 of the women had completed 16 or more years of schooling pg 98 but in the WSG 90290.2 of the men reached that level and the proportion of women was not far behind at 85585.5 the trend continues 77 of the men have some post- graduate schooling with 64 of the WSG women at that level 68 of the men have graduate degrees compared to 48 of the women therefore among the latterlatterdayday saints the percentage of women who graduate from college is 55 of the male rate but among this group the percentage of women who graduate at the baccalaureate level is virtually even with the men and even at the graduate level is 69 of the male rate A critic might argue that the trend is the same that the gender education gap is still there but at a higher level however though the WSG men are highly educated women nevertheless are close to their male others educational attainment employment status is another area where the WSG differs from average mormon and US rates goodman and heaton show that 85 of mormon men and 51 of the mormon women are either working or looking for work as compared to 77 and 52 in the US in the WSG population 93 or all but 15 of the men are in the labor force those 15 are virtually all either over 65 and presumably retired or young adults who report high levels of education and small incomes so may be 47 students the women are heavily involved in the work world as well 81 are in the labor force some of the 57 female individuals who are not employed are elderlyretiredelderly retired or youngstudentsyoung students but 26 are married with preschool children and 16 more are married with older children still at home goodman and heaton note that LDSLIDS women are more likely to work part time pg 100 this is the case among the WSG women GoodmangoodmanheatonHeaton found that about 40 of LDSLIDS women who are employed work less than full time in the research group 28 report less than 20 hours a week and 46 say they work less than 30 hours per week virtually all of the women reporting less than 30 hours work are married most with children at home or single with children goodman and heaton also suggest that if participation rates are much less for married women with children at home pg 100 that trend is demonstrated to a lesser extent among these women of those with preschool children at home 73 of the women work outside the home when all families with children in school or preschool are considered 75 are employed but as noted above they are more likely to work parttimepart time outside the home occupational distributions follow a pattern that would be expected for the reported levels of education among the group over 80 fall in the professional and managerial categories the trend that goodman and heaton showed in the LDSLIDS general membership for women to have lower status occupations is muted in the WSG among the women less than 9 of the respondents reported occupations that are ranked below that of an elementary school teacher using the hodgeseigelrossihodge seigel rossirossl occupational prestige scores developed at NORC about 7 of the men reported occupations below that level the women are most heavily involved in educational fields from elementary school to university and are represented in essentially all the prestigious fields women are more involved than men in the fine arts and social sciences the men are predominant in law medicine engineering education and especially business management and administration income patterns are related to education and occupation already discussed exactly 60 of the respondents report family incomes over 40000 see table 6 half of those earn jointly over 60000 per annum the highest level offered as an option in the questionnaire although not all are prosperous the WSG is generally characterized by prosperity 48 table 6 household income for WSG population

brtwrtjoint income elemegelfrequency percent cumulative percent under 20000 39 808.0 808.0 200002499920000 24999 25 515.1 313.1 250002999925000 29999 40 828.2 21221.2 300003999930000 39999 92 18818.8 40040.0 400004999940000 49999 85 17317.3 57357.3 500005999950000 59999 63 12912.9 70270.2 60000 and over 146 29829.8 1000100.0 n490 1000100.0

of the 8 percent or 39 individuals earning less than 20000 eighteen are never married males and females who tend to be well educated young and work only part time sixteen are first married persons who generally are not as well educated have children and are getting by on just the husbands income only one of the women in this group is working outside the home the balance are divorced women who are in the work force and have children

church participation rates albrecht and heaton 1984 demonstrated that for mormon men the higher the level of education the higher the level of religious observance they suggested that mormon women follow that same trend except for women who pursue post- graduate studies these data cannot support or refute that conclusion but do provide a picture of highly educated mormons who are heavily involved in religious observances one standard measure of religious participation and perhaps the one used by most mormons to assess 11 activity11activity in the churchurchchunchunchichi is attendance at sacrament meeting table 7 shows how less than 8 of the purposive sample attends monthly or less frequently albrecht and heaton found in their random sample that 77377.3 and 78978.9 of LDSLIDS men and women respectively with 16 or more years of education were weekly attenders pg 51 this WSG population has a similar pattern 78678.6 weekly attenders 49 table 7 frequency of attendance at sacrament meeting weekly held communion

rwhow often endinaendinoaftencriattendinaAftenattendingAtt citcricrt fremenFrewenfrewencvfreouencvcv percent cicumurnormomm percent never 17 343.4 343.4 once a month or less 13 262.6 606.0go monthly 8 161.6lgig 767.6 few times a month 69 13813.8 21421.4 weekly 393 78678.6 1000100.0 n500 1000100.0

the AlbrechtalbrechtheatonalbrechvheatonHeaton study reports that between 60 and 75 of LDSLIDS college graduate and graduate school men and women were reporting daily prayer between 48 and 61 of the same group spent at least one hour in gospel study per week this research group prays less and studies more than these reported levels slightly less than half the WSG population pray daily but over 80 study the scriptures or gospelrelatedgospel related material for an hour or more per week another measure of involvement in a lay run church like the LDSLIDS is acceptance of a church assignment about 85 of this group presently have at least one church calling there are a wide range of callings being carried by these persons at one end of the service spectrum is a woman serving as a pianist for an auxiliary organization and reporting that the assignment takes about one half hour per week near the other end are presidents of various auxiliaries bishops stake presidents and general church officers that report spending above twenty hours a week if a fulcrum were placed at the twohourstwo hours a week level about the average for a teacher of a sunday class threequartersthree quarters of the surveyed group would be on the heavy callings side of that mark the mean time given to their assignments is over four hours per week three examples of the high level positions carried by member of the WSG population are 1 less than one percent of the church are serving at any given time in a bishopric the male triumvirate that leads a ward or congregation six percent of this population are presently serving in that capacity 2 less than one percent of the church are serving in a ward relief society presidency at any one time over four percent of those surveyed report currently being in a womans presidency of that kind 3 an infinitesimal portion of the church ever serve in general church positions these are callings to positions that serve various functions at a church level rather than local levels three percent of the population were involved in such positions at the time of the survey A number 50

the population were involved in such positions at the time of the survey A number of researchers have noted the tendency for the better educated to receive more significant leadership callingscallings which are more time demanding and supposedly more rewarding davies 1965 albrecht and heaton 1984 being given the opportunity to serve may well be a function of their socioeconomic position but accepting and carrying out the assignment is surely somewhat a function of their commitment to the church feelingsFeelinas about churchqhurch participation not everyone who attends church does so for the same reason or feels the same way about it to understand the special nature of this LDS group we will examine some attitudes about the church and its leaders we will compare these survey data to data collected in a large research project sponsored by the mormon church of LDS persons living in the US for a detailed description of the sample and research see cornwall 1985 their random sample included a substantial section of persons who are not actively involved in the church and presumably many alienated or even antagonistic members of record to make the comparison more accurate all those who did not attend church services more often than monthly were dropped from consideration this selection brought the random sample from around 900 subjects to about 500 the WSG shrank much less being reduced from around 500 to 460 all of these attitudinal questions allowed a range of five response options the percentages of subjects in the groups described who selected the two responses reflecting the highest levels of alienation more alienated than somewhat are shown in table 8 below on every question similar proportions of women and men express alienation in the random LDS sample the differences are small with one exception women feel less comfortable talking to their ecclesiastical leaders on personal matters among the WSG women the proportion who report alienation is significantly higher than the proportions among the men or women of the random LDS sample on most items proportionally more of the females in the research population express alienation than the WSG men 1 on the questionnaire item I1I feel comfortable talking with my bishop or branch president lay congregational minister about personal problems since all such leaders are men it might be expected that women report less comfort in such situations among the random sample women are shown to be much less comfortable talking with priesthood leaders chi square significance to 0000.0000oooo an 51 identical pattern is displayed with the present research group except that the discomfort is more widespread among the WSG population 29 of the women and 18 of the men were in the most alienatealienateddif category table 8 comparison of levels of Alienationalienation11 random LDSLIDS sample and the WSG population by gendertgender2

random I1LDSLIDS WSG peculation women men women men uncomfortable talking with bishop 37 27 49 38 bishop doesnt care about me personally 12 12 19 13 leaders unaware of needs 10 14 43 35 feel like outsider in church 5 5 13 13 feeling like second class citizen 19 13 I1 dontdoni fit in with people in ward 21 17 not much in common with LDSLIDS 19 19

not in data set Nvnvariedunvariedaried from 514 to 524 Nefromnfromfrom 453 to 461 1 those who selected a response more strongly expressing alienation than somewhat 2toatoto control for activity those selected for the comparison all report attendinattenattendingding sacrament meeting more often than monthly

on the question of that same priesthood leader caring about them there is no disparity between women and men in the sample A similar proportion of the WSG men rejected the notion that their ecclesiastical leader personally cares about what happens to them the WSG women were less convinced the subjects of both studies were asked whether they felt that LDSLIDS church leaders were aware of their personal concerns and needs while only 10 to 14 of the random sample strongly rejected that statement fully 43 of the women and 35 of the men in the research population fell in that category looking at the other end of the issue about a third of the random LDSLIDS sample expressed the highest level of support for the statement regarding awareness of needs only 5 of our survey group felt that positively about the awareness of the leaders although 13 of the WSG report that they feel like outsiders in the LDSLIDS church the problem isnt that none of their friends are members of the church virtually none of those women report that less than half of their closest friends are latterlatterdayday saints the WSG men are much less likely to have a majority of their best friends in their church 52

one questionnaire item not asked of the random sample gives some additional insight about the population being studied although the responses cannot be compared with if average active latterdaylatter day saints if about a quarter of the men reported that they felt at least it somewhat like second class citizens in the LDS church this quarter of the males tended to earn less money and have less prestigious church callings however the 43 of the women who feel from if somewhat 1I to exactly like second class citizens in the church do not suffer the same low status problems in areas like education income occupational prestige and rank of church calling their position as women in a patriarchal church may be at least part of the cause of this feeling to summarize we are looking at a group of persons that in many ways are the very epitome of what mormons should be davies 1965 suggests that the LDS church caters to and is characterized by that uppermiddleupper middle class element goodman and heaton 1986 imply that much of the focus and efforts of the church are on these kinds of persons yet there is a considerable level of alienation and anxiety regarding the church in the WSG group their reservations are not being it acted out by reduced activity however feminist issues the present data set allows a number of comparisons with national samples in areas related to feminism table 9 compares the NORC 1983 national sample and this LDS population on the question how concerned are you personally about womens rights this WSG population is apparently much more concerned about womens rights than the US national average high levels of concern about the rights of women are not likely to be the rule among the general LDS membership however the concern is probably a function of the high education levels in this LDS group the tentative conclusion at this stage would be that this group is highly concerned about womens rights 53

table 9 NORC 1983 and WSG population on their personal concern about womens rights by gender

NDTOnomonomm WSG population women men total women men total

very concerned 24 15 22 48 32 42 somewhat concerned 48 50 48 46 59 51 not very concerned 20 22 21 5 9 7 not concerned at all 8 13 9 1 0

n779N 779 n496

less than 5.5 the NORC and this data set share one other questionnaire item regarding the role of women table 10 compares the level of agreement and disagreement with the statement A preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works some recent mormon prophets have made powerful declarations denouncing the practice of married mothers working outside the home especially when children are young kimball benson about a third of the WSG population feel that there will likely be some suffering of young children under such an arrangement perhaps reflecting some ambivalence over a quarter of this population are nottonotconot sure about the effect of a working mother on preschool children but the trend is for the research population to be less in agreement with the statement than the NORC sample table 10 agreement patterns of NORC sample and WSG population on question regarding negative impact on young children when mothers work

NORC sample WSG population 2ay2ya CUMNcum N cum strongly disagree 454.5 454.5 12912.9 12912.9 disagree 27727.7 32132.1 25425.4 38238.2 not sure 181.8 33933.9 27027.0 65665.6 agree 45745.7 79679.6 27627.6 93293.2 strongly agree 20420.4 1000100.0 686.8 1000100.0 n1527 n494 responding to item A preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works 54

another measure of interest is the extent to which womens rights are a regular topic of conversation among friends the WSG subjects were asked how frequently they discussed nine different issues among them 11 womens11womens rights with their LDS friends only a small portion report that the issue is it always being talked about about a third said that the topic was discussed often the largest share 44 of the respondents discussed the matter itsometimes A fifth of the group nearly all men talked about it seldom or never the measure is more difficult to interpret without a comparative reference point it would seem however that for most of the respondents the issue of womens rights is not the center of their lives but at least for the women an important issue abortion is used by some as a litmus test regarding acceptance of classical feminist views the mormon church leaders preach and campaign with spirit against abortion in all but exceptional cases such as rape priesthood bulletin june 1972 pg 232 3 assessing individual attitudes towards abortion may aid in measuring mormon orthodoxy in an area central to many feminists on the questions related to abortion the men and women gave very similar response patterns so we will report only the mixed gender results to the question do you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion the response patterns are outlined in table 11 note that the question did not ask if they thought abortion was a good idea or what

table 11 NORC 1984 sample and WSG population on desirability of legal possibility of abortion in various circumstances

n2nflna dontdontknowknow NORCNQRC WSG NORCNORQ WSG NORC WSG for any reason 37 16 60 62 3 22 if married doesnt want child 41 21 56 62 3 17 if not married doesnt want to marry 43 22 54 60 3 18 if low income and cannot afford 45 22 52 56 3 22 if there is a strong chance of defect 78 56 19 18 3 26 if pregnant as result of rape 77 79 19 7 4 14 if womans health is in danger 88 92 10 1 2 7 the N for the 1984 sample varied between 780 and 799 the N for the WSG population between 489 and 495 they thought should be done in the various circumstances table 11 also gives the response patterns to identical questions asked in the 1984 national NORC surveys 55 for the purposes of comparison the attitudes regarding abortion were compared between the NORC sample of 1984 and those who reported completing 16 years of education and attending church at least 2 or 3 times monthly for the NORC samples of 198319851983 1985 the two were so similar that the attitudes of the subset were not worth reporting separately we suggest that the liberalizing effect of the higher education is offset by the conservative influence of frequent church attendance the national sample displays a hard core of those who favor abortion rights under any condition of over a third of the respondents the WSG has a smaller core of this persuasion about 15 those who are opposed to abortion rights under any circumstances in the NORC sample are around 10 the WSG has a smaller of abortion is always wrong it core less than 2 under the five conditions considered less valid reasons for abortion the percentage of 11nono responses in the national and LDSLIDS samples are roughly similar on almost every question a substantial section of the WSG selected the uncertain dont know response the NORC methods of interviewing may be more likely to obtain a ifyes or no answer than the mail questionnaire with a dont know category offered however this may also be an indication of the ambivalence and conflict felt by the mormons who are drawn in different directions by two world views it is noteworthy that under the conditions for which the LDSLIDS church has quietly tv approvedapprovedt abortion rape and health of the mother the WSG slightly exceeds the national samples in their support of the right to abortion making attitudes towards abortion a measure of feminism may not be useful with an active mormon sample for the reasons discussed earlier in this chapter for the most part the persons in the population being studied accept the orthodox mormon position with regards to abortion but nearly half of a highly orthodox group of latterlatterdayday saints who nearly all accept without reservation many key teachings of the church like joseph smith seeing the father and jesus fails to reject the right to abortion in cases of the women simply not wanting the baby A conservative but safe conclusion is that the surveyed population is tied to official church teachings on this issue but to a lesser extent than to some other doctrines liberalliberalconservativeconservative selfreportself report finally we will consider the selfreportedself reported assessment of onesoneis own position on the liberalconservativeliberal conservative continuum this is an interesting question because as we have shown on at least a few barometer issues the WSG population is fairly conservative people rank themselves to some extent however relative to their 56 own reference group table 12 demonstrates that the WSG population see themselves as more liberal than the NORC subjects who report at least 16 years schooling and church attendance more often than monthly the NORC distribution

table 12 NORC 198319851983 1985 samplelsample1sampled and WSG population selfassessmentself assessment on liberalconservativeLiberal Conservative continuum

NONORC RC WSG sample cum group cum extremely liberal 1 1 3 3 liberal 10 11 26 29 slightly liberal 16 27 33 62 moderate 26 53 16 78 slightly conservative 27 80 12 90 conservative 17 97 10 100 extremely conservative 3 100 loo100 100 100 n1020 n485

less than 5.5 from the entire samples persons reporting 16 years and over of education and church attendance at least as frequent as 2 or 3 times a month have been selected is clearly skewed to the conservative side of moderate almost half of them describe themselves as some kind of conservative about twothirdstwo thirds of the WSG population consider themselves among the various shades of liberals comparing the WSG population to similar LDSLIDS persons in the NORC data sets was not possible because of the relatively small numbers found in the NORC samples when everyone who reported allegiance to the latterlatterdayday saint church was selected the subsubsamplesample created was found to be dramatically more conservative on questions of working mothersmothers11 affect on preschool children abortion concern about womens rights and liberalconservativeliberal conservative self report but when only the college graduate highlyactivehighly active LDSLIDS were selected the N became too small to be useful it is possible to declare with some certainty that at least on the specified issues the WSG population being studied is more liberal than most LDSLIDS we can make no conclusion about the difference between this population and mormons with similar demographic characteristics to summarize the WSG population is highly educated they are married employed and have children at rates around the average for latterlatterdayday saint 57 americans they are highly active in their faith heavily templemarriedtemple married and involved in the church they are generally more feminist and alienated than active LDSLIDS church members and possess somewhat more liberal attitudes on some social issues 58

rationalizingoperationalizingOpe the scales

the study used a number of scales to measure dimensions presented conceptually in the previous chapter most of these had been tried and tested previously by other researchers in all cases the scales are outlined in the appendix unless otherwise stated respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the various statements by indicating strongly disagree disagree enotynotnot1not sure fl flagreeflayreeagreeagnee or strongly agree a standard likert scale mormon or particularistic orthodoxy is a fouritemfour item scale measuring the extent to which the respondents accepted basic mormon positions that joseph smith saw god the book of mormon is gods word the current president of the church is a prophet and that the LDSLIDS church is the only true one on earth christian or traditional orthodoxy is a fairly standard fiveitemfive item scale considering how fully respondents accept basic christian doctrines subjects are asked to respond in the following areas life after death the existence of god and satan the bible as the word of god and jesus as the son of god spiritual commitment is measured with a fiveitemfive item scale aimed at the degree of commitment to god these items consider such feelings as the willingness to do gods will the importance of ones relationship with god and the holy spirit loving god with all ones heart and the meaninglessness of life without faith the response categories are somewhat different for this dimension the respondents were asked to indicate how well a set of statements described them and were given five response options from notinot at all through somewhat to ft exactly church commitment is a fiveitemfive item scale measuring commitment to the institutional church or religious community the importance of church activities care for the church feelings when people say good or bad things about the church and importance of church membership are considered response categories were on a five point scale four of the items used the agreedisagreeagree disagree categories the item feeling good when people say good things about the church asked for how well the statement described personal feelings religious behavior is a twoitemtwo item scale measuring the extent to which persons practice private devotion and religious actions the frequency ofprayerof prayer 59

other than blessing on the food or grace at meals is measured on a seven point scale from ftnevertonevennever to daily the second item is the measure of amount of time per week reading the scriptures or gospelrelatedgospel related material measured in hours with no structured categories given religious participation is measured using a fouritemfour item scale which considers institutional involvement three of the items involve attendance at various church meetings respondents are asked how often in the past three months they have attended sacrament service the weekly congregational worship or communion meeting sunday school a scripture instruction session for all ages and relief society or priesthood meetings women and men involved in business and instruction separately response categories range from nevenvertohevertonevertonenever to weekly on a five point scale an additional question asked whether the respondent had a church assignment that prevented herhimhechim from weekly attending the aformentionedaforementioned meetings if the person indicated that a conflicting church assignment was limiting attendance she or he was scored as though they attended weekly the final item had to do with the holding of lay church positions none of the functions of the LDSLIDS ward congregation are managed by salaried professions and a full slate of programs and activities allow most of the lay members who wish to an opportunity to serve in some capacity the first question on this matter asked if the respondent currently had a church calling standard mormon language for a lay position the possible response were besityesyesityesig or no if they replied in the affirmative they were asked to list the current church assignment that occupied the most time each week finally they were asked how much time beyond that they would spend if they did not have the calling they usually spent per week carrying out the duties attached to that calling the fourth item time given to ones calling is scored from a low of 1 1 if if no church calling is held to a high of Y5 if more than twenty hours a week are given affinity towards or salience of mother in heaven is a fiveitemfive item scale measuring closeness and desire to know god the mother the desire to know more about her the importance of knowing more the extent of wondering about her efforts to seek her and the bond that is felt with her are all probed four of the items used the how well the statement described personal feelings categories the item about 11 wishing11wishing to know more about heavenly mother used the agreedisagreeagree disagree response categories all were on a five point scale alienation towards the church is an eightitemeight item scale measuring the extent to which persons feel removed from or uncared for by the church or church leaders 60 questions involve feelings of being an outsider having secondclasssecond class status being included needed and part of the LDSLIDS community three items probe attitudes regarding the ecclesiastical leaders awareness of needs personal care for the respondent and the comfortability of the unsellingcounsellingco relationship on all eight items the respondents are asked to indicate how well a set of statements describe them and are given five response options from not at all through somewhat to if exactly f feminism refers to the acceptance of women on equal terms with men it is measured on an eightitemeight item scale four of the questions asked about desirability or acceptability of a woman working outside the home they include whether girls should prepare for careers whether the role of wife and mother should be the only role women have whether children suffer when a mother works and whether women could be good wivesmotherswivesmothers with a job outside the home the other four questions had more to do more broadly with womens rights whether men should be given preferential treatment in some jobs whether women in the church should be ordained whether women should be less concerned with their rights than being good wivesmotherswivesmothers and how concerned over womens rights they were all of the questions but the last one offered the fivepointfive point scale response possibilities the respondents were asked on that question how concerned they were personally about womens rights and asked to choose between four indications of their

11 11not feelings very concernedconcern edv I1 somewhat11somewhat concerned 9 not very concerned and not concerned at all response values on this question were changed to be compatible with the fivepointfive point scale measures the feminism scale may be split into two scales for certain analyses when factored using principal component factor analysis with VARIMAX rotation SPSS- X the eight items in the scale broke down into two factors see table 13

11 61

TABLE 13 varimax factor pattern of eight feminism items riahtsrightsfeminismRights Feminism women should worry less about rights and more about being good wivesmotherswivesmothers 7272.72 men should be given preference over women when being hired or promoted 5656.56 women should be ordained to priesthood 7979.79 concern over rights of women 7070.70 careerfeminismcareer feminism

A woman can be a good wifemotherwife mother even with a demanding job 7171.71 the only really satisfying role for a woman is wifemotherwife mother 5656.56 girls encouraged to prepare for a career outside home 6363.63 preschoolers suffer if mother works 64 coefficients under 4.4 are not reported the rotated factor matrix indicates that the four questions that deal with the rights of women load on one factor the other four having more to do with women working outside the home loaded on the second factor for convenience the first scale will be called to rights feminism of and the second v1va career feminism the alienation scale may also be split into two scales when factored using the same principal component factor analysis with VARIMAX rotation the items in the scale break down into two factors see table 14 below the rotated factor matrix indicates that the four questions that deal with the organizational concerns especially the awareness caring and counseling relationship of the ecclesiastical leader as perceived by the subject load on one factor three others having to do with not feeling a part of the congregation loaded on the second factor an eighth item concerned with fitting in with the ward will not be used in either of the two split scales the first scale will be belledlabelledlagabelled organizationalflorganizational alienation and the second it outsider alienation to 62

TABLE 14 varimax factor pattern of eight alienation items

organizationalalienationOrganizational alienation

I1 feel LDSLIDS church leaders are aware of my personal needs 6363.63 the members of my ward or branch really need me 6464.64 my bishop personally cares about what happens to me 8888.88 I1 feel comfortable talking to my bishop about personal problems 7777.77 I1 fit in well with the people in my ward 5858.58 5252.52 outsideralienationoutsider alienation

I1 feel like a secondclasssecond class citizen in the LDSLIDS church 7878.78 I1 feel like an outsider in the LDSLIDS church 8080.80 I1 dont have much in common with most other LDSLIDS womenmenwomenmen 7272.72

NOTE the eighth item I1I fit in well with the people in my ward loads roughly equally on each factor and lowers the homogeneity of each separate scale and so will not be used in either splitscalesplit scale for analysis coefficients less than 4.4 are not reported

in every case regardless which direction questions were facing data values were modified so that a high score reflected a strong affinity to the measure for example in a question measuring feminism that reads the only really satisfying role for a woman is as a wife and mother the response strongly disagree reduced to a numeric value of 1 reflects a feminist tendency the response strongly agree numeric value 5 is associated with a nonfeministnon feminist position therefore before analysis the number values for these kinds of questions were reversed 5 becoming a 1 4 becoming a 2 3 remaining a 3 2 becoming a 4 and 1 becoming a 5

testing the scales

although most of the scales that will be used in analysis have been previously tested with an LDSLIDS sample cornwall et al 1986 an itemscaleitem scale analysis based on the covariance matrix was used to test each set of items for homogeneity with this data set cronbachs coefficient of homogeneity or alpha was calculated for each scale this coefficient is the ratio of the covariance among items on a scale to the total scale variance relative to the number of items the internal consistency or reliability of the scale is thereby estimated for the purposes of this study an alpha coefficient of 7575.75 and above will be assumed to indicate 63 sufficient homogeneity among the items to allow their use as a scale table 15 outlines the coefficients of homogeneity and the correlation when that item is deleted for each item in all the scales the smallest alpha for all scales was 5353.53 for the religious behavior scale the two components of this scale prayer and scripture study were not highly correlated the items will therefore be considered separately the aspect of personal religious behavior that will be focused for most of the analyses is personal prayer the largest alpha was 9292.92 for particularistic orthodoxy these results are similar to those reported by cornwall et al 1986 the orthodoxy and commitment dimensions using the same scales except for the minor modification of two statements had nearly matching coefficients of homogeneity the only significant difference is found between the alphas on the traditional orthodoxy scales 8888.88 versus 7676.76 in the cornwall study the only other substantial difference is the minor loss of correlation with single items dropped from the scale for this data set within the scale the tendency was for high correlations between the items that comprised the scale this may result from the relative homogeneous religiosity patterns in the WSG population the mother in heaven scale showed sufficient homogeneity to allow its use as a scale see table 16 while the eightitemeight item alienation scale is highly homogeneous the divided alienation scales are somewhat less so but are close enough to the criterion set to be acceptable the feminism scale does not quite meet the criterion set when the scale is split into the two scales previously presented see table 13 and related discussion the homogeneity of the newly created fouritemfour item scales is in both cases less than that of the combined scale and less than the criterion no combination of items found in the data set that related to feminism was found to improve the alpha therefore guided by the varimax factor pattern and our theory we elected to use the smaller clusters of items as scales for feminism and alienation in spite of the low alphas 64

TABLE 15 item analysis of religiosity scales

1 traditional orthodoxy 882882.882 TRADTRADORTHOORTHO 853853.853 there is life after death 88 88.88 satan actually exists 86 86.86 I1 believe god exists 85 85.85 bible contains the word of god 83 83.83 I1 believe in jesus christ as the son of god 1 particularistic Orthodoxyorthodgzx1orthodoxy1 92 92.92 PARTPARTORTHOORTHO 90go 90.90 the president of the LDS church is a prophet of god 89 89.89 the book of mormon is the word of god 93 93.93 the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter day saints is the only true church on earth 88 88.88 joseph smith actually saw god the father and jesus christ spiritual Commitmentcommitment4 84 84.84 SPIRIT COMMIT 83 83.83 I1 am willing to do whatever the lord wants me to do 77 77.77 my relationship with the lord is an important part of my life 84 84.84 without religious faith my lffifflifeilfee would not have much meaning 78 78.78 I1 love god with all my heart 78 78.78 the holy ghost is an important influence in my life church commitmentcommftment 80 80.80 CHURCH COMMIT 1 74 74.74 church programs and activities are an important part of my life 1 73 73.73 my membership in the LDSLIDS church is very important to me 1 78 78.78 I1 dont really care about the LDS church 78 78.78 it makes me feel bad when someone speaks against the LDS church

1 4 76 76.76 it makes me feel good when I hear people say good things about the LDS church religious behbehavior 53 53.53 RELIG BEHAVIOR frequency of personal prayer 5 hours per week reading scripture or gospel material 6 religious participation 85 85.85 RELIG PARTICIP 7 80 80.80 attendance at sacrament service 7 80 80.80 attendance at sunday school 7 76 76.76 attendance at relief SocietysocietypsocietypriesthoodPriesthoodriesthood 6 87 87.87 involvement in church calling

1 items had five response alternatives strongly disagree disagree not sure agree strongly disagree 2 A coefficient of homogeneity cronbachsCron bachs alpha is shown for each scale 3 the itemscaleitem scale correlation with that item dropped from the scale 4 items had five response alternatives describing respondents religious feelings and beliefs ranging from not at all to somewhat to exactly 51temtem had seven response alternatives never in times of special need monthly few times a monthmanthonth weekly few times a week daily 61temtem had unstructured response blank in hours per week 71tems71temstenrs had five response alternatives never less than once a month monthly few times a month weekly 65

TABLE 16 item analysis of feminism alienation and mother in heaven scales

1 Feminismfeminfeminism1 722722.722 FEMIN 66366gg 66663.66.663 women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good mothers 70 70.70 A woman can be a good wife and mother even if she has a very demanding job 70 70.70 the only really satisfying role for a woman is as a wife and mother 71.71 girls should be encouraged to prepare for a career outside the home 69gg 69.69 in some jobs men should be given preference over women 69gg 69.69 A preschool child is likely to suffsubbsufferer if his mother works outside the home 69gg 69.69 women should be ordained to officesoffices in the aaronic or melchizedek priesthood 69gg 69.69 how concerned are you personally about womens rights4rightsnights 4 rights feminism1feminigml 65 65.65 FEMRIT 53353 53533.53.533 women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good mothers 63 63.63 in some jobs men should be given preference over women 57 57.57 women should be ordained to officesoffices in the aaronic or melchizedek priesthood gigl 61.61 how concerned are you personally about womens rights4rightshights 4 careercaneercanger feminismlfeminism1 55 55.55 FEMJOB

42 42.42 A woman can be a good wife and mother even if she has a very demanding job 49 49.49 the only really satisfying role for a woman is as a wife and mother 52 52.52 girls should be encouraged to prepare for a career outside the home 44 44.44 A preschool child is likely to suffersuffsubber if his mother works outside the home Alienationalienation5aiienation55 85 85.85 ALIEN

83 83.83 I1 feel like a secondclasssecond class citizen in the LDSLIDS church 82 82.82 I1 feel LDS church leaders are aware of my personal concerns and needs 82 82.82 I1 feel like an outsider in the LDSLIDS church 84 84.84 the members of my ward or branch really need me 83 83.83 my bishop or branch president personally cares about what happens to me 82 82.82 I1 fit in well with the people in my ward 83 83.83 I1 feel comfortable talking with my bishop or branch president about personal problems 84 84.84 I1 dont have much in common with most other LDS womenmenwom enmen outsoutsideriderlder alalienation5ienlen atioatlon5na 73 73.73 ALIOUT 59 59.59 I1 feel like a secondclasssecond class citizen in the LDSLIDS church 53 53.53 I1 feel like an outsider in the LDS church 74 74.74 I1 dont have much in common with most other LDSLIDS womenmenwomenmen organorganizationalizational alienation5 78 78.78 ALIORG

73 73.73 I1 feel LDSLIDS church leaders are aware of my personal concerns and needs 78 78.78 the members of my ward or branch really need me 68 68.68 my bishop or branch president personally cares about what happens to me 71 71.71 I1 feel comfortable talking with my bishop or branch president about personal problems heavenly mother Saliencesalience55 88 88.88 HEAVEN MOTHER

84 84.84 I1 have sought to know more about my mother in heaven 87 87.87 I1 feel a close personal bond with heavenly mother 83 83.83 it is important to me to know more about heavenly mother 85 I1 have wondered about my mother in heaven 1 88 88.88 I1 wish I1 knew more about heavenly mother 66

footnotes for table on previouspageprevious page 1 items had five response alternativesstronglyalternatives strongly disagree disagree 1 not sure agree strongly disagree 2 A coefficient of homogeneity cronbachsCronbachs alpha is shown for each scale 3 the itemscaleitem scale correlation with that hemitemrem dropped from the scale items41tems41temsltemsltems had four response alternatives from very concerned to not concerned at all 5 items had five response alternatives describing respondents religious feelings and beliefs ranging from not at all to somewhat to exactexactlylyn

correlationsintercorrelationsInter among religiosity scales

to examine the relationships among the various scales the Pearsopearsoniannian correlations were calculated between each pair of factors the resulting correlation matrix is presented in table 17 As might be expected all the religiosity factors correlate positively with each other using stark and clocksglocks 1968 criterion of independence of measures of religiosity that they share less than half of their variance sets the critical correlation coefficient between the two items at 7070.70 the highest correlation and the only one over the critical level is 8181.81 between the personal and institutional modes of orthodoxy cornwall and her colleagues 1986 pg 240 reported a correlation of 6363.63 between the same two items their random sample included many who were not actively involved with the church and would be more likely to accept traditional beliefs while rejecting mormon beliefs the population being studied shows little variance on all the belief items few of the subjects are non believers and those that are tend to reject all the belief items the lowest correlations are between institutional religious participation and personal spiritual commitment 30 30.30 and prayer and both church commitment 37 37.37 and religious participation 34 34.34 although there are a few wrinkles in the pattern the trend is for the greatest amount of independence to be found between the two modes of religiosity for example the correlations between religious participation and the other institutional dimensions are 5252.52 and 5353.53 while the correlations with the personal dimensions are 3030.30 3434.34 and 4242.42 the low level of variance among the WSG population on the religious participation dimension almost all are highly involved may account for the relative low levels of correlation with other dimensions the matrix shows fairly low levels of intercorrelation between prayer and other dimensions and the population does show considerable variance on the prayer measure however other researchers have noted the low correlation 67 between frequency of prayer and other dimensions among the mormons duke and johnstone 1984

TABLE 17 correlation matrix of religiosity scales

trad part spirit church prayer relig ortho ortho commit commit barticpartic trad ortho 1001.00loo

part ortho 8181.81 1001.00loo spirit commit 6464.64 5555.55 1001.00loo church commit 5252.52 6767.67 4848.48 1001.00loo prayer 4444.44 4242.42 5656.56 3535.35 1001.00loo relig barticpartic 4242.42 5353.53 31.31 5353.53 3434.34 1001.00

the intent of the research was to focus directly on LDS women with a feminist orientation and their male associates the description of the WSG population in this chapter confirms that the respondents fill this requirement the operationally defined religiosity feminism and alienation scales are the major independent variables in the research analysis the following chapter outlines the findings regarding the relationships between these variables and the dependent variables of belief in and salience of mother in heaven among the WSG population 68

CHAPTER FOUR

belief in heavenly mother

in this chapter we present the results from the tests of the propositions introduced in chapter 2 following the order that the propositions are listed therein we will first consider the level of belief in mother in heaven then the variables that were found to correlate with belief we will then examine the level of salience of heavenly mother and finally the variables that were found to correlate with salience we will consider only the simple relationships between those variables in this thesis we again remind the reader that we are not putting forward notions of causality in this study support for the first proposition that the majority would belief in heavenly mother is found in table 18 below only a handful of the population rejected belief in a heavenly mother and over eighty percent expressed belief in her many more of the population are unsure about mother in heaven or believe in her with less certainty than is the case with heavenly father however the essence of proposition ilii111.1 in fact the belief patterns regarding the divine mother are significantly weaker than those expressed about the divine son and most like those related to satan this is interesting because satan has generally had a loss in proportion of believers during the last decades especially among 11 secularized11secularized americans in the general population shepherd and shepherd document the much reduced emphasis on supernatural themes including satan in mormon general conference talks over the last century pg 35 yet satan has as many believers as heavenly mother among this highly educated population even with the reduced emphasis on satan in the LDS church mother in heaven is presently much less visible and central in the mormon theology than satan the percentage of persons in the WSG population who believe in mother in heaven might be considered as high given the low level of attention given to her thus both propositions 1 and lill111.1 are supported by the data we find that a majority of the WSG believe in heavenly mother but that proportion is smaller than those expressing belief in god we examine next the more complex considerations involving the relationships between belief and other variables 69

table 18 comparison of belief in god jesus christ satan and heavenly mother in percent

fifldfifeld christ satan heavenly mother M W T M W T M W T M W T strongly agree 77 81 79 72 74 73 49 46 47 42 48 46 agree 14 17 16 16 23 20 25 31 29 35 35 35 not sure 8 1 4 9 3 5 20 18 19 19 16 17 disagree and 1 1 3 2 6 5 5 4 1 2 strongly disagree

1 1 agreement with I1I believe god exists I1I believe in jesus christ as the son of god satan actually 1 exists and I1I believe in a heavenly mother less than 5.5 amenmmen wwomen ttotal

the zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients table 19 between belief in heavenly mother and the single independent variables of religiosity show that the various dimensions all correlate positively with belief these data generally support proposition 2 which suggested that the greater the dimensions of religiosity the greater the belief in the existence of mother in heaven the coefficients also indicate the relative strength of that relationship an important finding is that the relationships are different for men and women in the case of the women the spiritual commitment and two belief scores are moderately correlated with variability in belief the other three dimensions do not have a such a strong relationship with belief in heavenly mother the correlation coefficients for the men are larger the orthodoxy and spiritual commitment scales are all highly correlated with belief A second finding of importance is that the coefficients between the personal dimensions of religiosity and belief are in every case larger than the coefficients between the parallel institutional dimensional scales we did not forecast that the best predictor of belief in mother in heaven would be traditional orthodoxy but for women and men that is the case particularistic orthodoxy comes second for both genders in terms of the strength of relationship 70 table 19 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients between belief in heavenly mother and dimensions of religiosity and demographic variables

women men total traditional orthodoxy 4848.48 7575.75 6363.63 spiritual commitment 3434.34 5656.56 4646.46 prayer 2121.21 4040.40 3131.31 particularistic orthodoxy 3636.36 6767.67 50 church commitment 1717.17 4747.47 31.31 religious participation 1414.14 37 2525.25 income 1515.15 15.15 15.15 age lgig16.16 iiil11.11 14.14 hours work per week 09og09.09 13.13 14.14 being married 13.13 ii1111.11 13.13 number of children 0303.03 14.14 0808.08 education 0202.02 13.13 0707.07 occupational prestige 0202.02 0404.04 0303.03 note although we are not working with a random sample we have reported levels of significance to aid the reader in understanding the data even though they are not fully meaningful nooinoolpooipoolp001 poipolpol p05

none of the demographic variables some of which are listed at the bottom of table 19 had a strong correlation with belief for men and women age was negatively correlated with belief in heavenly mother the nonbelievers were eight to ten years on the average older than the believers we suggest that the older persons are in an age cohort that received even less instruction from their church and families regarding mother in heaven than the younger education showed no relationship among women but nonbelieving men were over a year more educated on the average than believers the modest negative relationship between income and belief in mother in heaven is primarily a function of the two preceding factors the relationships between nominal variables and beliefbplief were appraised using crosstabulationscrosstabulations believers are defined as those who agreed or strongly agreed with with the statement I1I believe in a heavenly mother we found that nonbelievers have a greater tendency to be married singles are 92 believers with the balance 8 not sure marriedsMarri eds are 78 believers 19 not sure and 3 believersnonbelieversnon most of those nonbelievers are men 71

it is important to remember the size of correlation between the two modes of orthodoxy among this population 81.81 the strong correlation indicates the two scales are perhaps measuring only one aspect of religiosity however we predicted that mormon orthodoxy would have the strongest relationship with belief table 20 outlines the standardized betas obtained through multiple regression analysis when the six religious dimension variables are entered together we find therefore proposition 212.1 predicting a positive relationship between particularistic orthodoxy and belief in mother in heaven not supported by the data especially for the men and not the primary predictor that we expected proposition 222.2 suggests that there would be no relationship between traditional orthodoxy and belief when mormon orthodoxy was controlled for it appears that the reverse is essentially true traditional orthodoxy remains the best predictor of belief in mother in heaven among the six dimensions of religiosity for this population it appears that those LDSLIDS persons in the WSG that believe in god also believe in his wife proposition 232.3 predicted a positive relationship between spiritual commitment and belief and such is the case for women and men when other vadablesvariablesvahvadablesabies are controlled for proposition 242.4 called for a positive relationship between church commitment and belief and the data showed no relationship of any sort for men when other dimensions were entered into the equation among the women the relationship was actually a weak negative one when other variables were controlled for the final proposition on the matter of belief 252.5 suggested that there was no relationship between modes of religious behavior prayer and religious participation and belief for women the relationship between prayer and belief were found to be weakly positive between religious participation and belief in mother slightly negative for men the relationship between belief and prayer was only faintly negative and the relationship was nonexistentnon existent for religious participation 72 table 20 multiple regression of religious dimensions on belief of mother in heaven by gender standardized betas

women men total traditional orthodoxy 3636.36 66gg66.66 5454.54 spiritual commitment 13.13 lill11.11 13.13 prayer 050505.05 0707.07 oiol01.01 particularistic orthodoxy 0808.08 oloi01.01 0202.02 church commitment 1212.12 0404.04 05oa05o5.05 religious participation 06og06.06 00oo00.00 0303.03 adjusted R square ada205adr2205 ada528adrzadaz 528 ada367adr2367 note we repeat the caveat footnoted below table 19 while this is not a random sample and the indicated significance levels may not be justified we report those levels to aid the reader t001 t05 we found that our variables are able to explain more of the variance in belief for men than women for both sexes high levels of traditional orthodoxy correlate with high belief in mother in heaven for women and men the spiritually committed are more likely to believe in her than the less committed church commitment seems to have the opposite relationship relative to belief among women we realize that the independent variables being used in these analyses are highly intercorrelated and report the adjusted r2ra for that reason this is an initial effort to discover variables that are most correlated with the dependent variables related to mother in heaven further research is necessary to pare down the model and deal with the interconnectedness of the independent variables

salience of mother in heaven

the balance of the propositions deal with the importance or centrality of heavenly mother to the members of the population proposition 3 outlined our expectations that a minority of the subjects would report high saliency as compared with the prominence given other religious concepts and topics the population being studied generally reports thinking frequently about heavenly father see table 21 87 of the women and 74 of the men think about him more often than if sometimes the proportions who think about heavenly mother are much smaller 22 of the women and only 5 of the men think about her more often than 73

11 sometimes another way of looking at the imbalance is that about half of the population think about the father frequently or more often about seven percent think about the mother frequently or more often and almost none of them are men A similar pattern is displayed in table 22 regarding the reporting of the experience of feeling love from heavenly parents of the women 95 report that they have felt fathers love compared to 36 who feel they have experienced mothers love the difference is even greater among the men 87 report feeling the love of god the father while 20 say they have felt god the mothers love over a third of the men and nearly a quarter of the women not only indicate that they havent felt heavenly mothers love but they choose not to select the choice

no but I1 would like to if any image of heavenly mother predominates in the scraps of official doctrine about her coming

table 21 frequency of thinking about heavenly father and heavenly mother by gender

heavbeavheavenlyenlaenlv fathelr heavenlyH avenlv mothermother nomenwomen men total women men total frequency never 0 1 1 9 25 15 seldom 2 8 4 39 49 43 sometimes 11 17 14 30 21 26 often 34 31 32 12 3 9 frequently 46 36 42 9 2 6 opo all the time 771 7pap0 771 1r0ra xax0 1 TOTALS 100 100 100 100 100 100

N for women294women 294 N for men200 from LDSLIDS church leaders it is a picture of a tender loving and caring goddess the father is at least sometimes described in more evaluative and judgmental ways in mormon church pronouncements in spite of this when members of this population experience something they consider to be divine love they 74 predominantly attribute the source of that experience to the father some even seem to feel that it would be inappropriate to feel the love of heavenly mother A final aspect will be considered in terms of evaluating salience of heavenly mother to the population table 23 displays the rates of reported discussion about nine religious topics by gender ranked from top to bottom in order of frequency the mean percentages for each level of frequency are shown at the bottom of the table women in the population tend to report discussing all of these matters more frequently than men but the subject of mother in heaven is not a central one for even the women when the table 22 percentages having felt love from heavenly parents heavenly father and heavenly mother compared by gender

heavenly father hgavenlheavenlyy mother women men total women men total response

YES im sure I11 have 67 55 62 14 5 11

YES I11 think I11 have 28 32 30 22 15 19

NO but I11 would like to 4 9 6 42 45 43

NO I11 never have 1 4 2 22 35 27 TOTALS 100 100 100 100 100 100 response to have you ever had any of the following religious experiences felt mother in heavens love of and felt father in heavens love of N for women281women 281 N for men189 topic of heavenly mother is removed 37 of the women and 24 of the men report discussing the remaining eight topics often and in every case a handful say that they discuss those matters to always v1va no one reports discussing mother in heaven always and only 9 and 2 of the women and men respectively say they do so itoften of to summarize the population thinks about feels love from and discusses heavenly mother at relatively low levels these data establish proposition 3 that a small minority of the WSG population report high mother in heaven salience as compared with the prominence given god the father or other religious matters therefore we find that the symbol of mother in heaven is predominantly an unused 75 one even among a slice of the LDS church that we theoretically expected to find it more utilized than among the general membership table 23 comparison of men and womens frequency of discussing various religious topics by percentage

frequency of discussion neverneven seldom sometimes often always women and men A M YWV M V M W M V MM

LDS policiespracticespoliciespoliciespractpracticesices 0 1 4 9 37 39 53 48 6 3 LDS doctrinesteachingsdoctrines teachings 1 1 9 10 39 48 49 38 2 3 religious beliefs 1 5 14 17 38 47 44 29 4 3 womens rights 1 5 12 27 42 45 39 21 6 2 the nature of god 7 8 28 40 43 34 22 16 1 2 religious doubts 6 16 24 30 45 37 22 15 3 3 religious experience 3 12 28 34 46 40 20 13 3 1 meaning of priesthood 9 13 34 41 36 34 20 10 2 2 mother in heaven 23 43 46 51 22 5 9 2 0 0 MEAN TOTALS 6 12 22 29 39 37 31 21 30O 2 note in some cases rounding creates row totals of 99 or 101 N for women varies between 292 and 293 N for men varies between 201 and 204

proposition 4 suggests that mother in heaven although not highly salient for the members will be relatively more salient for women than men the same tables used to illuminate the previous proposition can be used to demonstrate the findings in this area the women are proportionally about twice as likely as the men to think about mother in heaven sometimesisometimes or more often and five times as likely to think about her frequently or more often see table 21 above XSIx24317 p00005 the men are only moderately less likely than women to think about heavenly father at those levels of frequency A similar pattern is found in the area of feeling mother in heavens love see table 22 above XIGSYx21 6676 67 p001poolpooi men report feeling fathers love at lower levels than women but the gender gap is much larger in the area of mothers love women are more than four times as likely to discuss mother in heaven sometimes or often tf with their LDS friends see table 23 x247XYSS88 76 p00005 men are twice as likely to report finevernevenjineverfi never discussing her with friends there is a smaller difference between men and women on the frequency of discussing the nature of god on the items that comprise the mother in heaven salience scale a similar pattern is evident see table 24 below these data confirm the earlier finding that heavenly mother is generally not highly salient for the population the statements are ordered and progressive at each successive level the percentage for whom mother in heaven is salient at that level declines for example the percentages of subjects who express strong agreement at the passive level of wishing to know more about mother in heaven are 43 and 24 respectively for women and men at the wondwonderingeringI stage that drops to 31 and 13 those for whom the quest is highly important comprise 19 and 3 of the female and male populations only 9 and 2 strongly agree that they have actually actively sought to know more about her finally just 6 and 1 of the women and men respectively strongly agree that they have achieved a close personal bond with mother in heaven one element that is consistent through the entire table is that mother in heaven is much less salient for men than women the women by a large differential over the WSG men in every case have wished they knew more about heavenly mother x22293 p0001 wondered more about her x24086 p00005 felt that it was important to know more about her x24055 p00005 sought to know more about her x23237 p00005 and feel a close personal bond with her x22986x229 869 p00005 mother in heaven salience for men and women can be expressed by a one number score from 1 to 5 to earn a composite score of 1 on the five items a subject would have to strongly disagree with all of the statements listed in table 24 above A composite score of 5 would reflect responses of strongly agree to all five items the mean salience score for women was 3123.12 compared to the mens score of 2552.55 x23528 p00005 when only those who express belief in mother in heaven are considered the scores for both genders go up but the gap stays roughly the same 77

table 24 percentage comparisons by gender on items related to salience of mother in heaven

stronglystr angly not strongly disagreedis agreeagnee disagree sure agree agree

I11 wish I11 know more about women 1 4 10 42 43 heavenly mother men 2 8 14 52 24

1 have wondered about my women 4 17 28 20 31 mother in heaven men 14 29 29 15 13

it is important to me to know women 11 22 28 20 19 more about heavenly mother men 24 30 29 14 3

I11 have sought to know more women 25 27 26 13 9 about mother in heaven men 44 30 17 7 2

1 feel a close personal bond women 35 36 16 7 6 with heavenly mother men 57 26 15 1 1

note womens percentages are in bold type for ease of comparison N women from 281 to 289 N men from 185to185 to 204

we remind the reader that tests of significance are usually applied to data that represent a sample but are reported herein to indicate that the relationship is likely a general one over time among this population we also advise that statistical significance should not be interpreted as strength of association or substantive significance however we are convinced by the data that heavenly mother is significantly more salient for women than men among the WSG population subsubpropositionproposition 414.1 involved the perceived reasons why the concept of heavenly mother continues to be so undeveloped and shrouded when many gospel doctrines and teachings have been fleshed out refined and detailed since they were revealed in the early days of the mormon church the two reasons suggested to the respondents to which they could agree or disagree were that heavenly father does not want his children to know more and that the prophets have not sought to know more table 25 outlines the responses by gender the mens response patterns on these two items approximate bell curves or normal distributions with slight skews towards the prophets have not sought to know more and away from heavenly father doesnt want us to know more the womens patterns are much more highly skewed in those same directions with over half the cases on the skewed or heavy side of the middle response these findings support 78

the proposition women are more likely to see the prophets failing to seek for the answers as a reason for the lack of information about mother in heaven they are much less likely to see heavenly fathers reservations about us knowing more about heavenly mother as a reason for the doctrinal dearth

table 25 agreement with reasons the church does not know more about heavenly mother by gender

I1 believe one reason we do not know more about our mother in heaven is that theahe prophets have not heavenly father does not sought to know more want us to know more

women MSH total women men total strongly disagree 1 4 2 22 10 17 disagree 4 16 9009 29 23 26 not sure 36 46 41 38 49 43 agree 32 27 30 900goo9 14 11 00 strongly agree 2mam27 7067 18 2C 0 4 3 100 100 100 100 100 100 n479 and 484 for the two questions respectively

one neednt conclude from the data in table 25 that the WSG population are generally in favor of revelation on demand conscious theology building or even bergers inductive option to religious thought turning to experience as the ground for all religious affirmations berger 1979 pg 58 on friday june 819788 1978 the announcement was made by the presidency of the LDS church headed at the time by spencer W kimball that the prohibition on the ordination of male blacks to the priesthood had been lifted the public statement made that morning has since been canonized in the LDS book of scripture called the doctrine and covenants A paragraph in the pronouncement tells of the strenuous and prolonged efforts made by the church leaders prior to the word of the lord being received on the matter A part of the message describing that process says we have pleaded long and earnestly spending many hours in the upper room of the temple supplicating A of WSG the lord for divine guidance 1981 9 pg 294 substantial majority the population are not convinced that the leaders of the LDS church have made those sorts of efforts pertaining to information about heavenly mother about the same proportion are not convinced that heavenly father is maintaining the veil hiding mother in heaven for his divine purpose 79

predictors of mother in heaven salience

proposition 5 hypothesized that the salience of mother in heaven would vary by gender and dimensions of religiosity the correlations of the mother salience scale with the dimensions of religiosity are presented in table 26 correlation coefficients are displayed for belief in heavenly mother for the purposes of comparison when the genders are combined the mother in heaven salience scale does not correlate with the institutional religious dimension scales but does correlate positively with the personal dimension scales personal religiosity is associated with salience of mother in heaven 80

TABLE 26 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients of religiosity scales and belief and salience of mother in heaven by gender

belefbefefbeliefbellef iniriirllri mother in heaven salience of mother in heaven women men total women men total personal dimensions

trad ortho 4848.48 7575.75 6363.63 09og09.09 3030.30 ig1919.19

spirit commit 3434.34 5656.56 4646.46 ig1919.19 4040.40 2929.29

prayer 21.21 40 3030.30 0505.05 2626.26 1515.15 institutional dimensions

part ortho 3636.36 6767.67 50 0808.08 lgig19.19 oloi01.01

church commit 1717.17 4747.47 31.31 12.12 lgig19.19 oiol01.01

relig panic 1414.14 37 2525.25 0505.05 1515.15 0202.02 note see caveat below tables 19 and 20 regarding reporting of statistical significance poolpooip001 poipolpol p05

gender is a critical variable in the analysis for women all three scales of the personal mode of religious involvement have a modest but positive correlation the three scales that have to do with institutional religiosity all correlate negatively with the heavenly mother salience scale for men a similar pattern is present table 26 but the levels of correlation are quite different the three scales related to the personal mode of religiosity are all potipositivetive and relatively strong from 2727.27 to 4040.40 while the three scales tied to institutional involvement are positive the correlation is at a lower level 14.14 to lg1919.19 this matter is so complex that the simple linear regression model is not sufficient to deal with the propositions when the variables are entered together in a multiple regression analysis the simultaneous relationship between many independent variables can be considered the betas which are reported in tables 27 and 28 are standardized regression coefficients the regression coefficients reported in those tables relative to belief are in some cases slightly different than those reported in table 20 because in the later tables the betas 81 reflect the simultaneous analysis of a number of additional variables this thesis will consider only the simple relationships between the model variables subsequent research will be needed to develop a causal model through path analysis this study may provide some leads to followupfollow up research aimed at deciding the structure of relationships among the variables after which computer analysis will be able to calculate the path coefficients that apply to the model structustructurere table 27 presents three simple relationship models for belief in and salience of heavenly mother for women the same models are presented in table 28 for the WSG men to examine the relationship between salience and the independent variables belief in heavenly mother was entered to control for belief in the analyses of salience for all three models the selected demographic variables age education marital status and number of children were also entered age and education are traditionally reported demographic variables marital status and number of children both showed interesting patterns of relationship in the zero order correlation matrix with belief and salience and were selected for that reason in model I1 the six religious dimension variables were entered into the equation the second model shows the betas created by entering the independent variables found in the first model with the two feminism scales model ililiiIII111 followed the identical format outlined for model II11 with the alienation variables added the variables were not added to the equation in stepwise fashion we are not suggesting any particular causal ordering by the design of these models but simply demonstrating the simple relationships among the three packages of variables on belief and salience the adjusted r2ra is reported for each model 82 table 27 standardized regression coefficients and explained variance belief in and salience of mother in heaven regressions models for women

model I1 model II11 model lilillIII111 variables belief salience belief salience belief salience belief in heavenly motherlmother1mothery 4949.49 4545.45 4444.44 age 09og09.09 0404.04 09og09.09 0505.05 0808.08 06og06.06 education 0202.02 14.14 oi0101.01 0808.08 0202.02 0202.02 being married 0202.02 0404.04 0202.02 0505.05 0202.02 050505.05 number of children 0202.02 0505.05 oi0101.01 0202.02 oi0101.01 0202.02 traditional orthodoxy 2929.29 00oo00.00 3030.30 0202.02 2929.29 oloi01.01 spiritual commitment 1313.13 2525.25 1414.14 2525.25 1313.13 2323.23 prayer 0808.08 0404.04 0808.08 0404.04 0808.08 06og06.06 particularistic orthodoxy 17.17 2424.24 2121.21 lgig16.16 2323.23 0808.08 church commitment 18.18 1515.15 15.15 0808.08 1414.14 0808.08 religious participation 0303.03 oi0101.01 0202.02 oi0101.01 0202.02 0303.03 rightsrightsfeminismfeminism 1717.17 2828.28 lgig16.16 2828.28 careerfeminismcareer feminism 06og06.06 oiol01.01 06og06.06 00oo00.00 outsideroutsideralienationouts iderlder alienatioalienationn 06og06.06 2323.23 organizationalalienationorganizational alienation 0202.02 2222.22 adjusted R square r2198 r2301 r2208 r2343 r2ra 204 r2384 note we remind the reader that we are describing a population while significance levels may not be justified we report them to aid understanding of the relationships pooip001 poipolpolp 01 p 05 1 belief in mother in heaven accounts for about 20 percent of the variance in salience 83 table 28 standardized regression coefficients and explained variance belief in and salience of mother in heaven regressions models for men

model 1 model ji11 model iliIIIII11111i variables belief salience belief salience belief salience belief in heavenly mothermothellmotherl 5858.58 5151.51 5252.52 age lgig16.16 0202.02 1313.13 1515.15 1313.13 0303.03 education 0202.02 ilii11.11 06og06.06 0707.07 06og06.06 17.17 being married 06og06.06 0808.08 0707.07 0808.08 0707.07 0808.08 number of children 1717.17 0707.07 15.15 lgig16.16 14.14 0808.08 traditional orthodoxy 5757.57 lg1919.19 5656.56 0202.02 5656.56 15.15 spiritual commitment 1515.15 3737.37 1313.13 3535.35 1313.13 3535.35 prayer 0707.07 0707.07 06og06.06 0808.08 06og06.06 0808.08 particularistic orthodoxy 0505.05 2929.29 iglg16.16 ig1919.19 lgig16.16 18.18 church commitment 06og06.06 0707.07 lill11.11 00oo00.00 io1010.10 oloi01.01 religious participation 0303.03 0202.02 06og06.06 0202.02 06og06.06 0202.02 rightsrightsfeminismfeminism lg1919.19 1717.17 2020.20 1515.15 careerfeminismcareer feminism 0303.03 09og09.09 0202.02 lo1010.10 outsideoutsideroutsideralienationr alienatioalienationn 0202.02 lgig16.16 organorganizationalorganizationalalienationizatio nalalieal alieallealienationnationlon 00oo00.00 12.12 adjusted R square r2rar198198 rsolersol r208r2208 343r2343343.343 r2204 r2384

1 belief in mother in heaven accounts for about 26 percent of the variance in salience poolpooip001altltp001 poipolpol p05 not many demographic variables have dramatic relationships with salience of mother in heaven see tables 27 and 28 the betas shown are those generated when the demographic variables were entered first into the analysis that included religious dimensions feminist scales and alienation scales depending on the model there were a few interesting trends that emerged that may be worth investigating in subsequent research perhaps with a more heterogeneous random sample one that is not shown in the tables above is that mother in heaven salience scores of the widowed and those married after the death of a former spouse towered above those of any other marital status however only 9 of the roughly 500 subjects are in that category we are not using a random sample and are not preoccupied with statistical significance but rather just describing a population therefore we can only wonder whether the close experience with death prompted some of the high salience of mother among that handful of persons 84

among this population we mention this sidelight to make a point the research design on this project was not focused on understanding every demographic relationship to the centrality of mother in heaven worship the data do not establish any particular demographic variable as especially important in the matter neither do they prove that certain social correlates are unimportant none of the findings related to demographic relationships are sweeping substantial and 11 statistically11statistically persuasive but some do raise questions A modest trend among the men believers in god the mother is for those with lower occupational prestige and a spouse with high occupational prestige to be higher on salience of mother in heaven while these and other trends may be suggested in the data they have little to do with the research questions at hand and so will not be discussed at length or introduced into the model the relationships that do show up in the tables are few educated women are somewhat more likely to have high mother in heaven salience but in models II11 and iliIII111 that relationship disappears the relationship shown in model I1 is apparently a function of feminism and alienation among the WSG men the opposite relationship between education and salience is found the less educated men tend to be higher on mother in heaven salience while age and belief in mother in heaven were negatively correlated for men when belief is controlled there is no relationship between salience of heavenly mother and age we will now discuss the propositions related to the religious dimensions and salience based on the data found in tables 27 and 28 proposition 515.1 suggested that there was no relationship between particularistic orthodoxy and salience of mother in heaven for men A negative relationship was found when belief was controlled proposition 525.2 predicted a negative relationship between those same variables for women the relationship is found to be negative and the beta value is relatively large in model I1 when feminism and alienation variables are added to the equation that negative relationship is weakened proposition 535.3 predicted no relationship between traditional orthodoxy and salience of mother in heaven for men when belief is controlled there is a modest negative correlation proposition 545.4 tendered that a positive correlation would be found between these variables for women no correlation was found spiritual commitment was the subject of proposition 555.5 the prediction was that for both men and women the correlation between spiritual commitment and salience of mother in heaven would be positive the findings confirm this 85 proposition for men spiritual commitment is the best predictor of high salience when belief is controlled dealing with church commitment proposition 565.6 suggests no relationship between it and salience for men no relationship was found proposition 575.7 predicted a negative relationship between church commitment and mother in heaven salience for women A modest negative relationship was found but when in model II11 the feminism variables are included in the analysis the negative relationship between church commitment and salience is weak proposition 585.8 predicted no relationship between religious behavior prayer and religious participation and mother salience for men the data support that proposition A positive correlation was proposed proposition 595.9 for women between religious behavior prayer and salience of mother no relationship was found finally proposition 5105.10 predicted a negative correlation between religious participation and salience for women there appears to be no relationship between the two variables in summary among women believers spiritual commitment was found to be positively correlated with salience of mother in heaven prayer and traditional orthodoxy have no relationship with salience when belief in controlled the institutional variables were found to be negatively correlated or unrelated particularistic orthodoxy and church commitment show beta values large enough to suggest a meaningful relationship only before the feminism and alienation variables are added to the equation among men only spiritual commitment was proposed to have a correlation with salience of mother in heaven that positive relationship was discovered but in addition negative correlations were found between education and the religious orthodoxy variables and salience we note at this point that the trend for heavenly mother to be more salient for women than for men is so strong that when gender is operating as a dummy variable in multiple regression analysis gender always explains more of the variance in mother in heaven salience than any other variable in the analysis the interaction effect between gender and other variables is also often significant in the analysis however the study is designed to go beyond the finding that mother in heaven is more salient for women than men we therefore proceed to an examination of the role played by feminism and alienation 86

feminism and alienation as predictors of mother in heaven salience

proposition 6 was that the greater the feminism the greater the salience of heavenly mother table 29 displays the zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients for both belief and salience with the feminism variables it is worthy of note that feminism and belief are not related for women when no other variables are controlled for for men there is actually a slight tendency for feminist values to be associated with lower belief levels in mother in heaven however in terms of salience feminist values are positively correlated for women and men the strongest correlations are among the women and the largest correlations are found between salience and rights feminism we remind the reader that career feminism is a scale measuring agreement with the idea that women should be able to choose to function in the work force and can operate there successfully while still carrying the role of wife and mother rights feminism is a measure of agreement with principles of gender equality at home in the work force and in the church table 29 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients of mother in heaven belief and salience with feminism scales by gender

beliefbellef salience women men total women men total feminism rightsrightsfeminismfeminism 0202.02 18.18 0808.08 3333.33 lgig16.16 2929.29 careerfeminismcareer feminism 0202.02 0404.04 oloi01.01 1717.17 1313.13 2020.20

we mention here that the feminist scale correlates negatively with all six religiosity scales among this population the strongest negative correlations are with the scales measuring institutional religiosity the correlations with the personal religiosity scales are also negative but not as strong this suggests that even for an apparently somewhat homogeneous highly religious LDSLIDS population feminist values are associated with reduced levels on the religious dimensions andrew greeley found the same relationship in his study involving members of the catholic faith 1981 2 pg 16869168 69 the beta coefficients produced by the entering of the feminism variables into the three models are presented in tables 27 and 28 controlling for the demographic and religious dimension variables caneercaneencareer11career feminism has no 87 meaningful relationship with belief in mother in heaven however rights feminism has a positive correlation with belief for both men and women careercareencaneen feminism is found to have little correlation with salience of mother in heaven when belief and the religious variables are controlled however proposition 6 is established with regards to rights feminism for women and a lesser extent men concern over the rights of women is highly associated with greater salience of mother in heaven for women A propositionsubsubproposition related to feminism that we will consider is 616.1gigl which predicted that the greater the feminism the greater the level of identification of heavenly mother and father as creatorscocreatorsco as opposed to them having differentiated roles the respondents were asked which of six statements best described their beliefs about the nature of god A total of less than 7 of them chose answers that would be deviant by mormon standards including there is no godgodi god is male there is no mother in heaven god has no gender and god is both male and female not two divine personages the balance split between two orthodox mormonimormontmormon responses these descriptions of god shared the basic heavenly father and heavenly mother are two divine personages but one describes the heavenly parents as creatorscocreatorsco with both directing the affairs of the universe the other describes a heavenly father that is directing the universe and his eternal companion who is the mother of their spirit children table 30 outlines the mean feminism and salience of mother in heaven scores for the members of the population that accepted one of the two orthodox views of the heavenly parents discussed above they are divided into those that chose the cocreatorco creator description of heavenly father and mother and those that identified with a differentiated role description of the gods the breakdownbreak down by gender is important because women are more likely to identify the heavenly parents as creatorscocreatorsco 79 of the women versus 59 of the men and tend to score higher on acceptance of feminist values mean of 3953.95 versus 3753753.75 on a five point scale the finding is that the identification of the heavenly parents as co creators and directorscodirectorsco is associated with higher levels of feminism for both women and men the bottom line of the table also shows that those for whom mother in heaven is salient are also more likely to see the heavenly parents as co creators 88 table 30 feminism scale averages by gender for two ways to understandunderstandthe the nature and roles of heavenly parents

co creators differentiateddifferentiated roles women men women men scale variablevarlVariabig feminism 4054.05 3913.91 3583.58 3443.44 salience of mother in heaven 3483.48 3063.06 2882.88 2652.65 co creators are respondents who selected description of gods as co creators of spiritual offspring both direct the affairs of the universe differentiated roles are respondents who selected description of gods as having distinct responsibilities the father directing and the mother his eternal companion and mother of their spirit children

the final proposition relates to alienation from the LDSLIDS church the prediction was that women who felt personal alienation towards the mormon church will tend to have higher mother in heaven salience these are feelings of being secondclasssecond class or belongingnotbelongingnot since belledlabelledlagabelled outsider alienation the correlation coefficients between belief and salience of mother with the alienation scales are presented in table 31 table 31 zeroorderzero order correlation coefficients of mother in heaven belief and salience with alienation scales by gender

beliefbellef salience women men total women men total alienation organizationalalienationorganizationorganizational al alienatioalienationn ilii11.11 3434.34 2222.22 0404.04 2525.25 io1010.10 outsoutsideralienationoutsideriderlder alienation 0202.02 3737.37 1818.18 2323.23 loio10.10 1212.12

an important finding expressed in the table is that the relationship between alienation and salience of heavenly mother is very different for women than men alienated men no matter what kind of alienation is considered are less likely to believe in heavenly mother they are also more likely to reject or accept with reservations other religious beliefs so heavenly mother should be considered part of a religious package that is being questioned table 31 shows that there is much less of a negative relationship between alienation and belief in mother in heaven among women we remind the reader that table 8 in chapter 3 showed that 89

women were significantly more alienated than men in this population on most items however heavenly mother belief does not seem to suffer in the process as much when salience is considered among men alienation is again found to be negatively correlated with mother in heaven centrality but for women there is a positive correlation between outsider alienation and mother in heaven the alienation variables were added in model liiIII111 to the multiple regression analysis that considered the relationships between religious dimension and feminism variables on belief and salience see tables 27 and 28 for both men and women the relationship between alienation and belief is not important in terms of salience of mother in heaven an interesting finding is the support of proposition 7 there is a meaningful positive correlation when all the other variables are included in the analysis between personal alienation and salience of mother in heaven for women the pattern is similar for men but the betas are smaller it should be noted that the alienation scale is negatively and strongly correlated with all dimensions of religiosity the highest negative correlations are with the institutional modes of religiosity as would be expected not quite as high are the negative correlations with the personal modes alienation towards church also tends to be positively correlated with feminism especially for women church alienation and feminism scales correlate in similar ways to the pattern found by greeley 1981 9 pg 176 he suggests that this relationship holds only for certain denominations including catholics baptists and lutheransLuth erans in denominations where leaders and doctrines are not 11 perceived11perceived as opposed to equality for women and committed to the maintenance of the old gender roles feminist women are not alienated from the denomination pg 178 it would seem that those feminist alienation patterns hold for the WSG the important finding relative to the heavenly mother concept is that those personally alienated females who are concerned about the rights of women tend to have developed a more salient relationship with mother in heaven As an afterthought we report a finding of interest regarding the influence of salience on belief we have noted that we are not really explaining disbelief in heavenly mother among the WSG but essentially only varying levels of belief it is possible that salience of god the mother may contribute to the strength of expressed belief in her therefore we entered salience of mother to the belief regression models these findings are not reported in table form in model I1 for women three important discoveries were made when salience was controlled the beta value for 90 the spiritual commitment relationship drops from 1313.13 to 00oo00.00 the church commitment beta value changes from 1818.18 to 0808.08 the particularistic orthodoxy beta increases from 1717.17 to 2424.24 and becomes significant at the oiol01.01 level in models II11 and III111 controlling for salience also reduces the beta value for rights feminism from 1717.17 to 00oo00.00 controlling for salience therefore brings down the number of variables in the various models that significantly contribute to belief among women to two traditional and particularistic orthodoxy both variables have equally strong and significant beta values A similar effect is found among the WSG men when salience is controlled in the belief analysis this finding would support our original suggestion that orthodoxy of belief is perhaps the only important predictor variable in the models for belief in heavenly mother some other variables come into play significantly at the level of salience of heavenly mother finally we will comment on the final rsr2s after religious dimensions feminism and alienation are all put into the analysis the model variables are able to explain only about a quarter of the variance in belief in heavenly mother among women however the same variables are able to explain well over half the variance in belief among the men in the population this difference is significantly a result of the greater variance among men on the dependent variable however further research will be required to discover other factors impinging on this difference the models independent variables including belief are better able to explain the variance in salience of heavenly mother among women than men over 40 of the variation is explained those same variables explain about a third of the variance in salience of heavenly mother among the male population models II11 and liiIII111 include the feminism and alienation variables that have strong relationships with salience for women and enhance the r2ra more for women than men if a future study was focused specifically on the propensity of men in the LDSLIDS church to have a salient relationship with mother in heaven other kinds of measures should be developed one possibility is suggested by greeley 1981 he reports that men who say their mothers had a strong impact on their religious development are almost three times as likely to report that they imagine god as mother as those who do not report such maternal influence pg 212 the same pattern is shown for men who report that their wives have a powerful effect on their religious development to summarize belief in mother in heaven is widespread among this

4 populationpopu lation believers tend to be traditionally orthodox and interested in the rights of 91 women the men who believe in mother in heaven and have made her central to their religious world view also tend to be highly spiritually committed keen on womens rights and somewhat less orthodox among the female believers those for whom heavenly mother is salient display high levels of spiritual commitment concern over the rights of women and alienation having to do with feeling outside or less than equal in the church we will discuss the conclusions and implications that flow out of these findings in the next and final chapter 92

CHAPTER FIVE

religious imagery with its profound effect on human life and human religion is shaped with little attention to and little support from or awareness of the institutional church H concluded andrew greeley in the religious imagination in 1981 9 pg 212 the image of heavenly mother has been consistently present mormon thinking but always shadowy and recondite it would seem that the traditional and predominant position for latterlatterdayday saints to hold is that she exists there may not be the same strength of belief in mother in heaven that is found among the LDSLIDS people on other religious concepts that is the case among the WSG population belief in her is strongly related to personal religious dimensions among the research population both traditional orthodoxy and spiritual commitment have significant relationships with belief if the measure of personal religious behavior was a more broad andmulti multiitemitem one it is possible that the same positive relationship would be found with belief heavenly mother is even more hidden than most mysteries of the kingdom however and is not central to the belief and practices of the followers the research study has shown this to be true among a feminist LDSLIDS group and their male others even among this purposive sample the heavenly mother symbol is overwhelmingly underutilized this finding is among the most conclusive of the study perhaps the only research discovery that is equally unambiguous is that heavenly mother is more salient for the WSG females than the WSG males another important finding is that with little attention to and little support from or awareness of greeley cited above the institutional mormon church some members have placed somewhat more emphasis on the mother in heaven concept than is usual in the faith the women for whom she is important are highly spiritually committed the men who are high on mother in heaven salience are also spiritually committed and also tend to be somewhat less educated and orthodox compared to WSG men for whom she is less central these conclusions are based upon analysis of only direct relationships of the independent variables but may identify some of the important relationships that should be explored in further research among the WSG population some of those women for whom she is more salient are feminists wwhoho are ostensibly struggling at some level with the contradictions created in their lives by being loyal to a patriarchal religion the 93

mother in heaven theology seemingly helps provide a perspective which permits fidelity to the faith these persons still undergo a sort of alienation towards the church they report a feeling of second class outsideoutsiderrif status and they are somewhat less orthodox relative to mormon theology but they predominantly continue to accept the key tenets of the theology attend church regularly serve in church callings and maintain high personal religious commitment men for whom heavenly mother is central follow a somewhat similar pattern without the personal alienation one might conjecture that they are experiencing a kind of sympathy pain response on behalf of concerned women of the church with whom they are associated investigating that and many other relationships is a matter further research A share of the population are at least thinking about measures that might address one of the sources of the conflict they feel john A widtsoeWidtsoe former LDSLIDS apostle declared over forty years ago women bear joint responsibility with men in establishing the kingdom of god they have a common destiny which as free agents they may attain or lose according to their own actions 194319439 pg 372 the data describe a picture of some women and men in the population who view the establishment of the kingdom in a joint fashion that is not officially promoted in the LDSLIDS church table 32 below shows the response rates to one of the items that made up the rights feminism scale regarding the ordination of women to the priesthood among the population only about half of the women and the men disagreed with the statement apparently the population has an substantial element of feminists and men sympathetic to their cause who continue to be loyal to a patriarchal religious tradition this despite their supporting some details of the tradition with less enthusiasm or certainty A majority of the WSG population are open to discussion on the matter of the ordination of women 94

table 32 agreement with the ordination of women to offices of the priesthood by gender

women men total cum cum cum

strongly disagree 29 29 36 36 32 32 disagree 17 46 16 52 17 48 not sure 30 76 24 76 29 76 agree 8 84 13 89 10 86 strongly agree 16 100 11 100 14 100

responses to women should be ordained to offices in the aaronic or melchizedek priesthood of

max weber described religion as capable of being a dynamic independent creative social force that could lead to social change A weberian position would allow that the doctrine of a female god was capable of producing changes in the social relationships among the believers that is the doctrine of a heavenly mother if she were drawn in terms similar to the ways the male god was pictured could help create an ethic of equality and reduce the level of patriarchal dominance among the believers we would have no way of knowing if this process has begun even among the WSG population let alone the church although we have shown in the theoretical discussion in chapter 1 that this issue could become an area of 11 contested11contested terrain fl we do not have data to show that women in the church are actually using the concept of heavenly mother deliberately in this fashion we have seen that the mother in heaven concept is generally an unused symbol we have shown however that feministleaningfeminist leaning women and men are more likely to see the heavenly parents in coequalco equal terms we have also shown that persons with feminist attitudes are more likely to build up the heavenly mother concept in their personal religious thinking somewhat beyond the orthodox low level common latterlatterdayday saints in this data set it would be interesting to speculate about what would happen if women and especially WSG type women had control of the religious symbols in the mormon faith many of the LDSLIDS talks and messages pertaining to heavenly mother quoted throughout this thesis originated at church meetings held for women if those LDSLIDS womens meetings become more frequent and more directly managed by women it is possible that the concept of heavenly mother will assume a larger and more prominent role 95

in terms of education income and perhaps church leadership positions the WSG population can be considered an elite group elites may play an important role in social change max weber developed the idea of charismatic leaders playing the role of a mainspring for change throughout history strasser pg 30 robert nisbet describes the close relationship between innovation minded individuals and elites in the process of social change 1970 pg 320 LDSLIDS women like those in the WSG with the support of at least some of their important male others might act as entrepreneurs in finding a partial solution to the patriarchal problem to which they are sensitive eisenstadt 1964 suggests that this type of insidereliteinsider elite group is well placed to influence the speed and direction of social changes in the larger group after reviewing the role of women in the mormon church since the days of frontier feminist activism in utah lawrence foster describes the role an element of the church like this survey population can play

in this complex process of helping the mormon church adapt to changes in the larger society while remaining true to its underlying values mormon intellectuals play a vital if notfullyappreciatednot fully appreciated role exponentexponentll llII11 has played a pivotal role reaffirming a commitment to a vision of women in mormonism that is broader and more dynamic than that which is currently accepted by the mainstream of the church some of the brightest and most intellectually acute women of the church are struggling to maintain their loyalty to a faith in which they deeply believe at the same time that they are trying to change policies that they feel are excessively restrictive 1979 pg 20

georg simmel emphasized the importance of numbers and how interaction is changed when a dyad adds a third member the LDS dogma takes the traditional single parent deity the father and changes the relationship of his children with him by creating a triad two members of the godhead interacting in a new way with their child this new relationship could be more stable than the earlier dyad the dyad relationship between a believer and his father deity might be seen to be an unstable contractual one if either ones needs are not being met they might break off the relationship in various scriptures god is described as leaving the individual to his own devices because he or she was not obedient or faithful or whatever individuals frequently break off relations with their gods because they dont think they are getting the help they expect A triad relationship would allow for more kinds of arrangements heavenly mother could be seen for example to be a mediator of sorts saying to the earthly child father really loves you I1 know he seems to expect a lot but he wants you to be happy and to the father be gentle with our children they are trying their best so give them another 96

chance we have little evidence to show that this kind of teaching is in fact salient in the church or even the WSG but speculative theology would allow that it is possible some of the recent LDSLIDS poetry linda wilcox 1980 pg 13 suggests that this may be happening some roman catholics see the virgin mary in this role as a mediator or intercessor who works on their behalf andrew greeley in the mary myth on the femininity of god 1977 emphasizes this role of the madonna while the mormon theology of a heavenly mother permits the triad possibilities to develop the triad never really has existed in mainstream mormondom the orthodox relationship between the gods and their children among the latterlatterdayday saints has continued to be a dyadic one mother in heaven is properly behind the father and essentially invisible some of the members of this survey population are attempting to develop the concept of a mother in heaven in their personal religious views and devotions some are beginning to use a triad way of understanding god this objective seems related to their concern about the rights of women some of ntozake shanges poetry is discussed by carol christ in her book discussing feminist religious experience A line in one of her poems reads i found god in myself H and i loved her i loved her fiercely quoted by christ pg 117 this kind of heretical creative theology is shocking to those who usually think of god as a masculine presence christ pg 117 even among the latterlatterdayday saints where a goddess exists in the theology this kind of idea is rarely spoken in an official church environment about the only place notions of this kind surface formally is in poetry written by LDSLIDS women samples of that material are quoted by linda wilcox 1980 it is interesting that a poem by an LDSLIDS woman in 1845 brought heavenly mother into church attention today LDSLIDS women like carol lynn pearson are using the same medium to express feelings and desires and again heavenly mother makes appearances in some of them it is possible that the concept of heavenly mother is a significant comfort to many LDSLIDS women who are caught in a dilemma between loyalty to their church and commitment to feminist values this research raises many more questions than answers continued investigations of matters related to relationships with mother in heaven in the latter day saint church will bring understanding that may be able to be applied to more than Jjustust an educated group of LDSLIDS activist women and their significant males the voluntary WSG that was the subject of our study is characterized by a high level of 97 homogeneity in areas of religiosity ideology and demography this has allowed us to examine a concentrated cluster of LDSLIDS persons with the desired characteristics however these issues also need to be explored in the larger mormon community these are important questions of faith development and adjustment orthodoxy feminism alienation religiosity secularization and relationships between family members the mormon heavenly mother may continue to be characterized by low salience in the LDSLIDS faith but an understanding of the factors that are acting upon this matter may provide light in a number of areas writing in this vein elouise bell has said let it not be said that the latter day saint people stood on the sidelines while great and needed social reforms were taking place in the twentieth century let it not be said that we turned our backs or placed our heads in the sand rather let it be said that we took our rightful positions in the forefront of that movement that we were agents for directing it that we used discernment to know worthy objectives from pernicious ones let us welcome a new day when women can hold on to all that is traditionally fine and right and godgivengod given and god ordained and to encompass as well new alternatives new options greater fulfillment of potential and an everincreasingever increasing responsibility and desire and willingness to share in building the kingdom of god bell 1976 pg 539 APPENDIX 98

brigham young university family and demographic research institute official letterhead with seal was used

march 14 1986 jane doe 1234 any street Somesometowntown NY 56789 dearjanedeardean jane

you may not know me but I1 have met women like you at retreats in and in utah over the past several months I1 have compiled a list of over 400 LDS women who have participated in or were invited to a or a retreat I1 want to understand how women like you feel about their religion their family life and about womens changing roles would you be willing to participate in a study which will improve our understanding of these things will you please help me by filling out the enclosed questionnariequestion narie and returning it to me it is important that I1 hear back from each one of you so I1 can get an accurate picture of how women like you feel I1 can assure you of complete anonymity when you mail your questionnaire please sign the enclosed postcard and drop it in the mail too that way I1 will know you have responded and can remove your name from our mailing list only the questionnaire should be returnedreturnreturnedinedinin the postage free envelope because I1 would also like information from LDS men I1 am enclosing a second questionnaire if you are married please ask your husband to fill it out A separate postcard and return envelope is enclosed for him if you are not married would you please pass the questionnaire postcard and the return envelope on to a single LDS male living near you the results of this research will be made available to anyone who is interested you may receive a summary of the results by writing 1copycopy of results requested on the enclosed postcard and printing your name and address below it please do not put this information on the questionnaire please write or call if you have any questions I1 would be most happy to hear from you the telephone number is 801 3795294379 5294 thank you for your willingness to help increase our understanding of latter day saint women like you

sincerely yours marie cornwall phd 99 RELIGION AND FAMILY LIFE A SURVEY OF LDS MEN AND WOMEN

this is a study about how LDS women and men feefeel about their religion their family life and womens changing roles

remember there are no right or wrong answers only an answer which accurately reflects zourzounvounyour own opionionopionion is a correct answer

most questions can be answered by circling a number please dont circle more than one number if you wish to explain an answer or offer a comment use the margin or write me a note on the back of the last page

please remember that your answers are confidential and will be used only as data in the research report womens questionnaire

1 please indicate below the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements

circle number strongly not strongly disagree disagree sure agree agree there is life after death 1 2 3 4 5 the president of the LDS church is a prophet of god 1 2 3 4 5

living according to the principles of the gospel will bring me happiness and prosperity 1 2 3 4 5 the book of mormon is the word of god 1 2 3 4 C the gospel gives me hope that everything will work out for the best in my life 1 2 3 4 5 church programs and activities are an important part of my life 1 2 3 4 5 following the teachings of jesus christ will bring me peace confidence and hope 1 2 3 4 5 my membership in the LDS church is very important to me 1 2 3 4 5 100 the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints is the only true church on earth 1 2 3 4 5 satan actually exists 1 2 3 4 5

I1 dont really care about the LDSLIDS church 1 2 3 4 5

I1 believe god exists 1 2 3 4 5 joseph smith actually saw god the father and jesus christ 1 2 3 4 5 the bible contains the word of god 1 2 3 4 5

I1 believe in jesus christ as the son of god 1 2 3 4 5 participating in the programs and activities of the LDSLIDS church will bring me success in life 1 2 3 4 5 it makes me feel bad when someone speaks against the LDSLIDS church 1 2 3 4 5

I1 believe in a heavenly mother 1 2 3 4 5

I1 believe there is only one heavenly mother for all of heavenly fathers children on this earth 1 2 3 4 5

I1 wish I1 knew more about heavenly mother 1 2 3 4 5

I1 believe one reason we do not know more about our mother in heaven is that the prophets have not sought to know more 1 2 3 4 5

I1 believe one reason we do not know more about our mother in heaven is that heavenly father does not want us to know more 1 2 3 4 5

2 have you ever had any of the following religious experiences

YES im yes I1 no but NOnoln01I1 sure I1 think I1 I1 would never have have like to have felt the spirit of god 1 2 3 4 iol101

received a personal witness of the restored gospel 1 2 3 4

felt mother in heavens love 1 2 3 4

felt gods forgiveness 1 2 3 4

received an answer to your prayers 1 2 3 4

made a commitment to follow christ 1 2 3 4

felt father in heavens love 1 2 3 4

3 other than blessing the food how often do you usually have personal prayer circle only one

1 never 4 A few times a month 2 only during times of 5 weekly special need 6 A few times a week 3 monthly 7 daily

4 how often do you feel like the following

circle number never seldom sometimes often always I1 feel worthy to enter gods presence 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel that god does not hear or answer my prayers 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel god cares about my life 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel god has forgiven me of my sins 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel guilty about serious mistakes I1 have made in my life 1 2 3 4 5

I1 wonder whether god really loves me 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel god approves of the way I1 live my life 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel like I1 would rather not pray 1 2 3 4 5

5 how well do the following statements describe you circle number DESCRIBES ME not at all somewhat exactly I1 am willing to do whatever the lord wants me to do 1 2 3 4 5 102 my relationship with the lord is an important part of my life 1 2 3 4 5

I1 have sought to know more about my mother in heaven 1 2 3 4 5 it makes me feel good when I1 hear people say good things about the LDS church 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel a close personal bond with heavenly mother 1 2 3 4 5 without religious faith the rest of my life would not have much meaning 1 2 3 4 5

I1 love god with all my heart 1 2 3 4 5 it is important to me to know more about heavenly mother 1 2 3 4 5 the holy ghost is an important influence in my life 1 2 3 4 5

I1 have wondered about my mother in heaven 1 2 3 4 5

6 in the past three months how often have you attended each of the following LDS church meetings lesslessthanthan A few once a times never month monthly a month weekly sacrament service 1 2 3 4 5 sunday school 1 2 3 4 5 relief societypriestsocietypriesthoodSociety PriestPriesthoodhood 1 2 3 4 5

7 do you have a church assignment that prevents you from weekly attendance at sunday school relief society or priesthood meeting circle one

1 yes 2 no 8 do you currently have a church calling

1 yes 2 no IF NO GO TO QUESTION 9 ON THE NEXT PAGE if yes a please list the current church calling in which you spend the most time each week

b how much time do you usually spend each week carrying out the duties of your calling do not count time spend in meetings and activities you would 103 attend even if you did not have this calling

HOURS PER WEEK

9 have you received your temple endowment 1 yes 2 no

10 about how much time each week do you spend studying the scriptures or reading gospelrelatedgospel related material HOURS

11 how well do the following statements describe how you feel

circle number DESDESCRIBESCRIBES ME not at all somewhat exactly I1 feel like a secondclasssecond class citizen in the LDS church 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel LDS church leaders are aware of my personal concerns and needs 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel like an outsider in the LDS church 1 2 3 4 5 the members of my ward or branch really need me 1 2 3 4 5 my bishop or branch president personally cares about what happens to me 1 2 3 4 5

I1 fit in well with the people in my ward 1 2 3 4 5

I1 feel comfortable talking with my bishop or branch president about personal problems 1 2 3 4 5

I1 dont have much in common with most other LDSLIDS women 1 2 3 4 5

12 please indicate below the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statemestatomestatementsntsants

circle number strongly not strongly disagree disagree sure agree agree women should worry less about their rights and more about becoming good wives and mothers 1 2 3 4 5

A women can be a good wife and mother even if she has a very demanding job 1 2 3 4 5 104 the only really satisfying role for a woman is as a wife and mother 1 2 3 4 5 girls should be encouraged to prepare for a career outside the home 1 2 3 4 5 in some jobs men should be given preference over women when being hired or promoted 1 2 3 4 5

A preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works outside the home 1 2 3 4 5 most priesthood leaders are aware of the concerns of women in the church today 1 2 3 4 5 women should be ordained to offices in the aaronic or melchizedek priesthood 1 2 3 4 5

13 how often do you think about

your mother in heaven 1 never 4 often 2 seldom 5 frequently 3 sometimes 6 all the time

your father in heaven 1 never 4 often 2 seldom 5 frequently 3 sometimes 6 all the time

14 how many of your fivelvefive closest friendsf are active LDSLIDSDS

1 none of them 2 afewofA few of them 3 about half of them 4 most of them 5 all of them

15 when you talktaik with your LIDS friends how frequentlyntlyantly do you discuss the following topics

circle number never seldom sometimes often always LDSLIDS doctrines and teachings 1 2 3 4 5 your personal religious beliefs 1 2 3 4 5

LDS church policies and practices 1 2 3 4 5

1 the idea of a mother in heaven 1 2 3 4 5 womens rights 1 2 3 4 5 105 the nature of god 1 2 3 4 5 the meaning of the priesthood 1 2 3 4 5 your personal religious doubts 1 2 3 4 5 your personal religious experiences 1 2 3 4 5

16which16 Which of the following statements best describes your beliefs about the nature of god circle only one number

1 there is no god

2 god is a male personage there is no mother in heaven

3 god has no gender

4 god is both male and female not two divine personages

5 heavenly father and heavenly mother are two divine personages they are creatorscocreatorsco of spiritual offspring and both direct the affairs of the universe

6 heavenly father and heavenly mother are two divine personages heavenly father directs the affairs of the universe heavenly mother is his eternal companion and the mother of their spiritual children

17 some people say that the family in america is getting weaker while others say that the family is getting stronger what is your opinion would you say that in the last few years the family in america is getting stronger or weaker or has remained the same circle only one

1 stonger 2 weaker 3 remained the same

18 what is your opinion about most LDSLIDS families in comparison with a few years ago would you say that mormon families are getting stronger or weaker or has remained the same circle only one

1 stonger 2 weaker 3 remained the same

19 people are often described as liberal or conservative where would you place yourself on the following scale

1 extremely liberal 2 liberal 3 slightly liberal 4 moderate middle of the road 106log 5 slightly conservative 6 conservative 7 extremely conservative

20 how concerned are you personally about womens rights

1 very concerned 2 somewhat concerned 3 not very concerned 4 not concerned at all

21 do you think birth control information should be available to teenagers who want it

1 yes should be available 2 no should not be available 3 depends on the age of the teenager 4 not sure

22 do you think sexual relations between two adults of the same sex is wrong

1 always wrong 2 almost always wrong 3 sometimes wrong 4 not wrong at all 5 not sure

23 do you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion dont yes no know if there is a strong chance of serious defect in the baby 1 2

if the woman is married and does not want any more children 1 2

if the womans own health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy 1 2

if the family has a very low income and cannot afford any more children 1 2

if the woman became pregnant as a result of rape 1 2

if the woman is not married and does not want to marry the man 1 2

if the woman wants an abortion for any reason 1 2 107

IF CURRENTLY MARRIED PLEASE ANSWER QUESTIONS 24 AND 25 BELOW IF NOT CURRENTLY MARRIED GO TO QUESTION 26 ON THE NEXT PAGE

24 in your present family who usually does each of the following tasks

husband husband husband wife wife wife entirely more equally more entirely earning the family income 1 2 3 4 5

housekeeping 1 2 3 4 5

keeping in touch with relatives 1 2 3 4 5 does not organizing family recreation 1 2 3 4 5 apapply care of preschool children 1 2 3 4 5 9

teaching helping and disciplining girls age 6126 12 1 2 3 4 5 9 boys age 6126 12 1 2 3 4 5 9

teaching and disciplining teenagers 1 2 3 4 5 9

25 who makes most of the decisions with rrespect to each of the followifollowsfollowirfollofollowerwirngig activities husband husband husband bifwifewife wife wife entirely more equally more entirely

earning the family income 1 2 3 4 5

housekeeping 1 2 3 4 5

keeping in touch with relatives 1 2 3 4 5

sexual intimacy 1 2 3 4 5 does not organizing family recreation 1 2 3 4 5 apply care of preschool children 1 2 3 4 5 9

teaching helping and disciplining girls age 6126 12 1 2 3 4 5 9 boys age 6126 12 1 2 3 4 5 9 teaching and disciplining 108 teenagers 1 2 3 4 5 9

26 have you ever participated in a womens retreat 1 yes 2 no

27 have you ever participated in a womens retreat 1 yes 2 no

NOTE on the mens questionnaire the subjects were asked if they had ever been involved in a LDS mens support group background information we ask the following questions so that we can contrast your answers with the answers of other people whose backgrounds are different from yours please circle or fill in the blanks as appropriate

28 when were you born YEAR

29 circle the highest grade in school you have completed 0 11234567823 45 6 78 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 never elementary high school college or technical training

30 do you have a graduate degree

1 yes IF YES a what is the degree 2 no MS phd edd etc b what field of study

philosophy law nursing etc

31 at what age were you baptized YEARS OLD

32 are you 1 female 2 male if marrildamarriedamarriedA what is your husbands A what is your priesthood priesthood 1 unordained 1 unordained 2 deacon 2 deacon 3 teacher 3 teacher 4 priest 4 priest 5 elder 5 elder 6 seventy 6 seventy 7 high priest 7 high priest 8 not LDS dont know 8 not LDS dont know

33 do you have any children

1 yes 2 NO IF NO SKIP TO QUESTION 34 BELOW

A what are the ages of your children include adopted and foster children 109

34 what is your current employment status employment includes parttimepart time work for pay such as delivering papers or babysitting and work without pay in a family business or farm

1 currently employed 2 not employed looking for employment 3 not employed not looking for employment

35 what kind of work for pay do you do if unemployed please describe your most recent job if you work at more than one job please describe the one at which you work the most hours

36 if employed how many hours per week do you usually work at all jobs

HOURS

37 how much income did you and your spouse if married receive from all sources during 1985 1 under 5000 6 25000102999925000 to 29999 2 50001099995000 to 9999 7 30000103999930000300001039.999to 39999 3 10000101499910000 to 14999 8 40000104999940000 to 49999 4 15000101999915000 to 19999 9 50000500001059999to 59999 5 20000102499920000 to 24999 10 60000 or more

38 what is your current marital status 1 first marriage 2 remarriage after voricedivoricedi 3 remarriage after death of spouse 4 divorced 5 separated IF NOT CURRENTLY MARRIED 6 widowed PLEASE GO TO MIDDLE OF PAGE 14 7 never married JIFIF MARRIED PLEASE CONTINUE

39 for your current marriage or your most recent marriage what type of marriage ceremony did you have

1 civil 2 church but not temple 3 civil or church marriage followed by temple sealing 4 temple marriage

40 how long have you been married to your present spouse YEARS

41 does your spouse belong to the LDS church

1 yes 2 no

42 in what year was your spouse born YEAR 1 10 43 which of the following best describes the degree of happiness in your present marriage

1 very unhappy 2 somewhat unhappy 3 just sososo so neither happy or unhappy 4 happy 5 very happy

44 if you had it to do over again would you want to marry the same person

1 yes 3 undecided 5 no 2 yes probably 4 probably not

45 circle the highest grade in school your spouse has completed

0 12345678 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 never elementary high school college or technical training attended

46 what is the current employment status of your spouse count parttimepart time work including work at home such as babysitting also count work without pay in a family business or farm as employment

1 currently employed 2 not employed looking for employment 3 not employed not looking for employment

47 what kind of work for pay does your spouse do if unemployed please describe aisherhisherhishen most recent job if your spouse works at more than one job please describe the one at which heshebeshe works the most hours

48 if your spouse is employed how many hours per week does your spouse usually work at all jobs

HOURS

49 in the past three months how often has your spouse attended each of the following LDS church meetings lesslessthanthan A few once a times never month monthly a month weekly

sacrament service 1 2 3 4 5

sunday school 1 2 3 4 5

relief societypriesthoodsociety priesthood 1 2 3 4 5

50 does your spouse have a church assignment that prevents himherhigher from weekly attendance at sunday school relief society or priesthood meeting circle one

1 yes 2 no

51 does your spouse have a church calling

lyes1yesayes1 yes 2 no if yes a please list the current church calling in which heshebeshe spends the most time each week

b how much time does heshebeshe usually spend each week carrying out the duties for hishen calling do not count the time spent in meetings or activities heshebeshe would attend even if heshebeshe did not have this calling

HOURS PER WEEK

THANK YOU FOR participating IN THIS SURVEY IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE PLEASE DO SO ON THE BACK OF THIS PAGE lit1121 12

calesscales created from questionnaire for analysis of heavenly mother data particularistic orthodoxy or mormon orthodoxy part ortho q12 the president of the LDSLIDS church is a prophet of god q14Q 1 4 the book of mormon is the word of god 019 the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints is the only true church on earth q113q1qa 13 joseph smith actually saw god the father and jesus christ traditional orthodoxy or christian orthodoxy trad ortho q11 there is life after death 0110 satan actually exists 0112Q 1 12 I1 believe god exists Q 1 141 4 the bible contains the word of god q115Q 1 15 I1 believe in jesus christ as the son of god church commitment church commit q16q1qa 6 church programs and activities are an important part of my life q18 my membership in the LDSLIDS church is important to men 1 0111 I1 dont really care about the LDSLIDS church q117 it makes me feel bad when someone speaks against the LDSLIDS church q54 it makes me feel good when I1 hear people say good things about the LDSLIDS church spiritual commitment spirit commit 051 I1 am willing to do whatever the lord wants me to do q52 my relationship with the lord is an important part of my life q56 without religious faith the rest of my life would not have much meaning 057 I1 love god with all my heart q59 the holy ghost is an important influence in my life religious participation relig Parpantictic 06 in the past three months how often have you attended each of the following liisllisLDSLIDS church meetings sacrament service sunday school relief societypriesthoodSociety Priesthood q8b if you currently have a church calling indicate how much time you usually spend each week carrying out the duties of your callingcalling2callings 2 religious behavior relig behavbehag 03 other than blessing the food how often do you usually have personal prayerprayer2prayers 2 mother in heaven heaven mother q53 I1 have sought to know more about my mother in heaven q55 I1 feel a close personal bond with heavenly mother q58 it is important to me to know more about heavenly mother q51q5100 I1 have wondered about my mother in heaven q120q1qa 20 I1 wish I1 knew more about heavenly mother 1 13

feminism femin q121 women should worry less about rights more about being good wivesmotherswivesmothers 1 q122 woman can be good wifemotherwife mother even with demanding job q1qaq12323 the only really satisfying role for woman is bifwifemotherwifemotherwifeemotherothenmotheremosher 1 q124 girls should be encouraged to prepare for a career outside home q125 men should sometimes be given preference over women in job market 1 q1qaq12626 A preschool child suffers when mother works outside the home 1 q128 women should be ordained to offices in the priesthood 020 how concerned are you personally about womens rights 2 rightsrightsfeminismfeminism rit jem q1qaq12121 women should worry less about rights more about being good wivesmotherswivesmothers 1 0125 men should sometimes be given preference over women in job market 1 q1qaq12828 women should be ordained to offices in the priesthood q20 how concerned are you personally about womens rights 2 careerfeminismcareer feminism car fernferm q122 woman can be good wifemotherwife mother even with demanding job q123Q 123 the only really satisfying role for woman is bifwifemotherwifemotherwifeemothermotheremosher 1 0124 girls should be encouraged to prepare for a career outside home q126 A preschool child suffers when mother works outside the home 1 alienation alien 0q11111 1 I1 feel like a secondclasssecond class citizen in the LDSLIDS church 1 q1qaq11122 I1 feel LDSLIDS church leaders are aware of my personal concerns and needs q113Q 11 3 I1 feel like an outsider in the liisllisLDSLIDS church 0114q11 4 the members of my ward or branch really need me 1 q1q11qa 155 my bishop or branch president personally cares about what happens to me 1 1 0116q11 6 I1 fit in well with the people in my ward 1 q117 I1 feel comfortable talking with my bishop about personal problems 0118 I1 dont have much in common with most other LDSLIDS men organizationalienationorganization alienation org alien 1 q112q11 2 I1 feel LDSLIDS church leaders are aware of my personal concerns and needs 0114Q 11 4 the members of my ward or branch really need me 1 q1qaq11155 my bishop or branch president personally cares about what happens to me 1 1 q117 I1 feel comfortable talking with my bishop about personal problems outsideralienationoutsideoutsider r alienatioalienationn out alien q111q1qa 11 I1 feel like a secondclasssecond class citizen in the liisllisLDSLIDS church q1Qqa11133 I1 feel like an outsider in the LDSLIDS church 0118q11 Q 1 dont have much in common with most other LDSLIDS men 114 references

ALBRECHT stan L and tim B HEATON secularization higher education and ll religiosity in review of religious research vol 26 no 1 pg 435843 58 1984

ALEXANDER thomas G mormonism in transition chicago university of illinois press 1986

BABBIE earl the practice of social research belmont california wadsworth publishing company 1983

BALLARD melvin J from an address in the salt lake tabernacle may 8 1921 journal history pg 131 3 BANKS olive becoming a feminist the social origins of first wave feminism brighton sussex wheatsheafWheatsheaf books 1986

BASKIN judith the separation of women in rabbinic judaism in women religion and social change edited by yvonne Y haddad and ellison banks findly albany state university of new york press 1985

BAXTER brian Afienationalienation and authenticity some consequences for organized work london tavistock publications 1982 baumgregoryBAUBAUM gregoryMGregory religion and alienation A theological reading of sociology new york paulist press 1975

BELL elousie the implications of feminism for brigham young university brigham young university studies vol 16 no 4 pg 527540527 540 1976

BENSON ezra taft major address general LDS church fireside february 22922 1987 reprinted in pamphlet form by the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints

BERGER peter L the heretical imperative contemporary possibilities of religious affirmation garden city new york anchor books 1979

BIBLE the holy bible salt lake city church of jesus christ of LDS 1979

BRAXTON bernard sex and religion in opressionoppressionOp ression washington verta press 1978

BUDD susan sociologists and religion london colcoicollierlierilerilen macaimacmimacmillanilaniianlian publishers1Publisherspublishers19731 9731973 115 calCAICAIRDRD edward the social philosophy and religion comteofcomteof glasgow maclehose and sons pub 1885

CANNON abraham H journal august 15198015 1980 LDS church archives quoted by WILCOX linda the mormon concept of a mother in heaven sunstone septemberoctoberSeptember October 1980 P 9179 17

CHALFANT paul robert BECKLEY and eddie PALMER religion in contemporary society palo alto mayfield 1984 P 38

CHRIST carol P diving deep and surfacing boston beacon press 1980

CLAYTON richard and james GLADDEN the five dimensions of religiosity toward demythologizing a sacred artifact journal for the scientific study of religion 131321351321354321354319742135 43197443 1974 CLINE VB and JM richards jr A factorfactoranalyticanalytic study of religious belief and behavior journal of personality and social psychology vol 16 pg 56978569 78 1965

COOLEY charles horton social organization and human nature and the social order new york henry holt and co 1956

CORNWALL marie the determinants of religious behavior A theoretical model and empirical test unpublished manuscript 1986

CORNWALL marie women and the church an organizational analysis paper presented at the annual meetings of the pacific sociological association san jose calif april 1983

CORNWALL marie personal communities the social and normative basis of religion unpublished dissertation department of sociology university of minnesota 1985

CORNWALL marie stan L ALBRECHT perry H cunningham and brian L PITCHER the dimensions of religiosity A conceptual model with an empirical test review of religious research vol 27 no 3 march 1986 pg 226244226 244

DALY mary beyond god the father toward a philosophy of womens liberation boston beacon press 1973

DEJONG gordon F joseph E faulkner and rex H warland dimensions of religiosity reconsidered evidence from a crossculturalcross cultural study social forces vol 54 86688986686688998898899 1976 116 DELMAR rosalind what is feminism in what is feminism juliet mitchell and ann oakley editors new york pantheon books 1986 pg 8338 33

DITTES james E two issues in measuring religion in MP strommen editor research on religious development new york hawthorne 1971

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS of the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints salt lake city LDS church 1981

DONOVAN josephine feminist theory the intellectual traditions of american feminism new york fredrick ungar publishing 1985

DURKHEIM emile the elementary forms of the religious life translated by george swain london george allenalienailen and unwin 1915

DURKHEIM emile suicide translated by john spaulding and george simpson new york the free press 1951

EBERHARD kenneth the alienated christian A theology of alienation philidephiaPhili dephia pilgrim press book 1971 eisenstadt SNS N social change differentiation and evolution american sociological review 29 2352472352471964235 2471964247 1964

FALK nancy and rita M GROSS unspoken worlds womens religious lives in nonwesternnon western cultures san francisco harper and row 1980

FAULKNER joseph E and gordon F DEJONG religiosity in 5 D an empirical analysis social forces 4524625419664524625445246 2541966254 1966

FEMINISTS the the feminists A political organization to annihilate sex roles notes from the second year radical feminism shulamith firestone and anne koedthoedt editors new york radical feminism 1970

FIRESTONE shulamith the dialectic of sex the case for feminist revolution new york bantam books 1971

FOSTER lawrence from frontier activism to neovictorianneo victorian domesticity mormon women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries journal of mormon history vol 6 pg 3223 22 1979

FUKUYAMA Y the major dimensions of church membership I1 review of religious research vol 21541611961215421541611611961161 iggi1961 1171 17 CLOCKGLOCK charles Y on the study of religious commitment research supplement religious education 57981105798 110 1962

GLOCK charles Y and rodney STARK religion and society in tension chicago randrandmcnallymcnally 1965 goldenberg naomi R changing of the gods feminism and the end of traditional religions boston beacon press 1979

GOODE erich social class and church participation american journal of sociology vol 72102111196672102 1111966

GOODMAN kristen L and tim B HEATON LDS church members in the US and canada A demographic profile in AMCAP journal vol 12 nolnoino1noa pg 8810788 107 1986

GREELEY andrew M the mary myth new york seabury press 1977

GREELEY andrew M the religious imagination new york sadlier 1981

HADDAD yvonne Y and ellison banks FINDLY editors women religion and social change albaaibaalbanyny state university of new york press 1985

HEATON tim B four characterisitcs of the mormon family contemporary research on chastity conjugality children and chauvinism dialogue A journal of mormon thought vol 20 no 2 summer 1987

HEEREN john donald LINDSEY and marylee MASON the mormon concept of mother in heaven A sociological account of its origins and development journal for the scientific study of religion 1984 vol 23 4 P 396411396 411

HEEREN john donald LINDSEY and marylee MASON religious ideology and womens status the mormon example it paper presented at the 1983 annual meeting of the society for the scientific study of religion 1983

HOLLAND patricia T with your face to the son BYU today vol 41 number 3 june 1987 pg 333633 36 and 485448 54

HUNTER milton R the gospel through the ages salt lake city stevens and wallisjncwallis inc 1945

HYMNS hymns of the church of jesus christchristof of latterlatterdayday saints salt lake city 1985 118 JAMES edwin 0 james the cult of the mother goddess new york barnes and noble 1959

JENSEN adolph myth and cult among primitive peoples chicago university of chicago press 1963

JOHNSTONE ronald L religion in society englewood cliffs prentice hall inc 1983

KIMBALL spencer W general conference address ensign may 1978 pg 343 4

KING morton and richard HUNT measuring the religious variable replication fl journal for the scientific study of religion 11240511972112405111240 51197251 1972

KING morton and richard HUNT measuring the religious variable national replication journal for the scientific study of religion 1413221413 22 1975

LAZERWITZ bernard membership in voluntary associations and frequency of church attendance journal for the scientific study of religion volavol2 748474 84 1962

LEE janet creating feminist epistemology forafor a sociology of religion washington state university unpublished paper

LENSKI gerhard E the religious factor garden city new york doubleday press 1961

MAGUIRE daniel C the feminist turn in social ethics in instreamingmainstreamingMa feminist research for teaching religious studies arlene swidler and walter E conn editors lanham MD university press of america 1985 malinowski bronislaw magic science and religion new york free press 1925

MARX karl karl marx early writings translated by TB bottomore new york mcgraw hill 1964

MAUSS armand L saints cities and secularism attitudes and behavior of modern urban cormonsMormormonsmons dialogue 72 pg 8278 27 1972

MAUSS armand L sociological perspectives on the mormon subculture annual review of sociology vol 10 pg 43760437 60

MAUSS armand L and jeffrey R franks comprehensive bibliography of social science literature on the Morcormonsmormonsmons it review of religious research vol 26 1 nono11984119849 1984 119 mccall daniel mother earth the great goddess of west africa in mother worship edited by james J preston chapel hill university of north carolina press 1982 mcconkie bruce R mormon doctrine salt lake city bookcraft 1966 mcguire meredith B religion the social context belmont wadsworth publishing co 1987

MILLS C wright on reason and freedom identity and anxiety survival of the person in mass society ed maurice stein arthur vidich and david white glencoe illinois free press 1960

MITCHELL juliet and ann oakley editors what is feminism new york pantheon books 1986

MOL hans identity and the sacred A sketch for a new socialsocialscientificscientific theory of religion new york the free press 1977

MORGAN robin sisterhood is powerful an anthology of writings from the womens liberation movement also edited by morgan new york vintage press 1970

MUELLER GH the dimensions of religiosity if sociologicalanalysissociological analysis vol 411241198041124411 241198024 1980

MURCHU diarmuid the god who becomes redundant dublin mercier Presspresslpressipress1pressapress19869861986

NISBET robert A the quest for community new york oxford university press 1953

NISBET robert A the social bond new york alfred A knopf 1970 OSIEK carolyn RSCJ beyond anger on being a feminist in the church new york paulist press 1986

PAPA mary bader christian feminism completing the subtotal woman chicago fidesclaretianFides Claretian 1981

PARETO vilfredo the mind and society volume 1 new york harcourt & brace 1935

PARETO fredovi ifiredosociologicalredonedoiredo sociological writings selected and introduced by SE finer new york praeger publishers 1966 120 PHOTIADIS JD overt conformity to church teaching as a function of religious belief and group participation american journal of sociology vol 704 pg 42328423 28 1965

PRESTON james J mother worship chapel hill the university of north carolina press 1982

RADCLIFFE BROWN AR structure and function in primitive society new york free press 1952

RUSH anne kent the politics of feminist spirituality in the politics of womens spirituality essays on the rise of spiritual power within the feminist movement edited by C sprentnakSprent nak garden city NY anchor books 1982

SCHACHT richard alienation new york doubleday 1970

SCHOTT rudiger comments on fluefluehrh r lobban current anthropology 20 june 19793541979 354

SEEMAN melvin on the meaning of alienation american sociological review vol 24 december 1959 pg 783791783 791

SHELLEY martha lesbianism and the womens liberation movement womens liberation sookie stambler editor new york ace publications 1970

SINGER isaac D yentlyenti the yeshiva boy new york ferrar stauss and jeroux 1983

SMITH joseph F discourse deseret evening news feb 9 1895

SMITH joseph F womens conference address womans exponent 24 august 15 1985pg451985 pg 45

SMITH joseph fielding man his origin and destiny salt lake city deseret book co 1969

SNOW lorenzo quoted in improvement era vol 22 june 1919 pg 659661659 661

SPRETNAK charlene editor the politics of womens spirituality essays on the rise of spiritual power within the feminist movement garden city NY anchor books 1982

STANLEY liz and sue wise breaking out feminist consciousness and feminist research london routledge and kegan paul 1983 121 STANTON elizabeth cady the womans bible 2 vols 1895 and 1899 new york arno publications 1972

STRASSER hermann and susan C RANDALL an introduction to theories of social change boston routledge & kegan paul 1981

STONE merlin the paradise papers london quartel books 1976

SWIDLER arlene and walter E CONN instreamingmainstreamingMa feminist research for teaching religious studies lanham MD university press of america 1985

SYKES gerald alienation the cultural climate of our time new york braziller press 1964

TAPP robert B dimensions of religiosity in a posttraditionalpost traditional group journal for the scientific study of religion vol 104110 414741 47 1971

THOMAS william isaac and dorthy S THOMAS the child in america new york knopf 1928 quoted in religion in contemporary society edited by paul chalfant robert beckley and eddie palmer palo alto mayfieldmayfiMaytimayth eld 1984 P 38

TURNER rodney in private discussion february 1987

WARENSKI marilyn patriarchs and politics the plight of the mormon woman new york mcgrawhillmcgraw hill book company 1978

WARNER marina alone of all her sex the myth and cult of the virgin mary new york knopf 1976

WEBER max the protestant ethic and the sprint of capitalism new york charles scribners sons 1958

WEIGERT andrew and darwin thomas religiosity in 5 D A critical note social forces 482606348260 63 1969

WIDTSOE john A the mormon woman relief society magazine volvol30pg37230 pg 372 june julyljuly1943julya 943

WILCOX linda the mormon concept of a mother in heaven sunstone septemberoctoberSeptember October 1980 P 9179 17 WILSON colin the outsider new york dell books 1956 122

behind the veil the heavenly mother concept among members of womens support groups in the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints

alienallenailen W litchfield

department of sociology MA degree july 1987

ABSTRACT

this thesis examines the belief in and use of the concept of mother in heaven among some fomentswomentswomens support groups comprised of female members and attached males of the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter day saints the expectations were that those surveyed would express belief in heavenly mother but that the concept would not be a central one various propositions suggested relationships between religious dimension feminism and alienation variables and belief in and salience of mother in heaven most of those surveyed believe in the goddess but the concept is underutilized among those surveyed belief in mother in heaven was found to be strongly a function of religious orthodoxy salience of mother in heaven was found to be related to a more complex set of model variables

COMMITTEE APPROVAL rdellardellardeilandell JaccobonJajacobanjacobonjacdotondOton committe chalimancharimanChariman

marie cornwall committee member

77. U A f lawrenceawrence A youngcomnitteeYoungyoungcomCom itteeattee member r

vonaaVVvvnaaNAamba kak3 rar2 cac2 japjamjajnejse T duke department chairman