Meet the Mormons: from the Margins to the Mainstream Mathew N
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College of the Holy Cross CrossWorks Religious Studies Faculty Scholarship Religious Studies Department 11-9-2007 Meet the Mormons: From the Margins to the Mainstream Mathew N. Schmalz College of the Holy Cross, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://crossworks.holycross.edu/rel_faculty_pub Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, and the New Religious Movements Commons Recommended Citation Schmalz, Mathew N. "Meet the Mormons: From the Margins to the Mainstream." Commonweal 9 Nov. 2007: 16-19. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Religious Studies Department at CrossWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Studies Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of CrossWorks. Meet the ^Aormons From the Margin to the Mainstream Mathew N. Schmalz here's been a lot of "Mormon talk" plates' strange markings), the book is both a "testament of Jesus Christ" and a history of two rival American nations in the air lately. Presidential candi' founded by the sons of Lehi, a prophet who sailed from date Mitt Romney has something to Jerusalem to America in 600 BC. T My students have trouble taking Smith's seemingly out- do with that, as do the acclaimed HBO se' landish claims seriously; and for tbose committed to Christ- ries Big Love (chronicling a fictional polyga- ian orthodoxy, key elements ot Mormon doctrine remain deeply alien. Joseph Smith claimed to have seen God and mist family that splits from its traditionalist observed that he has a form much like our own—with ears. Mormon roots) and the reaHife trial of po- eyebrows, and other human features. This God is ni>t only the spiritual parent of us all, he is also the spiritual and phys- lygamist Warren Jeffs. People have the usual ical parent of Jesus Christ. According to the Botik of Mor- questions. What do Mormons believe? Are mon, Jesus also had a prior "unemhodied" existence as "Je- they really Christians? How many wives do hovah," God of the Old Testament. In addition to asserting the untrinitarian nature of the Godhead, Smith claimed to they have, anyway? have restored the authentic church of C^hrist, akmg with the Such talk arises whenever Mormons step into a more ancient Aaronic and Melchizidek prie.sthoods. prominent n^le in American public life. In the nineteenth century, the talk was about Motmon polygamy and Utah statehood. In the early twentieth century, it centered on apostle Reed Smoot and whether he could assume elected office as a Utah .senator. Now the talk surrounds Romney's presidential bid. Some of the punditry has been less than ed- ifying. Jacob Weisberg wrote in the online journal Slate that he could never vote for someone whose religion "is based on such a transparent and recent fraud." Private Mormon tem- ple rituals have heen laid bare in the media, and Romney has had to endure one too many stories about traditional Mormon undergarments. Having taut^ht about new religious movements at the Col- lege of the Holy Cross for several years, I've found that my students combine a personal openness to Mormonism (one had a long-term boyfriend who was a Mormon) with deep skepticism about details of Mormon belief. Like many peo- ple, my students tend to find the Book of Mormon fanciful at best. Translated hy Joseph Smith from golden plates he claimed to have unearthed in 1827 on a hill in upstate New York (Smith said he was guided there by Moroni, an angel who also gave him seer stones with which to translate the Mathew N. Schmalz is direcuyr of the College Honors Program ami associate professor ofreli^ous studies at the CoUege of the Holy Cross. Moroni LIGHTPLANET.COW Smith's vision of the afterlife was also distinctive. It fore- ness that had singled me out as the "Catholic guy" in high saw a place di\'ided into three levels: the "celestial kingdom," school, college, and graduate school. I was often asked to pre- for faithful Mormons and those who receive the full gospel sent the "Catholic view" on some issue, or publicly pressed of Jesus Christ in the hereafter; the "terrestrial kingdom," for by colleagues to explain why Catholics held certain peculiar Ic.-is faithful Mormons and righteous non-Mormon "Gentiles"; beliefs. Hearing Catholic stereotypes repeated in ctmversa- and the "telestial kingdom," tor murderers, adulterers, and tion, 1 always wanted to say, "Well, maybe if you'd seriously apostates. In this tripartite scheme, those in the celestial king- listen to Catholics, you'd realize we're not all the same." dom labor to achieve "exaltation." Some Mormtin prophets and theologians have speculated that those who attain exal- ormon friends and colleagues experience similar tation become gods of their own planets and give birth to feelings when they hear peopie dismiss their reli- spirit children who pass from prcexistence through corpore- Mgion. But if one sees Monnonism as something more al life to the afterlife. This redemptive vision was furthet clar- than eccentricity or pathology, one can imagine a more sub- ified when Joseph Smith examined an Egyptian papyrus stantive kind of Mormon talk, especially surrounding Mitt obtained from a traveling mummy exhibition. On the pa- Romney's candidacy. Rtimney could be asked how Mormon pyrus, Smith proclaimed, was a depiction of Kolob, the plan- beliefs in the salvific significance of America have shaped et or star "set nigh to the throne of God," nearest to the his understanding of the U.S. mission in the world. Or one celestial realm. could ask him how the BiKik of Mormon's narrative of a con- It was Koloh and associated exotica that first drew me to flict of civilizations has shaped his own understanding of our the study of Mormonism. It all seemed so strange: polygamy, present moment in history. It would also he interesting to the banning of blacks from the priesthood, the expansive un- know how Romney understands the challenges facing stKial- derstanding of prophecy. Not to mention the story of Joseph ly marginalized groups, given Mormonism's—and his own Smith and his many visions—including his 1832 prediction family's—experience of persecution. of a future war over slavery starting in South Carolina, and A refreshingly different kind of Mormon talk could be heard his revelation that prohibited "strong" and "hot" drinks as tn The MormojLs, a four-hour documentary recently broadcast well as proscrihing tobacco. As I reflected on the strangeness on PBS. The film let Mormons speak for themselves. Their ot Mtirmonism, 1 started thinking ahout the sense of strange- words shed light on the appeal of Mormon belief and prac- EXCELLENT ACADEMICS "Those interested in a first-class liberal arts education, in a Catholic environment that's open to engaging everyone's arguments in search of fhe truth, should look very seriously at the University of Dallas - to my mind, one of the very best Catholic universities in America." UNIVERSITY -George Weigel, biographer OF DALLAS of Pope John Paul II To leam more about our nationally recognized Core Curriculum, please visit www.udallas.edu/undergrad/core.cfm AUTHENTICALLY CATHOI \C . The University as a whole is shaped by the long tradition of Catholic Learning and is faithful to the Magisterium. S To read about our President's commitment to faithful Catholic education, please visit www. udallas.edu/administration/presletters. cfm UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS www.udailas.edu • 1-800-628-6999 Irving, Texas Rome, Italy 17 archy. Sunstone also updates readers with reports on Mormon figures such as Rafe Judkins, tbe self-described gay Mormon Survivor contestant. Centering The LDS participants 1 met at the symposium hardly con- formed to the stereotype of Mormons as the dutiful, cU-an- Remember, the frightened sparrow's cut religious equivalents of corporate functionaries. The flapping finally calmed into a pattern symposium included presentations on Mormon doctrine and just hefore it found the window and spirituality, discussions of attitudes toward gender and sexu- al identity, and reviews of Mormon literature and poetry. It escaped. I mean, while we squinted was through Sumtorn? that I hecame aware of edgy Mormon and pointed in the dairy aisle, literature that ventures into R-rated territory—like the "Mor- that trapped mind did circle, after all, mon Kama Sutra," an Jtnaginary sex manual referred to in the in louvered sunlight. Remember Sugar Beet, which is a kind of Mormon version of the Onion. the housewife's rag circling a window pane While Mormon life has an air of placidity, a closer lotik re- one lazy morning, or a painter's thumb, veals more tension than one might expect, For example, la- tent feminist themes in Mormonism have recently begun to smudging his purple sunrise with surface. Likewise, LDS understandings of sexual orientation little blushing clouds? It's the return have started to shift, and Brigham Young University's honot I'm talking about. Getting to do it over. code of conduct now distinguishes between homosexual ori- Black cat circling her cushion, entation and homosexual conduct. Some BYU students op- antediluvian duo whisking posed to the war in Iraq recently held an "alternative commencement" to protest the awarding ot an honorary de- the ballroom floor like brooms, gree to Vice President Dick Cheney. Who gave the keynote or lips looping oh, oh, oh, mouth speech at the altemative commencement? Ralph Nader. Wliile in love with the sound. Oh, after most media attention has focused on Mormon fundamt-ntal- a while it feels inevitable, ists, progressive Mormons remain an active group. the long blue pull of the mind tbat keeps finding more in less he most hotly debated issue in Mormonism today is until the will bends and circles the historicity of the Book of Mormon.