University of Nevada, Reno
Religious Stigma: A Peculiar People
A Feminist Analysis of Stigma on the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Communication Studies
By
Tandace S. Crane
Dr. Sarah J. Blithe/Thesis Advisor
May, 2019
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by
Entitled
be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
, Advisor
, Committee Member
, Graduate School Representative
David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School
i
Religious Stigma: A Peculiar People
A Feminist Analysis of Stigma on the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints
Thesis directed by Associate Professor Sarah J. Blithe, Assistant Professor Jenna N. Hanchey, and Professor Colleen Murray
This thesis analy es the stigma placed on members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, as well as the tactics used to mitigate the experienced stigma. Throughout history the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been recipients of the effects of stigma. Early Church members were physically accosted, murdered, and terrori ed for their faith.
Today, the persecution continues as discursive violence. Being a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints bleeds into every part of a member’s life, as well as into their identity.
When others attack the Church, members, or their beliefs, members use various tactics to reduce the feeling of the stigma they experience.
Keywords: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Stigma Theory; Identity; Religion;
Feminist Standpoint Theory;
ii
CONTENTS
Introduction ...... 1
Chapter 1: History ...... 5
Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework ...... 23
Chapter 3: Methods and Researcher Positionality ...... 42
Chapter 4: Members in the Media ...... 48
Chapter 5: In Speaking with a Peculiar People ...... 63
Chapter 6: Intersections of Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ...... 96
Limitations & Conclusion ...... 109
References ...... 114
Appendix A: Interview Guide ...... 129
Appendix B: Participant Demographics ...... 131
Appendix C: IRB Approval and Certifications ...... 132
1
Anticipation filled my heart as I sat in the backseat of our family car staring out the window. We had just turned down the street towards the most beautiful building I had ever seen. We all were excited to be going to see the Salt Lake Temple and visit Temple Square. After my father had parked the car, he took a deep breath and turned to me and my two siblings and said, “There will be people shouting things and trying to hand you papers, don’t talk to them, just keep walking until we get inside the gates.” I began to feel afraid and confused about what he was telling us. I was only six at the time. I quickly began to understand. As we walked towards this beautiful place, I held my father’s hand tighter as a new confusion settled in. Why were these people so angry about us coming to such a beautiful building, and a sacred place? They yelled that I was going to Hell and that we were trapped in a Cult (a word that had no meaning for me at the time). That was the moment I knew I was somehow different. I also began to understand that because I was different, that meant that I made some people angry, simply because of who I am.
Mormon. That word alone emanates a lot of different meanings and misconceptions.
‘Mormon’ comes with various types of mental images for people, including: two young men in white shirts, ties, and name tags riding their bikes through towns around the world, the television show, Sister Wives, South Park episodes, or maybe even The Book of Mormon Musical. These media representations of what it is to be a member of the Church are rarely if ever correct.
Kenneth Burke’s (1969) work on “Terministic Screens” explains the issue with only recogni ing these few media representations of what it means to be a member of the Church. Terministic
Screens are symbols that are used to steer audiences towards one aspect of an event, person, group of people or thing, and these symbols give a narrow view of what should be seen and
2 ignores any other view (Stob, 2008; Burke, 1969). It is at this moment that it is advisable to take a step back, “It is the ties that bind us that must be more fully understood if we are to generate ‘a common knowledge base, something more than television perspectives or single-issue alliance”
(Carrillo Rowe, 2008 p. 9). In that moment when individuals look for the single most available frame of reference, it is necessary to pause, and evaluate. Within that pause, it is advisable to reflect on the source of the reference. Perhaps the most popular media outlets may not truly be the best foundation to learn and understand what it means to be Mormon. For instance, the proper name of the religion is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In truth,
“Mormon” began as a slur towards the members (also referred to as the Saints) of the Church.
For me when I think of the word, ‘Mormon’, I see family, truth, service, comfort, and love. I am what many would call a Mormon, I am an active member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church). As a member of the Church it is much easier for me to see the myths and misconceptions in most every popular idea about what it is we believe and who we are as a people. My frame of reference for what it means to be a member of the Church puts me in a different position to understand the actions, and motives of those within the Church community better than those outside that community. My position as a part of the Church community also allows me to see just a little more clearly the violence that has been a part of the
Church history as well as the current violence we experience today. At our beginning, we were called Mormons as a type of slang or slur from others outside our religion because we believe in a book of scripture, in addition to the Bible: The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus
Christ. Largely due to this belief, members of the Church have endured physical violence, discrimination, as well as discursive violence. Recently, the leaders of the Church made an announcement that the Church will be making efforts to inform the public of the accurate name
3 of the Church as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This correction seems to be partly in effort to alleviate the misconception and resulting stigma that members of the Church are not Christian. As such, within this work, the Church and its members will be referred to by their appropriate name. However; within interviews the verbiage was not altered concerning the name or names the participants identified the religion as.
Growing up in the Church it was easy to see that I was different than the majority of my peers, not only because I dressed, and acted a bit differently (wearing modest clothing, not engaging in many of the activities my peers did such as drinking, partying, etc.), but because I was reminded of it daily by my peers. Stigma comes in many forms, the form that will be focused on in this work is tribal stigma, or stigma that is placed because of a group a person belongs to that is deemed less than or odd (Goffman, 1963). Stigma is the belief that someone or group of people are less than, or devalued because of a characteristic they may hold (Goffman,
1963). Within this work it will be important to define some terms being used within this thesis, first stereotype, I operationali e stereotype to mean, generally accepted and believed
“knowledge” about a person or group whether or not it is true. Second, persecution: the violent action (whether physical or discursive) taken against a group of people because they are different or hold a stigmati ing characteristic. Being a member of the Church is to belong to a group that is thought and seen as peculiar. The result of this stigma has changed throughout history. At the beginning of the Church, the stigma brought about physical violence and persecution against the early members including, beatings, tar and feathering, being torn out of their homes, burning homes, and expelling from property, and even killings simply because they believed differently.
This physical violence eventually began changing and shifting to less physical violence to the discursive violence that is felt by members today.
4
This thesis will proceed through discussion of stigma against the members of the church.
First in chapter one, I examine the history of the Church including many of the atrocities that early members of the Church experienced. Next, in chapter two I review the theories that guided this research, after which, in chapter three I present the methods for this project.. Chapter four focuses on discursive violence in print. In chapter five I present interview data from members of the Church and gain their insight as to what it is like to be a member of the Church and their feelings on being a part of the Church. Participants described many tactics they have developed to mitigate stigma including: discursive strategies, careful choices about disclosure, relying on faith, and finally a strong belief in agency. Next, in chapter six, I specifically focus on women and their unique experience within the Church and their interactions with others outside the
Church. Finally, I discuss the findings from all the chapters in this study in the conclusion and apply them to the daily lives of those who are expose to this study.
Studying stigma is an important task, it allows people to understand not only the position of other people, it also gives individuals a look into how we treat people we see as different.
Everything presented in the subsequent pages are the true stories of real people, with real emotions, and real experiences. Throughout this thesis I encourage readers to place themselves in the positions and as much as possible the viewpoints of the people who are discussed within this work.
5
“…There has come into my mind the great and prophetic statement made by Peter of old. Said he: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet. 2:9.) I know of no other statement which more aptly describes you, nor which sets before you a higher ideal by which to shape and guide your lives” (Hinckley, 1992).
In the year 1820 in upstate New York, a young boy named Joseph Smith Jr. wanted to know what Church was the correct Church. As such, he decided to pray to ask of God which religion was the correct one. He did just that, he went to a quiet place and knelt to ask which
Church to join. Joseph Smith Jr. was answered that day. This was his testimony:
It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my
anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked
around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires
of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was sei ed upon by
some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over
me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me,
and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this
enemy which had sei ed upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into
despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power
of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had
never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light
6
exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until
it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me
bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and
glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake [sic] unto
me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—“This is My Beloved Son. Hear
Him!”
My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right,
that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so
as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light,
which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all
were wrong)—and which I should join.
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the
Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight;
that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having
a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” He again forbade me to join with
any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this
time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into
heaven. (Smith, 1998, 1:14-20).
Shortly after this experience, Joseph Smith, with power and help from heaven, also brought forth
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, this in conjunction with The Bible are the basis of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Scripture. Largely due to this
7 experience as well as the additional Scripture many Christian religions believe that members of the Church are not Christians. However; the members of the Church do believe and worship
Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer. Due to this misunderstanding there has been a long history of persecution toward the members of the Church.
The Church was officially established April 6th 1830, it was different than any other church during this time.
This Church was based on the Bible, the Book of Mormon, continuing revelation,
spiritual gifts from God, and the restoration of ancient priesthood authority. To the faith’s
adherents, more was happening than simply the founding of another Church: God was
reclaiming scattered Israel, fulfilling covenants made long ago. Inspired by Book of
Mormon prophesies of America’s native peoples, Joseph soon sent four missionaries on a
1,500-mile journey to preach in Indian villages west of the Mississippi River.
Conversions en route led to the founding of Church branches in New York, Ohio, and
Missouri.” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
The Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. was only 24 years of age at the time of the restoration of the
Church, as such he often sought guidance from heaven. This revelation was later canoni ed and printed as the Doctrine and Covenants (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
These revelations instructed Church members to gather to Kirtland, Ohio, and to prepare
for the building of a city called Zion in western Missouri where the “pure in heart” would
find refuge and harmony. Zion was to be righteous: poverty would be eliminated and
goodness would prevail. Zion was also to be beautiful: art, education, and religion would
flourish together. Joseph moved to Ohio, introduced an economic system based on the
revelations he received, and then traveled to Missouri to lay the cornerstone for the
8
Church’s first planned temple. In the early 1830s, the Lord’s revelations to Joseph Smith
taught an expansive view of God’s kingdom in the afterlife that countered the traditional
Christian division of heaven and hell; established a School of the Prophets, for both
religious and secular education; and introduced a health code called the “Word of
Wisdom” that also promised spiritual blessings to those who kept it. Joseph and his
counselors also drew a plan for the city of Zion, which had a major influence on later
cities in the American West. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, b).
While this time in Church history was filled with excitement and growth, it was not without its fair share of struggles to accompany the joy.
Joseph and his wife Emma experienced the loss of four of their children while they were still babies. In both Ohio and Missouri, those who opposed the Church became violent and in
Ohio the Prophet Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, b), being tarred and feathered is an excruciating experience. The victim is generally stripped to the waist leaving the arms, back, head, and chest exposed, then burning hot liquid tar is poured onto the exposed skin, then feathers are thrown onto the tar also sticking in the hot, black, substance. As the tar cools, it hardens and adheres to the skin. In order to remove the tar and feathers, the tar must be scrapped off the victims skin in small pieces, this processes is very painful as the often tears away the skin it has adhered to. Emma, Joseph’s wife had to scrape the tar off of her husband, Joseph more than once during their marriage.
“In Missouri, resentment toward the growth of the Church, as well as fears of Mormon sympathy toward slaves and American Indians, motivated mobs to drive the Church members from Jackson County. The loss of the planned site of Zion was painful to Joseph, who made
9 multiple attempts to restore the Saints in Missouri to their homes. Joseph’s political thought was ultimately shaped by the U.S. Constitution’s promise to protect religious minorities and by the
American government’s failures to live up to that promise” (The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, b).
In the midst of these trials, the Prophet Joseph organi ed the first missionaries from the
Church to be sent to Europe. As more and more Saints or members of the Church came to
Missouri, the local population grew more anxious of “Mormon influence” (The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, b). “On Election Day in 1838, citizens of one Missouri County used force to keep them from voting, and citi ens of another county passed a resolution to expel
Mormon settlers. Widespread violence against the Saints followed, and their attempts at self- defense were used to justify an “extermination order” by the Missouri governor. During an attempt to negotiate peace with the state militia, Joseph was taken into custody and summarily condemned to death. Only the outspoken protest of a militia officer against the execution order saved his life. Though not executed, Joseph remained imprisoned through the winter of 1838–39 while his wife, four young children, and members of the Church were forced out of Missouri across the fro en Mississippi River. His anguished March 1839 letter from Liberty Jail remains influential among Latter-day Saints for its inspired teachings on suffering, injustice, and the nature of true authority.” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
Within Liberty Jail which is an extremely small stone room measuring 14 by 14, with a ceiling just over 6 feet high. Where the six men suffered through a winter, starvation and sickness due to the conditions (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013). During his time within Liberty Jail Joseph wrote:
10
The Savior said, . . . "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before
you." Now, dear brethren, if any men ever had reason to claim this promise, we are the
men; for we know that the world not only hate us, but they speak all manner of evil of us
falsely, for no other reason than that we have been endeavoring to teach the fullness of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013).
The Prophet and his companions could only wait as their friends, family, and fellow members were torn from their homes, and pushed out into the elements of winter. Hyrum Smith, Joseph’s brother was one of the companions who was also held without cause:
I was innocent of crime, and . . . I had been dragged from my family at a time, when my
assistance was most needed; . . . I had been abused and thrust into a dungeon, and
confined for months on account of my faith, and the "testimony of Jesus Christ."
However I thank God that I felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which
my eyes had seen, which my hands had handled, and which I had borne testimony to,
wherever my lot had been cast. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013).
A woman named Mercy Rachel Fielding Thompson wrote the following after a visit to the men held captive:
It would be beyond my power to describe my feelings when we were admitted into the
jail by the keeper and the door was locked behind us…We could not help feeling a sense
of horror on reali ing that we were locked up in that dark and dismal den, fit only for
criminals of the deepest dye; but there we beheld Joseph, the Prophet . . . confined in a
11
loathsome prison for no other cause or reason than that he claimed to be inspired of God
to establish His Church among men. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
2013).
After months of suffering in Liberty Jail, Joseph and his companions were released in 1839 after
Missouri lawmakers saw the amount of money it was costing the state to continue military actions, and mass arrests against the Mormon community, while they still wanted Joseph to be incarcerated, he and his companions were released in July of 1839 (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a). Upon his return to the members, Joseph “founded the city of Nauvoo which grew quickly as converts from across the Atlantic immigrated to join Saints from the
United States and Canada” (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
Life was full in Nauvoo for the members, past-times just as dancing and the theater were
“encouraged in the Latter-day Saint community as part of a rich, God-filled life” (The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a). However; once again, storm clouds would come upon the members of the Church. Word travelled of the revelations Joseph was receiving and the teachings that followed that angered many people outside the Church:
An 1833 revelation taught that “man was also in the beginning with God”; in Nauvoo,
Joseph taught that human beings could ultimately become like God. An 1836 revelation
assured Joseph that his deceased brother Alvin, who had died without baptism, could yet
receive all the blessings of baptism; in Nauvoo, Joseph restored the ancient practice of
baptism for the dead. In the early 1830s, Joseph’s work with the book of Genesis had
raised questions about polygamy; in Nauvoo, he received revelation that restored the
practice of plural marriage—a significant influence on Mormon life in the 1800s—to a
12
group of about 80 men and women, including the Twelve Apostles.
Vital steps in the organi ation of the Church also took place in Nauvoo. Joseph was
inspired to establish a women’s organization called the Relief Society, teaching that the
organization was essential to the Lord’s work. His wife Emma served as the first Relief
Society president. After the Twelve Apostles returned from a mission to Great Britain,
Joseph gave them substantial responsibilities that prepared them for a future as leaders in
the Church. In Nauvoo, Joseph taught that families bound together on earth could be
bound for eternity in heaven through covenants made in the temple, placing family and
the temple at the heart of the restored Church. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, a).
Due to these beliefs, and the fear of Joseph’s growing political power in the city, the anger was re-ignited in neighboring towns, and leaders. This anger resulted in efforts to extradite Joseph to
Missouri, because of this Joseph often went into hiding, and began to make efforts to move the
Saints farther out West (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
During the year 1844 the City Council of Nauvoo, approved the destruction of the
Nauvoo Expositor which was an anti-Mormon newspaper the members of the city council accused of libel against the saints (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a). “The council had approved the decision, but as mayor of Nauvoo, Joseph Smith was held responsible.
The destruction of the press enraged Joseph Smith’s enemies, eventually spurring them to violence. Pressure mounted for Joseph to stand trial outside Nauvoo, and an area newspaper went so far as to threaten a war of extermination if he refused to leave the Mormon-majority city.
Though concerned for his personal safety, Joseph agreed to be tried in nearby Carthage, Illinois”
13
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
Joseph and Hyrum Smith went willingly to Carthage, Illinois, once they arrived both men were charged with treason and placed in custody to await their trial. Governor Thomas Ford had promised them protection, however; with so many people still against the Church the men understandably felt unsafe. To pass the time and most likely to alleviate some anxiety, Joseph,
Hyrum, Willard Richards, and John Taylor studied the Book of Mormon, [and] sang hymns while in the upper part of the jailhouse. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, b).
Time passed slowly in the Carthage Jail…Earlier in the day, visitors had smuggled two
guns to the prisoners – a six-shooter revolver and a single-shot pistol – in case of an
attack…To ease the mood and pass the time, John sang a British hymn that had lately
become popular with the Saints. Its lyrics spoke of a humble stranger in need who
ultimately revealed himself as the Savior:
Then in a moment to my view,
The stranger darted from disguise;
The tokens in his hands I knew,
My Savior stood before mine eyes;
He spake – and my poor name he named, -
“Of me thou hast not been ashamed,
These deeds shall thy memorial be;
Fear not, thou didst them unto me.”
14
…the prisoners heard a rustling at the door and the crack of three or four gunshots.
Willard glanced out the open window and saw a hundred men below, their faces blacked with mud and gunpowder, storming the entry to the jail. Joseph grabbed one of the pistols while Hyrum sei ed the other. John and Willard picked up canes and gripped them like clubs. All four men pressed themselves against the door as the mob rushed up the stairs and tried to force their way inside. Gunfire sounded in the stairwell as the mob shot at the doorway as a ball splintered through the wood. It struck Hyrum in the face and he turned, stumbling away from the door. Another ball struck him in the lower back. His pistol fired and he fell to the floor.
“Brother Hyrum!” Joseph cried. Gripping his six-shooter, he opened the door a few inches and fired once. More musket balls flew into the room, and Joseph fired hapha ardly at the mob while John used a cane to beat down the gun barrels and bayonets thrust through the doorway. After Joseph’s revolver misfired two or three times, John ran to the window and tried to climb the deep windowsill. A musket ball flew across the room and struck him in the leg, tipping him off balance. His body went numb and he crashed against the windowsill, smashing his pocket watch at sixteen minutes past five o’clock. “I am shot!” he cried. John dragged himself across the floor and rolled under the bed as the mob fired again and again. A ball ripped into his hip, tearing away a chunk of flesh. Two more balls struck his wrist and the bone just above his knee.
Across the room, Joseph and Willard strained to put all their weight against the door as
Willard knocked away the musket barrels and bayonets in front of him. Suddenly, Joseph dropped his revolver to the floor and darted for the window. As he straddled the windowsill, two balls struck his back. Another ball hurtled through the window and
15
pierced him below the heart. “O Lord, my God,” he cried. His body lurched forward and
he pitched headfirst out the window. Willard rushed across the room and stuck his head
outside as lead balls whistled past him. Below, he saw the mob swarming around
Joseph’s bleeding body. The prophet lay on his left side next to a stone well. Willard
watched, hoping to see some sign that his friend was still alive. Seconds passed, and he
saw no movement. Joseph Smith, the prophet and seer of the Lord, was dead. (Hales, S.
A., Goldberg, J., Larson, M. L., Maki, E. P., Harper, S. C., & Farnes, S., 2018, pg. 548-
552).
The death of the Prophet Joseph Smith was difficult for the members to handle. They were enraged at the governor and the mob that had participated in the death of the Prophet of God.
After the murders, Joseph and Hyrum’s bodies were driven by wagon back to Nauvoo, where there was a viewing with 10,000 people in attendance (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, b). After the viewing, the members, afraid that the bodies and graves would be desecrated by the foes of the Church, they filled two coffins with sandbags for public burial, the real bodies were buried under the unfinished Nauvoo temple, then brought to a final resting place at the
Smith homestead (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, b). Willard Richards on his return with the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum Smith cautioned the members, “Trust the law for redress…Leave vengeance to the Lord” (Hales, et al., 2018, pg.555). However; the law would not deliver redress:
Five men were indicted for the murders and stood trial in Carthage in May 1845. Church
members were encouraged not to testify or attend the trial out of concern that the justice
system was stacked against them and in fear of provoking further violence. Without
Mormon witnesses, the prosecuting attorney could present little credible testimony, and
16
he dismissed all the key evidence, leading the jury to acquit all five men. This has led
some scholars to view it as a sham trial (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
b).
Joseph’s most outspoken critics considered the murder necessary to preserve a local way
of life from the influence of an unfamiliar faith and expected it to lead to the collapse of
the Church he had organized. Joseph’s fellow Latter-day Saints, in stark contrast, saw
Joseph as a martyr who had sealed his testimony with his blood, and they preserved and
attested to the teachings, ordinances, and authority he had helped restore.” (The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a).
The death of the Prophet Joseph Smith meant that the Church was without a leader. Who would take up such a position? There were many ideas, some thought it should be a direct descendant of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and others believed it should be a member of the first presidency. Brigham Young president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated, “the
Quorum of the Twelve have the keys of the kingdom of God in all the world…Brother Joseph, the prophet, has laid the foundation for the great work, and we will build upon it. There is an almighty foundation laid, and we can build a kingdom such as there never was in the world…If you want Sidney Rigdon or William Law to lead you, or anybody else, you are welcome to them, but I tell you in the name of the Lord that no man can put another between the Twelve and the prophet Joseph. Why? He has committed into their hands the keys of the kingdom in this last dispensation, for all the world.” After this statement Brigham Young asked the congregation to sustain this decision and it was sustained (Hales, et al., 2018, pg.565-566)
With Brigham Young and the rest of the Quorum of the Twelve now leading the Church,
17 the decision was made to make the great trek west to hopefully find a place of peace and safety from the violence and persecution. In 1845, the United States sei ed Texas from Mexico. Mexico saw this as an invasion and an act of war. U.S. President Polk viewed expansion necessary for the growth of the Country so the United States declared war in 1846. In an effort to keep the
Saints from joining forces with the British or creating problems in the future for the movement west, President Polk of the United States charged that the Saints should be requested to raise 500 voluntary soldiers to fight in the war with Mexico. The Saints still believed that they were
Americans and as such President Brigham Young invited members to volunteer and pointed out the money that would be earned for the service of the 500 men would be beneficial in the trek west. After outlining the advantages of serving many members volunteered and became known as the Mormon Battalion. (Church Educational System, 2004, p.31- 32).
The Mormon Battalion marched under the direction of Captain James Allen for 2,030 miles to San Diego, California. The money the Battalion earned was sent back to their families to help with the migration West. Shortly after the temple was completed in Nauvoo, in January of
1847, President Young presented to the Church that it was time to move West, after the announcement, the decision was made to send a pioneer group of 144 men to travel who had the skills to settle the valley they would choose. “This group would include mechanics, teamsters, hunters, frontiersmen, carpenters, sailors, soldiers, accountants, bricklayers, blacksmiths, wagon makers, and so forth” (Church Educational System, 2004, p.32). The final group consisted of 143 men, 3 women, and 2 children. After leaving the temple, which was just recently completed, the group began their travels on April 16, 1847. The group would travel 1,100 miles from Winter
Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley, the group arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, July 24, 1847
(Church Educational System, 2004).
18
Figure 1: Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
The Saints began work immediately upon their arrival in the Valley, setting up irrigation systems and building houses, and Churches. In December of 1847, three years after the death of
Joseph Smith, the Church reorgani ed the first presidency and Brigham Young was called and sustained as the President, and Prophet of the Church. During this time, President Young set up a
Perpetual Emigration Fund which would allow members to travel across the plains to join the members in the Valley, with the understanding that once they were able, those who benefitted from the fund would pay into the fund to in turn help others come across the plains.
Many of the treks westward went well, there were numerous hardships however; many saints would die along the trek west. One handcart company in particular saw many trials--the
Willie and Martin Handcart Company. This particular company started later in the season and with no one aware they were coming to the Great Salt Lake Valley, they went forward
(Hinckley, 1997). The Willie and Martin Handcart Company had so many stories of trial and hardship from the exodus from the tumultuous persecution:
19
When all is said and done, no one can imagine, no one can appreciate or understand how
desperate were their circumstances...At Rock Creek Hollow, on property the Church now
owns, is the common grave of 13 who perished in one night. Among them was a nine-
year-old girl from Denmark who was traveling alone with another family. Her name was
Bodil Mortensen. In October of 1856, wind-driven heavy snow was already two feet deep
as those of the James G. Willie Company tried to find some shelter from the terrible
storm. Bodil went out and gathered brush with which to make a fire. Returning, she
reached her cart with the brush in her arm. There she died, fro en to death. Starvation and
bitter cold drained from her emaciated body the life she had fought for. (Hinckley, 1997,
pg. 547).
President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “We stand today as the recipients of [the pioneers’] great effort. I hope we are thankful. I hope we carry in our hearts a deep sense of gratitude for all that they have done for us. …My beloved brethren and sisters, how blessed we are! What a wonderful inheritance we have! It involved sacrifice, suffering, death, vision, faith, and knowledge and a testimony of God the Eternal Father and His Son, the risen Lord Jesus
Christ…We honor best those who have gone before when we serve well in the cause of truth”
(“True to the Faith,” Ensign, May 1997, 66–67). But how are non-members recipients of the pioneers’ efforts and sacrifices? Wallace Stegner said:
The Mormons were one of the principal forces in the settlement of the West. Their main
body opened southern Iowa, the Missouri frontier, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah. Samuel
Brannan’s group of eastern Saints who sailed around the Horn in the ship Brooklyn, and
the Mormon Battalion that marched 2,000 miles overland from Fort Leavenworth to San
Diego, were secondary prongs of the Mormon movement; between them, they
20
contributed to the opening of the Southwest and of California. Battalion members were at
Coloma when gold gleamed up from the bedrock of Sutter’s millrace. … Brigham
Young’s colonizing Mormons, taking to wheels again after the briefest stay, radiated
outward from the Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber Valleys and planted settlements that
reached from Northern Ari ona to the Lemhi River in Idaho, and from Fort Bridger in
Wyoming to Genoa in Carson Valley …, and in the Southwest down through St. George
and Las Vegas to San Bernardino. (Stegner, 1964, pg.7).
The sacrifices that they early Saints made; created pathways for others to follow and made it easier for the United States to expand. However; this sacrifice was not appreciated by many.
Although the early settlers advanced the U.S. governments’ goals, they were still considered a problem. The United States still found cause to send an Army to the Utah Territory to deal with the “Mormon” problem. President Buchanan on February 26, 1858 wrote to the
House of Representatives stating:
I herewith transmit to the House of Representatives the reports of the Secretaries of State,
of War, of the Interior, and the Attorney General, containing the information called for by
a resolution of the House, of the 27th ultimo, requesting “the President, if not
incompatible with public interest, to communicate to the House of Representatives the
information which gave rise to the military expeditions order to Utah Territory, the
instructions to the army officers in connexion [sic] with the same, and all correspondence
which has taken place with said army officers, with Brigham Young and his followers, or
with others, throwing light upon the question as to how far said Brigham Young and his
followers are in a state of rebellion or resistance to the government of the United States
21
(United States, 1858, pg.1).
Due to the growing influence and success of the members and the Church in the Salt Lake
Valley, the United States sent an army--Johnston’s Army--to alleviate the growing power of the
Saints and the Church accumulating in the Salt Lake Valley (Shipps, 2005). Now accustomed to being accosted, the Saints decided to defend themselves. They feared that they would be forced to leave their home just as previous experience had taught them. Through many efforts, a peaceful resolution was attained with the Army.
The Saints continued to prosper in the Salt Lake Valley and continued in their efforts to build a temple. The Salt Lake temple took 40 years to complete, and still stands in the heart of
Salt Lake City today. It stands as a beacon and testimony to what the pioneer spirit of endurance and sacrifice was and continues to be for members of the Church. The persecution of the Church has only changed tactics throughout history but has not ceased.
All throughout the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there has been persecution and stigma. From the beginning the persecution came from the fear of the unknown and the uncertainty that follows. This fear begat physical violence. Violence would remain a part of the memory and legacy passed down from generation to generation. Does this fear of the unknown continue to plague members today as they interact with those who do not know about the religion and as such its members?
Stigma has been a part of the Church from its founding, it was stigma that led to the persecution of Joseph Smith from the age of a 14 year old boy and martyrdom of the same man later in life. It was stigma that led to the Saints to be driven out of their homes, off their land and into the elements just because of their faith. It was stigma that pushed the Saints to the outer
22 limits of the United States. It was stigma that caused the United States government to send an
Army to deal with the “Mormon problem” under false cause. That same stigma exists today, that is the effort of this work, to bring attention to the stigma that is felt by members of the Church.
Today members experience stigma because of misconceptions surrounding the Church, and how members themselves choose to live including, not drinking, engaging in immorality, reading and believing in the Book of Mormon, believing in modern day prophets, keeping the Sabbath day holy, attending church, attending the Temple and many other things members do as part of the faith. These things and more bring members away from what many would consider normal in society and are aspects others outside the Church see as odd and ‘other’ those within the Church.
The effects of stigma affect all members of the Church regardless of the fact that membership in the Church has a diverse worldwide population of people. Worldwide, the
Church has 16,118,169 members, the United States has 6,642,173 of those members, which is 1- in-50 citi ens in the United States (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, d). In 2014, a survey was conducted by Pew Research Center to understand the racial and ethnic make-up of members of the Church within the United States, 85% surveyed identified as White, 8% identified as Latino, 5% identified as Other, and 1% identified as Black or Asian (Religion in
America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics, 2015).
23
While speaking of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints one participant said, “This is home…I feel like home can be a person, a place, a smell, just things like that. And for me, this is where I feel comfortable, this is where I feel loved, and supported…it’s familiar, if I’m stressed, you know, you go to Church… and I know we are going to talk about the gospel and that is where I feel peace and at home.” (Anne, Interview).
Members of the Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have long experienced stigma and othering due to our beliefs. We have been viewed as strange, different and peculiar.
As a result, the Church and its members have experienced persecution both in the forms of discrimination and physical violence. As such, within this thesis, identity, stigma theory, feminist standpoint theory as well as a look at intersectionality will be important tools to utili e in understanding what is really happening in the lives of members of the Church today. This chapter will work to give an overview of each of these important lens’s with which to view this study.
Goffman (1963) wrote often of “spoiled identities”, and how these spoiled identities lead to stigma. Goffman (1963) also wrote that stigma is the result of an attribute or trait that is deemed undesirable, peculiar, or tainted resulting in discrimination, othering, and less perceived value; these traits are generally seen as negative based off of stereotypes. The result of the stigma is a profound othering from the ‘normals’ within society causing a loss of power and voice
(Bullock, & Garland, 2018; Goffman, 1963; Pilgrim, 2017; Rogers, & Pilgrim, 2014). The
“othering” Goffman talks about cause’s individuals who are othered to question why they are being othered. As such identity is extremely important. Identity is such a wide and varying
24 concept that many scholars have tried and been unable to exactly describe and define identity, however within this work, I will tie a few of these concepts together, and work with what previous researchers have found to create an understanding of what identity is for this project.
Identity contains all the traits, beliefs, and practices that are assumed by others about a person as well as what the individual also believes about themselves, including but certainly not limited to ethnicity, race, religion, gender, and social class (Baker & Campbell, 2010; Wiley,
1994). “Social identities can be different than personal identities or they can be aligned. In contrast to these two variants of identity, the “self-concept” refers to a person’s overarching view of self (Gecas 1982; Gecas and Schwalbe 1983). ‘“Identity work’ refers to the activities individuals engage in to create, present or sustain personal identities that are congruent with the self-concept” (Herman-Kinney, & Kinney, 2013, p.67). Identity has also been defined as, “the cultural, societal, relational, and individual images of self-conception, and this composite identity has group membership, interpersonal, and individual self-reflective implications. Identity is a colorful kaleidoscope with both stable and dynamic characteristics” (Foss & Littlejohn,
2009, p.492-493).
Identity is built on many different standpoints including, psychological, sociological, and anthropological, because of these different facets of identity it is partly a communicative act, it is also a psychological, sociological, and anthropological act. In the communicative portion of identity, even when using symbolic messages to portray identity; communication is how individuals create those symbols (Collier & Thomas, 1988; Gans, 1979; Hecht, 1993; Shotter &
Gergen, 1989). As such, identity is relational, meaning individuals can have an impact on others identity (Hecht, 1993). “Men’s self-production is always, and of necessity, a social enterprise”
(Berger & Luckmann, 1991, p.51).
25
Hecht’s (1993) work on identity shows eight “observable / testable” ideas about what identity is:
1. Identities have individual, social, and communal properties;
2. Identities are both enduring and changing;
3. Identities are affective, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual;
4. Identities have both content and relationship levels of interpretation;
5. Identities involve both subjective and ascribed meanings;
6. Identities are codes that are expressed in conversations and define membership in
communities;
7. Identities have semantic properties that are expressed in core symbols, meanings, and
labels;
8. Identities prescribe modes of appropriate and effective communication. (Hecht, 1993,
p.78).
Above, Hecht (1993) shows that people can see identity and that it can be observed and tested.
Which allows individuals to see other people’s identity from these observations and tests, as well as see our own identities.
Hecht (1993) also wrote of four frames of identity: personal, enacted, relational, and communal. The personal frame of identity which reflects internal feelings about the self, the personal frames lends people a way to define themselves as a whole as well as in varying situations.
The enacted frame examines the social interaction and communicative acts that are used to display, receive messages about identity, “not all messages are about identity, but identity is part of all messages” (Hecht, 1993, p.79). The enactment frame must also be recognized in the
26 relational frame, which describes that because identity is displayed in messages, it must be also a social interaction, how we interact with others and how they interact with us affects our relationships and our identity.
There are three levels of relational identity, first, how a person views themselves, and how they change their messages or behaviors to fit those around them. Second, people are defined by the relationships they surround themselves with including familial, friendships, and spouses. “The self is a reflected entity, reflecting the attitudes first taken by significant others toward it, the individual becomes what he is addressed as by his significant others. This is not a one-sided, mechanistic process. It entails a dialectic between identification by others and self- identification, between objectively assigned and subjectively appropriated identity. The dialectic, which is present each moment the individual identifies with his significant others” (Berger &
Luckmann, 1991, p.132). Third, a relationship itself can have its own contained identity (Hecht,
1993; Montgomery, 1992; Wood, 1982).
Finally, communal frames (Hecht, 1993; Middleton & Edwards, 1990; Phillipsen, 1987), which is an identity that is built and supported around a group, instead of the individual person, the sense of self comes from being a member of a larger group (Hecht, 1993). All of these frames can overlap and can be intermixed at any given moment in any given situation, this makes identity a very difficult subject to study without understanding intersectionality and the massive role intersectionality plays in every individual’s life. The way we understand, view, and relate to people, places, events, and situations is going to be unique for different people. These intersections all have an effect on individual’s identities and how they interact and perceive the world around them.
Identity has a profound affect not only on a personal level, but on every level of a
27 person’s life, including self-perception which is why stigma and the attack on ‘spoiled identities’ is so harmful. This is especially clear in the communal frame of identity for the members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not only are these members seen as odd because of their actions, and choices, they are also seen as odd simply by belonging to the Church. This leads to a part of an individual’s identity being tied to an organization or organizational identification which is, “the process by which individuals come to adopt or assume the identity of an organization or group to which they belong (or seek to belong)” (Allen, 2017, p.1162).
Organi ational identification affects individuals by changing self-perception, to being a part of a group, where your success is tied to the success of the group or organi ation, as well as you gain a sense of accomplishment, and even meaning from membership in the organi ation
(Allen, 2017). This organi ational identity creates a strong connection for the individual and the organi ation that if perhaps the organi ation is attacked, or looked down upon, it affects the individual and they feel the attacks as personal to them.
Organizations can have ‘spoiled identities’ as well. An organizational spoiled identity occurs in much the same way a person gains a ‘spoiled identity’, when an organization has negative stereotypes or judgements surrounding the organization, it too becomes ‘spoiled’ the worst form of this ‘spoiled identity’ has been termed, core stigma (Blithe & Lanterman, 2017;
Hudson, 2008). These organi ations that are afflicted with core stigma will never be able to completely become accepted by all in society due to the lack of available legitimacy and power that is available to a core stigmati ed organi ation (Blithe & Lanterman, 2017). There has been research on organi ations that feel the effects of core stigma (Hudson, 2008; Elwood, Greene &
Carter, 2003; Blithe & Wolfe, 2016; Wolfe & Blithe, 2015; Dobrat , 2001; Futrell & Simi, 2004;
Simi & Futrell, 2009), however I would like to add that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
28
Saints may be affected by core stigma. Within organi ational identification, members of the
Church make such a strong connection they give much of their own resources, talents, time, and energy in volunteer service, no clergy, leadership, or teacher is paid for their efforts. Members are asked to voluntarily pay tithing which is ten percent of their increase. Many members spend countless hours in the service of others within the Church and their communities.
Core stigma is easily seen in Shipp’s (2000) study of a century (1860-1960) of media coverage on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. In this study Shipp argued that:
A century-long time line showing the sweep of changed perceptions captures the
movement from negative to positive in the popular mind that reflects the transformation
of the Mormons from being a population of dangerous and alien people to being 100
percent patriotic Americans” (Shipps, 2000, p.69), “squeaky clean insiders,” and “those
ama ing Mormons” (Shipps, 2001., p.92). Nevertheless, “while few Americans continued
to think of Saints as foreign or even as very strange, they were still other; however
exemplary they might be, they were not quite ‘us’”(Shipps, 2000, p. 110 as cited in
Baker, & Campbell, 2010).
The stigma that is felt by those within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not new, it has been weaved into the fabric of the Church’s history and as such, into the identity of the members. Some of this history is highlighted below:
From its beginnings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members
have been targets of anti-Mormon publications.… Few other religious groups in the
United States have been subjected to such sustained, vitriolic criticism and hostility.
29
(Nelson, 1992).
The Church and its members have dealt with the effects of stigma for years, such as Bennet
(1884) has stated, “The conduct of the people of Illinois and Missouri towards the Mormons has been brutal and detestable in the extreme, and discovering the same spirit that burned the witches at Salem and the Convent at Boston.” (James Gordon Bennett, New York Herald, July 12, 1844, as cited in Buddenbaum & Mason, 2000, p. 123).
This ‘othering’ continued for many years, after being pushed out of Missouri, the early members of The Church sought refuge in the West, however; their ‘spoiled identity’ and stigma followed them. “…the press railed against the Mormons in their printed pages and religious leaders denounced them from their pulpits, the government began to pass laws to ‘eradicate the
Mormon Problem’ (Arrington & Bitton, 1992, p.176). The Church was dissolved by the U.S. government, its property escheated (“Escheated,” 1891) and its members disenfranchised”
(Baker, & Campbell, 2010, p.101). There was also the Extermination Order given in 1838 by
Missouri governor Boggs, wherein the document literally made it legal and called for to use lethal force against the Mormon population, this order was rescinded on June, 25, 1976.
Persecution for members of the Church continues today in the form of discursive violence as can be readily seen in the recent obituary for President Thomas S. Monson, late Prophet and
President of the Church. The Church and its members were spoken for and not allowed to have a voice within the obituary that was printed in the New York Times newspaper. Highlighting the affect that stigma and othering creates on the power and voice of those deemed to have “spoiled identities”.
While looking at the 2008 United States Presidential race, “while most voters were loath to say that a candidate’s gender or race made them less likely to support him or her, there was no
30 such hesitation to voicing opposition to a Mormon candidate” (WashingtonPost.com, as cited in
Cilli a, 2008). This open opposition and judgement about an individual and their religion is a clear indication that the ‘normals’ in society feel safe about discriminating and stigmatizing someone on the single purpose of their religion and affiliation to the Church.
As a result of not being able to tell our story, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints are not being able to alter or challenge the identity that is being stigmati ed and stereotyped in the minds of those who are hearing this dominate hegemonic ideology about what people within the Church are like. The reason the members of the Church want to be able to share their truth and reality about themselves, is a result of identity being created as well as evaluated through narrative, (Brockmeier & Carbaugh, 2001; Bruner, 1997; Bruner & Kalmar,
1998; Cohler, 1991; Linde, 1993; Harter, Japp, & Beck, 2006; Somers, 1994), if members can share their stories and experiences it will begin to mend their stigmati ed identities. The Church itself has even asked journalists to speak with members about the Church and our beliefs to create a more accurate rendering of us in the media (LDS Church, 2007; Baker & Campbell,
2010).
Stigma affects individuals seen with a “spoiled identity” because they are no longer in control of telling their own narrative. People learn about their identities and how to interact by past experiences or how people have reacted to them and their “spoiled identity”. Which informs people of how to expect to be treated in the future, a stigmati ed population has their narrative hijacked and told for them (Burke, 1969a; Burke, 1969b; Harter, et al., 2006).
Snow and Anderson (1987, p. 1348), identified four ways that individuals manage their identity and control how others view them:
31
(1) the arrangement of physical settings and props; (2) cosmetic face work or the
arrangement of personal appearance; (3) selective association with other people or social
groups; and (4) identity talk that includes “fictive story-telling,” “distancing,” and
“embracement.” (Herman-Kinney, & Kinney, 2013, p.67).
For an illustrative example of these tools, a person who does not smoke in an environment where smoking is looked as a normal and natural thing to do, where non-smokers are stigmati ed and the individual cares about the opinions of those around them they might (1) carry a pack of cigarettes around, but never smoking them, (2) they may stand near other people who smoke to get the smell of smoke on their clothing, (3) perhaps they only spend time with non-smokers, (4) or they may even tell stories of why they cannot smoke, perhaps making up a story about their inability to smoke for medical reasons. These identity management techniques have been utili ed by members of the Church which will be discussed in chapter five while detailing interviews with members.
Society is not stuck in one way of thought, social learning theory tells us that individuals interact with their environment and these individuals have the ability to compare themselves to others and re-assess or adjust according to feedback (Allen, 2017). As individuals in society we have the ability to change our environment. Meaning we can make changes to society by simply interacting differently with it, when enough of society makes these changes, the whole begins to shift and change.
Identity is more than just what a person may think about themselves. It is within every action, interaction, reaction and thought a person chooses to communicate or believe. Almost every, if not every experience we have adds, alters, or adheres to our identity. Just as any interaction we have with others and how they treat us can have an effect on our identity. When
32 people are stigmatized because they are accused of having a “spoiled identity” that affects their identity. It may take the form of someone screaming that you are in a cult, or perhaps a person tells their children they cannot play with your children because your child is a “Mormon”, it may even be as simple as someone insulting your belief because they do not understand. People who have these experiences of ‘normals’ in society treating them differently take those experiences inward and use them to inform them in their next interactions with people, soon perhaps beginning to believe that they are of less value than those who are considered “normal”.
For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, religion is a part of our identity. To stigmati e, make assumptions, or stereotype the religion is to do the same to the identity of those who are members of the Church. You may be wondering, “Well, I am not a member, so this does not really affect me, why should I care about stigma on those within this
Church?” My answer to this fair question is, if one group can be stigmatized, every group can be stigmati ed, it may not be noticeable or there in your life now, but perhaps one day through choice, or perhaps through no choice of your own you too may feel the sting that stigma carries with it. We must be careful when perpetuating stigma in how we speak, act, and with the media we promote. Just because one group may be different from another does not mean that they have less value. If you had the chance to reduce stigma for a group of people, would you? We all have the power to help reduce stigma, we just have to decide to do so.
Recent studies completed within the U.S. (e.g., Pew Research Center 2012, 2014; Putnam and Campbell 2010) support the research that has been done on the interaction and strain between the members of the Church and those outside the Church (e.g., Bushman 2007; Flake 2004; Mauss
1994; Shipps 2000; Rockenbach, A., Bowman, N., Riggers‐Piehl, T., Mayhew, M., & Crandall,
2017) and highlight the continued stigma that adults within the United States place on those within
33 the Church (Rockenbach et al., 2017). This stigma is not new, it has followed the community of the Church since its very beginning in 1830. According to these studies, members of the Church are one of the religious groups that adults within the United States have the most negative feelings toward (Pew Research Center 2017; Putnam and Campbell 2010; Rockenbach et al., 2017). 46 percent of members of the Church said US society was “rife” with discrimination against members of the Church (Pew Research Center 2012; Rockenbach et al., 2017). 60 percent of members say that they experience stigmati ation, stating they hear obviously negative comments about their faith “often” or “occasionally” (Putnam and Campbell 2010; Rockenbach et al., 2017). The same study stated that 57 percent of adults do not claim to know a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Pew Research Center, 2017; Rockenbach et al., 2017). That means that people may be making judgments using information from sources other than the members themselves. This habit can lead to the reinforcement of stigma and stereotypes.
Society at large determines what is “normal” for different people, how they are supposed to look, act, and react. This categori ation of people allows us to easily and without much thought anticipate how interactions will play out (Goffman, 1963). Stereotypes make up the foundation upon which stigmas are built. However; stereotypes are not inherently bad, social psychologists deem stereotypes as, knowledge held by most members within a society
(Augoustinos & Ahrens, 1994; Corrigan, & Penn, 1999; Esses, Haddock, & Zanna, 1994; Hilton
& von Hippel, 1996; Judd & Park, 1993; Krueger, 1996; Mullen, Ro ell, & Johnson, 1996).
“Stereotypes are especially efficient means of categorizing information about social groups.
Stereotypes are considered social because they represent collectively agreed-on notions of groups of persons” (Corrigan, & Penn, 1999, p.765-766). This is helpful when we do not use these stereotypes solely in our judgement of others, or if we do not allow these stereotypes to
34 place people in singular categories not allowing them to move out of one aspect of their lives
(Corrigan, & Penn, 1999; Devine, 1988, 1989, 1995; Hamilton & Sherman, 1994; Hilton & von
Hippel, 1996; Jussim, Nelson, Manis, & Soffin, 1995; Krueger, 1996). When people begin to use stereotypes to perpetuate negative stereotypes used for prejudice that’s when stigma becomes involved (Corrigan & Penn, 1999).
In his study on stigma, Goffman (1963) claims there two different ways those who have a stigma attached to them are seen, discredited or discreditable. If they are discredited their difference or taint can be visually seen, such as a visible physical disability. If they are discreditable the aspect about this person that is stigmati ed is not seen and as such is not immediately available for general knowledge to be stigmati ed (Goffman, 1963). Members within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fall into the second category. Their religion is not able to be seen by someone simply looking at them on the street. According to
Goffman (1963) there are also three types of stigma that can be placed on individuals and groups. First, there are “abominations of the body” a physical disability or deformity (Goffman,
1963 pg. 4). Second, “blemishes of the character” this would be anything against societal norms of behavior such as, lying, stealing, criminal, addict, homosexual, mental illness, etc. (Goffman,
1963, pg.4). Finally, “tribal stigma” this is stigma based on religion, race, nationality, etc.
(Goffman, 1963, pg. 4). The members of the Church fall into the category of tribal stigma.
Taken together these types of stigma create “stigma-theory, an ideology to explain [their] inferiority and account for the danger [they] represents, sometimes rationali ing an animosity based on other differences…” (Goffman, 1963, p.5). This ideology often becomes what is known as hegemonic ideology, or ideas that come from allowing only one group or the dominant
“normative group” or “normals” to speak about society, while at the same time minimizing or
35 squelching different experiences or views (Cloud, & Gunn, 2011). “Some versions of social reality are more faithful to the interests of ordinary people and their experiences than others”
(Cloud, & Gunn, 2011, p. 408). Goffman (1963) also argues that the mere fact of being in public as a discredited person (one with a visible stigma) can invite others to ask questions and invade privacy if they will but be sympathetic to that person’s stigma. I would argue that a discreditable person also experiences this invasion once people know of their stigmati ed characteristic.
By placing these categories on people that they are deviant due to one of the three types of stigma it negatively “marks” them in society as an “other” (Herman-Kinney, & Kinney, 2013;
Goffman, 1963). No matter if the reason you are different is due to something you cannot control, or a choice that you have made, stigma still applies to those deemed as ‘other’, “People on the receiving end of social stigmas are spoiled, devalued, and undesirable. Despite how they are acquired, the associated redefinitions of identity and social statuses rarely fare well for the bearers of this mark” (Herman-Kinney, & Kinney, 2013, p.71). This mark often creates an atmosphere where those who are “normal” in society use stigma to negatively portray, define and hold prejudice against those who are marked with the stigma (Herman, 1993; Herman-Kinney, &
Kinney, 2013; Schneider & Conrad, 1980; Winnick & Bodkin, 2008). This mark creates an
“other” – “this process of othering creates individuals, groups, and communities that are deemed to be less important, less worthwhile, less consequential, less authorized, and less human...”
(Yep, 2003, p.18). By being placed in the category of tribal stigma and the othering of those within the Church experience religious stigma.
Religious stigma is a category that would fall into Hudson’s (2008) description of core stigma which is stigma that is attached to an organi ation like a religion, and is attached to the organi ation in such a way that everything that occurs in that organi ation is seen through the
36 stigma it carries (Blithe, & Lanterman, 2017; Hudson, 2008). This poses a problem for members of the Church because, “Mormonism [is] more than a religion – it [is] a separate culture, a way of life” (Shipps, 2000, p.2). Members in the Church give more time and energy practicing religious practice throughout all aspects of their lives compared to other members of different religions (Givens, 2013; Shipps, 2000). As a result, members of the Church create an identity that is highly tied to the Church. When the Church is stigmati ed as a core stigma, the members also are stigmati ed as the Church is a part of who they are as people. It is as Shipps (2000) describes, a culture or a different way of life. For members of the Church, their religion is not just a place to worship on Sundays, it is who they are. This supports Bourdieu’s (1990a; 1990b) thoughts that habitus is a cognitive and physical dispositions that color the lens with which people interact in the world, even though some of this is learned, they become so entangled with in our sense of self and in our actions that we cannot separate one from the other (Shapira, &
Simon, 2018). Members of the Church take on the core stigma that is attached to the Church due to their enacting religious practice in daily life. They are a constant reminder of the organi ations stigma.
“Normals” and those outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, looking in can see only a portion of the reality for those within the Church. This is partly due to Burke’s
(1965) idea of “terministic screens” (p.87). A terministic screen is the language and framing of a people, event, or group. The way people talk about things matters, it colors how people view the people view others and constructs. For instance, “Mormon” was a name given to members of the
Church in the early days of the Church as a mean and cruel reference to their belief in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Mormon was used as a slander and slang, and during that time if you were called a Mormon you were decidedly an “other.” This term was
37 eventually seen as a commonplace term, but the Church has recently made a stand calling for the use of the proper name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Nelson, 2018).
Language matters, and can help to reduce stigma.
Women who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experience two types of stigma. They not only have the tribal stigma of being members of the Church, but I also argue women within the Church are stereotyped by others outside the Church because they are women. In particular, there are stereotypes that women from the Church allow themselves to be diminished and subservient in marriage, a view that most women within the Church would reject. Due to this stereotype women in the Church receive the stigma of blemish of individual character – “qualities or nonactions that make them stand out from others in a devalued way”
(Herman-Kinney, & Kinney, 2013, p.71). Lorde 1984 argued that when growing up, women are taught to ignore difference, or see those differences as dangerous and a reason to avoid each other. Resulting from this early education, women who are “othered” have to, “…stand alone, unpopular and sometimes reviled…” (Lorde, 1984, p.27). These women left outside the realm of
“normal” often are judged before they have a chance to show who they are and what they believe to people because the stereotypes are speaking for them. This othering, creates a distance which only encourages more stigma. Speaking for others is something that Feminist Standpoint theory works to lessen.
Sometimes when researchers, or even just socially conscious individuals see a group that lives differently from them, they try to “help” by pointing out difference and offering a hand, while at the same time not taking a moment to ask the individuals they are trying to save, if they need to be saved (Alcoff, 1991; Al-Mahadin, 2015). It may be that those people set out to rescue are not in need of rescue, they just choose to live differently. This is the danger of speaking for
38 another person and their experiences. Without taking the time to speak with and listen to an individual who is a part of the group, it is not possible for someone outside to speak to the experiences of those within an “othered” group. While it may be impossible to not speak for others, it should be taken into account and pains taken to ensure that researchers and people are taking the time to speak with people (Alcoff, 1991).
Standpoint theory takes many forms. Scholars have used standpoint theory to discuss, race, and sexual orientation. Then in about the 1980’s scholars started using standpoint theory in a social and political sense (Collins, 1986; Harding, 1997; Haraway, 1988; Harding, 1997; Rose,
1983; Smith, 1987; Wood, 2005). Feminist standpoint theory states that according to Marx
(1848), the work we do, and the choices we make every day carve our identity, shape what we know, and color how we see the world. In other words, intersectionality is extremely important
(Blithe, 2015; Wood, 2005). “Social location shapes the social, symbolic, and material conditions and insights common to a group of people” (Wood, 2005, p.61). Individuals cannot escape the intersections they experience, as such standpoint theory works to understand intersectionality for groups:
“Rather than a simple dualism, it [feminist standpoint theory] posits a duality of levels of
reality, of which the deeper level or essence both includes and explains the ‘surface’ or
appearance, and indicates the logic by means of which the appearance inverts and distorts
the deeper reality. In addition, the concept of a standpoint depends on the assumption that
epistemology grows in a complex and contradictory way from material life” (Hartsock,
1998, p.108).
Depending on what intersections you experience, your reality is different from another’s reality. Those within the Church experience a different reality than those outside, and this
39 different reality is a product of being “othered”. Those within the Church are a part of the minority in society, which means that within “systems of domination the vision available to rulers will be both partial and perverse” (Hartsock, 1998, p.107) meaning, those who are considered “normal” within society or the rulers, see society through rose-colored glasses, they do not have the whole picture which would include the experiences and opinions of those deemed as ‘other’. The reason it is perverse is because the version of reality most readily available is that of the “normals”. Feminist standpoint theory seeks to shed light on other versions of reality. Feminist standpoint theory posits that different social locations, like gender, and religion give a person a different worldview and outlook than others (Blithe, 2015; Buillis,
1993; Harding, 1998; Lugones, & Spelman, 1983; Sprague & Hayes, 2000).
Yep (2003) allows one to easily recogni e that the members of the Church have always been considered an “other”.
This process of othering creates individuals, groups, and communities that are deemed to
be less important, less worthwhile, less consequential, less authori ed, and less human
based on historically situated markers of social formation such as race, class, gender,
sexuality, ability, and nationality. Othering and marginali ation are results of an
‘invisible center’. The authority, position, and power of such a center are attained through
normali ation in an ongoing circular movement. Normali ation is the process of
constructing, establishing, producing, and reproducing a taken-for-grated and all-
encompassing standard used to measure goodness, desirability, morality, rationality,
superiority, and a host of other dominant cultural values (Yep, 2003, p.18).
Being “othered” limits the opportunity for members within the Church to be represented correctly and outside of the “terministic screens” being placed between the members of the
40
Church and the “normals” within society.
Looking from the outside in often leads to misunderstanding of what the people within desire, understand and know (Al-Mahadin, 2015). Often in an effort to help, we may miss the mark by projecting how and what we think onto others (Al-Mahadin, 2015). Through the lens of
Feminist Standpoint theory, only those within the Church would be able to describe or more accurately account for events happening within that community, for the sole reason of their
“different social location” (McDonald, 2015, p. 313) of being within the Church. Perhaps, those within membership of the Church and those without should be actively trying to bridge the gaps that divide us, not always by agreeing, but by recogni ing that everyone is all human and as such have at least that in common. People will never be completely alike, or in total agreeance, but that does not mean they cannot coexist (Carrillo-Rowe, 2008).
For centuries, conflicts have revolved around ideology, whether that referred to political or religious ideology. When ideology of any kind is threatened, those who ascribe to that ideology feel an immediate sense that their way of life is being attacked, and aggression may be the result (Becker, 2007). Within this paper ideology is being referred to as:
First, it represents a set of beliefs that an individual holds to maintain one’s identity and
goals, especially goals related to one’s group membership. Second, ideology is a set of
beliefs that a society reinforces to its members to maximi e control over the status quo
with minimal conflict (Levine, 2014, p. 496).
Or more simply, a set of beliefs that guide a certain group of people. Throughout the course of this chapter, I will focus on the political and social ideology that is prevalent that ascribes to the idea that members of the Church are not normal, or “other” and should be treated with hostility.
41
Given what is known about stigma theory, discrimination against members of the
Church, and gender, I asked the following research questions:
How is stigma being perpetuated for members of the Church today?
How are members dealing with this stigma?
How do women experience stigma?
Is there additional stigma placed upon women in the Church?
It is important to study stigma because, otherwise, there is no possible way to reduce stigma.
When stigma is present, those who perpetuate stigma may be unconscious of the fact that they are indeed perpetuating the stigma and poor treatment of another person and group. Without the knowledge that some type of actions or speech harms others, it is unreasonable to expect people to change. It also is imperative to give a platform to those who may not be able or allowed to do so in most contexts (Alcoff, 1991). Within the next chapter, the methods used to answer these questions will be discussed and outlined.
42
As the researcher, I conducted qualitative, loosely structured interviews. The interviews will be analy ed through the lens of stigma theory (Goffman, 1963) and feminist standpoint theory (Collins, 1986; Harding, 1997; Haraway, 1988; Harding, 1997; Hartsock, 1998; Rose,
1983; Smith, 1987; Wood, 2005). I conducted a total of 24 interviews with individuals who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The participants had an age range from 20-74 years of age with the average age being 38.5 years old. There were 15 participants that identified as women and 9 that identified as men, 19 participants identified as White, 3 as
Hispanic, and 2 as African American. Participants were invited to participate in the research by responding to a Facebook post wherein they were invited to contact me if they would like to participate in research about members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
After each interview, snowball sampling was implemented, the participants were invited to think of others who may be interested in participating as well and instructed to ask these other possible participants to contact me. These interviews ranged in time from 11 minutes to 77 minutes. During the interview the questions acted as a guide, allowing me to have flexibility to follow up on responses given. I endeavored to make a concerted effort to invite the interviewee feel comfortable, in order to allow for some trust to build the first few questions were just warm up questions. I placed my research questions as close to the middle as I could, with supplemental questions following. Some questions included:
1. How long have you been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
2. What has made you want to become a member?
3. What would you say is the most important belief?
4. Do you have beliefs that are misunderstood? If so, what belief(s)?
43
5. What differences are there between beliefs within the Church and current social beliefs?
6. How do you feel when others disagree with how you choose to believe?
7. How have you seen others react to the traditional beliefs within the Church?
8. Would you ever change your behavior / belief to make someone else more comfortable?
9. Please tell me a story that demonstrates your interactions with non-members, as well as
one that demonstrates your interactions with members.
10. Have you seen any change in others reactions to your beliefs? If so, why do you think
that is?
11. What would you want someone who is not a member of the Church to know about those
within it?
12. (For Women) Have you noticed stereotypes people believe because you are LDS and a
Woman? If so, How? If not, why?
13. Do you think there is stigma attached to be a Member of the Church?
14. How has being a member of the LDS Church affected your life?
Each interview was audio recorded to facilitate transcription after the interview. Where a face-to-face interview was not possible, the participant was invited to participate via a phone interview. If a phone interview was not possible the participant was sent the interview questions to be responded via email. Only pseudonyms are used in this study (the option was given to participants to choose their pseudonyms or have one assigned to them). There is no identifying information in the data or any possible publication of the participant’s name. Real names were never recorded in the data. All data was stored on a password protected computer.
Field notes were also taken as soon as possible after leaving the interview or scene. I not only asked the questions but I also took note of any nonverbal cues being displayed by the
44 interviewee, as it is, “estimated that nonverbal communication accounts for over 80 percent of the meaning transferred between people” (Larson, 2013 p.286).
For data analysis, I personally transcribed all the interviews, which now only contained the pseudonyms that were chosen or assigned to each participant, and coded each interview using grounded theory (Thronberg, & Charma , 2014; Tracy, 2012). The analysis proceeded in three different waves, such that, coding categories was collapsed, expanded, and revised multiple times. To find what the reoccurring themes were in the data, I read each response to the interview questions and probing which were recorded. When I found what the main thought or idea of the code was, I then cut the response from the original document and pasted it into another document with that code as the file name. I then went back through each of the coding buckets and further analy ed the statements to ensure that they were indeed showing the code for which they had been previously coded for.
For this project, I have interviewed active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints that were over the age of 18, male or female, any race or ethnicity. I have chosen to focus on members because, they are invested wholly, and they also are the people who are experiencing some “othering”. For future projects perhaps I will look at those who are outside the Church and are not members to try to understand that point of view as well.
45
The IRB has approved this project to ensure there are no ethical issues. I have also
engaged in CITI training on Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research. For
analysis I coded the interviews with similar statements from across all the interviews. A table is
included that details demographic information about the participants on the graph below.
Where the Interview in Number of Participant is Name Gender Age Years in church Race Married Employed Person or Email Children located Alfred Male 20 20 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Anne Female 25 25 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Bob Male 26 26 White Divorced Yes In Person 0 NV Becky Female 68 10 White Married Retired In Person 3 NV Burt Male 74 74 White Married Yes In Person 3 NV Bill Male 58 25 Hispanic Married Yes In Person 2 NV Candie Female 25 25 White Married Yes Email 1 Idaho Emily Female 22 22 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Jane Female 66 66 White Divorced Yes In Person 4 NV Jimi Male 63 13 White Married Retired In Person 3 NV John Male 24 24 Hispanic Single Yes In Person 0 NV Maria Female 13 Hispanic Married Yes In Person 0 NV Maya Female 23 23 White Married Yes In Person 0 NV Kevin Male 5 Black Single Yes Email 0 NV Kim Female 48 48 White Married Yes In Person 5 NV Kleo Female 25 25 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Layla Female 25 17 White Married No Email 1 Utah Linda Female 65 65 White Married Yes In Person 6 NV Lucy Female 45 21 White Married No In Person 4 NV Billy Male 43 19 White Married Yes In Person 4 NV Natalie Female 31 31 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Stan Male 26 26 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Stephanie Female 21 21 White Single Yes In Person 0 NV Tan Female 25 25 Black Married Yes Email 1 Utah
Participant Demographic Information
As stated, I also analy ed the rhetoric of media and politics that have contributed to the
continued stigma and “othering” of the members of the Church. I accomplished this by
examining the Extermination Order of 1838 drafted by Governor Boggs, and the events that
followed due to this order. I was able to retrieve photocopies of the original documents of the
order and the events that transpired shortly after the drafting of the order online, in both the
46
Church’s archives as well as the archives for the state of Missouri. I compared this physical violence to the discursive violence most recently felt by the New York Times within their obituary of the late President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
Thomas S. Monson. I chose these events to focus on due to how recent the obituary and the amount of outcry from the members of the Church is, and the Extermination Order was chosen because it was one of the more publicly recorded events of violence from Church history. I also wanted to bring light to a time in history that is often forgotten, overlooked, or skimmed over. It was also important to me to look into the obituary and order because it highlights that this stigma is not just a local issue, but is felt nationwide.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As such I have experienced stigma, related to my beliefs, and culture. My ancestors also experienced persecution and physical violence simply because they believed differently than those around them. As a result, I have a vested interest in this topic. I have felt the effects of “othering” and would like to do whatever I can to combat its continued perpetuation. I also believe that members of the Church are often misjudged and misunderstood. I feel that writing this thesis may alleviate some of that misunderstanding. During this research project, I had to be careful, I have biases. I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been bullied, and stigmati ed because of my beliefs. Knowing this, I had to take a step back and listen to the experiences of others, while trying to not color their stories with my own perception.
While taking this all into consideration, I tried my best to understand and present my findings in a cohesive and relatable way. All in an effort to perhaps shed some light on how members have been stigmati ed and how to remedy this othering.
47
With this in mind and heart, as I venture forward within this thesis I am inclined to disclose that I am only able to speak from my experience and not for the entirety of my religion and certainly not as a spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed here are individual to me, the participants, and my interpretation of events. This does not mean that I excuse myself from the great responsibility of writing this piece of work, I do so in an effort to shed some much needed light on a subject and people that have been largely misinterpreted, and neglected.
Without members feeling accepted, society is sacrificing a different point of view that could prove to be valuable in making policy, and changes. This research project makes an effort to understand how we can better encourage and facilitate others to see the opportunity to help, and be moved toward action.
48
A Feminist and Ideological look at the Physical to Discursive Violence against Members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Most often when I see Members portrayed in the media I get a nervousness in the pit of my stomach, thoughts of, “how are they going make fun of us now?” or “I hope that my friends understand this is not the truth.”
From our very start the members of the Church have been targeted for much persecution, and even death. This persecution is highlighted greatly in the Extermination Order written by
Governor Boggs of Missouri in 1838 which made it legal to kill a member of the Church on sight
(Boggs, 1838). On through to the year 2018 we are still entrenched in religious stigma that is being perpetuated by the media. Within this chapter, I examine the New York Times obituary of the former Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas
S. Monson. I look at these utili ing feminist standpoint theory through the thought of not speaking for others (Alcoff, 1991). While I am using these theories as frameworks, my hope is that these theories will work together in combination within this chapter to accurately discuss and describe the effect that politicians and the media have on how people view the members of the Church and their beliefs, as well as media, places those within the Church as an “other” in society. In order to achieve this goal I will be delving into both the Extermination Order of 1838, as well as an obituary and online comments recently written in the New York Times about the passing of President Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints from 2008-2018 (McFadden, 2018).
According to feminist theorist Linda Alcoff, it is important to not speaking for others entirely, but to responsibly and ethically speak for others through intent listening and having a
49 conversation with those whom you are representing in research (Alcoff, 1991).
Speaking for others contributes to the hegemonic ideas that come from the same people having the floor to speak their opinions, while at the same time minimi ing or even silencing opposing views (Cloud, & Gunn, 2011; Alcoff, 1991). To speak for someone else, means that you are looking at their situation and what they say through your own frame of reference and cognitive lens, instead of trying to listen and understand through the way those you are speaking with, see and experience the world (Alcoff, 1991). The experiences of life shape the way people see the world around them. No two people have the exact same experiences in life, which is why it is vitally important to speak with those we make efforts to understand (Alcoff, 1991). Speaking for someone else or another group only brings a disservice to the author, the subject, as well as the audience, as no true learning can take place in such an environment.
As discussed in Chapter 2, Goffman (1963) in his work on Stigma identified “tribal stigma” as stigma based on religion, race, nationality, etc. (Goffman, 1963). The members of the
Church fall into the category of tribal stigma. People use these types of stigma to create, “stigma- theory, an ideology to explain [their] inferiority and account for the danger [they] represents, sometimes rationalizing an animosity based on other differences… (Goffman, 1963, p.5). People in a stigmatized group are not considered “normal” and as such are no longer apart of the “us” in society and become a part of the “them”.
Within this chapter it will be important to understand that when that belief or ideology becomes dominate, that ideology becomes a hegemonic idea or the only reality or truth socially accepted and perpetuated. Often these ideas are perpetuated through the media, in forms of newspapers, sitcoms, news broadcasts, books, music, and movies. What people see in entertainment generally is how we view the world. The opinions portrayed within media outlets
50 are also controlled by a very small group of people, when compared to the number of people they are broadcasting to. Without taking a step back and looking deeper into the issue, it is easy to take what is given through media as truth and fact. However, as my Grandfather always says,
“there is nothing so thick or so thin, that there are not two sides.” Another part of ideology is representational theory which posits that, “Some versions of social reality are more faithful to the interests of ordinary people and their experiences than others” (Cloud, & Gunn,
2011 p. 408). Simply stated, just because misconceptions are commonly believed does not mean they are any less of a misconception. Those who are in the majority group often have their version of reality more commonly represented or a hegemonic view point has been accepted as reality or the only truth (Cloud, 1996). All of which contributes and maintains the sense of
“othering” that is experienced by those who are stigmatized for being an “other”.
As stated, I analy ed the Extermination Order of 1838 drafted by Governor Boggs, and the events that followed due to this order. I was able to retrieve photocopies of the original documents of the order and the events that transpired shortly after the drafting of the order online, in both the Church archives as well as the archives for the state of Missouri. I will be comparing this physical violence to the discursive violence most recently felt by the New York
Times within their obituary of the late President and Prophet of the Church Thomas S. Monson. I chose these events to focus on due to how recent the obituary and the amount of outcry from the members of the Church, and the Extermination Order was chosen because it was one of the more publicly recorded events of violence from Church history. I also wanted to bring light to a time in history that is often forgotten, overlooked, or skimmed over.
In 1838, Governor Boggs of Missouri drafted the Extermination Order, this piece of history is an example of how “some versions of social reality are more faithful to the interests of
51 ordinary people and their experiences than others” (Cloud, & Gunn, 2011 p. 408). Those who petitioned Governor Boggs presented a vilifying portrayal of the members of the Church, and without taking time to check their stories, or even speak to someone who was of the accused community, the members of the Church were forcibly driven off their land and out of the state.
This mass exodus was facilitated by the Missouri Militia and mobs through the threat of utili ing the extermination force authori ed, as well as the actual death of many members. This is the danger or hegemonic ideas. When they are readily accepted without further research, it can have tragic consequences. When people choose to not take the time to really look into issues or ideas, they cheat themselves out of the truth and an opportunity to better understand those around them.
The reasons Governor Boggs gave within the order for this extermination were:
I have received by Amos Reese, Esq., of Ray county, and Wiley C. Williams,
Esq., one of my aids [sic], information of the most
appalling character, which entirely changes the
face of things, and places the Mormons in the
attitude of an open and avowed defiance of the
laws, and of having made war upon the people of
this state.
Your orders are, therefore, to hasten
your operation with all possible speed.
The Mormons must be treated as
enemies, and must be exterminated or
driven from the state if necessary for Figure 2: Photocopy of Governor Boggs’ Extermination Order the public peace--their outrages are
52
beyond all description (Boggs, 1838)
The “open and avowed defiance of laws” and “war” was in reference to the members of the
Church in Missouri who attempted to release three of their fellow members who had been taken from their homes by a mob of anti-Mormon Militia men (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, 2014). The violence that followed this extermination order was severe. So much so that the leader of the Church Joseph Smith Jr. petitioned President Martin Van Buren of the
United States for reprieve for the atrocities that had perpetrated against the members of the
Church, to which the President of the United States responded, "What can I do? I can do nothing for you,—if I do any thing [sic], I shall come in contact with the whole State of Missouri"
(Godfrey, McBride, Smith, and Blythe, 2018). The President of the United States would not help citi ens of his own country after an extermination order was placed on them. “Extermination”.
To exterminate is to lead to the utter destruction of something. Imagine being a part of a group that many other people, including your politicians believed needed to be exterminated.
The hegemonic ideology and othering were so strong, even the President of the United
States backed away from doing what was right. It is easy to see that when a specific ideology becomes so prevalent within a society, there are few, if any, willing to defy the status quo. Within this instance from history even those who were elected to protect freedom of religion were too frightened or biased to stand up against the hegemonic ideology. One of the well-documented events caused by the extermination order was the Haun's Mill Massacre, which was described by an affidavit given by a witness named Joseph Young. He states:
On Tuesday the 30th that bloody tragedy was acted, the scenes of which I shall never
forget!...It was about 4 Oclock [sic], while sitting in my cabin with my babe in my arms,
and my wife standing by my side. The door being open, I cast my eyes on the opposite
53
bank of Shoal creek, and saw a large company of arm’d men
on horses directing their course towards the mills with all
possible speed…I secreted myself in a thicket of bushes where
I lay till eight oclock in the evening, at which time I heard a
female voice calling my name in an under tone telling me that
the mob had gone…After day light appeared…we arrived at
the house of Mr Haunn and we found Mr Merricks body lying
in the rear of the house Mr. Mc.Brides in front, litteraly [sic]
Figure 3: Photocopy of Joseph Young's mangled from head to foot. We were informed by Miss Affidavit of the events at the Haun's Mill Massacre Rebecca Judd, who was an eyewitness, that he was shot with
his own gun, after he had given it up and then was cut to pieces with a corn cutter by a
Mr Rogers…who has since repeatedly boosted [sic] of this act of savage barbarity
(Baugh, 1999, p.192-193).
Not only did this order allow the murder of innocent members of the Church, it also afforded those killing the latitude to boast about the way in which they carried out this extermination. The murder accounted within the above affidavit was filled with hate and contempt, it was not enough to simply shoot this member of the Church but the militia then mangled the body. From that day at Haun’s Mill, there were seventeen men, women and children murdered in an effort to maintain the present hegemonic ideology during that time in Missouri.
As a result of the extermination order the members of the Church were driven from their homes in the winter of 1838 causing many to die from exposure. This attitude of physical violence on the members would continue in the forms of tarring and feathering, a process wherein victims are stripped and their bodies covered in hot tar, after which they are covered in
54 feathers. The tar then has to be painstakingly scraped from the skin, causing the burned flesh to peel up with the tar, leaving bloody and open wounds. The members of the Church also endured mobs and militias burning homes, forcing people from their homes, continued killings, and the assassination of the leader of the Church at the time, the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. in 1844.
The members of the Church were driven out of many states, until they decided the only way to have peace would be to settle in a place where they could build their own city and be allowed to worship and live in accordance to the demands of their conscience. The place they found was Utah. The extermination order was rescinded on June 25, 1976 by Missouri Governor
Christopher S. Bond. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016). After such violence, the members of the Church found relative peace for some time in Utah. As time went on, the violence felt by members of the Church shifted from physical violence to discursive violence, so much so that it is still felt today.
President Thomas S. Monson was a beloved man to many of the members of the Church, his passing early in 2018 was hard to accept because he was so loved. President Thomas S.
Monson spent the majority of his life in the service of the Church and all the people around him.
President Thomas S. Monson lived his life filled with love and service as he encouraged others to do the same:
We do not live alone—in our city, our nation, or our world. There is no dividing line
between our prosperity and our neighbor’s wretchedness. “Love thy neighbor” is more
than a divine truth. It is a pattern for perfection. This truth inspires the familiar charge,
“Go forth to serve.” Try as some of us may, we cannot escape the influence our lives
have upon the lives of others. Ours is the opportunity to build, to lift, to inspire, and
indeed to lead. The New Testament teaches that it is impossible to take a right attitude
55
toward Christ without taking an unselfish attitude toward men… (Monson, 2009).
This is the President as the members who knew and watched him, understood him to be.
Unfortunately, that was not captured within his obituary in 2018. The obituary speaks largely of the conflicts that were within the time of President Monson’s presidency (McFadden, 2018a).
There was no mention of all the humanitarian aid and efforts that consumed President Monson’s life. The very first paragraph in the obituary states:
Thomas S. Monson, who as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
since 2008 enlarged the ranks of female missionaries, but rebuffed demands to ordain
women as priests and refused to alter Church opposition to same-sex marriage, died on
Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 90 (McFadden, 2018a).
Perhaps within an obituary is not the time or the place to discuss political differences of a man who was the religious leader to sixteen million members worldwide. There are a total of 30 paragraphs of which, 22 are about the opposing political differences in belief that the Church and today’s society hold.
By choosing to highlight only the conflicts that were experienced during President
Monson’s service as President and Prophet of the Church, the New York Times participated in discursive violence and effectively spoke for the Church and the members within it. As well as projected a reality that favors their own understanding rather than seeking out the understanding of the group of which they were discussing. This article angered many members because they felt spoken for (Alcoff, 1991) and that their president had been grossly misrepresented. This was seen in the comments that were left in response to the article some of which state:
I too am deeply offended by this article. I refuse to call it an obituary because it is not. As
a long time reader of the NYT, I’m very disappointed. This is mean-spirited and in no
56
ways [sic] captures Pres. Monson’s legacy of love, kindness, compassion and
forgiveness. This journalist could benefit from studying Monson’s actual words.
Monson’s [sic] continually reminded us to take care of one another regardless of faith,
race, sexual orientation. He said, “all are our brother and sisters.” He was a remarkable
champion and exemplar of grace and charity. We are better people for having been led by
him… (McFadden, 2018b).
Another stated:
It just surprised me how little the obit author bothered to learn about Pres Monson before
writing his obit…I would be surprised if he knew the difference between FLDS and
Mormon. I bet he sees Pres Monson as just another Warren Jeffs. That's the stereotype
outsiders have of the Church. Shows how little they actually know…He should have
consulted somebody who knew more about Mormons in general, and President Monson
as a person (not just a stereotype)…(Jones, 2018)
Another stated:
I find this article very short-minded and heavily biased. Thanks NY times for sounding
like a free-bu feed article. Next time you write an obituary for a Mormon prophet, why
don’t you ask an actual attending Mormon about him instead of relying on the opinions
of ex-members or other people who disagree with Church policy? At least strike a
balance between opinions. Thomas Monson was much more than controversial policy.
Thanks times, for equipping America with tunnel vision (McFadden, 2018b).
So upset were the members of the Church, that they started a petition to get the obituary rewritten, they gained over 100,000 signatures. 100,000 voices who were so moved with emotion they were motivated to take the time to sign a petition to make changes to or rewrite the obituary
57 that was printed for President Monson. 100,000 voices that the New York Times decided to not listen to, and instead, ignored and silenced.
After this petition was brought to the attention of the New York Times they responded less than favorably stating:
William McDonald, the obituaries editor for the New York Times, responded to questions
drawn from reader feedback on the obituary. McDonald began by calling the obituary “a
faithful accounting of the more prominent issues that Mr. Monson encountered and dealt
with publicly during his tenure…[the article] did not provide a more rounded view of Mr.
Monson — perhaps his more human side. I’ll concede that what we portrayed was the
public man, not the private one, or the one known to his most ardent admirers,”
McDonald said. “In 20/20 hindsight, we might have paid more attention to the high
regard with which he was held within the Church. I think by his very position in the
Church, all that was implied. But perhaps we should have stated it more plainly.” (Jones,
2018).
The fact that the New York Times chose to ignore so many people is evidence that there is serious hegemonic ideology at play within this obituary, the outcry of over 100,000 people calling for a change and getting a refusal is astounding. To have that much outcry and still feel secure enough to continue in discursive violence is staggering. That level of security was also felt in 1838 when the murder of seventeen innocent lives were taken.
The main excuse for the way the obituary was written is that the New York Times portrayed the public man not the private man. That reasoning begs the question, public to whom?
All of his writings, speeches, and his actions as President of the Church were public. In fact from
1963 to 2017, he gave 230 addresses in general conference (President Monson’s Service by the
58
Numbers, 2018). General conference is a bi-annual conference that is held each year, this conference is televised and broadcast over the internet and radio across the entire world. The talks given within the general conference are then printed in maga ines the next month, all of which is extremely public. Yet none of those were spoken of. It would seem that the New York
Times stated that the sixteen million members worldwide are not a part of the public. They may not have been members of the same public that this author or the main audience of the New York
Times are a part of, however; that does not mean that President Monson was not a public figure.
Every action that President Monson performed as the President of the Church represented those sixteen million members worldwide was public. It becomes painstakingly clear that the members of the Church are simply not a part of the “public” the New York Times was speaking of within this response.
Due to this blatant disregard for seeking out the viewpoint of those most affected by
President Monson’s death, this reporter opened the door for more discursive violence and
“othering” as seen in other comments on the obituary:
Monson deserves every bit of criticism thrown at him. Being dead doesn’t make him
above criticism, and it certainly doesn’t make him a better man than he was in life, and he
was a horrible man there too (McFadden, 2018b).
Another stated:
To all the comments stating this is an offensive biased article, I ask, what is offensive
about the truth? Is there something in the article that is false? And as to bias, are only
glowing articles about Mr. Monson, unbiased? If so, I suggest you go to the LDS owned
Deseret News website or seek every other LDS publication regarding Mr.
Monson…(McFadden, 2018b).
59
When comments came up urging people to read President Monson’s biography, To the Rescue one commenter said this in response:
“To the Rescue” is Mormon propaganda which is not a critical biography at all. It is
published by the Church’s publishing house. Monson had a pious public face but could
[be] notoriously demanding and [sic] in private. Many of his “personal stories” were
likely made up (McFadden, 2018b).
These comments all show the detriment of hegemonic ideology and “othering”. This hegemonic ideology and “othering” gave these individuals the security to make these comments about a religion they seem to not understand. This is a result of just seeking out the hegemonic opinion as truth. Truth is somewhat subjective, the truth for members of the Church is that
President Monson was a great man and a wonderful leader and defender of our faith. Many of the comments talked of wishing the author had done more research or had looked past the surface.
By only portraying the viewpoint of the author of the obituary, the opportunity for the bridgework that could have been possible, as Carrillo Rowe has invited everyone to practice was missed (2008). As a member of visible and trusted press, the NYT should be aware of the influence that pathos has over those who digest the information being given (Gass, & Seiter,
2007; Larson, 2013). Instead the author chose to take the moment that should have been one of respectful reflection and speak out of turn for the members of the Church and their beliefs.
What would it look like for members of the Church to be spoken with? This question is difficult to answer, simply because, the members have generally been spoken for and not with.
Speaking with someone begins with first discovering why one wants to speak with or represent someone else, is the intention to help, or to harm (Alcoff, 1991). A huge step in speaking with
60 someone else is to set yourself aside. Set all the preconceived notions, and opinions about them down, if not for just a moment, and let those within that group express their reality. The next step is to be self-reflexive about the position we have in this conversation by our own understanding of truth and reality (Alcoff, 1991).
It is important to also recogni e that self-reflexivity is not enough, individuals must reach outside themselves and they need to ask others (Deet , 2004). Once people have this open dialogue with those who are outside themselves and within the group people are trying to understand individuals can begin to truly understand what truth is, and what the hegemonic ideology has inserted as absolute truth and decide for themselves what they believe (Deet ,
2004). Perhaps it would be helpful to think of this principle in this way: if one was wondering about what it would be like to work for a company, it would be most beneficial to ask someone who worked within the company to share about their experience or would it be better to ask someone who had never worked for such a company. Obviously, it would be best to choose to ask the current employee of the company, in a hope that they would know more about what it is like being a part of that group. “Who is speaking to whom turns out to be as important for meaning and truth as what is said; in fact what is said turns out to change according to who is speaking and who is listening” (Alcoff, 1991, p.12). It would appear that the author of the obituary did not make any effort to speak with someone within the group President Monson represented for ten years.
In both, the extermination order and the obituary every effort was made to make sure that the members of the Church remained “othered”. The extermination order was a physical othering, literally driving any member of the “other” group from the state, or exterminating them. The obituary brought about a discursive “othering” that fanned the flames of the
61 hegemonic ideas of what it means to be a member of the Church. As well as placing the beliefs that the members of the Church hold to be so far from the “norm” that they are not the same as those within society. Both of these events caused the “othering” of those within the Church population, it can be argued as well that a major consequence of “othering” is it can lead to those in the “us” group feel they have power over the “others”. Those in the “other” group begin to seem less normal, even less human to those in the “us” group. It was evident in the Haun’s Mill
Massacre, where it was not enough to simply kill, but members of the Church bodies had to be mangled and torn apart. It is evident in the passing of the President of the Church, people feeling free to comment that this poor portrayal is all that President Monson deserved. The danger of creating “others” is, it closes the opportunity to have open and respectful conversations about different ways of thinking, and experiencing life.
From our very beginning, members of the Church have had to defend and fight for their faith. Today we have to fight in a different way. Perhaps by extending a listening ear, in a hope that those who do not believe the same way will also be open to listening. As the beliefs within our Nation change, it is important to remember we are all still members of the human race, we need to look for our commonalities and reach past the gaps that divide us to strive for understanding, even if that means we disagree about issues. We must understand that issues are just that, issues. We should be quick to remember what President Thomas S. Monson taught:
“Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.” (Monson,
2008).
Through the course of this chapter, I have shown that there has been physical violence and currently there is discursive violence that has all been a product of “othering”, hegemonic ideology and the tendency to speak for others instead of with them. This violence can change, as
62 soon as the hegemonic ideology of what it means to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens up to the opinions and experiences of those who are members.
Without beginning to see the “othering” that has taken place, there will be no change or opportunity to speak with those outside the societal norms that have been so widely accepted.
Until the hegemonic ideology is seen, and recogni ed for what it is, there can be no true understanding or open dialogue about difference. The open and honest dialogue is what is needed to begin to try to truly understand and have a conversation wherein those in the “other” group feel they are being spoken with and not for (Alcoff, 1991). It is my hope that this will happen.
The majority of the members of the Church would love the opportunity to speak freely about the things we believe.
Why is this important? If the hegemonic ideology can try to silence and misrepresent those within the Church population, what would stop it from doing that to every other people it represents in media? As consumers of media and members of society at large, it is important to take a step back and look at where the information is coming from. There may be information, knowledge, and wisdom we are all losing simply due to the lack of willingness to look further, or listen and speak with one another.
63
with
To ancient Israel, by the mouth of Moses, the Lord said: “… if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5–6.) This promise is ours also. If we will walk in paths of virtue and holiness, the Lord will pour out his blessings upon us to a degree we have never supposed possible. We shall be in very deed, as
Peter expressed it, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.”
(1 Pet. 2:9.) And we will be peculiar because we will not be like other people who do not live up to these standards (Smith, 1971).
For this work it was very important that every effort was made to speak with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Alcoff, 1991). It became very clear that for this study make a real effort to accurately portray the feelings and experiences of members, there needed to be real conversations with people living and practicing as members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This need to speak with members was satisfied through qualitative interviews with a total of 24 study participants. The gathering of the data used within this chapter and the techniques to analy e the data were completed as described in Chapter three of this work.
As the data gathered was being analy ed definite themes and a familiar story began to emerge. A majority of the participants spoke in many ways about their identity, and how misconceptions that occur with others outside the Church affected them. They also spoke about how due to these misconceptions and controversies stigma begins to rear its ugly head bringing a feeling of isolation upon the members who feel stigma’s keen sting. After generations of dealing
64 with stigma and persecution however; participants also described many tactics they have developed to mitigate stigma including: discursive strategies, careful choices about disclosure, relying on faith, and finally a strong belief in agency.
According to the participants of this study, membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is not only a religion but a large part of their identity. When speaking of how the Church has affected her life, Anne said:
“[the Church has affected] every aspect of my life, the Church is not something you do
on the weekends for us, it is your whole way of living. It touches every single aspect of
your life, so it has changed my life a lot. Well I don’t know if it changed, because I
started out a member. But I can’t imagine not being a member. I just can’t. I would say it
has definitely had an impact on my life” (Anne, Interview).
For Anne, the Church is not just a piece of who she is, “it touches every single aspect”. In Bob’s experience, it is easier to ask how it hasn’t affected his life:
“I guess a better question is how has it not affected my life? Like it has affected every
aspect of who I am, how I live, even the job I have” (Bob, Interview).
Candie also found it hard to describe all the ways the Church as affected her:
“It has completely shaped it. It's probably easier to say ways it hasn't affected my life- I
don't think there are any. Probably the biggest way it's affected me is through finding my
husband at an LDS school, and the way we are living and raising our daughter together.
Our financial decisions, day to day activities, and what we teach our daughter are all
shaped by our beliefs” (Candie , Interview).
The Church and the beliefs Candie ascribe to are in every aspect of her life, even to how she and
65 her husband raise their child. Lucy also expressed a similar experience:
“Really?! Like how hasn’t it? That is a huge…it has affected our family, it has affected
our relationship, it has affected everything. What we do on Sundays, how we present
ourselves, what we teach our children, what schools we choose, I mean it is everything.
Like even the sports we engage them in, if they occur on Sunday we don’t do them, like it
is in every little aspect it affects” (Lucy, Interview).
To Anne, Bob, Candie, and Lucy the Church is more than, “something on the weekends” it is in every aspect of their lives and who they are. Maria described her feeling as though she has an entirely new life:
“Yeah it has affected my life, it has made my life actually. It started, I think, when I
found the gospel, it has been better. Because…you didn’t know you had that life before,
then you realize that’s what life is about…That is when you start the true life” (Maria,
Interview).
The feeling that your life hadn’t even started until the Church suggests that the Church and its teachings are an immense aspect of Maria’s identity.
During my interview with Stan, it became apparent that the commitment to the Church goes even farther than just a firm belief in the principles and teachings of the gospel itself:
I think that if tomorrow something came out that proved that the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints was false without a shadow of a doubt, 100%, I would still be a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it makes me a better
person. The things that I learn and the things that I feel when I am living in a way that I
know is a better way of living then I am happier and just that fact makes the Church a
66
good thing in my life. That if I…I am not strong enough person to like…step outside
myself and be asked to help and give service and be asked to do things that are extremely
beneficial to me and my happiness um, I probably wouldn’t do those things outside the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And so I think that it has benefitted my life
and made me a better person and I don’t know what type of person or who I would be
without it (Stan, Interview).
For Stan the connection between the Church and his identity is clear, he would not know who he would be without it. As a result of identity being such an integral part of how people view themselves, any attack on a part of an individual’s identity would feel extremely personal. The
Church is a huge part of the identity of its members, when controversies and misconceptions occur, it can feel as though when the Church is at the butt of the joke, or the subject of ridicule the members themselves may feel they are being attacked.
Some of the common controversies and misconceptions that were most often talked about in the interviews conducted with members including, members of the Church of Jesus Christ not being Christian but in a cult, members must be judging those who live differently, and the temples.
The misconception that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not Christian, is not a new concept. Because of our belief in The Book of Mormon: Another
Testament of Jesus Christ, many denominations believe that members are not Christian. Alfred brought up the misconception that members of the Church are not Christian:
“Well a lot of people don’t think we are Christian even though we are… Jesus is the
67
Christ I guess everything else is just appendages to that. Because without him, we don’t
have a religion and there is no really hope in this life or the life to come and that would
be rather upsetting…We are not a cult, the temple doesn’t have anything secret in it, but
somethings, not somethings, everything in there is very sacred.” (Alfred, Interview).
Just like Alfred, Anne described common interactions with non-members:
“Usually it’s, “Oh you don’t believe in Jesus Christ?” and I have to say, no his name is in
the name of our Church, we believe he is the son of God and paid for our sins and died
for us, and they say, “you believe in a different Christ” and I am like no we don’t it is the
same one” (Anne, Interview).
Emily spoke of how she has experienced people telling her who she believes in:
“Yes, we do definitely have beliefs that are misunderstood. Um like, for example, several
people believe we worship Joseph Smith or some even say John Smith um I have
definitely heard that one before! And so, we have to explain to them that, no, we worship
our savior Jesus Christ. But Joseph Smith was his prophet here on the Earth and he was
the first prophet in the restored gospel” (Emily, Interview).
Billy spoke about how it is difficult not being known as Christian:
“The main one that I hear constantly is that we are not Christian and I think, like Lucy
said that the prophet has handled that situation. That is the only one that seems to bother
me because it is part of the name of our Church, to me it is blatantly obvious but
somehow it has been turned that it isn’t, and people believe it, and I think that is the hard
part” (Billy, Interview).
Kleo shared an experience she had in dealing with others telling her and other people what she believes in as a member of the Church, while attending another denomination:
68
“I went to another Church with one of my friends and the pastor said that we believe in a
different Jesus Christ. I don’t know who the other one is, but we believe in the normal
Jesus Christ… They don’t truly understand what we believe so they make up their own
weird ideas, like different Jesus Christ. I know that some people believe that we worship
Joseph Smith, but we don’t he was just our prophet who restored the true Church to the
Earth at that time.” (Kleo, Interview).
According to Kleo, instead of asking what members of the Church believe, others outside the religion have chosen in her experience to make up answers to questions about our beliefs, thus perpetuating the misconceptions and stigma. Similarly, Lucy explained an experience her and her young daughter have been dealing with recently:
“I think one [misconception] is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not
Christian you hear that all the time, especially how we have been fellowshipping some of
our daughters friends, they are like, “well my grandma says that you are a cult and that
you are not Christian and I shouldn’t go with you to that event” there is that huge
misconception, and I think that President Nelson has really laser focused on that of how
we need to present ourselves as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints that we need to get rid of those nicknames and um really communicate what we
are and our beliefs” (Lucy, Interview).
Lucy’s daughter is in high school and has been asked to defend her religion by her peers from misconceptions surrounding her beliefs. Lucy also expressed some frustration that people outside the Church because of the belief that we are not Christian that we must be in a cult:
“I think that sometimes they think that we don’t have a mind of our own, we become
69
engulfed, kind of like the cult mentality that we get convinced to do these things, like blind
obedience. To me that is just as far from the truth as us not being Christians. Because it is
the exact opposite of what we are taught. We are taught to pray, and to find our answers
for ourselves and um nothing is pressured” (Lucy, Interview).
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians. We believe in and worship Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Leaders of the Church have also said:
We are Christians because we believe Jesus Christ is an important member of the
Godhead. “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the
Holy Ghost.” (A of F 1:1.) We have no other gods before us. (See Ex. 20:3.) We do not
worship prophets or saints, neither of modern nor of ancient times. We pray only to the
Father, as the Savior taught during his earthly ministry (see Matt. 6:9, 13); and this we do
only in the name of the Savior. We teach, as the scriptures do, that there is no
intermediary between God and man save Jesus Christ, and “none other name given under
heaven save it be this Jesus Christ … whereby man can be saved.” (2 Ne. 25:20.). (Wells,
1984).
Members within this study and leaders of the Church itself want those outside to understand that they are Christian, and they are not trapped in a cult. Bob even spoke of the belief of Jesus Christ as his most important belief:
“That Jesus Christ’s atonement covers everybody, that through his atonement we can all
be forgiven of our sins, and return to live with our Heavenly father and be with our
families. So it is sort of an all-encompassing thing but I guess the atonement is the most
70
important part” (Bob, Interview).
Bob was not the only participant to express that belief in Jesus Christ was the most important belief, in almost every interview conducted Christ was mentioned or talked about in great detail.
In any conversation with Members about their religion it would be evident they are Christians in just a few moments. So why does this misconception continue? Perhaps the reason is that others outside the Church are not engaging members about their beliefs but finding misleading information elsewhere.
It is common to feel as though others outside the Church view those within it as judgmental, or “holier than thou”, which is something members are actively endeavoring to not engage in. Members are taught that we should not judge others. In speaking on the controversy of the Church’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues, Anne said:
“We still love them. I want people to feel happy, I don’t want anyone to feel like they are
being controlled or forced to do anything because we believe that people have their free
agency and they can do what they choose to do. I don’t believe that you go to Hell for
being Gay or Trans or things like that. I just believe that you should show love to
everyone regardless of their beliefs. You can get along with people who aren’t like you
and don’t believe the same things that you do. I don’t understand why people think it is
so hard, or that, “you have to support me in every aspect of my life in order to be my
friend” I have disagreements with my best friends and we are still tight…I still treat them
the way I treat everybody, I am not going to force my religion on anybody. I just believe
you have to be kind to everybody and um listen to what they have to say. I am not gonna
say that, “you are going to Hell because you are not a member”…We are not going to
71
shut you out because you are different. I guess, um we don’t if you are a true member of
the Church and you believe in following Christ you don’t hate anyone. Christ is not about
hate. He accepts us for the way that we are, but he also asks that we change and become
better. We can’t remain stagnant because that is not progression at all. So, um I guess I’d
say everyone is welcome here, and God loves you. Don’t believe that God hates
anybody.” (Anne, Interview).
Anne truly expresses how all members are asked to be within the Church. It must also be said that while member are invited and encouraged to not judge, we are not perfect and we too are working toward making ourselves better people. As we engage in this struggle to become better we often make mistakes. Candie also expressed her view on this controversy:
“Public attitude toward LGBTQ+ lifestyles has changed drastically in the last 10 years or
so, and state and federal laws have reacted and changed accordingly. But as stated above,
the laws of God do not change based on public opinion. One eternal truth is that the
worth of every soul is great in the sight of God. Every soul, no matter what it is about
them that makes them different. Another eternal truth is that certain behaviors are sinful.
Latter-day Saints believe certain sexual acts to be sinful, including any homosexual acts.
In fact, we believe that any sexual act other than that between a husband and wife,
permitting it be both consensual and righteous. Being homosexual is not a sin.
Performing homosexual acts is sinful. This is a heartbreaking truth when you consider
how this can affect someone’s life, but we firmly believe it….Sexual intimacy is actually
incredibly sacred, and so it should be preserved and talked about only in the ways God
has prescribed… Social belief is that the majority rules. Democracy leads to truth. LDS
people believe that sometimes this is not true, and that the majority can choose wrong
72
sometimes. God’s word is true and right, even if we struggle with what is said at first, or
don’t understand why it is different from common beliefs. We believe we can come to
know truth through study, prayer, and personal revelation through the Holy Ghost.”
(Candie, Interview).
While talking about what she wanted people to know about members Kleo said:
“One thing that I really want people to understand is that the Gospel is not the people and
the people are not the Gospel. So there are sinners, we are all sinners, so if we do
something wrong or offend somebody that is normal human being that is not the Church
saying that, or not the principles of the Gospel coming out in us that is just cause we are
human. The gospel is perfect, humans aren’t so what I would want people to know is that
we are all normal people, we are all sinners, we are all just trying to do our best, so we
need to give each other a break. If you know, you get upset with somebody or offended
that is in the Church, to not be offended at the religion. Because that is not right, it is just
the person” (Kleo, Interview).
With the belief that we are all sinners, it makes no sense for a member to judge anyone else. We are all in the same boat of being imperfect. Layla put it like this:
“I would say the most misunderstood belief is that God is exclusive in who he loves and
that his commandments are restrictive. A lot of people seem to think we believe in a God
who only loves those who are righteous, which couldn’t be further from the truth. He also
gave us commandments to help us in this life to be able to return to him, and if we follow
them, we can be free from the burden that sin brings…A lot of people seem to think the
Church is outdated, misinformed, bigoted, etc. Most of the reactions I see are on the
73
internet via blog, Facebook post, video, etc. I’ve also seen marches/protests…The most
common reaction that I’ve seen though is that people expect members of the LDS Church
to not only have traditional beliefs, but to shun or judge those who don’t align with those
beliefs, when that is simply not what we are taught to do” (Layla, Interview).
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught the following about judging others:
This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it
comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause
harm, please apply the following: Stop it! It’s that simple. We simply have to stop
judging others and replace judgmental thoughts and feelings with a heart full of love for
God and His children. God is our Father. We are His children. We are all brothers and
sisters. I don’t know exactly how to articulate this point of not judging others with
sufficient eloquence, passion, and persuasion to make it stick. I can quote scripture, I can
try to expound doctrine, and I will even quote a bumper sticker I recently saw. It was
attached to the back of a car whose driver appeared to be a little rough around the edges,
but the words on the sticker taught an insightful lesson. It read, “Don’t judge me because
I sin differently than you.” We must recognize that we are all imperfect—that we are
beggars before God. Haven’t we all, at one time or another, meekly approached the
mercy seat and pleaded for grace? Haven’t we wished with all the energy of our souls for
mercy—to be forgiven for the mistakes we have made and the sins we have committed?
Because we all depend on the mercy of God, how can we deny to others any measure of
the grace we so desperately desire for ourselves? My beloved brothers and sisters, should
we not forgive as we wish to be forgiven?...The people around us are not perfect (see
Romans 3:23). People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it
74
will always be that way. Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the
purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way
(Uchtdorf, 2012).
As seen above, members are counseled by the leadership within the Church to not judge, to forgive and understand we are all imperfect. As such, it appears to be a large misconception that members of the Church are all judging everyone who does not believe or act in the same manner.
A large majority of the members within this study, wanted others to understand they were not judging them. Bob explained his viewpoint this way:
“We are just people and we are not that weird, we are a little bit, but we are just people
you can talk to us, you can be friends with us, you can talk with us about whatever you
want and we may not necessarily agree with your viewpoint, you may not agree with
ours, but we can still be friends, we can still be cordial coworkers, all that good stuff.
You don’t have to be freaked out about who we are” (Bob, Interview).
As Bob has pointed out, just because people may not agree on different aspects of life that does not mean that individuals cannot get along with one another without judgment.
So…What really happens in Temples?
The temple and the sacred things that happen within the temple are not spoken about in great detail by members because it is so sacred to us. We make sacred promises with God and seek answers to questions and prayer within the temple. Bill described his experience with people not understanding the temple:
“I find it interesting when I come in on a conversation and people are speculating on LDS
and because they don’t think that I am LDS one because, well I am Hispanic, even
75
though we have a lot of Hispanics in the LDS belief people assume blue eyes, blonde hair
and from Utah. So when they start talking about it, and I start cracking up and I wait until
get into it, then I’ll interject, “well that is not true” you know one of the ones is, “you
know they wear that funny underwear and they have those secret things they do in the
temples…” and I sit there and I start cracking up! And I am like, I’ll just let them go on
and then I’ll interject and they start cracking up and I am like, seriously people? Where
do you get this information from?” (Bill, Interview).
When we make these promises within the temple members receive what is called the garment, which is an outward symbol and reminder of the promises that have been made. Much like the prayer shawl, a nun’s habit, or the white collar worn by Priests. Candie expressed her experience in how people view the temple:
“So many feelings are hurt when people are not allowed inside temples. People are
suspicious that strange things may be happening inside temples. Both these problems are
understandable, but the truth is that temples can be the simplest and purest source of joy
for members of the Church. It's not that it's an exclusive club or anything, it's that
extremely sacred things are done and taught there, and there is an order things must be
done in. Members must complete certain ordinances outside the temple before
participating in the ones that occur inside the temple” (Candie, Interview).
Candie brought up important truths, because the temple is hard for people who have not experienced it to understand, it becomes something that is easy to become suspicious and stigmati e.
The temple is so important to members of the Church because members believe that it is
76 the only place where a couple can be married for time and all eternity. It also is the only place where families can be bound together for all time and eternity, so that when our life here on
Earth is over, we will still have the opportunity to retain our family ties and relationships. With family being such an important foundational belief within the Church it is easy to see the importance of the temple in the eyes of the Church as well as the hearts of the members. Becky who recently lost her grandson at a young age said this:
“[an important belief is] knowing that we will be with our family on the other side of the
veil. Because, when we lost our grandson that was the only thing that kept me going, it
gives you comfort” (Becky, Interview).
The belief in an eternal family gives many members comfort and peace knowing they will see loved ones again. For Bill the concept of an eternal family is what caused him to pause and listen when he was interested in learning about the Church prior to becoming a member:
“The most important belief to me is the Eternal Family that I found fascinating. You
know it made sense, it explains what happens afterwards other than somebody in the
previous religion I was in, it was, “you know you die and you go to heaven.” And [then
what]?? So that really was it, and I always understood and felt that there was life after
death but no one explained, like what do we do there, what happens to our family. You
know you hear the civil marriages, “till death do you part” so what happens afterwards.
So that sealing and that being together is huge” (Bill, Interview).
Billy also expressed a similar viewpoint:
“I’d say the importance of families and being together for time and all eternity that is
number one” (Billy, Interview).
77
Temples being the avenue for deeper learning, eternal families, and a place of safety and peace it becomes easily apparent why temples are so special and sacred to members within the Church.
As a result of others outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints not understanding that members are Christian – not a cult, that they try not to judge others, and that the temples are sacred and not secret, stories and rumors continue to perpetuate. These misconceptions and rumors create an environment ready and able to produce stigma. Which is the use of stereotypes to judge and treat another group of people as less than (Goffman, 1963).
This stigma was evident in the interviews conducted with these 24 members of the Church.
Many of the participants expressed feelings of isolation and as a result their associations mainly consisted of other members. Becky said:
“I don’t think I have any [friends] that are not LDS, you grow apart. But we only see the
ones that are not LDS, we only see those friends once a year” (Becky, Interview).
For Becky, it is simple that you just grow apart from your friends that are not members. Just like
Becky, Jimi also noted that he has mostly member friends:
“The majority of our friends are LDS anyway. And so when they come over they already
know our ways and they have accepted it” (Jimi, Interview).
Just as Becky and Jimi both have mostly member friends, Burt also expresses how being a member has affected his relationships with others outside the Church:
“The people that I know that are outside the Church and some of them will accept my
beliefs and lifestyle and some will want to change my lifestyle. They will do everything
in their power to get me to break the word of wisdom for example. “Well one won’t hurt
78
you” but I guess it’s because people want me to change so that I fit into their mold, but
they don’t want me to ask them to change to fit into my mold. And so they get real stiff
necked about it and hey, if you decide you want to walk down the wrong side of the road,
you can walk down the wrong side of the road. I found that I am happier when I associate
with people who have the same ideas and beliefs that I have. We go to dinner with friends
and they are LDS friends. All the people when we had the Deli’s and stuff like that, that
swore up and down that we were friends and stuff like that they are gone, I don’t even
know where they are at. They just disappeared because they just don’t want to accept the
way I live” (Burt, Interview).
Natalie explained her experience losing friends due to her membership in the Church:
Most of the friends that I used to have, my party friends. They are no longer my party
friends. Um they are still on my Facebook and I’ll post “Church today was really
awesome” or “I love the gospel” or you know with the missionary discussions that I had
eight years ago, I posted it up and their reactions were like, “way to go, good job!” um
but as in hanging out with me, they no. I am not the first person they think of when they
call or want to invite to go and participate in those things, because they already know that
I left that behavior and lifestyle years ago. So, not having those friends and having those
friends and then changing and them being like, ‘yeah, we are not gonna invite you
anymore,’ was a bit difficult and a hard transition. Especially coming from someone that
was a loser in high school and not having very many friends to be someone that was in
the party scene that was very popular to all of the sudden being a cast out and a nobody
again. It wasn’t necessarily that they make me feel like I was a nobody it was just that I
knew they felt uncomfortable because things were a lot different (Natalie, Interview).
79
Bob spoke of how he has felt the sting of being different:
“In my work environment I have been pretty lucky in that regard but there have been
other environments where I wasn’t so lucky and I was sorta mocked for my beliefs
because of the other person’s beliefs or their misunderstandings of what we believe in…
It is pretty mixed reactions, some of them kind of like it, like, ‘Wow, I didn’t think
anybody thought that way anymore.’ Cause we are somewhat traditional in a lot of
different ways. And then other people think it’s sorta dumb or boring, ‘oh you don’t
drink, how do you have any fun at night?’ things like that. ‘Like what do you do for fun if
you don’t drink, smoke, or do drugs?’ and I am like, ‘well, I remember all the things I do
for fun.’” (Bob, Interview).
Being mocked by your peers always results in feeling of isolation and loneliness. Stephanie shared an experience she had in high school:
In high school I went to a school that the LDS population was super small we had maybe
two or three people my graduating year that were members of the Church, it was really
really small. But everyone in the entire school knew what our faith was and what our
beliefs were. And so like occasionally there would be someone new that would try to
pressure us into doing something and see if we would actually do it. Or we would have
teachers that would try to call us out in the middle of class and…I remember I had a
history class, I think it was my sophomore year and this teacher called me and one of my
friends out in the middle of class and had like, forced us to explain Joseph Smith and that
entire era and then tried to tell us that we were wrong. So then we had to go on and look
up all of the official documents and prove our point… everyone thinks we fit in this nice
little mold, like, ‘everyone is so nice’ they can kind of walk all over us. (Stephanie,
80
Interview).
Stephanie was not only stigmati ed by the newer members of her class, but also by her teacher who isolated her in a classroom where as a teacher, they were supposed to be a safe place for students. I too have had a similar experience being asked to explain the trek west. I also have gotten into arguments with teachers about Joseph Smith history and have had to defend my own beliefs in a classroom setting. This experience Stephanie shared is not a unique one. During his interview, Burt told the following story of a woman he knows:
“An author that writes Christian books, that is everything she writes, is based on
Christianity. She was invited to be part of a writer’s guild that was to write Christian
books. They found out that she was LDS and they kicked her out. Three days, after they
invited her and they found out what she was and they ask her to turn in her membership”
(Burt, Interview).
Within this experience Burt has shown that members of the Church are being shunned for their faith. Stan expressed within his interview that Stigma should not be a result of someone’s religion:
“I think that people are people they will always be people and there are a lot of good
Mormons and a lot of bad Mormons. There’s a lot of good Muslims and a lot of bad
Muslims. There’s a lot of good and bad in every religion. And the world. And good and
bad people who aren’t religious at all. I think people are people. And so, I would say that
what people should understand is that a belief is a way of helping people to live a good
life. And it always has been and always will be and just because someone believes and
holds that belief close to them, doesn’t make them any less or more of a person that
81
doesn’t. and I think that everyone should be treated off the basis of their character, and I
think no matter what religion they are no matter who, or where they grew up or what they
did you should base your decisions and base your choices on a person off of how you feel
when you are around them, and if you don’t like being around them, then don’t be around
them. Whether they are Mormon, Atheist, or Jewish or whatever. I don’t think religion
should influence people on judging others” (Stan, Interview).
Stan recogni es that people are being judged based on their religion and that it is not right. When religion is used as a reason to stigmati e a group of people it causes a deep sense of isolation.
In order to avoid the effects of stigma, participants within this study also described ways in which they mitigated stigma, including, discursive strategies, selective disclosure, relying on faith, and finally their belief in agency. These strategies allowed the members to not only deal with stigma, but to see the good in those trying to belittle them through the use of stigma.
During the interviews, members described times when they used specific discursive strategies to avoid conflict and stigma within society. Maria described an experience where she had to simply remove herself from the situation and refuse to have any discursive interaction:
“[Something that] happened once or a couple of times before at work somebody um, that
like to use a lot of profanity and even jokingly they said one time, “well I hope that I
don’t offend anybody if I talk like that.” I said, “Well, yes it does. I don’t think you
should be talking like that, first of all you are at work and you are not allowed to use that
language and it is offensive, it is not professional.” They laugh and they continue on. So
82
finally I just walked away, and later on they kind of apologized but, you can tell it wasn’t
sincere. But and then again, um the same person, say something again, and turn around
and say, “Oh, that’s right you are here, I shouldn’t talk like that.” Again, I walked away
from the meeting. So hopefully they finally got it, you know sometimes you cannot just
say something over and over again once you have told them twice about it. And you are
going to cause a big scene sometimes, so sometimes I guess it is just easier to just stand
your ground and say, sorry if you are going to talk that way, I can’t be here. Once you
learn how to use your language, or watch your language and follow policy, then we will
talk” (Maria, Interview).
Maria was unable to continue in her social interaction with this particular individual who was being blatantly disrespectful of her and her beliefs. Anne talks about how she will avoid talking to people about issues that could bring contention:
“A belief that is misunderstood by a lot of people would be the homosexuality, stuff like
that um, it is such a touchy subject so I don’t even like talking about it.…I am not very
good at confrontation, so mostly I just get quiet because I am not good at defending
myself. But I think what it comes down to is this is my decision, if they are judging
choices that I have made, I just say this is my life and I will lead it how I feel fit, and you
do the same. I respect your opinion, you are allowed to think differently than me and
things like that. And it depends a lot of if someone is asking a question with the intent to
beat you down, they just want to fight. That is different, I am not going to fight with
people, I am not going to convince anybody because they are already heated. But if they
are generally curious, I will give them answers to their questions, if I can I am not very
eloquent but I will do my best to explain why I do what I do” (Anne, Interview).
83
For Anne, if the interaction seems to be one full of contention, she chooses not to engage in the interaction, simply by becoming quiet. Kim spoke about how even though she feels discomfort at times, for her speaking up is important:
“I have felt discomfort when others don’t agree with how I believe. As I’ve grown my
own testimony though, I have found that I know what I should be saying and standing up
for my beliefs is a good thing. But doing it with kindness and understanding… When
people say hurtful things about my beliefs, I try to help them understand the why behind
my religion and why I believe the way I do. It’s hard with social media and not being
able to talk to someone in person” (Kim, Interview).
Kim speaks up in defense of her faith but she tries to do so in a kind and understanding manner.
Kleo also tries to explain things to other people to help them understand her viewpoint:
“I am a very passionate person, so when it comes to what I do believe in it is very hard
for me to calmly express my belief if someone is arguing with me about it. Like I want
them to know and understand why and what I believe in, so I just get very passionate
about it…I just want to share the truth and it is kind of like a fire, it is not like angry or
like I want to push my beliefs on you, I just want you to know why and what I believe.
Yeah I do feel very judged when people don’t understand my beliefs. I usually say, ‘You
know if you want to understand something, go to the source. Don’t go to somebody else
who doesn’t know what they are talking about. Like you wouldn’t go to your doctor for
your body if you are having tooth problems, you would go to the dentist. You know go to
somebody who knows what they are talking about’…I would try to explain it in a way
that would make them feel more comfortable. It is slightly hard to do, one of my friends
84
is a strong supporter of the gay and lesbian movement. And I said, ‘In our Church we
love everybody and there is no difference to that. We just don’t believe you can live in
that way and hold callings in the Church. But we still love and care for everybody.’ And
they kind of understood it” (Kleo, Interview).
Layla described how the type of relationship could affect her reaction to others outside the
Church:
“If it's someone close to me or someone who once believed, it hurts a little more. I have
two sisters that have completely left the LDS Church and when they say things about the
Church it's hard not to take it personally. If it's something on Facebook I usually just
move on without engaging. When I feel compelled I will politely defend whatever the
issue at hand is. I've tried very hard over the last few years to maintain positive
relationships with my friends/family members who say hurtful things about the Church
and my hope is that they will remember that, and reali e that maybe the members aren't
so bad after all…I wouldn't change my belief to make someone else comfortable, but I
have noticed times when my behavior has changed a little bit. When I'm around non-
members I try to leave out Mormon jargon/vernacular in what I say, and I don't pray over
our food if I'm not in my home so as to not make others uncomfortable” (Layla,
Interview).
Tan expressed how she often feels misunderstood, but believes there is not much to be done about it:
“I feel misunderstood but understand it is a part of life. I think we all have the right to
express our opinions and beliefs and no one should be able to take that from us” (Tan,
85
Interview).
Whether members choose to avoid defending their religion or choose to speak up, the discursive methods used seemed to be useful and productive for the members utili ing them.
In my sophomore year of high school, my best friend who was not a member became such an important person in my life. She and I had so much fun together, she knew I was a member and that it was important to me. I could not help but want to share the most important part of myself.
I decided to invite her to learn about what I believe. So, after I made the decision to ask if she would like to know more, I was extremely nervous. I just hoped she would understand that I didn’t want to change her, or influence her, I just wanted her to know more about what makes me so happy and why I am the way that I am. In the hallway between classes, I asked if I could talk with her, and she agreed. With my hands shaking, I asked if she would like to learn about my religion. In what seemed like forever, and feeling so completely exposed and anxious, my best friend said, “Sure, why are you so nervous?” I told her that I was so scared that she would not accept such a huge part of who I am. Luckily, my friend was very understanding and was grateful I was willing to share something so special to me.
Disclosure is the decision that individuals make on how and when they tell other people about a possible stigmati ing part of their identity (Goffman 1963; Herman 1993; Schneider and
Conrad 1980). As a result of being unable to look at a person and know if they are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members have the opportunity to choose when and if they disclose their beliefs. As a part of our religion, members are often encouraged to share their religion. This often creates a tension for members, while wanting to share and help others, it also is a risk to share something so personal and special. As a result of sharing
86 something special it is natural to feel vulnerable and exposed to a possible heartache if we are rejected vehemently. While interviewing Becky, she told a heartbreaking story of how she lost her best friend:
“She was my best friend and um, when I told her my son was going to be bapti ed she
said, ‘You know that that is the Church of the Devil. How can you allow your son to do
that?’ And I was so taken aback, and I thought, ‘Oh my word!’ and so we just, we didn’t
talk as often, which was every day. Then when I told her I was being bapti ed it was like,
‘Holy moly! There is no way you can do that!’ So we um spoke maybe a year ago. But
she was my very closest friend and because she said that I just went, ‘whoa…’ I am really
sorry she feels that way but obviously with her being a Catholic I am not going to change
her mind, nor would I want to. But she is not going to accept me and my deep feelings for
the Church.” (Becky, Interview)
Becky’s experience highlights the reason many people are afraid to disclose their religion to other people. Becky lost her best friend because of her decision to become a member of the
Church. Stephanie shared a similar experience:
“It was my freshman year she had been my best friend for three years, and we went
camping together the summer before and she flipped out on me. We were not friends
after that and actually I was with her entire family and her entire family was so upset with
her. I don’t know why she got upset, but she started yelling at me and I honestly didn’t
understand half of it. I don’t know what happened. I know that she didn’t like some of
my beliefs, and that she thought I was too uptight but I never did anything. She actually
dumped her soda on me. She dumped it on me.” (Stephanie, Interview).
87
Just like Becky, Stephanie lost her best friend over how she chose to believe and live. Anne expressed some of her apprehension in sharing her beliefs too quickly with non-member friends or co-workers:
“If people are going to attack you right when you share something that is so precious to
you it is very difficult, but I think with a lot people you just have to share little bits of
yourself at a time you can’t just be like, these are all my beliefs, be overwhelmed and
hate me forever… I think generally by the time I have talked to a non-member friend
about my religion they already know me pretty well so they respect me. And they are just
like, ‘huh, that is interesting’ but it is not usually negative at that point. Yeah even if we
have different believe they are like, ‘cool, interesting and weird, but okay you do you.’”
(Anne, Interview).
Anne delays her disclosure to other people until they have time to get to know her for more than what they assume about her beliefs. The delay of disclosure was common in the interviews conducted for this thesis, Alfred speaks of how he also prefers to wait until people get to know him for more than the stereotypes of being a member of the Church:
“It comes to that [disclosing his religion] quite often just because I think they can kind of
tell, just because of my beliefs and I am not afraid to talk about it. I don’t go flaunt it out
there like, ‘Hey look at me, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.’ But conversations get started and I am not afraid to give them the truth… I have
seen people like, in specific when they get to know me, they just respect my beliefs more,
like cursing they know that when they are around me, that I don’t like to hear that stuff so
they kind of have a filter when they see me and they apologi e and stuff like that. So
people kind of learn to respect you and your religion once they get to know and respect
88
you. I kind of find that pretty cool.” (Alfred, Interview).
According to Alfred and his experience, once a conversation gets started he feels more comfortable sharing his religion, but also prefers to wait until he has built a relationship with people, prior to disclosing. Bob spoke of how he will avoid talking about his religion:
“Usually it [my religion] comes up for a reason like, people might notice I don’t drink, I
don’t swear I work in a place where every other word is a swear word, so I do sort of
stand out. So when people ask me why I don’t swear, why I don’t drink or whatever, I
usually tell them it’s by choice, I don’t usually say, ‘well it’s because I am a Mormon,
and we don’t believe in doing that.’ I am a member of the Church because of the things I
believe in and that is usually what I lead with when I have an introduction like that. So
when somebody finds out I am a member of the Church it is usually because of a value
that they noticed in me. So then I bring up, that I am a member of this Church, and this is
what I believe in and I am a member for this reasons. It is not that I don’t swear because I
am a member, I am a member because I believe in not swearing… I don’t necessarily
avoid talking about my religion but I don’t want to force it upon other people.” (Bob,
Interview).
In an effort to avoid being seen as pushy, Bob seemed to not want to make any first moves in disclosing his beliefs, instead waiting until being asked about it by those around him noticing how he may be different. Candie spoke about how it is much easier to speak to someone one on one rather than in a large group:
“Often, if the interaction is one-on-one, people are surprisingly mild about it. They see
the many similarities between whatever they believe and what they are told about LDS
89
beliefs. But when a reaction comes from a large group at once, it is amplified. The crowd
is quick to get angry and say ‘bigot!’” (Candie, Interview).
Candie’s perspective when people are surrounded by a large group it becomes harder to speak calmly and have a good interaction in disclosure. So a tactic to mitigate stigma for Candie would be to only disclose in one-on-one scenarios, instead of disclosing to a large group of people.
When Burt was asked why he believes members generally don’t share their religion with non-members at times he said:
“Because we don’t want conflict in our lives, I am sure that is the majority of the reason,
I don’t want to sociali e with you and then feel that I have to justify my life with you.
But, it is not difficult for me to talk to a stranger about the Church and my beliefs, it is
difficult for me to talk to somebody I know about my beliefs because there is more risk
that.” (Burt, Interview).
Burt expressed in this statement that for him, the closer he is to someone the harder it is to disclose his religion and have deep religious talks because he is afraid to lose that relationship, the risk for him is much greater.
Whether members are using a delayed or selective disclosure with friends or strangers they are using this tactic to mitigate the stigma that is placed upon them by other people who do not understand their faith. Delayed or selective disclosure allows the members to control a small portion of when and how people have the information that could be used to potentially stigmati e them. It also allows members to build a relationship with people before they disclose their religion. When a relationship is built, it is easier for people outside the religion to put aside their preconceived notions about people within the faith because they already know that Anne, Alfred,
90
Bob, Candie, Burt, and every other member of the Church are normal people and perhaps do not fit that preconceived mold of what it is to be a member. When disclosure goes poorly, it is painful to lose relationships for a part of your identity that is where the next two mitigating tactics become important.
Faith has the power to see members through a lot of trials including the physical persecution, and discursive violence talked about in more detail in Chapter One. Today members also use faith as a way to understand and deal with stigma. Anne spoke of her belief in modern revelation that helps her to do the things that cause her to stick out from the crowd:
“Tattoos, piercings [are] societal norms, it’s hard to stay above them…because it is
tempting and like cool, or portrayed as cool. You see people like leading these
extravagant lives and it looks fun, but you have to remember but those are material things
and they don’t matter at all…I believe that we have a prophet today that leads the Church
and um he received revelation from God and we’ve been told not to have multiple
piercings or tattoos so I am not going to.” (Anne, Interview).
As a result of Anne’s faith in modern revelation she is able to continue to do the things that allow people to see somethings that may be odd or different about her. Bob spoke about his experience in utili ing faith to encourage him to keep going:
“It is my choice to live [this] way, I know what I believe in to be right, and what I want to
do and they are allowed their own opinion. That is part of our belief in the Church and
what Jesus Christ teaches, that everybody has their own agency they can choose what
they want. I choose to follow my faith, if they choose to mock that, that is their choice, it
91
doesn’t really bother me. It would be nice if they understood my faith a little better before
they started mocking it, but I guess that’s where my role comes in to help them
understand if they are in that frame of mind. You can’t really change somebody’s mind if
they are not open to it” (Bob, Interview).
Lucy talked about how when she does the things that make her different she is blessed and it is worth being different:
“We were just having a conversation with a friend of mine and she said, ‘My son has
fallen away from the Church and he talks to his friends and they all say, ‘well why is tea
bad for you because tea is good for you and look at all these….’ And she had a great
answer to him she said, ‘It doesn’t matter, it is obedience and we need to just do things
sometimes just out of pure obedience whether we understand it or not.’… So I really
liked how she said that. And sometimes we understand them and we see the higher
meaning…But we don’t need that to be obedient, we don’t need to know [the reasons
why]…just even looking at a family perspective when you are teaching your children
they might be too young to understand the real reason but you still teach them and you
still want them to just obey you for safety or whatever. And eventually down the road
they will be like, ‘oh that is why mom said that!’…We are blessed for the things that we
do, but I think that when we are doing those things we are gaining a different perspective
so when bad things happen we can handle them differently because we know the truth, so
it might the same trial as somebody else, or a similar trial but perspective and how we go
about handling it is different.” (Lucy, Interview).
Lucy’s faith allows her to handle the trials and hardships that come into her life because she believes there is a direct response to having faith to do the things that are hard. She sees
92 blessings come in the form of being able to handle the hard things. Billy also spoke of how his faith leads him to obtain blessings:
“Heavenly Father has told us, “If you do these things, you are going to be blessed” and to
us it is a simple formula that if we do these things we will be blessed and we may not be
blessed right away or within a year, but we know that we will be blessed for doing it…”
(Billy, Interview).
Faith not only gives members comfort, and strength to do the things that cause them to stand out and be a target for stigma. It is also a strong reason that members in the early history of the
Church were able to go through so many hardships. It would be very difficult to lose your home more than once and be forced off your land more than once and then make the arduous trek across the continental United States into wild land if there was not faith guiding and sustaining you as you pushed forward. Faith leads many members in a strong belief in agency of others.
A large tenant within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the belief that every person has the right to choose. Stephanie spoke of how she feels when others do not agree with how she lives:
“They can make their own choices, I’m not their parent, I don’t live my life for them… It
is not part of their beliefs, and you can’t force your beliefs on someone else.” (Stephanie,
Interview).
Stephanie like others in this study felt a deep connection to agency. Stan also expressed his understanding that not everyone has to agree with him:
“I think that people choose to live the lives that live based on choices and decisions they
93
made throughout their lives and it doesn’t bother me when other people are not living the
way that I live.” (Stan, Interview).
Natalie described her feelings about agency and where she draws the line on where another person’s agency may cross the line:
“It’s their choice, everybody has a right to believe what they want to believe, and it is
their agency and their choice. I am not going to discriminate against them or anything
like that. I am still going to love them for who they are and what they bring to the table. It
doesn’t really bother me. Now if they start putting words in my mouth about the religion
and stuff like that I will, I have no hard feelings of putting them straight and letting them
know that, ‘No no no that is not true, that’s not correct.’” (Natalie, Interview).
For Natalie, once someone uses their agency to spread rumors, or stereotypes about the Church and part of her identity, she has to speak up. However; as long as that does not happen she doesn’t let their difference of opinion bother her. Billy expressed that members believe that agency is a gift from God:
“In the Church we are basically taught that everybody, we aren’t basically taught, we are
taught that everybody is a child of God everybody has their own free agency, everybody
gets to choose what they want to do.” (Billy, Interview).
As a result of everyone being a child of God, we do not have the right to take anyone’s free agency away. Maria spoke of how she feels when someone disagrees with her way of life:
“[When someone disagrees] it doesn’t matter. Of course as long as they don’t try to hurt
me in anyway. But I guess sometimes I feel bad for them, because they don’t understand
mainly and they don’t want to understand because they feel that they are right, which that
94
is their…agency and there is not much you can do. There are times where maybe I will
try to comment or explain a little bit but there is only so far that you can go for them to
understand your ways and your lifestyle.” (Maria, Interview).
Agency allows members to understand that no everyone will or needs to approve of what they choose to do. Emily tries to be respectful and give the same civility that she would like to be treated with:
“I try to accept their beliefs and try to be respectful of what they decide, I just have to
make sure that the way they are living isn’t going to affect me. If I allow their beliefs to
affect my beliefs in anyway. Then I know that I have something that I need to work on to
strengthen my testimony again…So I just try to be respectful of them, but try to also
make sure that they understand me and will be respectful of my beliefs as well.” (Emily,
Interview).
Bill spoke as well about trying to show the respect you would like to receive:
“You know I don’t I am a firm believer in free agency and I consider myself open-
minded. And I may empathi e with them and understand them and I hope they do the
same with me, but I am not going to judge them for it. That is their own free agency and
they can live how they want to live whether I agree with it or not. And I choose to either
continue to associate myself with them or not. I have friends that party and drink, they
know I don’t. So when we meet up for dinner it is not at a bar, it’s not at a bar and grill.
You know it is maybe Claim Jumpers or we will go have something to eat at a normal
restaurant. If they order a drink, I don’t judge them, that’s you and this is me, so I don’t
judge them.” (Bill, Interview).
95
A belief in agency allows Bill to be more accepting of others, and be an example to show others how to also be accepting of him and how he chooses to live his life in the best way he knows how. Agency gives members a way to understand why people choose different lifestyles, and paths. That it is important to allow people to make their own decisions and choices. Members are invited to make choices for themselves and seek out their own testimonies, this is an opportunity members strive to give all people as well. As a direct result of members believing in agency, they also believe and desire to be allowed to believe and live in the way they choose. The Church has such a belief stated in one of the Articles of Faith, which give an overview of a few basic beliefs:
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own
conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what
they may (Articles of Faith 1:11).
By utili ing the mitigating tactics of discursive strategies, selective disclosure, relying on faith, and finally their belief in agency; members are able to not only handle stigma but retain their positive identity in spite of the stigma. The isolation felt as a result of stigma built upon misconceptions and controversy that bring people to attack a very integral part of the identity of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is lessened due to the application of these mitigating tactics. Members of the Church seemed to understand that stigma exists around them, but most of the participants spoke of how they used their faith to help them.
96
While working in a warehouse during a summer between semesters in my undergraduate work, I became aware of a coworkers upcoming birthday and her love for homemade bread. I decided to make a loaf of homemade bread and surprise her for her birthday. As I gave her the bread, she beamed and thanked me profusely, then asked if it was homemade, to which I answered it was.
She then exclaimed, “What are ya, Mormon?!” a little shocked, I said, “Actually, yes, I am a
Mormon.” She then began to ask questions about my underwear and if I wore the “magic underwear” a statement that is highly offensive to a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Shortly, after my boss pulled me into her office and told me not to worry, she had a friend who was also Mormon, then proceeded to ask me about if I had gone to the Temple and if I did wear the Garment. Later that day, news spread around the warehouse that I am a
Member of the Church and as a result, two women came up to me towards the end of the day and said, “We heard you are a Mormon, you aren’t married, so does that mean you are a virgin?
Also, what are your thoughts on abortion?”
I share the experience above as an example that people who do not conform or who do not fit in with what society deems as “normal” are often looked as “other”. When individuals are
“othered” it becomes acceptable to ask questions and say things that would normally not be said in polite conversation, or to those who are categorized as “normal”. This is true for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The beliefs, roles, and traditions of the members of the Church are more often than not seen by those outside the Church as peculiar and as such, the members are deemed strange, odd, or weird. As a result of this “othering” the members of the
Church are stigmati ed. Stigma operates in different ways for different individuals, depending on
97 other social identity categories. As such, it is important to take an intersectional lens to study stigma. In this chapter, I present the data to the following research questions:
How do women within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
experience stigma?
Is there additional stigma placed on women? Through the course of this chapter, Stigma theory and Feminist standpoint theory will be used as discussed in Chapter two of this work and the findings from this study will be presented and discussed.
Within my data analysis three themes became most evident. First, there is a stereotype that women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints only wanted to have children and nothing more. A second theme and stereotype is that women in the Church don’t want or have careers outside of being a mother and homemaker. The final theme and stereotype is that these women I interviewed have experienced is that women in the Church engage in plural marriage or polygamy and only live to serve their husbands.
While speaking with Natalie during the interview she told me of experiences she most often has when those outside the Church find out she is a member, in describing common encounter with those outside the Church she said:
‘So um how many kids do you want to have? Like 12?’ And I am like, ‘No, I don’t want
to have 12 I only want to have 2…thank you.’ So they also construe that whole thing of
we are huge on families so it’s like we are just going to reproduce like jackrabbits and
that’s not the case. (Natalie, Interview).
98
As Natalie explains above, people who do not share her faith, make assumptions about how many children she wants and list a high number, to which she has a built in response that she keeps readily available as this encounter does not only happen every once in a while. Two other participants also expressed their experiences with people asking how many children are in their immediate family and how many children they themselves have had or would like to have:
“That we will grow up stay at home, pop out seven children…“how many kids are in your
family, six?!” cause we are known for having big families” (Anne, Interview)
“A stereotype might be that you know that you have ten to fifteen kids, the whole, ‘Well,
she is LDS look at all the kids she’s got’ I think that’s the stereotype a lot of non-
members or not of our faith belief, ‘Why do you have so many kids, be responsible, you
don’t need that many!’” (Becky, Interview).
Layla expressed that people around her automatically assume that she will, “only get married and have several children” (Layla, Interview) Those who are asking these questions of how many children did your parents have and the subsequent surprise and shock about Anne’s parents having six children creates stigma. In that one moment, those asking the question push themselves above this participant by implying that it is not normal to have that large of a family, and surely Anne will have just as large of a family. When in reality Anne and every other participant I interviewed each had different goals, experiences, and expectations of what they would like their own life to look like. None of them would fit neatly and nicely into a standardi ed box.
Another stigmati ing box that is often placed on women within the Church is the idea
99 that women within the Church do not want or, have careers outside of the home. This comes from the assumption and stigma that all women within the Church are “old fashioned” as Layla and Kleo pointed out in their interviews:
“Most often I’ve seen and heard the stereotype that LDS women are very homely, aren’t
into makeup, hair dyeing, and stylish clothing. Some may live like that but it’s not the
norm.” (Layla, Interview)
“I mean I have heard stereotypes for like Utah, like big hair and makeup going on and big
curls but I don’t know sometimes that we don’t show our ankles or our wrists, or that we
can’t dance stuff like that. I am just like, ‘no, here is my wrist, here is my ankle, and I can
dance.’” (Kleo, Interview).
An experience I had while a junior in High School, highlights the above statement from Layla.
Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is expected that we dress modestly. This means no tank tops, or above the knee shorts among other suggestions for modest dress. During high school it became more apparent to my peers who were not of my faith that I was dressing differently from the majority of my school. This was not a problem until a young man in the same year as me told me that I dressed like a mom. This statement looking back on it now doesn’t hold as much weight as it did when I was sixteen years old. At sixteen, it was a devastating comment that I thought of most every day while getting dressed. I started to feel self- conscious in my own clothing, in that singular moment that this boy most likely does not even remember; I was othered. I was told I was not like those in my peer group, it was a feeling of being alone.
Candie talks of her experiences with those outside the Church and how they view her work within the home as well as starting a piano lessons business:
100
“Well I feel like one thing people assume about me is that I am going to be a stay at home
mom, and my husband is going to work full time. Because of the value LDS people place
on family, and what we believe about people's roles in their families, most LDS women
don't plan on having a career. My motherhood does come first for me, but in reality, once
my husband is out of school and working, I plan on continuing to grow my piano studio
and eventually turn it into an LLC business and get some commercial teaching space.
Sometimes people assume music is a hobby for me, but I don't feel like they'd think that
if I were a man.” (Candie , Interview).
Layla, Tan and Anne all have experienced some of the whisperings that women within the
Church are expected to do:
“There’s also the stereotype that LDS women don’t work outside the home, get a college
education, and only get married...” (Layla, Interview).
“People think that woman are too quick to give up career and school to become a wife
and mother. I think people think that the role of a stay at home mom is less important
than it is.” (Tan, Interview)
“So, most people within the Church it is very, very common for the woman to be a stay
at home mom. And so when like even those outside the Church find out what I am
studying and what I want to be, they are surprised because of the culture surrounding the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they expect us to be that stay at home mom.
And while I will gladly have kids someday I don’t want to be a stay at home mom. I want
my family and everything but I also want to be able to work, and learn, and grow.”’
(Stephanie, Interview)
101
These statements were made to three women who are college educated and working outside the home. These women by definition do not fit the stereotype that all women in the Church are only able to be stay at home mothers and not have a career outside their homes. This assumption about the Women within the Church harms those who do choose to both stay within the home and be a stay at home mother whose main and only job is to raise her children and it also equally harms those who choose to work outside the home. Some of the statements above are hurtful to the women who choose to stay home, “Why are you going to college? You’re just going to be a stay at home mom.” (Anne, Interview, emphasis added). In this one statement the person outside the Church has not only suggested Anne shouldn’t waste her time in college, educating herself, but that she was just going to be a stay at home mom, belittling the job of raising a family either way Anne should choose, this person has already found a fault in her choice.
The next stereotype women within the Church experience is that not only do they not have careers outside the home but they also are only to do what their husbands say, and they are open to plural marriage (polygamy). Anne spoke of her experiencing this specific stereotype as she spoke of what people outside the religion believe about women within it:
“I think, people expect that we [women] are subservient that we [women] don’t have a
voice; that we [women] just believe in doing what men tell us to…Guys have the
priesthood but we do too, like through them already so I don’t know what they were
fighting for. I feel like we definitely have a voice in everything, I’ve never felt shut down
or diminished because I am a woman…ever.”(Anne, Interview).
“I think they think that we are oppressed or we are just to be in the home and not
progress I guess I have seen that. And because we do not have leadership of like prophet
102
or priesthood…” (Maria, Interview).
“…I have heard this, that we are submissive and we can’t hold the priesthood so we are
lesser in the hierarchy of the Church and it is completely opposite of what we believe in
the Church, but outside people are like, “well, you are just treated differently than the
men” I haven’t really felt it, like heard it directly but it is out there.” (Lucy, Interview).
The prevalent thought that women within the Church are silenced and subject to the men in the
Church is not uncommon. I too have been asked if it bothered me to be considered a second class citi en to men, to which I answered that women within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints are held in high regard and treated with the utmost respect. Often accompanying the idea that women are not as valued as men within the Church the stereotype that those within the
Church practice polygamy or plural marriage. This practice was ended in 1890:
Today, the practice of polygamy is strictly prohibited in the Church, as it has been for
over a century. Polygamy — or more correctly polygyny, the marriage of more than one
woman to the same man — was a part of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints for a half-century. Today Church members honor and respect the
sacrifices made by those who practiced polygamy in the early days of the Church.
However, the practice is banned in the Church, and no person can practice plural
marriage and remain a member. The standard doctrine of the Church is monogamy, as it
always has been, as indicated in the Book of Mormon (Jacob, chapter 2): “Wherefore, my
brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man
among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none. … For if I will,
saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they
shall hearken unto these things.” (Polygamy, 2018).
103
This practice that ended 128 years ago is still what those outside the Church believe about hose within it. Showing how influential the “normals” can be in creating a hegemonic ideology and
“othering” of people who some are othering for a practice that has long since been discontinued.
It also points to how those who are “othered” are not given the chance to speak their reality and their truth from their own position. Natalie and Layla both have noticed this stereotype as well:
“The one that I get a lot is “are you comfortable with more than one woman in the
room?” And I am just like, “what? What do you mean by that?” and they are like, well
you’re Mormon right? And I am just like, “well, um yeah that’s the slang name for us but
I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I’m Christian” and they
are just like, “oh so, if I were to marry you, I could have like six other wives, and you
would be okay with that?” and I am just like, “um no no no no no!”, yeah um
polygamy…so um that concept is the main one that I get a lot.” (Natalie , Interview).
“We’re sometimes mistaken to be in a plural marriage...” (Layla, Interview).
“…Polygamy there is also that stereotype that um, the men within the Church have many
wives still, and so that is another stereotype for women, I have seen people ask, “So you
are gonna share a husband with someone?” and I am like, “No, no I am not”. (Emily,
Interview).
All of these stereotypes have been found common in each of the interviews I completed, supporting that these stereotypes are prevalent and widely accepted as truth. So what does this mean for women who are members as well as those who are not within the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints?
The danger of solely relying on stereotypes, terministic screens (Burke, 1965), dominant media sources and stigma is that people in differing groups from our own are placed into boxes
104 within individuals’ minds, impressions, and thoughts about those who are different. Even if those in the “other” group defy our expectations and claim to be outside the box they have been placed within the mind they are unable to move outside of those restrictive assumptions. That is, until the time is taken to look deeper than the first available source of information and reference.
Many women within the Church hold careers outside the home, many stay in the home as a stay at home mother, both of which are choices that are left up to the individual person. Yet, if individuals continue to promote and allow for only the hegemonic ideology of what it means to not only be a member of the Church but also what it means to be a woman in the Church people will never be able to have an open and enlightening conversation with each other. When individuals are open to people who are different, society gains a greater understanding and knowledge that could not have obtained otherwise. Until people are able to look at each other and appreciate the many differences society will remain in the rut of stigma. When society can learn to look at difference as an opportunity to learn then perhaps real learning and true understanding can take place:
For difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities
between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic...Only within that interdependency
of different strengths, acknowledged and equal, can the power to seek new ways to
actively ‘be’ in the world generate, as well as the courage and sustenance to act where
there are no charters...... Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our
personal power is forged.” (Lorde, p. 26)
When people allow others the opportunity to speak their reality and truth, individuals can gain knowledge not only about the world around them, but themselves as well. Giving those the opportunity to share their experience, like women in the Church, people give themselves a better
105 picture of reality and a more complete knowledge than what society started with before, people can now see more of the pu le. Women in the Church have a unique viewpoint as a result of, as bell hooks said, “living…on the edge-we developed a particular way of seeing reality. We looked both from the outside and in from the inside out…we understood both” (hooks, cited in Hill
Collins, 1986, p.S15). Women in the Church have that unique knowledge that comes from being an “other”.
Women of the Church are encouraged by leaders of the Church to do what is best for their families, whether that be working outside the home or staying within. As Barbra B. Smith said in the April 1982 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in her talk entitled, “Her Children Arise Up, and Call Her Blessed”:
…each woman can walk with confidence, knowing what is right for her. There is
no one way that will fit all circumstances. Some women must come to one solution and
some to another. (Smith, 1982).
This type of counsel is not uncommon within the Church. The women are instructed to do what is best for themselves and their own families; each of which have individual needs and difficulties. By ascribing to the stereotype that women are wasting their time in college, those outside the Church have not been listening to those within it. The leaders of the Church have often counseled its members to gain as much education as possible:
Because of our sacred regard for each human intellect, we consider the obtaining of an
education to be a religious responsibility. Yet opportunities and abilities differ. I believe
that in the pursuit of education, individual desire is more influential than institution, and
personal faith more forceful than faculty. Our Creator expects His children everywhere to
106
educate themselves. He issued a commandment: “Seek ye diligently and teach one
another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek
learning, even by study and also by faith.” (D&C 88:118.) And He assures us that
knowledge acquired here will be ours forever. (See D&C 130:18–19.) (Nelson, 1992).
As seen in the quote above from a leader of the Church, education has always been promoted and seen as vitally important. Not only education, but using that education to better the lives of others around you. Women I interviewed combated this stigma by politely correcting those who were contributing to perpetuating stigma, they also chose who they would share their faith and views with. Anne spoke of how these stereotypes came from more “skeptical acquaintances” (Anne,
Interview) and she has learned to only share with those she thinks will be understanding and kind about her faith.
As already discussed, polygamy has been long discontinued. Yet it is still a prevalent thought that all members of the Church practice it. This stereotype comes from people being incorrectly identified as members of the Church when they are not members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most often this can be seen in media. This supports the claim that terministic screens contribute to hegemonic ideology and as a result stigma is applied to those who do not “fit” with the “norm”, even if those the stigma is being placed on are not engaging in the “unfitting” or “abnormal” act. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints do not practice polygamy, but because the voice of the “others” is so expertly hushed, the stereotype remains.
Multiple participants expressed within their interviews that they have had a lot of friend’s exit their lives because they are members. As a result, Natalie has learned that only “true” friends
107 will accept you for who you are and not try to change you, or “save” you from things they do not agree with or understand. Many members within the Church talk about relationships that have been lost due to the unwillingness of the “normals” to hear a differing viewpoint. Growing up within the Church, it was often talked about that people not accepting us for who we are will happen in our lives.
The women interviewed spoke of how it is unfortunate that these interactions happen, but they just try to be kind and move forward. However; without speaking out about how these stereotypes contribute to stigma, we do a disservice to ourselves and those around us.
In order to enact change, “normals” have to been made aware of the stereotypes and light needs to shine on the stigma that members feel. It must also be taken into account that women within the Church seem to experience specific stereotypes simply for the intersection of being a woman and being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Out of the 24 interviews I did for this study 15 were with women, I do believe there is validity and value in their experiences and stories. Stigma creates ideology and without addressing stigma it will be near impossible to think about changing ideology. Right now the ideology about women in the Church is one filled with stereotypes of only wanting to be wives and mothers, not being able to pursue or want to pursue a career, and being subservient to men.
These stereotypes are dangerous when those outside the culture take them as the only truth for those within the Church.
During my research I noticed that members use strategies to navigate stigma. They have learned hard lessons from people leaving them, and having to let go of others due to a difference in belief and understanding. This chapter has been interesting to explore as ideas I had going into
108 the research were challenged and new experiences were brought forth that gave way to wonderful interactions with other women in the Church.
This research is important in answering the questions of: how do women within the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experience stigma? Is there additional stigma placed on women? Women in the Church experience stigma through questions of stereotype and preconceived ideas about what they are “allowed” to do. When in fact, each woman I spoke with has made individual choices for herself. It has been shown here that intersectionality is important and vital to understanding people and speaking with them. Women in the Church experience things differently in response to the fact that they are women. They have different experiences even from the men in the Church. Women in the Church also have very different experiences than other women who are not in the Church and are not “othered” due to their faith.
When individuals do not take the time to really try to understand different groups around them, society loses out on so many different viewpoints, people cheat themselves out of knowledge they do not have access to because they are around the same people, giving them the same ideas they have always had. When individuals interact with people who are different and experience different things their knowledge base grows as their experience base has also grown. If individuals are to make changes and reduce stigma the first step must be to stop making assumptions and start asking meaningful questions in an effort to really learn.
109
This work is certainly not complete. There is much more that can and must be done. For instance, a future study should include the thoughts of non-members about the stigma that they may be perpetuating or how they feel about members. A limitation in the media analysis of this thesis includes the singular nature of one newspaper that printed an obituary of President
Monson. It may have skewed my results that the feelings expressed in the New York Times was only representative of the East Coast of the United States. Further work would include more accounts from many other newspapers around the country to verify that the treatment within the media in this particular case was not a singular event.
This thesis supports Goffman’s (1963) stigma theory especially in regard to tribal stigma.
Believing in the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints carries with it, stigma. This stigma has been felt since the very beginning of the Church. Stigma and the resulting “othering” brought men and women to form mobs and terrorize members of the
Church. Stigma caused a government to turn on people it was charged to protect in an extermination order. Stigma allowed a reputable newspaper to print a highly offensive article with the title of obituary for a man who was so loved by the members he represented. Stigma effects men and women within the Church today in our local area. This stigma was seen in the interviews conducted with 24 individuals who live here in the Western United States. This thesis and study was not done in some far off land, with people who you may never meet. The stigma shown and displayed in this thesis is possibly being felt by your neighbors, your children’s friends, and your colleagues.
110
This feeling of stigma and “otherness” is affecting real people in the community. As well as within the entire nation as the New York Times is a nationally recogni ed news outlet. The stigma discussed within this thesis is not being felt by some abstraction, it is being felt and experienced by real people. People who have been dealing with stigma and violence since their very beginning. While reading these stories, the invitation was given to place yourself as much as possible in the positions of those whose stories were shared, just as feminist standpoint theory posits, that everyone has different experiences and those differences cause us to view the world differently. By taking Linda Alcoff’s (1991) challenge to speak with others as much as possible, people are able to try to understand other’s viewpoints.
The effects of stigma are real, stigma that is placed because of misunderstandings, misconceptions, and controversies surrounding a large portion of the identity, which is not a negotiable part of a person’s makeup. Members are feeling isolated because of this stigma. While members have developed many strategies for dealing with stigma and mitigating the affects.
Everyone can do things to help.
That ability for everyone to have the choice to help, is why this work is important and is worthwhile. If people don’t know there is stigma happening how can anyone be expected to help? But everyone can find ways to alleviate stigma. First, before making firm opinions about a group of people or about members, get to know them. Talking to the group individuals are trying to understand, a quick search on the web is not sufficient research. Actually, speak with a few members of the group. As Jimi said in his interview:
“People outside of the faith don’t understand the faith…So one of the analogies I use, is
if I was interested in a pickup truck and I wanted to buy a Chevy but you drive a Ford, I
am not gonna ask you about Chevy because you are going to say they are garbage and
111
you’d never want to do it, I want to talk to somebody that has experience in that. And that
is the same with the Church, if I want to know something about the LDS Church I am not
going to go to an agnostic, and say, “Hey what do you think about this Church?”… “Oh
those guys they are polygamist!” you know no they are not, but people still believe that.”
(Jimi, Interview).
When looking to get to know someone or a group of people, look past the terministic screens
(Burke, 1969) and look at the situation with new eyes and with the information you have personally gathered from reliable sources. All people can help alleviate stigma, language is powerful and the words we use to describe people and groups has an immense influence on how individuals and society as a whole views these “othered” groups. For members of the Church, referring to the Church as its actual name, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instead of a nickname or historical slur is a start. When individuals hear someone spreading disparaging rumors, or misconceptions stop them, and gently teach the correct truth. Perhaps if there is a member having to stand alone in their faith, be the person who stands up for them.
I do not pretend to have all the answers about how best to attempt to bridge the gap between the Church population and those who have enacted and performed physical and continue in discursive violence against the Church. However, just because I may not have all the answers does mean that it is any less of a worthy goal to try to create that open and honest space where dialogue can occur.
Perhaps one day, I will be able to take my future family to the Salt Lake Temple square without having to tell them to just ignore the people shouting and keep walking. Maybe one day, my children will not feel as though they are not accepted simply because they believe differently than others. Just because we believe different things, does not make us or anyone else bad, or any
112 less of a person, it just makes us different. To create this future I hope for, the discursive violence must end. That begins with each reader taking the time to look deeper at and speak with those who are termed as “others”. Rather than simply accepting mainstream ideas as truth, solely because they are the ideas portrayed in media.
A way for this future to begin, means calling for more intersectional analyses of stigma which should include religion. Studies on stigma have done great work in many areas, however; the study of stigma upon members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not been an area of focus. This study contributes to this area on religious stigma in the lives of the members of the Church. By understanding that stigma is being perpetuated in many aspects and areas of individuals lives, people can learn and appreciate others situations and perspectives in a more complete way.
A second way that the future can look better and brighter for members experiencing stigma due to their beliefs is a less biased media portrayal of who members are and what they believe. I urge members of the media to speak with members of the groups being spoken about.
Media can and should be portraying truth instead of perpetuating rumor and speculation.
Individuals can make changes as well, as it is also individuals who are making inappropriate comments, and treating members differently. This change can take place right now, in every person’s life. If individuals would make the decision to look past the differences they immediately see and seek to understand those around them.
In the course of this thesis many things have been discussed, including the turbulent history of the Church, the persecution of its members, the media’s inaccurate portrayal of the members and the Church. How members feel, experience and mitigate stigma in various ways including, feeling the isolation stigma brings. Using discursive strategies, selective disclosure,
113 relying on faith, and finally their belief in agency to help them cope with stigma. Every person has the agency to inflict more pain and stigma, but every person also has the agency to reduce stigma and to spread understanding and courage. My parting thought, is it is all your choice, as we all are agents to act, and not to be acted upon (2 Nephi 2:14 The Book of Mormon: Another
Testament of Jesus Christ).
114
Alcoff, L. (1991). The problem of speaking for others. Cultural Critique, 20, 5-32.
Allen, M. (2017). The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods (1st ed.). US:
Sage Publications Inc.
Al-Mahadin, S. (2015). Do muslim women need saving? Making (non) sense of FEMEN's
ethico-aesthetics in the arab world. Women's Studies in Communication, 38(4), 388-392.
DOI: 10.1080/07491409.2015.1088289.
Arrington, L. J. and Bitton, D. 1992. The Mormon experience: A history of the Latter-day
SaintsUrbana: University of Illinois Press.
Articles of Faith. (n.d.). Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/a-
of-f/1.1-13.
Augoustinos, M., & Ahrens, C. (1994). Stereotypes and prejudice: The Australian experience.
British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 125-141.
Baker, S., & Campbell, J. (2010). Mitt romney's religion: A five factor model for analysis of
media representation of mormon identity. Journal of Media and Religion, 9(2), 99-121.
doi:10.1080/15348421003738801.
Baugh, A. L. (1999). Joseph Young's affidavit of the massacre at Haun's Mill. BYU Studies
Quarterly, 38(1), 16.
Becker, E. (2007). The denial of death. Simon and Schuster.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1991). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the
sociology of knowledge (No. 10). Penguin Uk.
Blithe, S. (2015). Gender equality and work-life balance: Glass handcuffs and working men in
115
the US. Routledge.
Blithe, S. J. & Wolfe, A. (2016). Embracing opportunities for work-life “balance” in legal
sex work: Managing stigma and lockdown. Human Relations. doi: 0018726716674262.
Blithe, S. J., & Lanterman, J. L. (2017). Camouflaged Collectives: Managing Stigma and
Identity at Gun Events. Studies in social justice, 11(1).
Boggs, L. (1838). Governor Boggs’ Extermination Order [Document Scan]. Retrieved from
https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/findingaids/miscMormonRecords/eo
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990a. The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990b. In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Stanford:
Stanford University Press.
Brockmeier, J., & Carbaugh, D. (2001). Introduction. In J. Brockmeier & D. Carbaugh (Eds.),
Narrative and identity: Studies in autobiography, self and culture (pp.1-22). Amsterdam:
John Benjamins.
Bruner, J. (1997). A narrative model of self-construction. In J. G. Snodgrass & R.L. Thompson
(Ed.), The self across psychology: Self recognition, self-awareness, and self concept (pp.
145-161). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Bruner, J., & Kalmar, D. A. (1998). Narrative and metanarrative in the construction of self. In M.
Ferrari & R.J. Sternberg (Eds.), Self-awareness: Its nature and development (pp.308-
331). New York: Guilford Press.
Buddenbaum, J. M., & Mason, D. L. (Eds.). (2000). Readings on religion as news. Wiley-
Blackwell.
Bullis, C. (1993). Organi ational sociali ation research: Enabling, constraining, and shifting
perspectives. Communications Monographs, 60(1), 10-17.
116
Bullock, K., & Garland, J. (2018). Police officers, mental (ill-)health and spoiled identity.
Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18(2), 173-189. doi:10.1177/1748895817695856.
Burke, K. (1965, July). Terministic screens. In Proceedings of the American Catholic
philosophical association (Vol. 39, pp. 87-102).
Burke, K. (1969a). A grammar of motives. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Burke, K. (1969b). A rhetoric of motives (Vol. 178). University of California Press.
Bushman, Richard L. 2007. What's new in Mormon history: A response to Jan Shipps. Journal of
American History 94(2):517–21.
California General Election. (2008). Retrieved February 25, 2019, from
http://vigarchive.sos.ca.gov/2008/general/title-sum/prop8-title-sum.htm
Carrillo Rowe, A. (2008). Power Lines: On the Subject of Feminist Alliances. Durham: Duke
University Press.
Church Educational System (2004). Presidents of the Church: student manual. Salt Lake City,
UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cilli a, C. December 9 2008. The rising: Jon Huntsman, Jr. WashingtonPost.com: The Fix
December 9, Retrieved December, 13, 2018, from
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/12/the_ rising_jon_huntsman_jr.html
Cloud, D. L. (1996). Hegemony or concordance? The rhetoric of tokenism in “Oprah” Oprah
rags‐to‐riches biography. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 13(2), 115-137.
Cloud, D.L., & Gunn, J. (2011). Introduction: W(h)ither ideology? Western journal of
Communication, 75(4), 407-420.
Cohler, B.J. (1991). The life story and the study of resilience and response to adversity. Journal
of Narrative and Life History, 1, 169-200.
117
Collier, M. J., & Thomas, M. (1988). Cultural identity: An interpretive perspective. Theories in
intercultural communication, 99, 122.
Collins, P. H. (1986). Learning from the outsider within: The sociological significance of black
feminist thought. Social Problems, 33(6), S14-S32. doi:10.1525/sp.1986.33.6.03a00020.
Corrigan, P. W., & Penn, D. L. (1999). Lessons from social psychology on discrediting
psychiatric stigma. American Psychologist, 54(9), 765.
Deet , S. (2004). Critical theory. In S. May & D. K. Mumby (Eds.), Engaging organizational
communication theory & research (pp. 85-111). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Devine, P. G. (1988). Stereotype assessment: Theoretical and methodological issues. Unpublished
manuscript, University of Wisconsin- Madison.
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5-18.
Devine, P. G. (1995). Prejudice and out-group perception. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social
psychology (pp. 467-524). New York: McGraw-Hill. Domino, G. (1983).
Dobrat , B. A. (2001). The role of religion in the collective identity of the white racialist
movement. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(2), 287-302.
Elwood, W. N., Greene, K., & Carter, K. K. (2003). Gentlemen don't speak: Communication
norms and condom use in bathhouses. Journal of Applied Communication Research,
31(4),277-297.
Escheated Mormon property; the Supreme Court wants congress to dispose of it. 1891. The New
York Times, May 26 5.Retrieved March 17, 2009, from https://www.nytimes.com/1891/05/26/archives/escheated-mormon-property-the- supreme-
court-wants-congress-to.html.
118
Esses, V. M., Haddock, G., & Zanna, M. P. (1994). The role of mood in the expression of
intergroup stereotypes. In M. P. Zanna & J. M. Olson (Eds.), The psychology of
prejudice: The Ontario experience (Vol. 7, pp. 77-101). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Figure 1. Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. National Park Service, 2019,
https://www.nps.gov/mopi/planyourvisit/images/mopi_trailmap.jpg?maxwidth=1200&m
axheight=1200&autorotate=false labeled for reuse.
Flake, Kathleen. 2004. The politics of American religious identity: The seating of Senator Reed
Smoot, Mormon apostle. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Foss, K. A., & Littlejohn, S. W. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory. Thousand Oaks,
Calif: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Futrell, R., & Simi, P. (2004). Free spaces, collective identity, and the persistence of US white
power activism. Social Problems, 51(1), 16-42.
Gans, H. J. (1979). Symbolic ethnicity: The future of ethnic groups and cultures in America.
Ethnic and racial studies, 2(1), 1-20.
Garrison, J., & Lin, J. (2008, November 07). Prop. 8 protesters target Mormon temple in
Westwood. Retrieved February 25, 2019, from https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-
protest7-2008nov07-story.html.
Gass, R.H., & Seiter, J.S. (2007). Persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining, 3rd. ed.
Boston: Pearson. [Chp. 4].
Gecas, Viktor, and Michael L. Schwalbe. 1983. “Beyond the Looking-Glass Self: Social
Structure and Efficacy-Based Self-Esteem.” Social Psychology Quarterly, 46:77–88.
Gecas, Viktor. 1982. “The Self-Concept.” Annual Review of Sociology 8:1–33.
Givens, T. (2013). The viper on the hearth: Mormons, myths, and the construction of heresy.
119
Oxford University Press.
Godfrey, M.C., McBride, S.W., Smith, A.D., & Blythe, C.J. The Joseph Smith Papers,
Documents, Vol. 7: September 1839 - January 1841. The Church Historian's Press , 2018.
Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identities. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall.
Hales, S. A., Goldberg, J., Larson, M. L., Maki, E. P., Harper, S. C., & Farnes, S. (2018). Saints:
The story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days (Vol. 1) (M. J. Grow, R. E.
Turley Jr., S. C. Harper, S. A. Hales, J. L. Woodworth, L. O. Tait, et al., Eds.). Salt Lake
City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Hamilton, D. L., & Sherman, J. W. (1994). Stereotypes. In R. S. Wyer & T. K. Srull (Eds.),
Handbook of social cognition (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1-68). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of
partial perspective. Feminist studies, 14(3), 575-599.
Harding, S. (1997). Comment on Hekman's" truth and method: feminist standpoint theory
revisited": whose standpoint needs the regimes of truth and reality?. Signs: Journal of
Women in Culture and Society, 22(2), 382-391.
Harding, S. G. (1998). Is science multicultural?: Postcolonialisms, feminisms, and
epistemologies. Indiana University Press.
Harter, L. M., Japp, P. M., & Beck, C. S. (Eds.). (2006). Narratives, health, and healing:
Communication theory, research, and practice. Routledge.
Hartsock, N. C. (1983). The feminist standpoint: Developing the ground for a specifically
feminist historical materialism. In Discovering Reality (pp. 283-310). Springer,
120
Dordrecht.
Hartsock, N. C. M. (1998). The feminist standpoint revisited and other essays. Boulder, Colo:
Westview Press
Hecht, M. (1993). 2002 - A research odyssey - toward the development of a communication-
theory of identity. Communication Monographs, 60(1), 76-82.
doi:10.1080/03637759309376297.
Herman, Nancy J. (1993). “Return to Sender: Reintegrative Stigma-Management Strategies of
Ex-Psychiatric Patients.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 22 (3): 155–85.
Herman-Kinney, N. J., & Kinney, D. A. (2013). Sober as deviant: The stigma of sobriety and
how some college students “stay dry” on a “wet” campus. Journal of contemporary
ethnography, 42(1), 64-103.
Hilton, J. L., & von Hippel, W. (1996). Stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 237-271.
Hinckley, G. B. (1992, April). "A Chosen Generation". Retrieved February 26, 2019, from
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1992/04/a-chosen-
generation?lang=eng&query=peculiar people.
Hinckley, G. B. (1997). The Mormon Trail: A crusade for truth and goodness. Vital Speeches of
the Day, 63(17), 542 hooks, b., 1952. (2000). Feminist theory: From margin to center (Second ed.). Cambridge, MA:
South End Press.
Hudson, B. A. (2008). Against all odds: A consideration of core-stigmati ed organi ations.
Academy of Management Review, 33(1), 252-266.
Jones, M. (2018, January, 8). New York Times obtis editor responds to criticism of President
121
Monson’s obituary. Deseret News. Retrieved from
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900007122/new-york-times-obits-editor-responds-
to-criticism-of-president-monsons-obituary.html
Judd, C. M., & Park, B. (1993). Definition and assessment of accuracy in social stereotypes.
Psychological Review, 100, 109-128.
Jussim, L., Nelson, T. E., Manis, M., & Soffin, S. (1995). Prejudice, stereotypes, and labeling
effects: Sources of bias in person perception. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 68, 228—246.
Krueger, J. (1996). Personal beliefs and cultural stereotypes about racial characteristics. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 536- 548.
Larson, C. (2013). Persuasion: Reception and responsibility, 13th ed. Boston, MA: Cengage
Learning [Chp. 7].
LDS Church. (March 27 2007). March 27, Invitation to journalists. News release. Retrieved
December13, 2018, from http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnews room/eng/commentary/an-
invitation-to journalists.
Levine, T. R. (2014). Encyclopedia of Deception. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE
Publications, Inc.
Linde, C. (1993). Life stories: The creation of coherence. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lorde, A. (1984). The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. In Sister outsider
(pp. 25-28). Berkeley: The Crossing Press.
Lugones, M. C., & Spelman, E. V. (1983, January). Have we got a theory for you! Feminist
theory, cultural imperialism and the demand for ‘the woman's voice’. In Women's Studies
122
International Forum (Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 573-581). Pergamon.
Mauss, Armand L. 1994. The angel and the beehive: The Mormon struggle with assimilation.
Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
McDonald, J. (2015). Organi ational communication meets queer theory: Theori ing relations of
‘difference’ differently. Communication Theory, 25, 310-329.
McFadden, R. D. (a) (2018, January, 3). Thomas Monson, President of the Mormon Church,
Dies at 90. The New York Times, pp. A20. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/
2018/01/03/obituaries/thomas-monson-dies.html
McFadden, R. D. (b) (2018, January, 3). Thomas Monson, President of the Mormon Church,
Dies at 90 Comments. The New York Times, pp. A20. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/ obituaries/thomas-monson-dies.html
Middleton, D. & Edwards, D. (1990). Collective remembering. London: Sage.
Monson, T. S. (2009, October). The Joy of Service. New Era. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from
https://www.lds.org/new-era/2009/10/the-joy-of-service?lang=eng
Monson, T.S. (2008, November). Finding joy in the journey. Ensign. Retrieved April 6, 2018,
from https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/11/finding-joy-in-the journey?lang=eng
Montgomery, B.M. (1992). Communication as the interface between couples and culture. In S.
Deet (Ed.), Communication yearbook 15 (pp.476-508). Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Mullen, B., Ro ell, D., & Johnson, C. (1996). The phenomenology of being in a group:
Complexity approaches to operationali ing cognitive representation. In J. L. Nye & A.
M. Brower (Eds.), What's social about social cognition? (pp. 205-229). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Nelson, R. M. (1992). Where Is Wisdom? Retrieved December 4, 2018, from
123
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1992/10/where-is-wisdom?lang=eng
Nelson, R. M. (2018, October). The Correct Name of the Church. Retrieved December 14, 2018,
from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/the-correct-name-of-the-
Church?lang=eng
Nelson, W. O. (1992). Anti-Mormon Publications. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1.
Pew Research Center. 2012. Mormons in America: Certain in their beliefs, uncertain of their
place in society. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/01/Mormons-in-America.pdf
Pew Research Center. 2014. How Americans feel about religious groups. Washington, DC: Pew
Research Center. http://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/07/Views-of-Religious-Groups-
07-27-full-PDF-for-web.pdf
Pew Research Center. 2017. Americans express increasingly warm feelings toward religious
groups. http://www.pewforum.org/2017/02/15/americans-express-increasingly-warm-
feelings-toward-religious-groups/
Philipsen, G. (1987). The prospect for cultural communication. In D.L. Kincaid (Ed.),
Communication theory: Eastern and Western perspectives (pp.245-254). San Diego:
Academic Press.
Pilgrim, D. (2017). Key concepts in mental health. Sage. Polygamy. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/topic/polygamy.
President Monson's Service by the Numbers. (2018, January 05). Retrieved May 9, 2018, from
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-monson-rsquo-s-service-by-the-
numbers
Putnam, Robert D. and Campbell, David E. 2010. American grace: How religion divides and
124
unites us. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics. (2015, May 11).
Retrieved April 2, 2019, from https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-
study/religious-tradition/mormon/.
Rockenbach, A. N., Bowman, N. A., Riggers‐Piehl, T., Mayhew, M. J., & Crandall, R. (2017).
Respecting the LDS/Mormon minority on campus: College students’ attitudes toward
Latter‐Day saints. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 56(4), 798-819.
doi:10.1111/jssr.12481
Rogers, A., & Pilgrim, D. (2014). A sociology of mental health and illness. McGraw-Hill
Education (UK).
Rose, H. (1983). Hand, brain and heart: Towards a feminist epistemology for the sciences. Signs,
9, 73-98.
Schneider, Joseph, and Peter Conrad. 1980. “In the closet with illness: Epilepsy, stigma potential
and information Control.” Social Problems 28 (1): 32–44.
Shapira, H., & Simon, S. J. (2018). Learning to need a gun. Qualitative sociology, 41(1), 1-20.
Shipps, J. (2000). Sojourner in the promised land: Forty years among the Mormons. University
of Illinois Press.
Shipps, J. (2001). “Is Mormonism Christian? Reflections on a complicated question.”. In
Mormons & Mormonism: An introduction to an American world religion Edited by:
Eliason, E. A. 76–98. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Shipps, J. (2005). Joseph Smith and the Making of a Global Religion. Brigham Young University
Studies, 44(4), 293-305. Retrieved from
125
http://www.jstor.org.unr.idm.oclc.org/stable/43045066
Shotter, J. E., & Gergen, K. J. (1989). Texts of identity. Sage Publications, Inc.
Simi, P., & Futrell, R. (2009). Negotiating white power activist stigma. Social Problems,
56(1),89-110.
Smith, B. B. (1982). "Her Children Arise Up, and Call Her Blessed". Retrieved December 1,
2018, from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1982/04/her-children-arise-up-and-
call-her-blessed?lang=eng
Smith, D. E. (1987). The everyday world as problematic: A feminist sociology. Milton Keynes:
Open University Press.
Smith, J. F. (1971). Our Responsibilities As Priesthood Holders. Retrieved March 2, 2019, from
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1971/04/our-responsibilities-as-priesthood-
holders?lang=eng.
Smith, J., Jr. (1998). Book of Mormon ; Doctrine and covenants ; Pearl of great price. Salt Lake
City, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Snow, David A., and Leon Anderson. 1987. “Identity Work among the Homeless: The Verbal
Construction and Avowal of Personal Identities.” American Journal of Sociology, 92 (6):
1336–71.
Somers, M. R. (1994). The narrative constitution of identity: A relational and network
approach. Theory and Society, 23, 605-649.
Stegner, W. E. (1964). The gathering of Zion: the story of the Mormon trail. U of Nebraska
Press.
126
Stob, P. (2008). "Terministic Screens," Social Constructionism, and the Language of Experience:
Kenneth Burke's Utili ation of William James. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 41(2), 130-152.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.unr.idm.oclc.org/stable/25655306
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2008, November 07). Church Issues Statement
on Proposition 8 Protest. Retrieved February 25, 2019, from
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/Church-issues-statement-on-proposition-8-
protest.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2013). Liberty Jail. Retrieved February 12,
2019, from https://history.lds.org/article/historic-sites/missouri/liberty/liberty-
jail?lang=eng
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2014, March 18). Chapter Sixteen: Missouri
Persecutions and Expulsion. Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual.
(2003), 193–210. Retrieved May 03, 2018, from https://www.lds.org/manual/Church-
history-in-the-fulness-of-times-student-manual/chapter-sixteen?lang=eng.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (b). Deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
Retrieved February 12, 2019, from https://www.lds.org/study/history/topics/deaths-of- joseph-
and-hyrum-smith?lang=eng
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (a). Joseph Smith Jr. Retrieved February 12,
2019, from https://www.lds.org/study/history/topics/joseph-smith-jr?lang=eng
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (c) “The Trek.” Nauvoo: City Beautiful, 1 Sept.
2016, history.lds.org/article/pioneer-story-nauvoo-story?lang=eng.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (d). LDS Statistics and Church Facts Total
Church Membership. Retrieved April 1, 2019, from
127
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states#
Thronberg, R. & Charma , K. (2014). Grounded theory and theoretical coding. In I. Flick (Ed).
The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis (pp. 153-169). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Tracy, S. J. (2012). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis,
communicating impact. John Wiley & Sons.
Uchtdorf, D. F. (2012, April). The Merciful Obtain Mercy. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng
United States. President (1857-1861: Buchanan). (1858). The Utah expedition: Message from
the President of the United States, transmitting reports from the secretaries of state, of
war, of the interior, and of the attorney general, relative to the military expedition
ordered into the territory of Utah. February 26, 1858.--Referred to the Committee on
territories. [Washington, 1858].
Wells, R. E. (1984). We Are Christians Because. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from
https://www.lds.org/study/ensign/1984/01/we-are-christians-because?lang=eng
Wiley, N. 1994. “The politics of identity in American history.”. In Social theory and the politics
of identity Edited by: Calhoun, C. 130–149. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Winnick, Terri A., and Mark Bodkin. 2008. “Anticipated stigma and stigma management among
those to be labeled ‘Ex-Con.’” Deviant Behavior 29 (4): 295–333.
Wolfe, A. W., & Blithe, S. J. (2015). Managing image in a core-stigmati ed organi ation
concealment and revelation in Nevada’s legal brothels. Management Communication
Quarterly, 29(4), 539-563.
Wood, J. (1982). Communication and relational culture: bases for the study of human
128
relationships. Communication Quarterly, 30, 75-83.
Wood, J. T. (2005). Feminist standpoint theory and muted group theory: Commonalities and
divergences. Women and Language, 28(2), 61-64,72. Retrieved from
http://unr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/198819291?accou
ntid=452.
Yep, G. A. (2003). The violence of heteronormativity in communication studies. Journal of
Homosexuality, 45(2-4), 11-59.
129
Interview Guide
1. Have you received an Informed Consent form, and understand you can choose to not
answer any question and choose to not participate at any time?
2. How long have you been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
3. What has made you want to become a member?
4. What would you say is the most important belief?
5. Do you have beliefs that are misunderstood? If so, what belief(s)?
6. What differences are there between beliefs within the Church and current social beliefs?
7. How do you feel when others disagree with how you choose to believe?
8. How have you seen others react to the traditional beliefs within the Church?
9. Would you ever change your behavior / belief to make someone else more comfortable?
10. Please tell me a story that demonstrates your interactions with non-members, as well as
one that demonstrates your interactions with members.
11. Have you seen any change in others reactions to your beliefs? If so, why do you think
that is?
12. What would you want someone who is not a member of the Church to know about those
within it?
13. (For Women) Have you noticed stereotypes people believe because you are LDS and a
Woman? If so, How? If not, why?
14. Do you think there is stigma attached to be a Member of the Church?
130
15. How has being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affected your life?
131
Participant Demographics:
Age 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Gender
Male Female Ethnicity
Hispanic Black White
132
IRB Certification and Approval 133
University of 218 Ross Hall / 331, Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada 89557 775.327.2368 / 775.327.2369 fax www.unr.edu/research- integrity
DATE: April 30, 2018 TO: Sarah Blithe, Ph.D, FROM: University of Nevada, Reno Institutional Review Board (IRB)
PROJECT TITLE: [1231102-1] Religious Stigma: A Peculiar People REFERENCE #: Social Behavioral SUBMISSION TYPE: New Project ACTION: DETERMINATION OF EXEMPT STATUS DECISION DATE: April 30, 2018 REVIEW CATEGORY: Exemption Category #2
--
The Research Integrity Office, or the IRB reviewed this project and has determined it is EXEMPT FROM IRB REVIEW according to federal regulations. Please note, the federal government has identified certain categories of research involving human subjects that qualify for exemption from federal regulations.
Only the Research Integrity Office and the IRB have been given authority by the University to make a determination that a study is exempt from federal regulations. The above-referenced protocol was reviewed and the research deemed eligible to proceed in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Federal Regulations on the Protection of Human Subjects (45 CFR 46.101 paragraph [b]).
--
• Advertisement - Recruitment Script.docx (UPDATED: 04/24/2018) • Consent Form - Informed Consent.docx (UPDATED: 04/24/2018) • Protocol - Study Protocol.docx (UPDATED: 04/24/2018) • Questionnaire/Survey - Interview Guide.docx (UPDATED: 04/16/2018) 134
• Study Plan - Exempt 2 Tests Surveys Interviews Observation 031017.docx (UPDATED: 04/24/2018) • Training/Certification - citiCompletionReport6602633.pdf (UPDATED: 04/16/2018) • Training/Certification - citiCompletionReport6602633 IPS.pdf (UPDATED: 04/16/2018) • Training/Certification - citiCompletionReport6602633 (1)-2.pdf (UPDATED: 04/16/2018) • Training/Certification - citiCompletionReport6602633 (1)Report.pdf (UPDATED: 04/16/2018) • University of Nevada, Reno - Part I, Cover Sheet - University of Nevada, Reno - Part I, Cover Sheet (UPDATED: 04/16/2018)
If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Moody at 775.327.2367 or at [email protected].
Sincerely,
- 1 - Generated on IRBNet 135
Richard Bjur, PhD Janet Usinger, PhD Co-Chair, UNR IRB Co-Chair, UNR IRB University of Nevada Reno University of Nevada Reno
This letter has been electronically signed in accordance with all applicable regulations, and a copy is retained within University of Nevada, Reno IRB's record.
- 2 - Generated on IRBNet 136
University of Nevada, Reno Institutional Review Board Approved on: April 30, 2018
These interviews are audio recorded and will later be transcribed. You do not have to consent to audio recording. You have the right to refuse audio recording.
The purpose of this study is to understand how members in the LDS Church have perceived interactions with people outside the Church by society because of their beliefs.
Some questions are potentially sensitive in nature, such as asking you to discuss your perceptions about discrimination. Please understand that your participation is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw your consent or to stop participating at any time. If there is a question you would rather not answer, you have the right not to answer.
Some writing will come from this project: (1) Master’s Thesis (2) scholarly conference papers or journal articles. If you agree to be interviewed, your identity will be kept confidential, but your words might be used in the scholarly reports. Your privacy will be maintained in any published scholarly papers resulting from this research and no company names or personal names will be released. The reports will identify each interview respondent by a pseudonym.
Please understand that your participation is voluntary. Other than having an opportunity to talk to an interested other about your personal opinions and experiences, there is little personal benefit to you for being part of this research project. A potential risk associated with the study is that survey questions could lead you to feel uncomfortable about being asked to express your opinion. Remember you are free not to answer any question.
You may ask about your rights as a research participant. If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about this research, you may report them (anonymously if you so choose) by calling the University of Nevada, Reno Research Integrity Office at 775.327.2368.
If you are recommending a friend for this study, or if you are a participant in this study, you will be asked to recommend the study to other potential subjects. You have the right to decline this step. Please be sure you have interested potential subjects contact the researcher directly at [email protected] and do not reveal their names without the recommended participant’s permission.