The Momentous “Mormon Moment”

It’s time, once again, for everybody’s favorite column, Slam the Press!

Honestly, this isn’t going to be so much of a slam as a series of corrections that is much, much too long for the comments, so I figured I’d post them here. The article in question is from the Humboldt County, California, Journal article The Mormon Moment, by Scottie Lee Myers. Overall, it’s a pretty good article, and it left me feeling very good about both the missionaries and the reporter himself. However, there are a few significant errors throughout the peace, along with a several more minor ones that could also stand a fix. So as usual, let’s take them one at a time.

“In 1827 [future Church President Joseph] Smith was a 25-year-old New Yorker who made a living using psychic powers to find treasure.”

First of all, a minor historical point: Smith was born in December 1805, so in September 1827, he would have been 21. This is actually quite significant, because when he was 25, he was serving as President of a 1,000-plus–member Church with two major religious centers in two different states.

More importantly, though, Joseph never “made a living using psychic powers.” While young Joseph was certainly involved in the popular Christian “folk magic” of the day, it was a practice he had abandoned well before the 1827 date given. Furthermore, he never really “made a living” at it; the closest he ever came was when a farmer named Josiah Stowell hired him as a farmhand, then spent roughly a month trying to get Joseph to find treasure. Joseph repeatedly told Stowell he didn’t do that anymore, and that even if he did, it wasn’t going to work, anyway. Stowell, however, would hear nothing of it, and finally convinced Joseph to aid in his fruitless search. When Stowell’s family later brought charges against Joseph for fraud, Stowell himself was the star witness for the defense; the judge threw out the case without a trial.

“The church didn’t allow blacks into the priesthood until 1978.”

This one has been dealt with, many times, and there are usually two points that need to be considered. The first comes at the risk of being too technical, but I think is rather important: the Church of Jesus Christ has never allowed anyone “into the Priesthood,” because it’s not something a person can enter. The Priesthood is the power of God, delegated unto man. Claiming that the Church “allow[s a person] into the Priesthood” is like claiming it “allow[s a person] into” the natural gas: it’s not so much inaccurate as nonsensical. (Semantics, I know, but still an important point.)

More importantly, though, are the facts surrounding the actual charge: that the Church has denied certain people Priesthood ordination based on the color of his or her skin. The first black Latter-day Saint priest was Elijah Abel, ordained in 1836. For comparison, in 1836 most Protestant sects were still debating whether “blacks” even had a soul, and certainly wouldn’t let them worship in the same congregations as supposedly respectable “white” people. Latter-day Saints had racially integrated congregations and were generally active in the abolitionist movement.

What happened in 1978 was that, after decades of listening to Church members (both leaders and members in general) pester Him about it, God finally deemed it time to allow those of Canaanite descent to hold Priesthood offices. True, this included many “blacks,” but it also included many “whites,” “reds,” “yellows,” and every other color under the sun. The charge of racism is ridiculous, unless one considers “Canaanite” to be a race.

“Women still aren’t allowed [to hold Priesthood offices].”

Much like the preceding point, this issue is one which has two levels: what actually goes on in the Church, and the pop-culture version based on ignorance. On this particular point, it once again comes down to a serious misunderstanding of what the Priesthood is and how one comes to have that authority. While women are certainly not ordained to specific Priesthood offices in mortality, they most certainly do hold the Priesthood—or perhaps more accurately, the “Priestesshood.” Women are just as authorized to act in the name of God as men are, and some are even called to perform specific Priesthood ordinances that men cannot perform.

The point is that while, from the outside looking in, it might seem like women do not hold the Priesthood, I doubt you’d find any Latter-day Saint woman (at least, none who understands what the Priesthood is) who would make such a ridiculous, anti-doctrinal claim.

“In 2008, Mormons contributed more than $20 million to passing California’s Proposition 8, a gay marriage ban still being contested in the courts.”

Even ignoring the fact that “gay marriage” is an inherent contradiction in terms, it seems rather incomplete to point out that many Latter-day Saints contributed money to the “Yes on 8” campaign without also recognizing the many Latter-day Saints who contributed to the “No on 8” campaign. Latter-day Saints come from a wide variety of political persuasions and encouraged to vote our conscience—which, by and large, we do.

“The church was by far the biggest donor, contributing more than half of the $40 million aimed at preventing gay people from marrying.”

First of all, the Church has never donated a penny towards preventing gay people from marrying. If anything, the Church has argued in favor thereof. What the Church has fought for, and donated to, is the definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman. That has nothing to do with “gay people marrying”; the Church has always maintained that “gay people” should have the same rights as anyone else.

That being said, the Church also did not donate anywhere near $40 million to the “Yes on 8” campaign; it donated approximately $190,000 in in-kind donations, such as air fare and lodging.

“The missionaries, called elders by the church…”

While this statement is accurate, it is somewhat misleading. “Elder” is both a Priesthood office and a title used by some Church authorities. The missionaries Mr. Meyers spent time with were apparently both elders, but that is not necessarily the case (although as a general rule, male missionaries will indeed hold that Priesthood office).

“Elder Goynes climbs into the driver seat of the church’s silver Dodge Caravan. (The church also provides gas money.)”

Minor point, but every missionary pays his or her own way, to the best of his or her ability. While the Church sort of “provides gas money,” it pays for it with the missionaries’ own money, so it’s kind of a wash.

“After the church was formed in the early 19th century, Smith moved his reformed Christianity and its followers from state to state, essentially being evicted by governments that detested the religion’s belief in polygamy.”

Ignoring the inappropriate terms “reformed” (the Church is restored Christianity, not reformed—a significant difference), the Church was never run out of anyplace for practicing so-called polygamy (which was actually plural marriage, but let’s not gloss over those particular semantics). It wasn’t until 1852 that the Church began practicing plural marriage openly; the reason the Church was run out was primarily because of its growth and the strength that came therewith. In Illinois, for example, Nauvoo (where most American Latter-day Saints lived, from 1839-1846) was second only to Chicago as largest city in the state. Since the early Saints were somewhat insular and definitely tended to vote as a bloc, they were often despised by the people around them, particularly those with conflicting political leanings.

“The church eventually settled in what was then Utah Territory…”

Actually, the Church eventually settled in northern México, declaring an area from Arizona to Alberta the independent nation of Deseret. Since the United States government refused to recognize the Saints’ right to rights and/or property (the state of Missouri, for example, passed a law making baptism into the Church a capital crime punishable by death), they left the U.S. entirely. It wasn’t until later that the United States took over most of Deseret (per Manifest Destiny) and whittled it down into the territories and, later, states we know now.

“There is still a tiny Mormon Fundamentalist church that practices polygamy…”

No, there isn’t. See the Associated Press Style Guide (also quoted in the Church’s own online style guide) for details on why this is incorrect.

“In a 2011 cover story, Newsweek magazine compared the LDS church to ‘a sanctified multinational corporation — the General Electric of American religion … with an estimated net worth of $30 billion.’”

While Newsweek is correctly quoted, this figure is extremely misleading. Again, the Church’s Newsroom site comes to our aid.

“After a half hour or so of singing and praying…”

This is one I debated whether or not to mention, since I obviously was not at the baptismal service in question. However, I have been to dozens, perhaps even scores of baptismal services, and they’re all pretty much exactly the same:

• A bishopric or branch presidency member presides over and conducts the meeting.
• The person or persons being baptized select speakers for the baptism, generally from the Church or family unit.
• The service begins with an opening hymn and prayer
• The first speaker gives a 5-10–minute talk on baptism by water.
• A priest or elder baptizes the person or persons who are to be baptized.
• The congregation sings a hymn, watches a video, or does something else to occupy the time while the baptizer(s) and new member(s) retire to the changing rooms, where they change out of their wet clothing and back into “street” clothes.
• Once all have returned to the meeting, the second speaker gives a 5-10–minute talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
• The new member(s), each in turn, sit in a chair while one or more elders lay their hands on his or her head, to confirm them as Church members and confer the Gift of the Holy Ghost. (Sometimes—especially in the case of convert baptisms—this half of the ordinance is delayed until the next Sunday meeting, so the entire ward or branch can participate.)
• One or more congregational leaders welcome the new member(s) to the Church and the congregation.

I have never been to any meeting where we spent “a half hour or so of singing and praying.” So, while I cannot categorically deny that this happened—again, I wasn’t there—it seems like a rather severe exaggeration, to me.

Anyway, there are my corrections. Having said all this, I do want to reemphasize that I really enjoyed Mr. Myers’ article. The tone was very positive, and it’s obvious that he’s trying to present the Church and its missionaries in a positive light. But after 21 years as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, I’ve come to realize that there are thousands of people who have left the Church—and perhaps millions more who have never joined it—because their perception was tainted by an exaggerated (or even completely erroneous) interpretation of an isolated incident. Ideally, I’d like to see my corrections incorporated into the original article, that future readers might not be led to inappropriate conclusions. But either way, I hope Mr. Myers will read this, and I hope he—and anyone else who cares to read—will come away with a better understanding of who we are and what we truly believe.

Thanks for reading! :-)