- Jonathan Green on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “RLD, I know the Church surveyed members in 2018 about their favorite hymns and songs they might want to add to the hymnbook, and in some areas members do want to add songs from their culture’s musical tradition, but in other areas, they’re more interested in the traditional LDS hymns. I don’t know the survey results for any particular place, but I have noticed that members in the European country with the greatest tradition of Christian music in the world are often uninterested in singing it (“Ugh, not that Protestant stuff”), preferring the latest FSY anthem instead. My dreams of a hymnbook with a half dozen new Reformation chorales is probably not going to become a reality.” Apr 27, 19:34
- on What Was Revealed to You In Church (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 4/26)?: “Kent Larsen, your thoughts about burnout are insightful. Culturally it is interesting that that symbol of Utah is a beehive and not a lotus bloom. It is indeed cultural and at times not helpful.” Apr 27, 17:13
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “Stephen: “Jack, yes, there is a big list of the Gentiles’ wickedness, but 3 Ne 16, 20, and 21 also list taking the Natives’ land as one of the sins.” Only if they don’t repent–as strange as that may seem. And in chapter 21 the Savior goes through another list of evils the Gentiles need to be wary of. That said, I’m of the opinion that these prophecies are being fulfilled more through the Latinos than the Native Americans. And it behooves us (collectively) to repent and receive the fulness of the gospel and also to be willing to carry these people upon our shoulders.” Apr 27, 16:42
- on What Was Revealed to You In Church (Or What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday), 4/26)?: “It was just my daughter and I who attended, as my wife was visiting family. I missed being with her. It helped me understand more of how singles and part-member families feel at Church. A young man spoke for the first time ever. He said it was the worst day of his life (but smiled as he said it) A woman from Mexico spoke entirely in Spanish. I used Google Translate and it worked quite well. I am grateful for these sorts of tools. We can all worship together, and generally can all understand each other. There was a good discussion in EQ about temperance. I did find the class to feel kind of long. I’m thinking that a shorter class time in September will keep things focused without so much repetition. I’m feeling optimistic about the change.” Apr 27, 14:38
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “To oversimplify, some things are cultural and can be different in different cultures, and some things are objective reality and the same for everyone. It’s true that many people (most?) think some things are objective reality that are really cultural. But I have no patience for those who insist everything is cultural and it’s colonialism to teach “western” science, for example. To call proselytizing colonialism is to implicitly claim religion has no objective reality. But a rock falls at the same rate and for the same reason no matter who drops it, and that person is a child of Heavenly Parents no matter what culture they belong to. I am concerned about us spreading “church culture” along with the gospel and elements of local cultures being lost. For example, my biggest disappointment with the new hymns so far is that while they’ve done a good job of bringing in both European and African American music, there’s nothing from Africa itself, or Asia, or South America (I think). I’m sure that reflects what was submitted, which reflects the Church’s demographic and economic realities. But what was submitted also probably reflects the former sentiment that “the hymns of Zion” were the only proper genre for worship music, and we can push back against that. Our Primary children would love more call-and-response music, and even our adults might grow to like singing it. If you look at Area Presidencies, it’s clear that the Church has enough leaders from most regions to make most or all of them entirely “local.” But they’ve decided to mix them up instead. That probably does reflect a desire not to create separate church cultures in separate regions. But I take the fact that my Area Presidency is entirely from outside the US as an invitation to learn from their cultures.” Apr 27, 10:05
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “Jack, yes, there is a big list of the Gentiles’ wickedness, but 3 Ne 16, 20, and 21 also list taking the Natives’ land as one of the sins. Jonathan, see my comment to Roger. JB, yes I also interpret the Gentiles being commanded to “join with” the remnant of Jacob. Suggests a privileged status for Native peoples. And yes, we do a lot of picking and choosing in our religions. It does seem there is an “American gospel” of white Protestantism that emphasizes certain things, and that our church has worked to conform to that gospel in a lot of ways. And central to that gospel is that idea that America (run by white people) is unequivocally good. So it seems important to rework 3 Ne 16, 20, and 21.” Apr 27, 07:46
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “It appears the readers see a lot of implications of what’s called the Native apocalypse. I don’t think I’m going to get into all of these, but should have a lot of talk about. James, it’s not surprising Latin Americans would be more aware of this BoM prophecy. Roger, I’ve certainly seen a lot of talk on the bloggernacle about needing more non-white leaders. However, I’ve long bristled at claims of religious proselytizing as colonialism. We live a in global world where we share our ideas with each other. It always struck me a problematic to insist that non-white can’t make their own religious choices. Yes it changes cultures when that happens, but that’s been happening for a very very long time. Kent, yes, separating the “true” religion from the larger culture is tough. My understanding is that anthropologists would say there is no divide. One of the things I thinking of posting about is what I see as a larger dominant American Protestant culture and its emphasis on white nationalism. Clearly that’s had a big influence on the church and we tend to claim that it’s natural for Mormonism with the BoM’s emphasis on the US’s importance. And yet we seem to do so be removing the Native apocalypse.” Apr 27, 07:38
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “This post is actually resurfacing some long lost memories of me reading the Book of Mormon closely and carefully for perhaps the first time in my life in the Dominican Republic MTC, and arriving at the exact same conclusions. I can’t tell you the relief I felt as a young missionary when I got to the part about how if the gentiles repent, then they too can be spared and share in the same covenant; that is, it is we Euro-Americans who must conform to the Natives, not the other way around. (Doubtless an important insight to have before starting a mission in Latin America.) And this random blogpost I clicked on well over two decades later is probably the only other time I’ve heard anyone even breath a similar conclusion. There’s just this church-wide freeze out of this section of 3 Nephi, at least among white-Americans. But then, these same Americans have also largely ignored the parts of the Book about establishing societies of “neither rich nor poor” (4 Nephi 1:3), about giving to the poor freely without judgment or preconditions (Mosiah 4:16-19), about seeking riches solely to help the poor (Jacob 2:17-19), about the Lord who comes out as swift witness against those who oppress the hireling in his wages (3 Nephi 24:5; Malachi 3:5). Heck, not just us, but most “mainstream” Christians in general have also utterly skipped over the parts of the Bible, too, about selling all you have and giving it to the poor (Matthew 19:20-24), about the love of money being the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), about having all things in common (Acts 2:44-45), and about the wickedness of saving for the future (Luke 12:16-21). 3 Nephi 16-20 is in good company it’s being strenuously ignored, too. Seriously, all these passages might as well be decanonized by now, for how much they’re expunged from our discourse. I guess everyone, even the “orthodox,” are cafeteria Christians after all.” Apr 27, 04:56
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “So, it’s actually the white Christian nationalists who think the church should only baptize white converts, and if you find yourself arguing for the same thing, you should probably back up and rethink the choices that got you here. The assumption that African Christians all use drums instead of pianos and pipe organs is genuinely pernicious and creates obstacles to providing congregations the resources they need (like organs and organ arrangements) for the music they prefer. There are multiple stark examples of ongoing ethnocide at the moment. If you think maintaining a few dozen congregations in a nation of over 50 million amounts to ethnocide, you should probably avoid using the term ethnocide.” Apr 27, 03:29
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “3 Nephi 16 talks about the Gentiles’ pride causing them to reject the fulness of the gospel. And so while we certainly want to be careful that we don’t get prideful because we think we’re cool–what we really ought to do is look at the things we’re doing that cause us to reject the gospel. That said, while the evils of colonialism are certainly a part of that problem — and I don’t believe that colonialism is evil in every respect — the Savior puts forth a long list (in 3 Ne 16) of the things that the Gentiles need to repent of–and it ain’t pretty.” Apr 26, 20:31
