Of course we understand that singing at the inauguration of a president is a boon for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; the choir\u2019s president Ron Jarrett said that the choir would be \u201chonored to be able to serve our country by providing music for the inauguration of our next president.\u201d It is not the first president they \u2018sing into office\u2019, and probably not the last one either.<\/p>\n
Viewing the change of US president from across the ocean, we from the International Church are puzzled by many aspects. First, of course, the choice of Trump as president, but that is now definitely water under the bridge. Also, to our mild surprise, he was elected by our fellow Mormons in Utah and other areas of the Mormon Corridor, a vote he would never have gotten with the saints in the International Church, not with his track record of racist, sexist, and misogynous remarks, and surely not with his isolationist stand. Once again we realized that there really are two kinds of Mormon churches, the Domestic Church and the International Church, and that we live in different worlds, yet have to live together.
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\nUsually the latter is no problem at all, but now a third issue surfaces: the MTC will sing at Trump\u2019s inauguration. Not only did Utahans snuggle up to Trump, the MTC and by association, the whole church now is doing the same; after all, the choir is an \u2018ambassador of the LDS church\u2019. And that church is what we all are! So \u2018we\u2019 are all assisting to inaugurate Trump, that is a large lump to swallow! Trump is not \u2018our\u2019 president, just the present of the US \u2013 in our countries we have our own bunch of populists to hold off.<\/p>\n
From his Domestic Mormon standpoint I can imagine why Jarrett accepted the invitation: the choir is honoring an office and a country, his wording is clear. Here a cultural divide shows over the Atlantic ocean. Americans honor the office, with the office holder sharing the positional charisma of his post. For instance in Europe we attribute little positional charisma, one has to earn the respect as office holder. Also, patriotism is a cherished American value, while many parts of the world still suffer the memories of wars fired by patriotism. Once at an MHA conference I cited Samuel Johnson: \u201cPatriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel\u201d, a quote that got an absolutely glacial reception of non-understanding. I can understand that, but the Church should rethink the relation between the Gospel and patriotism.<\/p>\n