{"id":47063,"date":"2024-04-28T14:09:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T20:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=47063"},"modified":"2024-04-25T14:09:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T20:09:32","slug":"the-merger-of-mormonism-and-right-wing-evangelism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/04\/the-merger-of-mormonism-and-right-wing-evangelism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Merger of Mormonism and Right-Wing Evangelism"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Guest post by Don Albrecht.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I grew up in a tiny Mormon (1) hamlet in Southern Utah. My hometown had been settled 70 years before my birth by Mormon pioneers who had literally carved a community from the wilderness. Several of these pioneers were my great-grandparents. At the time my hometown was settled, the gulf between Mormonism and what most Americans considered acceptable religion or even mainstream Christianity was wide. Mormon pioneers were polygamists; Mormons had books of scripture beyond the Bible <\/em>including The Book of Mormon <\/em>and The Doctrine and Covenants; <\/em>Mormons taught that there were living prophets on the earth today who received revelation directly from God just like prophets of old; Mormons taught that after death and the resurrection, we would be assigned to one of three \u2018Degrees of Glory\u2019 rather going to either heaven or hell; Mormons taught that baptisms and other ordinances could be performed in their temples for those who had died without the chance of accepting Christ while on earth; Mormons taught that families could be sealed for eternity and the righteous, through the process of eternal progression would have a chance to become Gods in the next life and then create world of our own. All these beliefs were considered heretical by mainline Christians.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During my childhood, we were taught to be proud of the fact that we were a \u2018peculiar people\u2019. We had the full and complete gospel of Jesus Christ as restored by the Savior to the prophet Joseph Smith; others only had parts of the truth. Church members talked proudly of the persecutions our people had historically faced because of our uniqueness. Once in the West, Mormons attempted to establish a theocracy, complete with communal ownership of property, a system called the \u2018United Order\u2019. People not only had communal property ownership but worked cooperatively to build irrigation systems to get water to the parched land and to build churches, schools, and other public buildings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By the time I was born in the mid-20th<\/sup> century, some of the Mormon uniqueness was gone. The policy of polygamous marriages ended in 1890. The United Order had been abandoned before that. Mormon people were fully engaged in the capitalist economy. During the first half of the 20th<\/sup> century, Mormons were not only proud of their Church, but were proud to be Americans. They joined the miliary in large numbers and fought and died in both World Wars. Mormons tended to vote in similar ways to residents of the rest of the country (2). In fact, the winner of the Utah vote won the U.S. presidency in 14 of 15 elections from 1916 to 1972. This included 7 elections won by Democrats (Woodrow Wilson in 1916; Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944; Harry Truman in 1948; and Lyndon Johnson in 1964). The only time Utah differed from the nation during these years was in 1960 when Utah voters chose Richard Nixon over John Kennedy in a close vote. On many issues, Mormons tended to be rather progressive. In 1870, the Utah Territory became the first place in the nation where women had the right to vote. When Utah was granted statehood in 1896, women could vote. In 1919 Utah was one of the first states to pass the 19th<\/sup> amendment which guaranteed women the right to vote nationwide. By the time of my childhood, Mormons were generally considered to be hard-working, clean-living, family-oriented people.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The hometown of my youth was comfortable and safe. Neighbors helped neighbors, and crime was virtually unknown. The house I grew up in did not have locks on the doors and my parents kept the keys to our vehicles in the ignition. Decades later, when my mother was older, I suggested that she should get locks on her doors. She replied, \u201cHow will people get in if I need help?\u201d In the church meetings of my youth, we learned about the need to work hard, prepare for missions to share the gospel with God children throughout the world, and gain knowledge which would be essential for our future Godhood. The Church of my youth emphasized the importance of serving the poor, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. Emphasis was placed on the words of Jesus when he said, \u201cInasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me\u201d (Mathew 25: 40).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Following high school, I served a 2-year mission, graduated from college, got married to a beautiful and brilliant girl from my home-town high school and started a family. My wife, children and I then moved out of state (Iowa and Texas) where we lived for the next 30 years. We both had Ph.D.\u2019s and worked in academia. The congregations we attended made me feel at home. We were far from our own families, and members of our congregation became like family to us.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thirty years later, in 2008, we moved back to Utah. What I found shocked me. The Utah Mormon Church had changed almost beyond recognition. Church meetings were a strange combination of gospel doctrine and right-wing politics. I learned that being a Democrat was a sin about on par with adultery. Rather than prepare to serve God\u2019s children throughout the world, we were being admonished to stockpile guns to protect ourselves from the invading hordes. Certainly, not all people and all congregations were affected equally, but everywhere things were very different than they had been, and for me things were becoming ever more uncomfortable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

During the 30 years I was away, the State of Utah had become vastly more conservative. The last Democrat to win a presidential election in Utah was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Since the 1980s, Democrats often receive only a miniscule share of the State\u2019s vote. For example, in the 1980 election, Jimmy Carter received 20.6 percent of the Utah vote in his bid for reelection against Ronald Reagan. Reagan\u2019s opponent in 1984 (Walter Mondale) did little better, receiving only 24.7 percent of the vote. In 1992, third party candidate Ross Perot got more votes in Utah than Democrat Bill Clinton. In 2016, third party candidate Evan McMullen got more votes than Democrat Hillery Clinton. Democrats got less than 30 percent of the vote in 2000, 2004, and 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What was surprising to me was how conservative principles had seeped into the Church. The Church admonishes us to keep Church and politics separate. Many people, however, seem unable to differentiate between gospel principles and right-wing dogma. In their mind they are the same thing. There were few talks and little discussion about gospel principles that had made Mormonism unique. Scriptures about the meek and serving the poor were seldom mentioned. Instead, we talked about walling out evil, and how America was in moral decline, and it was our job to save the country. Instead of an emphasis on gaining knowledge and eternal progressions, many people have become squeamish about education and expressed concern about sending their children to universities where they might be influenced by prideful liberal professors. Horror of horrors, they might even be taught about evolution. We had neighbors who denied that dinosaurs ever existed. For decades, Church leaders such as J. Reuben Clark, Ezra Taft Benson, and Boyd K. Packer had been pushing the Church to the right. Apparently, we were experiencing the logical culmination of this push.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After spending years out of state, it seemed to me that the Utah Mormon Church had become very much like the White Christian Evangelical churches I had been familiar with while living in Texas. I should note that some of my best friends, and people I deeply admire identify as Christian Evangelicals. However, as described by Tim Alberta in his book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, <\/em>large numbers of Evangelical Churches now spend far more time preaching the gospel of right-wing politics than they do preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. This now seemed true of the Utah Mormon Church.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Among the growing similarities that I noticed between the two churches are:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
  1. Voting habits between Mormons and White Evangelical Christians are remarkably similar, and both tend to strongly support Republican candidates.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  2. Both churches emphasized the importance of electing moral leaders when Bill Clinton was in office, but quickly pivoted away from this concern when Trump took center stage. In 2011, a PRRI\/Brookings Poll found that only 30 percent of White Evangelicals said that \u201can elected official who commits an immoral act in their personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life.\u201d By 2016, this number had grown from 30 percent to a remarkable 72 percent. I don\u2019t have similar data on Mormons, but large numbers of them who were once very concerned about Democrat immorality seem unconcerned about Trump\u2019s behaviors.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  3. Both churches place a heavy emphasis on the power and glory of America, even though both have international reach and should be concerned about all of God\u2019s children everywhere. Members of both churches seem to look to political leaders rather than religious leaders for guidance.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  4. Both churches have a deep undercurrent of racism which increased sharply with the election of Barack Obama. In both churches there is ample evidence of support for policies that are racially discriminatory, including opposition to Civil Rights, opposition to school desegregation, and support for racially biased immigration policies.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
  5. Both churches have become skeptical about science and education. Since Darwin, there seems to be a fear that science will uncover truths that are difficult to square with the Bible. There is also an expressed concern that schools of all levels support a liberal agenda. Consequently, support for banning books has grown.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    The consequences of these changes in the Church are significant. Many people are oblivious and don\u2019t recognize that things are different. These people fit the mold (white, Republican, heterosexual) and are perfectly comfortable the way things are. For many others, the change has been painful. Loving our neighbors has become contingent on who the neighbors are. People who don\u2019t fit the mold are made to feel unwelcome in subtle ways (and sometimes in not-so-subtle ways).\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Many people are bothered by the inconsistencies between what Christianity professes and what they now see inside the Church. How is the Republican Party the Party favored by God when instead of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, they cut taxes on the wealthy and reduce programs to help the poor; instead of lending a helping hand to the sick, they endorse a Darwinian health care program that denies desperately needed health services to those unable to pay for them. The result is the U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy of any developed country in the world. And they support Donald Trump, a man convicted of sexual assault, a man who bragged about grabbing women by the genitals, a man who lied about election results and attempted to overthrow our democratic system of government after his 2020 election defeat.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    The exodus of people leaving the Church has reached a flood stage. To stem this flow, it is essential to leave politics to the politicians and while in church we learn to love our neighbor as the Good Samaritan did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n\r\n\r\n
      \r\n
    1. The Church asks that we use the full name of the Church, \u201cThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints\u201d and not refer to members as Mormons or Latter-Day Saints. I use Mormon both for historical and simplicity reasons.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
    2. During much of the 20th<\/sup> century, a large majority of Utah residents were Mormon. Since I lack better data, using the state as a proxy for the Church makes sense.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      During the first half of the 20th century, Mormons were not only proud of their Church, but were proud to be Americans. Mormons tended to vote in similar ways to residents of the rest of the country.
      \nThirty years later, in 2008, we moved back to Utah. What I found shocked me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10404,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47071,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47063\/revisions\/47071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}