Suboptimist

Rob is the American experience.

I finally got to watch the Frontline documentary The Mormons (I was too busy to watch it when it first aired two weeks ago). I was reasonably impressed with it. It seemed to attempt a fair portrayal, covering the history and culture and interviewing the rank and file and the dissidents. My one complaint was that it didn’t cover early Mormonism’s connections to Freemasonry. Surely that would have been relevant, either in the section on Joseph Smith, Mormon beginnings, or the temple ceremonies. Perhaps it would have taken too much time.

I discussed the documentary with a friend of mine. He asked how I felt about Mormonism, having been raised a Latter-day Saint, growing up in the culture, and being inactive (a term frequently applied to those who do not attend LDS meetings). What can be said is that I have had little exposure to Mormonism as it exists outside of Utah, the sole exceptions being visits to family in Seattle and Minneapolis and the summer I spent with a small group of Jordanian Mormons. Thus, what I can say about my feelings toward LDS culture is limited. I believe the culture is different here since Mormons comprise the majority religious group. This is probably the reason many Utahans identify themselves as being either Mormon or non-Mormon, an aspect of Utah may lead to my ultimate demise. Concerning Utah Mormon culture specifically, it’s can be a little irritating at times, but it’s not as bad as people think. It would be the same with any religious majority (even a non-religious majority).

As per Mormon doctrine and history, it’s a mixed bag for me. Do I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet? No, at least not in the commonly understood meaning of the term. Do I believe Joseph Smith was a fraud? Again, no. I think he was a sincere religious founder. Charlatan? All religious founders (including businessmen, scholars, anyone who has to use persuasions regularly) has to have a little bit of that in him, but I don’t believe Smith was trying to mislead people. Do I believe the Book of Mormon documents the pre-Columbian Americas? No, in fact Joseph Smith listed himself as the ‘Author and Proprietor’ of the first edition. Do I like some of the things Smith did? Yes. I’ll leave it at that.

Do I like Brigham Young? Not particularly. I think he was a dictator, a racist, and a philanderer. While Joseph Smith appointed a black man, Elijah Abel, to hold the priesthood office of Seventy, Young insisted that black men could not hold the priesthood, saying the only reason the ‘Negro race’ survived the flood was so Satan could maintain his presence on earth. He also called slavery a divine institution. I do, however, like the fact that he basically told American to f*** itself when he moved the early Saints west. That is certainly admirable.

Do I believe the Church is the only way to God? No. Do I believe it is one of many ways to God? Yes, the same way I believe Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. are ways to God or whatever supreme entity is there. I believe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a positive influence in the lives of millions of its members. That is something I will never deny. For me, however, it isn’t what it claims to be. I have to take a different path. So the final question is whether I consider myself ‘Mormon.’ The answer is yes, the same way a Jew can be a Jew while practicing Buddhism. I was raised Mormon, I come from pioneer stock on my mother’s side, my family is Mormon, and it will always be part of me and something I will never deny. Am I a Latter-day Saint? No, at least I can’t call myself one.

In other news, to break the awkward silence that may be permeating the area around your computer right now, I am sick of how the people leading us in this war the US is engaged in can’t pronounce the name of the country we are occupying. It isn’t iRaq, it’s Iraq. Get it right, n00bs. I heard an NPR interview the other day with a guy talking about how difficult it is to find insurgents from helicopters, because iRaq is nothing but palm trees, palm tree farms and sand. Jeez, people. Get with it.