Basically, I am a live-and-let-live kind of person when it comes to religion. (I admit I fall to pieces over right-wing extremism). I have not found any religion to pass my own smell test. And most, but not all, religions at some point become just another method for exerting power. Or so it seems. And that is where my objections DO surface. It is one thing to accept people who are searching for and/or believing in unproven answers about the infinite, but quite another to be subjugated by them. That I won't tolerate.
And so it has been with me and Mormonism. I've lived in Utah since 1998. In that period of time, I've come to learn some things that the average outsider does not know, because the average outsider's knowledge of Mormonism is generally limited to polygamy and the history of persecution surrounding it. But there is a lot more to it in terms of history, dogma and beliefs that many, many people would find "incredible". In my personal view, this is largely because they are unfamiliar. You know, the Ark filled with pairs of all animals, the talking burning Bush, the parting seas, the Immaculate Conception, the walking on water, the resurrection, these are all fantastical things that do not sound so supernaturally unbelievable to so many people -- despite the fact that we do not now experience anything like these events today. So, I think, the supernatural underpinnings of the Mormon faith only stun people because they are not part of the fabric of the much larger, more familiar Judeo-Christian culture.
I do get ticked off from time to time that Mitt Romney has demanded and is getting a pass on religion, primarily because Obama had to walk a brutal gauntlet during his campaign. As with draft-dodging and indiscretions of youth, such as experimenting with drugs, there are always these harsh litmus tests that the Right vigorously applies until it conveniently doesn't. Until it becomes inconvenient for their own candidate.
Actually, "ticked off" is too euphemistically polite for how I feel about the pass Mitt has been given on his religion: I am utterly pissed off. I mean, the world knows more about Jeremiah Wright than it does about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young? How crazily asymmetrical is that? Jeremiah Wright has influenced what, maybe a few thousand congregants in whatever town he's from? Joseph Smith and Brigham Young spawned a fiercely evangelical faith that spans the world with vast religious and commercial enterprises involving millions or people and billions of dollars in income and assets each.
For those of you who don't know, there is a strong contingent of Southern Baptists and others who are very militant about distinguishing Mormonism as a definitively non-Christian faith for a few well-founded differences in belief (I mean, as well-founded as things of spiritual, religious nature can be). It is a sort of miracle, if you will, that this militancy is finally being set aside for the greater conservative good. We're talking about folks who came here to Salt Lake to rail against the Mormon faith on its home turf not so very long ago. And I'd bet that the underlying truce is tenuous at best.
As the campaign lies continue to be repeated in the face of massive, ongoing fact-checking results to the contrary, and as the race-baiting dog whistles sound like noisemakers on New Years Eve, as the birtherism innuendos continue, and as the massive, unrelenting racist minority voter attacks proceed apace to the apparently universal satisfaction of ALL Republicans, I am at the point where I wonder if someone will not be coming forward to present some facts about Mormonism that are not widely known and would give pause to the most fervent, arrogant, self-righteous Christians out there. The fact is, no untruths nor slander nor any sigh of bigotry should be displayed nor need to. Simple, calm revelations about the facts might be laid out there as simple food for thought, as if one were simply doing a 1 minute documentary on Heaven's Gate. One that was delivered, say, via a SuperPac ad and/or social media campaign.
In addition, because the majority of Mormons are fervently conservative, if not rabid teabaggers, and this has significance in all the important topics, especially gay rights (Remember the Prop 8!), the religion itself, apart from the Republicanism, appropriately attracts and deserves strong, political animus. It is a staunch political opponent in its own right. Especially in Utah, where it dominates with an iron fist. Evidence abounds that Utah residents are in fact subjugated by religion. And now, with this election, it seeks to extend its and the Republican Party's extremist worldview.
Now I say this with no small amount of trepidation. I have numerous LDS friends and have participated at ALL levels on numerous campaigns at the state and county level for LDS candidates in whom I believe, if only because they are the only people around who give voice to at least portions of the Democratic Party platform. We have several good Democratic Mormon kossacks among us. Naturally, I would not purposely target any of THESE people.
Up until now, and for some including this election, Mormons have approached a Mormon Presidental run with a powerful approach-avoidance reaction. Naturally they would like greater participation, representation and influence, and broad public acceptance, as would any faith. But, having had a history of persecution, they also naturally fear the scrutiny they might face in the limelight. Scrutiny has not been their friend to date.
And again, personally, I find Mormonism no more nor less fantastical than Christianity itself. Skepticism simply comes from more recent events and revelations, which, interestingly, at least to this objective bystander, make it more difficult for "believers" with other biases to digest, if not accept. And, again, it's simply far less well known. It just falls outside a cultural comfort zone, if you will, particularly for those who are most troubled by things that are "different" (i.e., the Republican base.)
So I admit I am conflicted as to where I personally stand on discussing Mormonism in the context of a pitched, scorched-earth political battle with a foe that will pursue any manner of misinformation and disinformation and race-baiting to compete. Moreover, the consequences are enormous. They affect not just discriminated-against minorities of all kinds and women, who happen to be a vulnerable MAJORITY, which is perhaps the best-kept secret out there, but all peoples on the planet. In fact, the consequences involve the planet itself. I have a soon-to-be sixteen-year-old daughter and she and her friends, in UTAH no less, commiserate forlornly about the rapidly dwindling resources that may disappear in their lifetimes, much as many of grew up under the threat of mushroom clouds ending humankind.
All these things and more are at stake.
So, the question I am grappling with is this. Is the serenity of those good LDS friends, acquaintances and strangers who are engaged in the good fight on certain, selective fronts (In my own experience, few embrace the whole Platform and remain in the church, at least not for more than social reasons)--the ability for them to remain quietly in a faith largely unknown and alien to the mainstream, or is the quote-unquote greater good embodied in the outcome of this election more significant, more important, even to those whose religious communities might be troubled as a consequence?
Yes, this is an ends and means conundrum. In general, we progressives abhor the "ends justify the means" method. Just as we progressives embrace the "live-and-let-live" ethos, including religion. I anticipate that many would reject out of hand an examination of the Mormon faith for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the season, up and down the ticket nationwide, for just these reasons (end don't justify the means; tolerate and let live). Is it bigotry to talk publicly about a religion, knowing that it will ignite bigotry among the bigoted? Is this just returning one dog whistle with another? Does the larger consideration of the battle against the Republican Party and the Mormon majority which embraces and parallels it, justify a predictably controversial public discussion of Mormonism?
It can easily be argued that they have brought harsh counter-methods upon themselves by dishonestly and viciously scorching the earth, once again.
I mean I know, for example, in the context of the Prop 8 battle, many of us were animated to discuss the religion and its tenets in the heat of our outrage. Was that appropriate to confront bigotry with facts about and judgment of the belief system behind it, including certain facts of the religion that would diminish its credibility?
I present the whole thought-process with humility and trepidation, but present it nonetheless in the interest of thinking outside of the box, looking for answers and worrying about the consequences of the election.
Thanks for your consideration and I hope you will wade in with me and comment.
PLEASE COMMENT, even if only to attract other readers to consider this topic and answer the poll.