My Neighbor's Faith: Diversity in the Latter Day Saints

Typical LDS picture in DC Temple

Several decades ago, the Latter Day Saints could have been described as a racist church.  The validity of their theological reasons for this and the convenient timing of the revelation relieving them of this charge is not the topic of this post.  However, it is important to know that before the Civil Rights movement, the Latter Day Saints taught that people of color were under a kind of curse from God that forbade them from participating in upper-level priesthood roles.  During this era, the LDS leadership received a revelation that God had removed the curse.

Three of the four sisters I spoke with that the visitors center were of Hispanic descent.  Two of them spoke fluent Spanish as was indicated on their name tags, which instead of saying "sister so-and-so", said "hermana so-and-so"  The young people I saw in the building were people various racial backgrounds.  I had two impressions.  (1) Part of the reason there was so much diversity was to reflect the DC culture.  The goal is to be able to connect with and evangelize to whoever walks in the door.  (2) The LDS is becoming a global church and it's younger population is starting to reflect that diversity.

I saw the sum of all these things in the photos on the walls.  Pictures of younger Mormons reflected a lot of racial diversity.  However, the pictures of senior church leadership, the Presidents and Apostles showed an all white leadership (which does not reflect a global church).  The stark contract reflects the radical change in Mormon attitudes towards race over the last few decades.  I expect that within a decade there will be Apostles and Presidents of color.

LDS 12 Apostles

One could judge the Latter Day Saints for their previous views on race, but most churches behaved similarly whether their theology defended it or not - many of them did use the Bible to defend their behavior.  The claim to be the one true church alongside convenient revelation may spark skepticism, nevertheless they should be credited with significant progress towards racial diversity within their ranks.  This is not an easy change to make.

My Neighbor's Faith: Marriage and Family in the Mormon Faith (LDS Temple in DC)

Visitor's Center in Salt Lake

Several years ago, the Army sent me to Salt Lake City for training.  While there, I visited a Mormon ward that some of my relatives attend.  I also happened to stop by the Tabernacle and the Temple Visitor's Center.  It was beautiful and they had lots of historical artifacts pertaining to the faith.

My visits left no doubt in my mind that the Mormons strongly value family.  At almost every encounter someone would ask me, "Don't you want to live with your family forever?"  They seemed to think that this was an innate human desire.  One could see in all places that the Mormons marry young and that they're encouraged to have big families.  Even at the restaurants in Salt Lake, the tables are elongated to fit larger than average sized families.

LDS Temple in DC

Visitor's Center in DC

When I walked into the visitor's center, I was introduced two two sisters who showed me around and answered my questions.  One of the things they were proud to show me was a 3D printed model of the inside of a Mormon Temple.  Presently, there are only two of these models in the world, one in DC and the other in Salt Lake City.

The sisters explained several of the rooms in the temple.  They focused on the rooms for marriage ceremonies.  The Latter Day Saints temple marriage ceremonies seal a marriage for eternity.  They believe that if you marry in the temple, that you and your partner will be partners eternally.  You can do this with your children as well, and then you and your whole family will be together eternally.

3D Printed model of LDS Temple

The first thing that occurred to me when I heard this was, "Okay, but what if you decide at 40 that you don't want to live with this spouse for eternity?  What if a lifetime is long enough?  What if you divorce?"  I asked whether the Latter Day Saints encourage their young to put off temple marriage until they're certain that they've married the right person.  "We usually perform the wedding in the temple."  The first wedding is usually the temple wedding with state papers signed afterward.  This struck me as odd, especially since the Mormons tend to marry so young.  I wonder how they rate their marriages in surveys when compared to other groups.  I haven't bothered to look this up.

The reason Latter Day Saints value family so much, even in the afterlife, has to do with their view of God.  As mentioned in a previous post, they believe that God was once a man like us.  He is still a man today.  At some point during our discussion my jaw dropped.  "Wait a minute," I said.  "You believe that God has a wife!" I was excited to have figured this out for myself.  "We do," I was told.  "It's not something we like to talk about.  God loves his wife so much and doesn't want people taking her name in vane or treating her rudely."

The Book of Mormon: the Primary LDS revelation

Whatever one thinks of this, it coheres theologically with the rest of LDS beliefs.  God wants them to have sealed families just like He did.  He also wants them to be fruitful and multiply, just like He did.  This is what beings made in the Image of God are supposed to do.  And like Him, if they do things right, they mature to be like Him.

As I thought about their theology, I couldn't help but wonder what life is like in the typical Mormon home.  How are their families better off compared with non-Mormon families?  How are they worse off?  I expect that with bigger families, there's a better ability to create intra-family self-reliance.  This might explain the libertarian streak among Latter Day Saints.  As the same time, there has to be a lot of pressure on women to have children.  What about the women who don't want to be mothers?  What about the women who aren't able?

The Problem with Failed Seals

The other thing I noticed was this.  Sealing your family members is supposed to mean that you are together forever.  However, if your family members fall away from the faith or are less than decent Mormons, they may find themselves on a different level of heaven than the rest of the family.  This seemed contradictory to me.  After all, if you're on the same level of heaven then you're already together and sealing should be irrelevant.  On the other hand, if different levels of heaven can divide families then the seal isn't very effective. I write this less as a criticism than in hopes that someone can clear it up for me.  Any LDS folks out there reading this?  Feel free to chime in.

Even if it can't be cleared up.  I don't see this as a reason for serious criticism.  Most beliefs are coherent until one starts applying questions from the outside.

The Mormon View of God, Heaven and Hell (LDS Temple Visitors Center in DC)

Statue of Jesus in DC Visitors' Center

Understanding the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) begins with understanding their view of God.  While most religious people see God as a spiritual being, the Mormons believe that God is both a physical and spiritual being.  He has a body much like we do for we are made in his image.

Once upon a time, God existed much as we do, on a different planet.  He lived a good life and believed the right things.  He was rewarded by being sent to Celestial Heaven (the highest level of Heaven), and eventually became the God we know and love.

God wants the same thing for us, his children, but like him we have to earn it.  We begin our lives as pre-existent spirits.  As pre-existent spirits, we had a choice.  We can be born on earth and live out our lives trying to work out way back to God and to a higher level of heaven than where we started or we can rebel and join the Devil and his angels.  The Mormon's believe that if you have a body, you chose not to join the devil.

Temple Visitors' Center in DC

Heaven and Hell
The Latter Day Saints believe in three levels of heaven and one level of hell.  You have to be more or less Hitler Evil to find yourself in hell, but you could be a generically bad person and find yourself in Tertiary heaven, which sounds like an eternal version of Somalia.  There you work long days, and experience a less than pleasant existence for eternity.  You'll still have some good times, but less so than most people generally would here on earth.

If you're a decent person however, you'll find yourself in the Terrestrial Heaven.   Terrestrial Heaven is like a good version of life on earth.  When the sisters explained this to me, I said, "So, it's like Boston.  If I could die and go to Boston for eternity, I would."  The sisters had never visited Boston.  In this heaven, there are more happy times than usual.  You don't have to work, etc.

If you're a good Mormon, you go to the Celestial Heaven.  This is a perfect paradise where you get to live in the presence of God.  God is, apparently, present in all of these places (perhaps except hell) in some form.  But in the Celestial Heaven, he is physically present.  The reason Mormons baptize the dead is to give the dead the option to join the LDS Church before being judged - if I understand correctly.  They believe that since some people don't know the truth that baptism for the dead will allow them the option to choose to be with God in the Celestial Heaven.

This display emphasizes the global nature of the LDS church by showing the the BoM printed in various languages

When I heard this, I asked why God couldn't just grant them this option without the ritual.  Couldn't God be gracious towards people who lacked knowledge even without someone performing a ritual on their behalf?  I was told that everyone who wants an opportunity to enter the Celestial Heaven has to be baptized, because God wants everyone playing by the same rules.  I found this explanation to be self-defeating, but did not press the issue.

The goal for humans is to get to the Celestial Heaven, which they can only do by being Latter Day Saints.  The Mormons have what's called a high ecclesiology. This means that they think that the church, it's doctrines and rituals very important to God.  They also believe that God only fully accepts people who are in his one true church.  In this way, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is much like many of the other churches that grew up on American soil in the 1800s, including my own heritage.  I grew up being taught that dogma and ritual were the central elements that defined the one true church and that God could not accept imperfection in these areas.  I will discuss this more in the future.