Chapel Mormonism

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry I have been slow to respond to this thread. For me, the term “chapel Mormonism” resonated with my current Church experience is because I enjoy going to Church with my family each week, the community aspect of being part of a ward and having a calling and going to ward activities. I find there is enough overlap with my beliefs that I can find uplifting things and find it a good way to be part of a community of really good people. I don’t find any meaning in the temple part of the Church, other than attending weddings at this point. Hopefully that makes sense. I guess it would be similar to cafeteria Mormonism, in accepting and rejecting some parts. I like the cultural identity of being Mormon and being part of the community, but don’t subscribe to the truth claims, even though I find truth in them. I don’t think the BOM is historical, but view it as inspired scripture and sacred story. I believe Joseph had some mystical and visionary experiences, but think much of what he did was motivated by ego, etc.

I believe the Mormon experience is the most true part of the whole thing. But, it sounds like other folks have not had the same positives with the Mormon experience.

[Anonymous]

Right. I definitely would say that you are a “chapel Mormon” because of your affinity for the community and Sunday worship experience aspects of the church. While I do recognize that doubting truth claims is intertwined with why you prefer the “chapel” experience those in and of themselves do not make you a chapel Mormon (at least how I am using the term).

I would also define a chapel Mormon as new converts who have not yet been to the temple and also people that have been to the temple but just felt really uncomfortable and therefore try to avoid it when they can.

For comparison, I am an Oregonian because I live in Oregon. I also like to recycle. I might like to recycle so much that this passion prompted me to move to Oregon in the first place (to be close to a community that loves recycling as much as me). Loving recycling does not in and of itself make me an Oregonian and there are lots of Oregonians that could care less about recycling. There might be lots of reasons that people would choose to move to Oregon.

Now in making such distinctions I am reminded somewhat of how in the early church “ordination” and “setting apart” was used interchangeably and it was only later that we started to define them differently with different doctrinal implications. Sometimes the limits on what words mean can be arbitrary and can change over time.

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