Mormons are not Mindless

[Anonymous]

I have been reading the book The Next Mormons: How Millenials are Changing the LDS Church. It’s been very interesting to see how generational attitudes are the same, or different across a variety of dimensions such as spirituality, what they like about the church, average church attendance, pornography use, attitudes toward the LGBT issues, political orientation, propensity to share the gospel with others, church attendance, perceived personal activity, treatment of women, blacks and the priesthood,. and for the purpose of this post, Mormon’s top sources of authority.

You would think that among active Mormons, the top sources of authority would be general and local leadership. But no, the results of the study on which this book is based gave these sources of authority, in order of declining importance to Mormons.

1. Own Conscience

2. Promptings from the Spirit

3. Family members

4. Scriptures

5. LDS General Authorities

6. LDS Local Authorities

7. Friends/coworkers

8. Philosophy and reason

9. Societal Norms/Values

10. Professional counselor/therapist

11. Media

12. Celebrities

It seems that Mormons are still very much driven by personal conscience and are not blind lemmings simply following everything the leadership says. I respect that

This doesn’t mean that they don’t pay attention to the leadership, it just means that most Mormons are finding consonance between their own conscience and many things the leaders assert.

What are your primary sources of authority for making decisions?

[Anonymous]

I have observed with the divide of the political movements here in the USA that both groups tend to assert that the other group is full of blind followers and needs to learn to “think for themselves.”

I don’t disagree with the list. I just feel that it can be very difficult to distinguish between #1 your own conscience and #9 societal norms/values. I think this is especially true when we include the unique LDS sub-culture in societal norms/values.

I suspect that almost everyone says that they are following their own conscience even when following the group – as in “my conscience tells me to follow the group.” If they stay in the church, they are following a group. If they leave they are following another group. There are some individuals that are true trailblazers but I believe that such is rare.

Without knowing the methodology, I think it is interesting and sad that the authority of the professional therapist is at #11. That is just one level above the detested influence of the “media” and “celebrities.”

[Anonymous]

SilentDawning wrote:

What are your primary sources of authority for making decisions?

Having said all of the above and accepting that I could be lying to myself to some degree. I answer as follows:

1) Reason and logic – I don’t think most of my decisions involve right and wrong. I am just trying to get decent results. If I were a religious leaning person I could answer this as “own conscience” or “spiritual promptings” and still operate in functionally the same way.

2) Societal Norms/values – I think that this is the water I swim in. I compare myself to those around me and measure my relative success accordingly.

3) Family members – Approval/validation from family is a pretty big motivator for me.

4) Professional Therapist – I have done some listening to JFF’s LDS sex and family therapy podcasts etc. and find them to be very insightful.

5) Media – I think that it is hard for me to fully separate media from society, but I do consume media and it does inform my opinions that then influence my decisions

6) friends – To a degree these are included in with my own little circle of society. I don’t find myself asking friends for advice but I suppose their opinions factor in.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing your list of “authorities” for your own decision-making Roy.

If I was to list my own, I would probably go this route for complex issues that aren’t immediately clear to me:

1. Own Conscience

I don’t normally apply my conscience first though — it’s only after I go through some of these other sources of authority that I then decide what I really think about it. But I list it first as it’s the ultimate gatekeeper of what I decide to do.

2. Friends and Co-workers

My wife has a very different perspective on life and decisions than I do, to the point that we don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, so although I consult her, I tend to weight the opinions of my friends and co-workers more heavily. Much to her chagrine

3. Family members

My wife is the only one I consult in my family for most decisions. Not really close to my biological family, unfortunately.

4. Self-Help Books by people with advanced education and credentials.

When I have had big problems in the past, I read books by effective authors who can speak directly to the issue(s) I am facing.

What celebrities think isn’t even on the list, nor is the media. I find the media is heavily biased to the point I don’t trust half of what I read, particularly when its opinion or spun to serve a particular political agenda. Promptings of the Spirit aren’t really on the list anymore either for some reason. I guess in the past I’ve found it hard to distinguish a prompting from my natural thought processes. I use prayer to give thanks, pray for others, and to ask for a limited number of blessings (no more than 2, normally only 1, or often nothing), not to receive inspiration. I am not sure why I don’t consider the scriptures a source of decision-making. I find they are too general. I do enjoy reading them when I have the motivation to do so.

Unlike you, Roy, I am not sure if I use Reason and Logic very much. I tend to act on gut feel and impressions rather than objective logic and reason. There is a point when the ultimate decision sort of weighs on my mind as the right thing to do, and I do that.

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