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The Mormon trek across the plains and the 60+ years of isolation created a shared history and legacy much like that shared by Jews, but unlike anything experienced by most other religions. More than just a church, Mormonism is also a culture with a strong legacy extending even to those who have no pioneer ancestors. I have grown to appreciate and value it, but until I read this article in the DN I was unable to articulate it. Here’s the link for others who want to check it out.
Quote:This seemed to me profoundly significant. To be a Latter-day Saint isn’t merely to belong to a particular religious denomination such as the Methodists or the Episcopalians. It’s to belong to a people.
I would have to agree with this statement. But then again I was born in the church with lines that go all the way back to converts by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Wilford Woodruff. My convert ancestors actually partook of the trek that is part of a historical epic that is now termed a myth or legend by that article I have quoted from. I think this is why sometimes I have an inward struggle to fight against it at times to really appreciate the reality of the Mormon experience. I am like a rubber band that gets stretched to almost apostasy at times yet, I always seem to spring back because of the ethnicity aspect and culture of the church. I know they are deep spiritual roots and I would fight to defend them, much like the saints at Haun’s Mill. Tonight I just watched Legacy with my kids for pioneer day. I fast forwarded the Haun’s Mill stuff since it was a little too intense for my 6 and 7 year old. But we tried to explain things in simple terms. Overall, I think my kids got this sense that they belong to the Pioneer Legacy in some way. I don’t think they really know that “Mormon” is a separate religion from kids at their school that are not Mormon. I think at this point they think that people are either Mormon and go to church, or don’t go to church. I’m gonna wait until they get confronted by non-Mormons with a different opinion of faith before I tell them anything. I try to tell them at least that there are people who don’t believe in the Book of Mormon, and that some people don’t believe in God at all. Some people don’t know the Word of Wisdom and haven’t been taught what they know. This is the extent of letting them know about the “other,” outside of their Mormon bubble.
I don’t have deep roots like that — I’m a convert, and for me, it’s hard to leave because a) my family is mostly into it b) I had spiritual promptings when I prayed about it, so I’m afraid to offend God and c) I don’t know if I could belong to any other Church after this experience. I spent years countering the ideas of other religions to the point I don’t think I could fully embrace any other mainstream Christian Church. Someone once said that if you can get a priesthood holder to the point he’s married and has kids, his chance of staying active for the rest of his life go up dramatically. I think that applies to people like me. I’ve created a Mormon web around me that is hard to bust out of!
I think this only really applies to people in the Mormon culture region. Here is an article from the SL Tribune titled “Active, inactive – do Mormon labels work or wound?” . Quote:Two black women at IBM once asked Ken Kuykendall whether his core characteristic was as a man or as a white person. Would he, his co-workers wondered, be more comfortable in a room of 100 white women or 100 black men?
Caught off guard, Kuykendall felt he would stick out in both environments. Instead, he told them the next day, his most fundamental identity was as a Mormon.
“I would be absolutely 100 percent at ease in a room full of 100 Mormons, no matter their race, socioeconomic status, gender or nationality,” the LDS man told them. “We could spend hours together, talking, discussing, sharing stories, all these shared assumptions, easy. Room full of Mormons, my home, total comfort zone.”
One woman was incredulous, declaring with amazement, “But that’s just a church.”
The other one said, in a kind of stage whisper, “He’s like a Jew.”
For Kuykendall, who now lives in Raleigh, N.C., Mormonism is a church and a tribe. It encompasses his beliefs, his behavior, his community, his best friends, his aspirations, his future — indeed, his life.
For them, the word “Mormon” is inadequate to capture the various ways people engage with the faith. And so they preface it with qualifiers: liberal, progressive, orthodox, intellectual, true blue, jack, new order, cultural, practicing, Utah, California and mission field.
The rather lengthy article can be viewed at
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/52631643-80/mormon-church-lds-says.html.csp Wow, fascinating perspective. I could totally see that. Yes. I could instantly relate to a room full of 100 Mormons. The other two — sex and race, those would not give me the same feeling of bonding at all. For me, it reminds me of meeting someone with past military experience, especially if in the same branch of service. There’s this instant bond through shared experiences that are very deep (like the suffering of training, adventure, risk, difficult experiences, etc.).
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