The Mormons: A Truly American Religion

To continue the spirit of criticizing religions other than orthodox Christianity, I wanted to say a few words about the Mormons.

There's a tendency perhaps to dismiss the Mormons as kooks, perhaps in the same breath as one would the Jehovah's Witnesses (persistent front-door evangelism multiplied by discontinuity with Christian orthodoxy doesn't help with popularity in this country), but I find the histories of both to be fascinating tales of religious faith in the unique American context (although I'll only be talking about the Mormons here).

The main reason why I bring them up is because of the wonderful new PBS documentary on the faith airing this week (and available to view in its entirety at the website), of which the first half aired tonight, focusing on the history of the Mormons from Joseph Smith until today.

In many ways, the story of the Mormon faith is one that is essentially American- given the provisions in the First Amendment to the Constitution that permits (just about) any exercise of religion, this country has experienced an immense diversity of religious development in its short two-century existence- not only the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses, but also the more orthodoxly Christian Disciples of Christ, Seventh-day Adventist, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, as well as some more unorthodox groups that were spawned in England but flourished in America, such as the Quakers and the Shakers.

Aside from the humorous (but pointedly accurate) synopsis of the founding of Mormonism that was provided by South Park, the fact remains that Joseph Smith was a man serious enough about his religious convictions that he was able to convince thousands of people to the truth of his beliefs (which resulted in vicious persecution from orthodox Christian Americans), organized churches in New York state, moved the church several times, from New York to Ohio, from Ohio to Missouri, and from Missouri to Illinois, where the Mormon city of Nauvoo was his greatest achievement. Consider- even Jesus couldn't boast such an accomplishment for his ministry (few religious founders could).

And yet, ironies abound. Although America's constitutional foundation of free exercise helped give rise to Mormonism (among other new Christian variations), this was not a universal value, and it was the fundamental differences between Mormonism and orthodox Christianity that ultimately led to Smith's death and the westward flight of the Mormons to Salt Lake City. But after having found their sanctuary, religious paranoia and a history of persecution led to the horrific Mountain Meadows Massacre. It seems that just like any other system of supernatural belief, when Mormonism was given the opportunity to enforce a theocracy, it did so with relish.

Even to the point of murder.

But that's not unique to Mormons in the slightest, and if anything, it serves to make them even more similar to other mainstream religions. And like other religions, Mormonism seems to satisfy just about any basic quality-of-life criticism that other theists tend to lodge against atheism. Mormons are generally happy, satisfied with their place and purpose in the world, have a set of moral prescriptions, and enjoy a close relationship with their families and other Mormons.

Which is, I think, what I find so interesting about the Mormon experience in this country- it's origin was so recent and relatively well documented, and its tenets are considered so obviously ridiculous, even to orthodox Christians, and yet it has such amazing persuasive power. That the origins of other religions lie so far back in the mists of history serves to make their founding events particularly mysterious, which strangely enough seems more conducive to credulity. And yet despite making demonstrably false claims, the Mormon religion is robust and growing.

I should think that such a situation would tend to give anyone pause about the nature of supernatural belief.