I read an article this morning that quite frankly, I thought
was awful. What I found more disturbing was that LDS Living decided to make it
the key subject in the mass email they sent out today. The article comes from
examiner.com, a blog conglomerate in which contributors can post stories about
a wide range of topics. The topic of course was Mormonism. Kelly Foss
contributed a short blog titled, “CNN’s
Radical Approach to Discussing Mormon Faith.” Foss was apparently overjoyed
because on Wednesday night a CNN show had a discussion about Mormonism and
“they actually invited a real live member of the Mormon Church to the segment
to talk about it!” Yep, “a real live” Latter-day Saint.
Foss
continued, “What a revolutionary idea! No pundits, no outside observers, no
disaffected Mormons, no academics who have studied the church from a distance
for years, but someone who actually knows what they are talking about because
they live and practice the faith.” As I read this statement, I could not help
but think that many Latter-day Saints (but not all) need to transition from
such perspectives. I admit I understood the message that Foss was trying to
convey. In discussing Mormonism in proper fashion a Mormon needs to be at the
table detailing what they believe and how it interacts with their life, etc.
Unfortunately, at the heart of this statement comes something that is more
damming to the understanding of Mormonism-blocking all others from the table of
discussion where genuine questions, struggles, and issues can be openly
discussed.
As
I prepared myself to study religion at Claremont Graduate University back in
2009, I remember sitting in the foyer of my church building in Boise Idaho
waiting for an activity to get ready to start. As I sat down on a couch I
started reading Jan Shipps’ phenomenal work “Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious
Tradition.” Eventually, I was
engaged in a conversation with a fellow Latter-day Saint about the book I was
reading. It was not long before I was asked, “Is Jan Shipps a Mormon?” I responded that indeed she wasn’t, and
could already anticipate the potential reaction that would follow. I tried to
explain how wonderful the book was, stressed how Shipps had been studying
Mormons for years, and emphasized that she was quite good at the work she did.
I have had numerous similar conversations since then, and I always worry that I
come off lecturing believing Latter-day Saints about why it is so critical for
non-Mormons to publish books and articles on Mormonism. So, if I have offended
any in this process I apologize. But please note, I am not attacking you as an
individual- you are my friends and are wonderful! However, Latter-day Saints
really need to get out of this paradigm. For lack of any better explanation, I
will simply state that we need to get out of a “persecution complex” in
thinking that any non-Mormon that discusses us collectively is going to be
slinging mud at us as if he/she was a nineteenth century reporter. Yes, there are many of those today, but
let us not close ourselves in. We already appear to those outside of Mormonism
as “secretive” as it is.
I
use Jan Shipps only as an example, because she is known as one of the great
outsider historians of Mormonism. But there are many more Jan Shipps out there
doing wonderful things, which push the discussion of Mormonism in polite,
analytical ways. A perfect example
of this is my good friend Christopher Smith, who started a new Mormon Studies
blog called Worlds Without End. The
effort behind the creation of this blog was to bring together both insider and
outsider perspectives in the discourse of Mormon Studies in which differing viewpoints
could be discussed. What is even more amazing about such a blog is that the
contributors are well aware of proper edict involved in such a discourse (and
if you don’t believe me, please see their comment policy). Such a venture, which Smith discusses
as following after the spirit of Claremont Graduate University, is essential to
a complete understanding of Mormonism.
If Mormons keep the historical discussion of Mormonism to themselves,
saying that we indeed are the only ones that can discuss adequately Mormonism
because we live and believe in it, Mormons are only asking for trouble. Such a
setup does not provide a roundtable of a discussion, but only makes those
outside of Mormonism adamantly believe that we are secretive insiders with
something to hide. We need outsider historians, pundits, and even disaffected
Mormons (if performed in a conducive spirit) to be at the table. One doesn’t
correct understanding of their own group if they are the only ones allowed to
speak. In fact in Mormon culture, we often speak in a completely different
language, and approach our religion from a different worldview. In cases like
this it becomes quite refreshing when we dialogue enough with outsiders
(pundits etc) to which they actually come to understand what we are saying and
then turn around and help us convey our own history and culture to those that
are otherwise clueless. To understand Mormonism, the table needs to be full of
diversity- not a members-only club.
Why
am I so passionate about this? Because I have been spending the last three
years of my life inviting others to the table and not pushing them away. I do
Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University- one of the best things
about a Mormon Studies program at a graduate level is that non-LDS academics
can become versed in Mormonism in such a way that when they go off and teach
religion at the university level they will have a good understanding of
Mormonism and will be able to discuss it when news pundits need to bring up the
subject (This is something which at the graduate level has been unprecedented).
Also,
this is not the first time a “real live” Mormon has been brought before media
pundits to discuss Mormonism. A prime example of this is when BYU professor
Spencer Fluhman and Joanna Brooks both spoke on MSNBC
back in June about the topic of Mormonism. Yes, we need more Mormons to do this
(Joanna Brooks says so), but we must not push non-Mormons out of the
conversation. More pertinent to my
discussion here is the fact that in this very MSNBC conversation Melissa Harris-Perry
(a non-Mormon) has her own Mormon heritage. This means the conversation is as
much involved with her life as it is for Mormons themselves. There is an
interaction which must take place.
In conclusion, you can’t create understanding
about Mormons if you push all non-Mormons away. The way we do this is to open
up the conversation to pundits, disaffected Mormons, and outsider historians
while at the same time balancing this with the Mormon voice (and there are many
of those Mormon voices: Mormons that struggle with leader statements regarding
Proposition 8, Mormons who struggle with LDS leaders stance on immigration, Mormons who believe fervently but struggle with
Word of Wisdom issues, the history of polygamy etc). This
is the real “radical” approach that we need to be using when we discuss the
Mormon faith. If we go to Kelly Foss’ extreme we will not be doing any better
than the approach he is attacking. We will only be damming understanding of
Mormonism. Unfortunately, the media use of this roundtable approach created
under terms of genuine understanding and dialogue has been heavily uncharted by
the media. Let’s just make sure in our critique we don’t go to extremes.
The more non-Latter-day Saints
enter the discussion, the better us Mormons will be. Especially if they have
been trained at the university level with a great academic understanding of
Mormon history, and a discourse of respect regarding the beliefs of Mormons. My
last three years of life have been focused on opening up the table- not closing
it. This is why I am writing this blog. Kelly Foss’ opinion cannot match with
the perspective that I see in this.
I really wish LDS Living did not
propagate such a perspective in forwarding this story.
PS- For my “outsider” historian friends reading this: I
often feel you understand Mormons more than we sometimes understand ourselves. I
learn much more about my deep personal convictions from your evaluation looking
in at my faith. You also enable me to respectfully laugh at myself. Please, keep on
trucking! I know there are many people who look at you studying Mormonism and
wonder what the hell you are doing. It takes some serious guts- especially when some Mormons are ready to cast you into outer darkness, where there is wailing
and gnashing of teeth- without so much as to listening to what you say. Oh, the
irony in that situation.
