Leave Mormons Alone!

Last November, a new kind of Halloween horror hit the screen: Heretic. While the dark thriller had its fair share of gore and violence, the film presented themes of religion without delving much into the supernatural. In the movie, atheist antagonist Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) intellectually manipulates two young Mormon missionaries, making a mockery of their belief system and ridiculing the foundation of their lives. This single film is only a microcosm of what the media has normalized in regards to a more recent sect of Christianity: The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) or Mormonism.

Mormons in America have been persecuted for centuries. In the 19th century, Mormons were one of the first groups of American settlers to flee west due to discrimination by both an oppressive government and an intolerant culture. They are the black sheep of Christianity, and in the eyes of many (as Mr. Reed put it), they are Christianity’s “wacky regional variant.” Although explicit persecution no longer occurs in modern America, media portrayal of the LDS Church and Mormons as a whole has damaged their reputation. These depictions take a back-seat to the actual nature of their religious beliefs and instead become a few circulating soundbites that have defined Mormonism to the rest of the world. 

Though there are many differences between every denomination of Christianity, there is usually a general sense of mutual respect and acknowledgement between them. In the eyes of most churches, people with slightly different Christian faiths are Christian, nonetheless. However, many Christian denominations denounce Mormonism as a rogue sect, with a widespread rejection of Mormonism’s validity. “The Catholic Church does not accept Mormon baptisms as valid […] the Mormon’s very concept of God is infinitely different from that of Christians.” The National Humanities Center found that the main source of anti-Mormon sentiment comes from other Protestants in America believing that Mormons were “‘un-American’ outsiders at odds with American values.” One aspect of Mormonism that American culture has rejected is the concept of a living prophet. Founder and first president of the Mormon Church Joseph Smith claimed to be just that, asserting that he was visited by an angel and given ancient scripture on golden plates. At this time period in Western history, scientific thinking mixed with theological precedent shaped church view on Mormonism; to say that you spoke with God and proclaim yourself to be associated with a higher power was not only blasphemous on a religious level but also a punch in the face to the American Constitution and its condemnation of monarchical and theocratic dictators. However, to say that Mormon values are anti-American because they may harm the existence of other values is ignorant of the diversity of America’s beliefs and traditions which often clash. 

Indeed, most Mormon beliefs are no more radical than any other popular and mainstream faiths in the world today. The only distinction is the Church’s emphasis on more modern events. People who have no trouble believing in the existence of miracles that occurred millennia ago struggle to understand and accept the LDS belief that the very same events could have occurred as recently as a few hundred years ago. In line with scientific advancement, a Christian intellectual may argue that the times of Adam, Eve, and Jesus were during what has been dubbed the “Age of Miracles,” and the reason miracles are no longer observed in the modern world is due to the fact that that age has passed. Mormon belief directly contradicts this. As recent as in the early 1800s, Joseph Smith proclaimed that he saw miracles. For many people, it’s much easier to believe in fantastic miracles that happened long ago than those that may have occurred in the not so distant past; from this, many Mormons have been religiously isolated. 

Social media also portrays Mormonism as a weird foreign entity—traditional enough to be viewed as outdated while also modern enough to not fit in with other Abrahamic religions. The rejection of caffeine by LDS churches has been a source of humor for outsiders, who like to poke fun at rules that they consider to be pedantic and ridiculous.

 Recently on social media, videos of people interviewing students at Brigham Young University (a predominantly LDS school) have gone viral, with the interviewer asking questions that mock Mormon faith such as “Would you rather have a sip of coffee or go to war?” Even when Mormonism is not often directly targeted by mainstream media, the language that people use to refer to it in everyday life encourages a socially acceptable cultural rejection of Mormonism. This rejection extends much further than just disagreeing with the general faith of the LDS Church—many social and intellectual arguments target the Mormon way of life.

Recently, measures have been taken to ensure that the wide variety of faiths represented in American society are acknowledged and respected as integral, positive aspects of our culture. Although tremendous strides have been made in advocating for underrepresented faiths, Mormonism has never been among the respected cultures that make up our diverse society. In the eyes of many, the LDS Church is “weird” enough to make fun of; as a Christian faith, Mormonism is “mainstream” enough to not be an underrepresented religion. 

The reason that calling attention to this issue matters so much isn’t just because Mormons don’t deserve the verbal and social abuse tied to their faith. It’s the fact that American culture has built itself around its ability to put down people who are different from the majority; if white Christians aren’t safe, then who is? America is the melting pot of a myriad of cultures, ethnicities, faiths, and ways of life, and to reject even a single one just because it has different societal standards is to reject what we stand for as Americans.