Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Blogging as Public Discourse

I'm presently reading Free Culture (online version here), Lawrence Lessig's articulate defense of the ever-shrinking public cultural arena. We are living through a cultural enclosure movement, with property rights fences going up all over the place. I wrote more comments here. His comments in Chapter 2 on weblogs and blogging relate, I think, to recent Mo-blog discussions about religion and public discourse here and here and here. Here's what Lessig wrote:

[I]n the United States, blogs have taken on a very different character [than in Japan]. There are some who use the space simply to talk about their private life. But there are many who use the space to engage in public discourse. Discussing matters of public import, criticizing others who are mistaken in their views, criticizing politicians about the decisions they make, offering solutions to problems we all see: blogs create the sense of a virtual public meeting, but one in which we don't all hope to be there at the same time and in which conversations are not necessarily linked. The best of the blog entries are relatively short; they point directly to words used by others, criticizing with or adding to them. They are arguably the most important form of unchoreographed public discourse that we have.

Nice summary of what goes on in the Mormon blogosphere, a form of unchoreographed public religious discourse concerning a church that hates unchoreographed discourse. If you go read his chapter, the comment about blogging being "arguably the most important form" of discourse seems more reasonable. So is Mo-blogging the most important form of unchoreographed Mormon discourse? Small universe; it might be the only form of unchoreographed Mormon discourse. IMO, it's only a matter of time before this medium generates a policy response from the Church.

Some Light Reading

While doing some legal research this morning, I stumbled across USA v. Lebaron, 156 F.3d 621 (5th Cir. 1998), which considered the appeal of a polygamist convicted of RICO violations and of "conspiracy to obstruct religious beliefs" (bet you didn't know that was a crime) in connection with the murders of several members of a rival polygamous sect. The first couple of pages, just a narrative of the facts in the case, make interesting reading. Here's the first paragraph (and I'm giving Tim's style of bolding quotes a test-run):

Ervil LeBaron, Aaron's father, founded the Church of the Blood of the Lamb of God, a polygamous patriarchal religion. According to the Church doctrine, people who covenanted with the Church but left or challenged Ervil, the "Great Grand Patriarch", became "Sons (or Daughters) of Perdition." To bring about the Kingdom of God on earth, members believed they were obliged to kill each "Son of Perdition" or risk damnation themselves. Ervil wrote the Book of the New Covenant of the Millennial Church of Jesus Christ, in which he named [four individuals] as "Sons of Perdition."

Quiz on Jacob 2

Short answer, of course. In Jacob 2, the Nephite prophet Jacob condemns polygamy: "Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord" (2:24). The Nephite practices had "broken the hearts of [their] tender wives" (2:35). Yet, the Lord says "if I will . . . raise up seed unto me, I will command my people" (2:30), summarized in the LDS headnote as "Jacob condemns the unauthorized practice of plural marriage." So what exactly is a modern Mormon to make of Jacob 2? Here is your question and (should you find them a useful starting point) four different positions to get your replies started in one direction or another.

Question: Is Jacob 2 at all relevant to the modern 19th-century Mormon practice of polygamy, and if so how?

1. Not relevant. Unlike Nephite women and children, Mormon women and children did not suffer emotional trauma under polygamy, so the Jacobite denunciation is not really applicable to the Mormon case. Only modern revelation is relevant to the modern Mormon practice.

2. Relevant, in that Mormon women and children did suffer, but such is the sacrifice they were called on to make. Jacob 2:30 plainly shows God will command polygamy from time to time, and this was one of those times.

3. Relevant. Mormon women and children did suffer, which is why polygamy is offensive to God and Western sensibilities, and should not be tolerated. Mormon polygamy in the 19th century was simply a mistake, best forgotten and not repeated.

4. Not relevant. Neither Jacob 2, D&C 132, nor any other text is determinative. Independent moral reasoning is sufficient to convince any reasonable person that polygamy is wrong and immoral, and should not be practiced.

Real People Behind the Weblogs

Stuart Buck, author of the very popular law weblog The Buck Stops Here, is in the hospital, but seems to be doing well according to a post by his wife, who was kind enough to write a post about recent events for the benefit of readers. Best wishes for a quick recovery and God bless, Stuart. You're on my Weblogs list for the duration.

On a happier note, Greg Call announced a new arrival to his young family in a post over at T&S, with photo.

Polyblogy

Polyblogy: when a man establishes a relationship with more than one blog. If the tricky pronunciation evades you, try the technically more correct term plural blogging. For example, the author of Orson's Telescope picked up a second blog here. The author of A Good Oman now blogs here and here. Even I have picked up a second blog here, although I'm really not sure what to do with Blog No. 2. Maybe I'm just not cut out for biblogy--who has the time? At some point in the future I may declare definitively for monoblogy; even serial monoblogy seems preferable to committing to two blogs but giving full devotion to neither.

Perhaps other experimental biblogists would consider sharing their experience thus far?

God and Politics

This is a hot topic lately: a post at By Common Consent got 60 comments, and one at Times and Seasons got 59 comments. Some Mormons are more than a little anxious about conservative politics elbowing its way onto the official Mormon "to do" list. At the other end of the spectrum, other Mormons are thinking this is a great thing and it's about time. I've already recorded my thoughts at length. I'll bet there are plenty of veiled references (and maybe a few direct ones) in General Conference next week.

Science News

The lone lawyer at Panda's Thumb posted this link to a rather well written evolution tutorial. The blackboard look is cute.

Marginal Revolution has this interesting post on the roots of the Pledge. If Christians, Nationalists, and Socialists were for it, who was left to be against it? No wonder it was such a hit.

What makes America great? Dramatically lower entry costs, for one, according to the Idea Shop: you can start a business without waiting waiting in line 47 days. I suppose one way to characterize freedom of religion in early America is that it represented a revolutionary lowering of entry barriers in the institutional religion market. Even six farmers with no previous experience could get together and start a new church.

Anthropolgy News linked to this story about the demise of The Great Wall, which (it turns out) cannot be seen from space. Did it really take 40 years in space for someone to notice that they couldn't see the Great Wall?

State of the Weblog Message

Hello, fellow citizens of the blogosphere. The state of the weblog is . . . GOOD!! (polite applause). It has been a busy several weeks, transitioning from the old Radio site to this new Typepad site. But the performance! My heck, I feel like I've died and gone to blogger heaven: instant site updating, post-dated posting, easy setup, and of course COMMENTS! (strong applause).

As the blogosphere expands, I feel pressure to innovate to keep up with the competition. I know my book reviews aren't a real crowd pleaser. (silence). Right. Okay, you want quizzes, I'll give you quizzes (scattered applause). You want shorter posts, I'll get to the point in the first paragraph (growing applause). And I promise more posts linking to all YOUR weblogs so your statistics and hit counts go up too (strong, sustained applause).

My fellow bloggers, we are latter-day pioneers of the blogosphere, blazing a trail for those who come after. If not a straight and narrow trail, it is at least timely and seasonal, and one we tread by common consent. Here's to our mutual success (cheers and applause).

Thank you, and good night.

Angels and Demons

No, not that book. This one: Madness: A Brief History, by Roy Porter (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002), one of those "Gee, that looks interesting" books I found on the New Books rack of my local library. In the post-Enlightenment world, science now explains disease and mental illness through medical science and psychiatry. But fundamentalist religion, Mormonism included, maintains a sporadic and slightly schizophrenic belief in spirit possession. In fact, a literal reading of the New Testament makes it almost impossible not to maintain a latent belief in demons and possession. But that belief runs so counter to modern science that one is apt to tuck it away and pretend it's not there. Is it? Is demonic possession a real threat, or do you not consider that a real part of your world?

Oral Arguments on Newdow

I posted my comments on Elk Grove ISD v. Newdow (the Pledge Case) over at Northern Lights. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday.

This is the second major religion case to come to the Court this term from the Ninth Circuit. The other one was Locke v. Davey; my comments here on that one.

God and Public Policy

By Common Consent has just been hopping lately, most recently with an extended discussion about the LDS Chain of Command, which has morphed into a separate thread discussion God and Public Policy.

Obviously, anyone inclined to talk about God in a public policy discussion is going to claim He is in favor of their proposal. No one is going to say, "I think God is squarely against my view, but it's worth considering nonetheless." So the fact that people invoke God's support of their policy positions is a function of human psychology, not an indicator of how God would vote were he inclined to participate in the democratic process.

Bloom on Mormonism

Nate at T&S discussed Harold Bloom's The American Religion (Simon & Schuster, 1992) in an interesting post on Mormon nationalism. I just happen to have Bloom's book on my shelf at the moment and want to do something with it before it starts generating fines at the ridiculous rate of 25 cents per day (which vastly overstates the daily harm I might inflict on the local reading community by keeping the book long enough to get around to re-reading it). Any religious critic who says nice things about the Mormons deserves careful reading. Especially Bloom, who always has interesting things to say.

New Image - Book of Mormon Notice of Publication

On the right sidebar is this week's image, a photo of a publication notice (apparently dating to 1844) giving information on the Book of Mormon (click here for a larger image). The text reads: "Stick of Joseph, taken from the Hand of Ephraim. A correct copy of characters taken from the plates the Book of Mormon!!" Reference is made to Professor Anthon and Martin Harris, and three lines of interesting characters are shown. Then the following quotations are given:

Isaiah 29:11-12: "The vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed . . . ."

Psalms 85:11: "Truth shall spring out of the earth."

Hosea 8:12: "I have written to Ephraim the great things of my law."

Ezekiel 37:19: The stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah shall be one stick.

An aged Indian of the Stockbridge Tribe: "Our fathers once had 'Sacred Book' like the white man have, but it was hid in the ground, since then Indian no more prevail against his enemies."

For more information on this document and especially the Indian quote, see this very enlightening article at Dale Broadhurt's site solomonspaulding.com. According to the article, the material from which the "quote" from the aged Indian derives appeared originally in Elias Boudinot's A Star in the West (1816), from which it was quoted by Ethan Smith in his A View of the Hebrews (1825), who was quoted word for word by Josiah Priestly in his The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed (1826). It later found its way into Mormon pamphlets by Parley P. Pratt written in the 1830s and 1840s, into the plate shown in the image here, and in later years into a variety of Mormon books. In the original sources, the quote seems to suggest Indian familiarity with the Bible; in the Mormon sources, it was held out as referring to a separate native Indian book.

2 Nephi 31 - On Baptism

After 12 chapters of Isaiah and Nephi's depressing comments on priestcrafts, apostasy, and the destruction of the wicked, 2 Nephi 31 practically sparkles. It reads like a rousing frontier revival sermon preached by Nephi in 550 BC, urging the faithful listener or reader to commit themselves to baptism. Yes, there are chronology problems with this setting, but let's stress the positive today. He begins in 31:5:

And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!

He continues, rather oddly in the past tense, in 31:8-9:

Wherefore, after [Jesus] was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.
And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.

He then covers repentance, baptism by water, and "a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost" (31:17). I assume that's literal water and figurative fire. He closes with a beautiful challenge to continued faith and striving (31:20, slight edits):

Press forward with steadfastness in Christ,
having perfect brightness of hope and love of God and all men.
Wherefore, press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ and enduring to the end,
and behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

In the News

BYU NewsNet talks about MTC Training Resource Center Looking For Volunteer 'Investigators.' I imagine they'll screen carefully, rejecting (1) anyone who might ask tough questions, and (2) anyone who is female.

LDS Newsline has an article on BYU's Honor Code. The article actually highlights the Honor Code Office, the guys who do the dirty work. The head of the office is quoted as saying, "Most students at Brigham Young University list the school's moral environment as the reason they choose to support the honor code." How misleading--yes, students like the moral atmosphere, but it's the students themselves that create it. The Honor Code Office, in my experience, is not well regarded by students; it helps create the tattle-tale mentality that pervades the campus.

Meridian Magazine has a nice local history article, Church History Lives in England. It's about the purchase and restoration of a United Brethren chapel (nice photos) where Wilford Woodruff preached Mormonism to symapthetic English listeners in the 1840s. Apparently all the money came from local members and the Church had no direct involvement, financial or otherwise. The official line, quoted in the article, is that the Church wants local (read non-American) Saints to own their own history, but it just sounds like the Church being cheap at the local members' expense to me. Millions for US PR sites, but not one cent overseas--not a great slogan for a hoping-to-be-global church. But I'll give credit to the English locals who pitched in to buy and fix up the site.

The SL Trib has a story on two FLDS runaways. This story has so many angles I won't even try to comment.

These Guys Need a New Name

My friends at rameumptom.blogspot.com are in the market for a new name. Again. I agree with Aaron that "By Common Consent" just won't do. It's ironic they can't settle on a workable name, as they have proven so adept at renaming everyone else's blog. This site, for example, was recently downgraded from "The Tin Plates" (not demeaning but hardly a compliment) to "The Kinderhook Plates" (which I'll try to explain to my weblog readers, both of them, in my next post). So sure, I'm willing to suggest a few names for The Blog Formerly Known as By Common Consent.

I thought of Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, So Now We Blog, but that makes no clear allusion to LDS content. For a "we get it, do you?" name, there's The Nauvoo Seven, but they seem to be on a membership drive so that name might be outdated by next week. I suppose they could just iterate as new bloggers join: Eight is Enough, The Nine, etc. But the winner of my personal renaming contest is Marching to a Different Beat, But We Still March. I will update my link immediately and begin using this new name in future posts.

Denominational Positions on Evolution

Thanks to Ann for pointing out this interesting site on evolution, Religious Responses to Evolution. It was done by a university biology professor and is an objective and fair compilation of denominational positions on evolution. He sounds like a compassionate biologist who is just trying to spell out the denominational positions on evolution, rather than a fire-spitting Dawkins type. There's considerably more variety to the denominational positions than one would guess from media stereotyping of the "religion versus science" issue.

The LDS Church was put in the "neutral or ambivalent to evolution" group, avoiding both the "critical of evolution" and the "more or less open to evolution" labels. Hiding in the middle of the spectrum on contentious issues is sometimes sound strategy, but here it results from being all over the map rather than from aiming for the middle. Here's a selection from the LDS summary:

The official statements are generally neutral. However the full range of views are represented in unofficial statements from Church leaders and members. Some Church leaders have been highly critical of evolution. However, articles more or less open to evolution have appeared in official church magazines . . . .

Church president David O. McKay wrote in 1957 that, "on the subject of organic evolution, the Church has officially taken no position."

There were two recent and detailed discussions of the LDS position on evolution at Mormon Metaphysics, Evolution, and Evolution Again. For more official statements, go look up the evolution quotes at All About Mormons (great site, tough to navigate but worth the effort: go to Doctrines of the Gospel, then The Creation, then Evolution).

In the Footsteps of John Wesley

This is the last of several entries on Methodism, the others being Methodists and Mormons, on the old weblog, and Mormon Exhorters here. I'm following Chapter 10 in Noll's Turning Points (see Now Reading list). I think Methodism and John Wesley help put Mormonism and Joseph Smith in context and perspective. How?

Book of Mormon Now in Yapese

BYU NewsNet reports Yapese Book of Mormon Now Complete. This may not rock your world, but it's big news on Yap. Just how many books do you think have actually been translated into Yapese? Let's just say I didn't see many Yapese books for sale when I was there. In fact, I don't recall seeing any books for sale at all. If you wanted a book, the place to go was the ramshackle Peace Corps office up the hill, which had a thriving "give one, take one" book exchange full of musty paperbacks of truly impressive variety. It's open to any expatriate. Island-bound expats are voracious readers. I read Moby Dick in Fiji. Very long. Kind of slow. Island fare.

Yap is of course best known for stone money. Take a drive (great roads for a Pacific Island) and you'll see dozens of the huge stone wheels propped up near people's driveways or houses, just like in your Econ textbook. The Yapese are also known as chewers of the betel nut. Leaves nasty red juice stains all over. It's best enjoyed with a slice of lime, and gives the chewer a mild buzz. I'm told.

What's a Woman to Do?

Over at Common Consent, Karen raised what might be called the plight of the Mormon woman: How to deal with the gentle slings or occasional arrows that follow close upon the fortune of being a woman in a patriarchal church? She is not the first to pose the question. There is an online article that considers how other Mormon women have dealt with this and similar questions, entitled Molly Mormons, Mormon Feminists, and Moderates: Religious Diversity and the Latter Day Saints Church, by Lori G. Beamon (Sociology of Religion, Spring 2001). Here is the synopsis:

Based on data from life history interviews with 28 Latter Day Saints women, this paper considers the process of boundary negotiation on two key sites. First, how do Mormon women maintain their autonomy and agency in the context of institutionalized patriarchy. Secondly, how do women make sense of church prescriptions on male authority both within the family and in the church hierarchy. The study reveals that LDS women are not monolithic in their response to these issues, and that they tend to fall into one of three groups -- Molly Mormons, feminists, or moderates. The paper reviews strategies used by Mormon women to negotiate boundaries within their families, the church, and society around four issues: participation in the paid labor force, male headship, the priesthood, and the separation of their faith from decisions made by the male hierarchy of the church.

For My Next Trick . . .

I will add a photo feature to the sidebar. I'll rotate images every week or so. This week, Moroni in the Sun, a striking photo against a red sky, one of my favorites. I'm not sure whether to put it at the top of the column or bury it somewhere down the page; I'll have to play around a bit. I confess, I'm posting the image to the "My Photo" section of the configuration page. I don't really want to post my own photo but I do want to add something visual to spruce up the place, so this is my solution.

Mormon Exhorters

Mormonism lacks a trained clergy; never had it, never will. So where did the Mormon tradition of a lay ministry start and what did it use for its initial format or example? Much of it was drawn from Methodism. Both Joseph Smith, Jr., and John Taylor, for example, served as Methodist Exhorters as teenagers (see JS-H 1:7-8 and Anderson, Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith, Signature Books, 1999, p. 39 for Joseph; this short bio for John Taylor). What exactly is a Methodist Exhorter and what did they do?

The modern office that discharges that role in the Methodist Church is called Lay Speaker, and they have their own Lay Speaking Ministries site. A short history of the Exhorter/Lay Speaker office is provided. They didn't preach sermons or interpret scriptures publicly--they couldn't. They had no training. They would just have spread screwy interpretations leading to confusion and serving to discredit the church. So they just "exhorted" by urging folks to pray and repent, offering encouragement, and admonishing listeners to act. Sound familiar?

FLDS Polygamy Story

The Salt Lake Tribune featured several related stories in a special Living the Principle section on Sunday. The photo galleries are rather interesting: one of present-day Hildale and Colorado City (big, really big houses and plain-looking women in pioneerish dresses) and one of the 1953 Short Creek raid (makes the present day community look pretty modern by comparison).

The timeline given under the heading Origins of Polygamy is so misleading as to be dishonest. It says "1843: Smith discloses the principle of celestial marriage." No, he shared it with a few close associates, but didn't disclose it to the general public or to the vast majority of early Mormons. It notes Orson Pratt's 1852 General Conference discourse on polygamy without stating this was the first time the Church admitted publicly it sponsored and supported the practice. In says "1862: The first federal law is passed outlawing polygamy," suggesting it was legal before 1862 which is ridiculous. The statute merely restated what was universally understood as the applicable common law prohibition against polygamy under the common law of every state and federal common law as it had been understood since the 17th century. Finally, there is no mention of the practice of post-1890 polygamy as sponsored and practiced by many of the Church's highest leaders. What a hack job. The timeline is the most inaccurate piece of work I've ever seen in the Tribune. And I only read the first ten (out of about fifty) entries!

Two New Mormon Weblogs

They're sprouting up all over, aren't they? Orson's Telescope ("Stargazing in the Mormon Universe") features a lot of commentary on Utah culture, and finally posted something about The Telescope That Inspired the Telescope. Then there is By Common Consent ("A liberal minded, yet grossly intolerant, Mormon thought blog. We tolerate dissent but not stupidity."), which featured a little contest to name itself. I might have suggested "Mormon Men Behaving Badly," but By Common Consent has a much friendlier ring to it and I heartily approve. If they have a contest for their tagline, I'd shorten it to "a liberal, tolerant Mormon blog." Assuming they really are both liberal and tolerant, of course.

The Beast and the Bay

Spring has come early to the Bay Area--I came to work in shirtsleeves today, and read Thomas Cahill's description of John the Revelator's visions of good and evil (in Cahill's Desire of the Everlasting Hills, on my Now Reading list) as I zoomed toward the City by the Bay. Reading visions of the Beast while headed for the city named after a Catholic saint, St. Francis (I'm guessing it's this one, but could be this one or even this one). Cahill summarizes the standard view that the number of the Beast, which John says refers to a man, clearly points to Nero and Rome, as do most of his other rather transparent symbols. But he thinks John also critiques power in general, tyranny and empire, as equivalently evil. From Nero to Hitler, Rome to the Nazis, symbols from John's Apocalypse seem to fit every Evil Empire. Even American power, if you're on the receiving end of things, doesn't feel much different (go rent the director's cut of Apocalypse Now to see that jarring "we're not really the good guys" perspective depicted in a different set of unforgettable images). Maybe I'll try some lighter reading on the way home today.