A Mormon Culture Beyond Any Law, Research Paper Example

Religious systems present themselves as above error, as Times Magazine so brazenly asserted in the 2010 article “Why being pope means never having to say you’re sorry” (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 43). With leadership, beliefs gain power. For eons, religious beliefs have been exploited during times of political, financial, and cultural upheaval. The Mormon church never says its sorry—not even for the bloody deeds of their fundamentalist followers. The ambiguous and highly-subjective nature of the Mormon religious hierarchy creates opportunities for miscommunication and liberal interpretation and implementation for fundamentalists in even the most peaceful of religious groups, and the mere identification of people into different groups furthers a dispassionate sense of separation from the peaceful common ground. Mormon fundamentalists form religious armies- either literally or figuratively- and persecute, attack, maim, and even massacre, silencing forever any voice of dissent.

Even as a term, ‘religion’ eludes a common definition. The distinctions between song and hymn, folk tale and parable, and mythology and religion are blurred as the influence of such terms fluctuates and evolves. After examining definitions which comprise various logical, social, personal, economic, moral, and socioeconomic theories, James Wellman argues that this view is too compartmentalized and carefully distanced from exhibitions of violence (3). Wellman opts for a much more comprehensive definition:

“Religion is a system of symbols, composed of beliefs and practices, developed in a communal setting, often institutionally legitimated, which negotiates or interacts with a power or force that is experienced as within and beyond the self and group” (4).

Wellman adds that the interpersonal dynamics of religious systems frequently impinges on personal preferences or beliefs, creating an elitist system in which expectations shift with certain people or with group support. He attributes religious violence to intragroup and intergroup conflict (4). Cavanaugh et al. explain that subordination to the will of a divine entity and a belief in destiny are crucial to categorization as religion. In politically-dominated nations, the infiltration of the religious hierarchy places the political agenda in the realm of the absolute need for self-sacrifice and atonement. On a personal level, the authors posit that religion is an extension of a universal and irrational impulse (25-27).

A Lack of Sanctions

Religious beliefs are frequently held to a higher level which demands that the defense of their ethics transcends human concerns, understanding, and laws. Symbolism creates a culture which is “in the know”, so to speak, developing a community which mutually supports the doctrinal interpretation of these symbols (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 34). Harris views these symbols as a common representation of recurring allegorical lessons which have a significant metaphorical- and not literal– value even in modern society (14-15). The Biblical book of Deuteronomy explicitly condones the violent stoning of religious dissenters and recognizes familial ties to religion. Moderate critics now idealistically interpret such passages as symbolic in nature (Harris 18). According to Wellman, the fighting of ‘holy’ wars constitutes a form of ritualistic sacrifice (14-16). This premise weakens the force of the argument regarding the sacrifice which a divine entity (or entities) makes to provide for the continuation of humankind. Regardless, Mormon leaders of the mid-1800’s attempted to force a community political vote which would expel the dissenting church members who refused to yield to national laws (Walker no page).

Largely enforced by punitive measures, religious law varies in the extent and method of the punishment, according to the liberal interpretation of fundamentalists. In accordance with Muslim law, a young woman was shot to death under “suspicion of immoral behavior”- for being unaccompanied by a chaperone while in her fiancé’s presence; her fiancé was beaten and released (Hitchens 24). In addition to being granted such wide leniency to determine what actions constitute ‘immoral behavior’, the religious prerogative allows for further distinctions to be made. Cavanaugh et al. remark that the application of religious mandates varies widely with environmental factors, such as popular support, place, time, secular laws, etc (26).

Gradated and inconsistently applied, moral systems create a hierarchy according to the possession of symbolic, social, and authoritative capital (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 43). Although public and political actions affect a larger sense of morality, religion enjoys unique political protections in the United States, pitting religious mandates against conflicting laws. Due to the cohesiveness of many religious groups and due to the precarious ground separating church and state, religion may supersede certain laws (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 28). Religion may even create intangible resources or increase the demand for certain foods, spices, or other items related to religious custom or may spark sect conflicts which deprive a society of any workers who fall as casualties to religious turmoil (Wellman 6). Yet religion closely affects the economic and political systems to a degree which remain unparalleled in modern countries which observe this separation (Harris 17).

A Religious Community Culture

Religion inherently divides classifications which forms boundaries of identity and constructed social meanings—or a sort of clique formation (Wellman 5). In THE END OF FAITH, Sam Harris asserts that religious ideas only unite human beings to eventually see them kill each other (12). Similarly, Hitchens remarks that differing extremists escalate the situation to the verge of nuclear war (24). Even where tolerance and moderation exists, the assumption of a religion’s infallibility diminishes respect for the ‘error’ of other belief systems and creates an expectation of ultimate separation and varied ‘just desserts’ in the afterlife (Harris 13). Within the religious community, the reverse effect may occur and foster both common goals and flaws (Lotz 408). Rituals reinforce the sanctity of sameness within a church and desensitize fundamentalists’ followers to the gradual changes of doctrine and religious policy (Van Beek, “Meaning and Authority,” 18-19).

Within religious organizations, one’s office attracts people of certain values and emotional and personality types. However, this attraction reduces the likelihood of receiving feedback, creating a bias of ‘holy hierarchy’ which is breached most effectively by the more affluent church members (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 34, 40). Van Beek writes that hierarchy is a system of authority and thus is assumed to represent a holy and irreproachable divine mandate (42). However, this same hierarchy which protects uniformity, authority, and obedience becomes subject to a human leader or to the accepted emergent prophesies of divine inspiration, which Van Beek likens to religious blackmail (41). Harris theorizes that such ‘psychotic’ beliefs will ultimately cause a catastrophic nuclear war (24).

Products of Religion

Religion vests authority in groups which are built upon violent iconography. In 1970 the Catholic citizens of Beirut formed a religious-based militia called the Phalanx, which eventually slaughtered Palestinian Muslims residing in refugee camps (Hitchens 19). After the murder of over one hundred emigrants during the Mountain Meadows Massacre on September 11, 1857, the Mormon Church carefully avoided acknowledgement of these events out of concern that church forerunner Brigham Young may appear fallible (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 43). Young was known to be quick-tempered and to struggle with public speaking. Nonetheless, Mormon religious cultures promoted harsh criticism of others, the self, and of one’s religious peers, and divisions varied in strength based upon the sanctions, authority, and involvement of the church (Walker). Different sects of Christians formed torture squads in Belfast (Hitchens 18). In 2002, in India, Hindi and Muslim believers openly warred; women were publicly impaled or eviscerated and children raped to the sound of jeering and rioting (Harris 27). The history of religious expression is written in blood. These are isolated events, yet the widespread persecution of the Crusades is one example of the large-scale impact which a common religious culture can form.

Fundamentalism and LDS Atonement

Religion successfully combines symbolic, social, and authoritative capital in an arena which American policy-makers are wont to challenge (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 43). Due to the structure, customs, and quiet fear of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) church, its fundamentalist members wield larger amounts of each form of capital. In his book GOD IS NOT GREAT, Christopher Hitchens writes: “Religion poisons everything. As well as a menace to civilization, it has become a threat to human survival” (25). On Christmas Day of 1854, American military members were involved in a skirmish with prominent Mormon church members and then proceeded to pursue the women of the men whom they had just attacked (Walker). Social interactions greatly affect public awareness of these hostilities, and the separation of church and state has allowed fundamentalists with leadership capabilities to create a religious cult mentality which is represented as beyond question (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 41). Furthermore, frequent rituals reduce the active participation of cognitive functioning during religious observation and reflection (Van Beek, “Meaning and Authority,” 21-23). As a result, the members of the LDS church are reluctant to question a human prophet, since divine inspiration is considered sacred (Hitchens 15).

Authority and obedience are highly valued in the LDS. When there is dissent within the church, the bearer of bad news may be associated with the news itself (regardless of involvement), and an unquestioning obedience to the religious hierarchy is valued among active church members at all levels. Religious conflict reveals a two-fold problem for the LDS church; it questions the doctrinal faith of the followers and tests the authority of leaders (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 41-43). Because LDS fundamentalists cite examples of past and present condemnation of their beliefs, polygamy in particular, there is ample ground for paranoia and hostility to overwhelm the subtle limitations of ritual and doctrinal agreement (Walker no page). The Adam-God doctrine is one of the most controversial of the LDS church and promotes an eased transitional view of the relationship between God and man ((Van Beek, “Meaning and Authority,” 26-27). For LDS fundamental extremists, divine inspiration may create divine authority and freedom—devoid of the moral judgments even of their religious peers.

Even regarding religious extremism and fundamentalism, religion is rarely considered in discussions of violence, and Harris postulates that this is an avoidance of impropriety, a quest to realize positive effects of religious faith, and a product of baser natures. Still, these positive effects further the myth of positivity of religion and inhibit the economic, environmental, political, and social development of the present time (13-15, 25). He also criticizes religious neutrality as well, calling such moderation “the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance—and it has [nothing] to put it on par with fundamentalism” (21). In the history of the LDS church, fundamentalism often materialized as blood atonement for the self or others as punishment and purification for the sins of doubt, resistance, disobedience, etc. (Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 14). The suffering of the physical, mental, or emotional self forms a deeper understanding of the consequences of sin and of the gravity of Yahweh’s sacrifice (Lotz 408-409; Van Beek, “The Infallibility Trap,” 14). They years from 1830 to 1860 became known as “The Turbulent Era”. The LDS fundamentalist perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the outsider status of the emigrant victims allowed the fundamentalists to assume that they were performing a religious cleansing upon their future tormentors. Women and children formed the majority of the number killed (Walker, no page).

Conclusion

The LDS church’s strict extrapolation of mandates from Scriptures, their religious canon, and prophesies ensures that (within the church) there already exists a foundation for any new religious tenets but virtually eliminates further questioning of accepted doctrine (p.26). There is a Mormon saying that “Catholics are taught that their pope is infallible, and they do not belief it. Mormons are taught their prophet is fallible, and they do not believe that either” (p. 15). Religion depends upon more than logic and thus may bypass the critical thinking which is typical to non-religious ethical philosophy. Furthermore, after being thoroughly integrated into an entire culture of belief, church customs demand complete authority and obedience which forcefully opposes any dissent as an act of religious treason. Fundamentals of the LDS churches, as well as other religious organizations, decry church dissent while ignoring the modern doctrines which they seek to uphold. A member of the community in which the Meadows Massacre perpetrators lived later said: “You would not understand if I told you. You know nothing about the spirit of the times…You don’t understand and you can’t understand” (Walker no page). This perceptual difference is ironically a result of the separate-and-unequal view which most religious organizations form regarding non-members. Like the bones of the Meadows Massacre victims, the violent threat of Mormon religious fanatacism remains scattered and mysterious.

Works Cited

Cavanaugh, William T. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. Chapter 2. Oxford University Press. September 2009. Print.

Harris, Sam. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.Chapter 1. W.W. Norton. October 2010. Print.

Hitchens, Christopher. GOD IS NOT GREAT: How Religion Poisons Everything. Chapter Two. Twelve Publishers. April 2009. Print.

Lotz, David W. “Ritual.” Ritual Studies: 405-422. Print.

Van Beek, Walter E.A. “The Infallibility Trap: The Sacralisation of Religious Authority.” International Journal of Mormon Studies :14-45. Web. 2 Mar. 2012.

Van Beek, Walter E. A. “Meaning And Authority In Mormon Ritual.” International Journal Of Mormon Studies 3.(2010): 17-40. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Mar. 2012.

Walker, Ronald W., Richard E. Turley, Jr., and Glen M. Leonard. Massacre at Mountain Meadows. Oxford University Press. 2008. Print.

Wellman, James. (ed.) Belief and Bloodshed: Religion and Violence Across Time and Tradition. Chapter 1. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2007. Print.