Do you have a question about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Submit it online.
First, I have to say thanks so much to those who submitted questions for your patience waiting for the answers. “Ask a Mormon” got fairly flooded within the first few days it was up and I’ve been trying to get posts written as quickly as I can working around other obligations. If you haven’t seen yours yet, it’s coming, I promise!
Q. Why do you feel Mormonism, specifically, is often viewed through a lens of skepticism and stereotype?
A. It is kind of difficult for me as an “insider” to answer this question, because I’ve been raised as a Latter-day Saint and we seem so normal and non-threatening to me, but I’ll take a stab at it.
One factor may be the relatively modern origins of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At less than 200 years old, we are still the new kid on the religious block in a lot of ways. I have run into many people who have never
(knowingly) met a Mormon before me. In the absence of personal relationships with Latter-day Saints, people tend to get their information from less-than-reliable sources like sensationalized fictional media (see my post on Hell on Wheels) or hearsay, or they confuse us with unrelated groups like fundamentalist, polygamist sects. Or they see a single well-known Mormon – like Mitt Romney, Marie Osmond, Harry Reid or Steve Young, for example – and assume all Mormons must be just like that. (Tip: We’re not.)
It is also human nature to be suspicious of what we do not understand, of people and things that are different from our personal norm, and Mormons can certainly be different. We are a proselytizing faith, and we actively and openly share our origin story, which includes supernatural elements like visions, angels and theophanies that seem to fit more with our perception of how God communicated in biblical times than how he works today. To list just a couple of departures from other Christian denominations that some people find off-putting, we accept other canonized scriptures in addition to the Bible and avoid drinking coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages.
Another factor may be that we as a people were fairly isolated in the Rocky Mountains for about 100 years before sizable Mormon populations began showing up elsewhere around the country and world, so there was lots of time to develop a quirky, insular culture all of our own that is easy to poke fun at and stereotype. And boy, can it be quirky! (Green jello with shredded carrots, anyone?)
Do you have a question about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Submit it online.
Do you have a question about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Submit it online.
