Disclaimer... The opinions expressed here are my own and not those of my employer, my church, my university, my family or my friends. These opinions will change from time to time... Here is today's rant.
I've been reading the Book of Matthew in the New Testament lately. I'm trying to get a new perspective on Christ and his gospel. Today, in Matthew 12, the thing that really stood out to me was how anti-establishmentary Christ was. This whole chapter is him breaking traditions and rules, upsetting people. He is consistently outwitting and dressing down members of the traditional religious community.
The Mormon Church is much like the Children of Israel in the Old Testament. They take great pride at being different. At living in the world but not of the world. In the days of David and Solomon, one of their greatest sins was polluting the purity of the community by marrying foreign wives. There was no proselyting, no invitation to join the "saints", but rather war and death over property rights. These people could not live together in peace because they were so intolerant. This also perfectly describes the Pharisees and traditional religious leaders, with whom Christ constantly is butting heads. Elder Oaks has discussed the importance of not tolerating anything but pure Mormon Christianity (here).
As a young woman, I took great pride in my long shorts, my dateless status and my refusal to participate in school dances or activities. I had more righteous, important things to do with my time, was my thought process. I went to seminary (a church class) at 6 AM every day, went to church services 3 hours on Sunday, church activities on Wednesday nights, dances occasionally. But, I'm not so sure that we are any different from the rest of world, especially the conservative Christian world. There are many other Christian groups that are just as self-righteous and sure that they, and only they, have the truth.
Any organization/establishment has to deal with the dilemma of "melting pot" vs. "mixed salad" in terms of culture, structure, organization, etc. America used to be seen as a melting pot, a place where people of all cultures could come together and discard their cultural identities to become America. The concept of a mixed salad is that people can and should retain their identities while interacting with and supporting the structure.
Just like any country or cultural group, religion has to deal with "melting" vs "mixing". Do we attempt to assimilate newcomers? Or do we respect their traditions and encourage them to maintain their identity? This is where my problems with missionary work come out. What right does any church have to come into someone's life and tell them that they are living incorrectly? Now, there are extremes, with drug abuse, alcoholism and other fundamentally detrimental behavior choices. But I think it takes a substantial amount of self-righteous moral superiority to tell Hawaiian women they are dressed immodestly, or African men that they need to wear white shirts and ties to church, or that quasi-traditional Protestant hymns are the only appropriate music for church, played on an organ. God is not only in those types of churches. I believe that many people feel the presence of God in different ways than three hours of church, listening to white-shirted men instill guilt in them.
Back to Matthew, why did there need to be an apostasy? We Mormons are taught that the gospel was taken from the earth after Christ's death because of the wickedness of the people. But if Christ established his perfect church, it should have stood the test of time. There are always wicked people on earth, but there are also always good innocent people. I propose that Christ didn't so much found a formal church, as debunk intolerance and religious superiority. He fought against the religious establishment. And the Mormon church has done the direct opposite, by building up a massive structure, a "pure" and "righteous" culture that people are expected to assimilate into to be a part of the "one true church". I remember the first time I saw pictures of the new conference center. I'll be honest, my first thought was of the great and spacious building discussed in the Book of Mormon, the embodiment of pride and sin.
The Church (yes, with a capitol "C") has grown so big and unwieldy that I feel it has lost touch with it's members. The combination of growth outside the US, political missteps and it's seeming refusal to allow women more substantial roles has made it a massive bureaucratic machine rolling on, intent on "melting" any violations from what it perceives as the norm. In other words, assimilation is your only righteous option. And after growing up in the church, it definitely is easier to just go with the flow, to accept the demands of the Church. I've taken real courage from my fellow bloggers, Young Mormon Feminists and Feminist Mormon Housewives. I am still trying to understand my relationship with religion, still trying on various ideologies and schools of thought. I don't have the answers yet, but I feel like I'm beginning to ask the questions.
