When I was an obedient Latter Day Saint daughter growing up in the 70s and 80s, I came to the understanding that we were held to a higher standard. There were plenty of things that may be legal, but they were definately not moral. We were instructed to live in the world but not be 'of the world.' It's a common theme in Mormon culture. I want to point out that almost everyone I have ever met in Mormonism agrees that there is a difference between Mormon doctrine and Mormon culture. Some Mormons have told me that being a Mormon is like being a Jew. Food requirements, cloistered communities, special clothing, covenents with God...except for the veritable flash in the pan time difference compared to Judaism, I can see a slight similarity.
I don't practice Mormonism anymore, but there are plenty of tasty morsels of wisdom contained within it, along with some incredibly insane bits as well. I have come to the conclusion that as hard as the church tries, its not immune to the demons of the world. And I wanted to take a minute and point out some things that may give voters, or maybe just culture warriors like me some pause.
Way back in the day, around 1994-95, I was hanging out with a Mormon guy who had quickly become the center of my life and someone I thought was going to walk me back to the fold for some happily ever after. Well, not so much. But in that time, I came in contact with a new phenomona for me, Mormons who had never been to Utah. Converts. The ones that show up in the LDS film world wearing colored shirts instead of white ones. Boyfriend's mom had been raised midwestern Catholic, and converted early in her marriage.
Over that time, she lamented over an issue she perceived to be a bit of an over reach, but in an attempt to be an obedient daughter of God, she felt like she had to make it work somehow. This is what Mormon women do; they make it work no matter how counterintuitive it is.
In southern Indiana, some of her LDS friends were farmers. They had joined the church within a generation or two, and had continued to work their family farms as they had always done. During the previous harvest, some of the leadership had come to visit these farm friends and advised them that next planting season, they would need to change their crop. These farmers grew tobacco, and while it was perfectly legal to grow tobacco, the church felt as if it were not in keeping with their high standard of moral behaviour. It was too far "of the world." There was grumbling and dissent. Some agreed immediately, others pushed the issue. It wasn't until a Bishop's Court was convened and disfellowship threatened that the rest of the farmers fell into line and switched crops.
In a congregation that eschews tattoos and more than one ear piercing, this is not a stretch. My confirmation came only from the angst that Boyfriend's mom endured as she simultaneously tried to support her friends and her church teachings. In the end I remember it manifested in covered dish delivery and some prayer and long phone chats. The church had no problem subjecting these farmers to financial hardship in order to avoid the appearance of evil, and in the end, I suppose it all worked out.
But it leads me to this election year. Its an issue of the very same spirit and tone that I observed in 1994. I am quite certain that it is perfectly legal to use every possible tool and loophole to avoid taxation in the US today. It's probably completley legal to offshore accounts and hide investments, or take advantage of purposely devalued stock to put it in a retirement fund, only to sell it at and exhorbitant profit a year or two later. And I am not thinking for one minute that Governor Romney didn't cross every T and dot every i before submitting that tax return. Really, I don't. He probably paid every dime he was legally obligated to.
But the idea that the church would take such a hands off approach in light of the recent corruption on Wall Street is baffling to me. Was there ever any more appearance of evil than what we are seeing right now in our investment and financial industry and the tax loopholes that they have access to? It's such a boondoggle that I thought for a minute that the reason Romney won't release taxes is because the Right would eat him alive for exposing the tricks of their trade. If the public knew about them, the pressure to close them would be epic, and boy would Wall Street CEO's be pissed.
The most cynical response to the question of "Why farmers but not Wall Street?" would be, well tobacco farmers don't tithe in the same mulitmillion dollar bracket as the Romney's do. But I don't think that is the case here. I think, or rather I fear that the church is drunk with the anticipation of having such a direct link to the leader of the free world. We saw this one time before in recent events.
The alignment of the church with the Catholic activists over Prop 8 was yet another befuddlement to me. The church prides itself on insight and intuition when evil is afoot. So, somehow they missed the whole child rape concentric wave that rippled through the global Catholic church and set up shop with them anyway. It was the wielding of collective power, something that the church had not done in this way for quite some time, and it was intoxicating. Oddly enough, the hangover must have been a doozey because now you can find dedicated Gay wards in Salt Lake and California.
The last thing I'm waiting patiently for, is the truth about the LDS church stance on abortion. Unlike Catholics, they support the free-agency of women when they counsel with their doctors, priesthood leaders and their own personal revelation. In the case of rape or incest, especially in very young girls, I don't know of any case where that adolescent was forced to carry her infant to term. True, if its garden variety teen pregnancy, they have been known to coerce marriage. But in the situation where the fetus was never going to survive outside the womb, or the life of the mother was threatened, Mormons will not object to theraputic abortion. They view it as a tragic necessity, and other physical bodies will be created to house that soul who missed their chance. I wonder when Mitt Romney or some other Mormon is going to actually say that out loud?
Oh, I just did.
The avoidance of the appearance of evil has a value. But that value is lost when you dissavow what you know to be true, in order to fit in to the trends of the world. This is Mormon doctrine as I learned it as a child. Rather than stand up for what the church teaches, Governor Romney has sold out. When people ask me why I would not support him, given my Mormon heritage, this is precisely why. He has not avoided the appearance of evil. And while he appears to be a member in good standing, a card-carrying Mormon as they say, he seeks to lead the party that would deny social wellness to this nation. Mormon's are renowned for their public service projects during disasters, their welfare, their food farms and canneries, their collective support of their neighbors and leadership by example. The example that Mitt Romney has set just doesn't inspire me to believe that he is the champion of a righteous life. It just appears evil.