Comfortable or not, the Mormons are with us

The leading candidate for the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States is a Mormon. The president of the U.S. Senate is a Democrat and a Mormon. I live in a community with a heavy Mormon population. There are three large general education public high schools in our area. Near each of them is a beautiful Mormon church. Each is home to multiple congregations. With their distinctive architecture and manicured lawns, a person would have to be blind and uninformed not to recognize the extent of the Mormon presence.

Mormons are an active part of our community structures. Mormons serve on most of our elected boards, councils and assemblies. While I have no research to support my understanding, I strongly suspect Mormons have a much better voting record than the general population. In my own experience, Mormons are responsible public citizens.

Mormons are great supporters of the public school system. Mormon young people bring a strong work ethic and personal discipline to our schools and school activities. Teachers love to have them in their classrooms and coaches are eager to have them on their teams. These kids obviously are coming from stable homes with positive motivations. We have a growing number of Mormon teachers and school administrators. We are a more stable and better functioning community because Mormons are our neighbors. We are blessed by the heavy Mormon presence in our Valley.

But some would say that their religion is really weird. Can a reasonable person believe the story of the gold tablets that Joseph Smith found buried in upstate New York? Is each faithful man headed toward becoming a god with a universe all his own to rule? What about the polygamy practiced and encouraged by Brigham Young? Can you really believe that the right brand of underwear will protect a person from harm? Was not Joseph Smith clearly a racist?

Religions have a way of cleaning up their past and Mormons are no different. Mormons are not the people they were when making their journey from New York to Ohio, to Missouri, to Illinois and finally to safe isolation in Utah. As Mormons have moved from isolation to involvement with the social and political environments of the world, they have evolved into a distinctly different people. They have made the transition by leaving their past and forging a new future. Their beliefs allow them to be moved by new revelations made to the Mormon prophet.

Mormon watchers have pointed out that the past has never been repudiated by any new revelation. The past is allowed to fade into irrelevance in the light of new revelations.

Today, two things of note are happening. Traditionally they called themselves Latter-day Saints. Mormon is a nickname that stuck and became an acceptable designation. In researching for this article, I noted a significant move to identify themselves as Christians.

I had a minister friend, who for many years was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City. He worked very hard at making friends with his Mormon neighbors, especially those who held responsible positions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He became a student of Mormonism. He became very aware of the remaking and reimaging of the Mormon faith that was in process. He predicted that in 100 years the church would become a full partner in the family of Christian churches. He envisioned Mormons becoming a large, vigorous and distinct Evangelical Protestant denomination.

I am watching his vision come true with the intentional embracing of the name Christian.

The second movement among Mormons is even more powerful. The Mormons, by practice and by public proclamation, are becoming the model for American family life. In an America where the single-parent home has become a norm, Mormons are offering a better way. Mormons are offering a two-parent household in which family is valued above all else. I suspect that this family life is fast becoming the public image of Mormons.

I have written this column because I believe that every candidate for public office should be treated fairly. I am not a supporter of Mitt Romney for president. I am a registered Democrat. A candidate’s religion is fair game in elections. When a religiously devout person runs for public office, that candidate should be prepared to share his faith and to show how his faith would function in the public political arena.

Presidential candidate debates are in full swing. They will continue unabated for the next year. In the current series of debates among Republican candidates, nothing of substance has been said about religion. I keep waiting to hear hard religious questions asked. I do not anticipate any change. The religious issues are being discussed behind the scenes. Let’s bring them into the open. The Mormons are with us. They are our neighbors. We need to know them better. One of them could well be our next president.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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