One wonders how a Mormon can remain a Mormon with all its history, much of it with big gaps as evidenced by the recent essays on polygamy, etc.; the intrusive nature of interviews with the bishop; tithing checking at the end of the year, etc. I think a good analogy would be covering your ass on the way out the door.

Is it culture or belief that keeps Mormons within the system?

I might understand that the culture could be the strongest draw, especially when so many Mormons don't even know what their church teaches -- Adam/God, polygamy, Heavenly Father getting his rocks off with the Virgin Mary, neck slashing; green Jell-O salads; well, I could on and on.

I am a never-mo and a believer within my own faith system. (I might add that I believe, not know.) I am not sure which is the stronger of the two, but I do recognize that my culture plays a very important of why I remain where I am. Fortunately the church I belong to does not engage in cover-ups, asks me about masturbation, well, you know, the list goes on and on.

If you know the facts, and there is no excuse for not knowing the facts*, neither culture nor belief allow you to have remain in and claim to have integrity.


*It truly is brainwashing by a cult, that perhaps there is an excuse for staying, but not with integrity.

As with most of my friends and other relatives, their long line of historically religious belief system also permeated their whole lives. Their Wold View is entirely composed of their religious views including their specific rituals around: birth, coming of age, marriage and death. It could be Roman Catholic, Church of England, some with Irish or Scottish traditions that are religious, including the different instruments etc.Episcopal, Evangelical, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Buddhism, Muslim, Jewish and on and on. Some have kept their specific traditional rituals and others have morphed into a general Christian ritual in some cases.

I can speak from my experience as the 50 plus year wife of a cultural TBM with roots back to Nauvoo, (now deceased). Just as his other friends and relatives from other religious belief systems, his life was a World View that was culturally and spiritually, and religiously all Mormonism, from every thought to every action. Every important part of life was memorialized in the religious customs of the beliefs: birth, coming of age, marriage, and death. It is amazing to me that an American God Myth was able, by isolation and insulation to create generations of mostly new Americans to continue their religious traditions, a couple hundred years later.
His family never lived in UT so did not pick up the typical UT accent, however. They went to ID and then to Canada, however there is no polygamy in the line.

There has never been a need within any religious community to have some kind of a belief system that is provable in a court of law. Beliefs are held by faith, not facts. They are almost always some kind of visionary, metaphysical, supernatural claim.

That is the general historical realm of all religious belief systems, most about a deity or many deities. Most could be classified as God Myths of some sort complete with their specific (and unique) writings, leaders, music, costuming, rituals, etc.

See : "The Power of Myth" "The Power of Myth is a book based on the 1988 PBS documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. The documentary was originally broadcast as six one-hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2014 01:36PM by SusieQ#1.