We’re knee-deep in election results these days, so I thought I’d tell about an eye-opening election result that assisted in my deconversion.
During my Utah days, I was a member of that rare but illustrious species: the Mormon Democrat. I didn’t mind being a minority; I rather liked it. Contrarian streak. Most members agreed (in theory) that liberals could be good members of the Church, but every once in a while someone would question whether liberal points of view were in fact compatible with Church teachings! It didn’t bother me too much. I figured those things weren’t the Church, just the people. One day, things might even out. They were good people.
Fast-forward to the 2004 election. Most Americans now disapprove of George W. Bush as president, but at the time, it was running half and half. That seemed strange. Having started the Iraq war, after the revelations of Abu Ghraib, the choice between Bush and NotBush seemed fairly clear and unambiguous. Not everyone would make the right choice, but didn’t the Book of Mormon say that most people would make the right choice most of the time?
Then came the results: Utah went for Bush county for county, one of only three states to do so.
Well, of course they did. Utah’s conservative, and is to this day more pro-Bush than any other state. But the election did disabuse me of one idea: that the conservatism of Utah was some kind of anomaly that would get sorted out eventually. The people of my church had gotten it wrong, and badly so. No dissenting counties? Not even Park City? A state full of people that claimed to have the Holy Spirit of God had voted for evil, and their vote was unanimous.
I can smile about it now — Utah didn’t vote the way I wanted them to, so they’re evil. But at the time, it was profoundly disappointing. They would never get it. And it changed the way I saw rank and file Mormons. They could get it wrong.
18 February 2008 at 2:55 am
I had no idea that the Mormon Democrats existed. Seems as incongruous as Log Cabin Republicans.
18 February 2008 at 4:15 am
Well, then you get lefty Mormons (and lefty other Christians) that argue that liberal social policy is closer to Jesus’ teachings: helping the poor, taking care of the earth, etc. Heretics!
I’m encouraged that they exist, even if they are just picking and choosing what they want out of scripture like everyone else.
They sure do have an uphill climb, though, against the prevailing culture and some really noisy righties.
18 February 2008 at 11:54 am
There’s a lot more lefty Mormons over here, especially among the younger ones. They were silly enough to let me teach Seminary too, so now all the youth are corrupted by my heresy.
You watch, within a generation or two all the LDS in Perth will have been converted.
18 February 2008 at 12:30 pm
You’re one of the good ones, man.
18 February 2008 at 10:00 pm
Ah Utah. Every time I think of that place, Monty Python and the Holy Grail springs to mind. I can’t help it – especially when King Arthur says, “On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.”
2 March 2008 at 3:39 pm
Great story!!!
I found you through your comment on Pharyngula, and I hope you don’t mind if I add you to Outer Blogness. 😀
I think the number of Mormon Democrats is finally increasing. I’m fairly active on the Bloggernacle, and it looks like they weren’t happy at all to discover that the religious right — whom they’d thought were their loyal friends — actually hate Mormons just as much as they hate gay people (see here for links to various Mormon political discussions). 😀
3 March 2008 at 7:15 pm
* wonders out loud if C. L Hanson realizes that Daniel is no longer Mormon *