Alarik from comments raised an issue I’ve been thinking about quite a bit.
The cynic in me thinks that this was less about the Church defending its principles and more about convincing the rest of the religious right that we’re on their team.
I’ve been hearing this from quite a number of people, both members and non. Also frequently heard: “Evangelical Christians can’t stand the Mormons, so why are the Mormons knocking themselves out for their approval?”
I must admit, this is the way it comes off. But on reflection, I’m taking an ever-so-slightly different view. I don’t think the LDS Church is itching to get into the Fundy Club. I think they’re going to the wall on the gay thing mostly because they want to, and less because they think the Talebangelicals want them to.
I think they’ve seen what American evangelical Christians have been able to do in American politics, and they’d like a little of that action themselves. (The priest class always wants to expand their power, remember.) I think they’re willing to engage in temporary ad hoc alliances toward that end. But I think they’d be just as happy to have the power without having to deal with other Christian groups at all.
Fundies have no love for the Mormons? That’s true, but then again that feeling is mutual. Doctrinally the LDS Church couldn’t care less about impressing them. The Mormons view themselves as the embodiment of the Lord’s will in (these) the latter-days, and they’re equally certain that the evangelical Christians are Not. However, the Religious Right has really shown the Mormons the way — emboldened them, you could say. The Mormons are happy to pull techniques from their playbook, but they’re not looking for a long-term political merger.
So I’m thinking this is less about joining the Fundy Club, and more about getting political power on their own terms, plus making the kinds of changes they want to have happen. If they have to deal with other Christians, they will, but I don’t see it as a priority.
This is just my opinion from way over here. I’m only basing it on my subjective impressions of Mormon ideas about the other Christian churches. Anybody got better instincts than I do?
8 November 2008 at 3:16 am
I chat to the local Church PR guy a fair amount, so my impressions are probably skewed. He was talking about the wonderful opportunity we had to stand side-by-side with our “brethren in the Christian world” and how it was building important bridges.
Lynn Wardle said similar things, and apparently got a standing ovation from a bunch of Catholics he made a presentation to while he was over here.
The Church wasn’t acting independently on Proposition 8 either – when they asked the membership to get involved, they started out by announcing that they’d joined a ‘coalition’ of religious groups.
For what it’s worth, I think the PR guy is a lot less comfortable with the Church’s involvement now, and a sizeable chunk of my ward is now in favour of same-sex marriage.