This topic has come up quite a bit in the last while, so I thought I'd do a new #MormonAmerica thread.
Let's talk about the last century of Mormonism & American politics; or, the road to modern-day conservatism. /1
Modern day observers often, and justifiably, think Mormonism & conservatism are synonymous. However, that has not always been the case. Indeed, when looking over the entire past century, the LDS connection to GOP is a recent creation.
It's a fascinating tale. /2
When Mormon leaders gave up (public) polygamy in 1890, they also dissolved their own political party, the "People's Party." This now forced them to choose between the two parties, both of which had baggage & benefits. /3
There was a problem: a majority of LDS were likely to lean Democrat, but it was the GOP that were backing Utah statehood. Further, several LDS leaders, like Joseph F Smith, were stalwart Republicans. So they embarked on a public campaign to support the party. /4
(If you want more on this fascinating pivot, check out my previous thread on Utah statehood.) /4.5
But while there were prominent LDS Republicans, including Apostle Reed Smoot who served in the senate, Utah retained a strong Democratic presence. Statewide elections often when Dem due to historic & philosophical reasons. There was thus a divide between leaders and members. /5
A major shift began in the 1930s. President Heber Grant, a lifelong Democrat, converted to the GOP due to prohibition. And he added J. Reuben Clark, a devoted & partisan Republican, to the First Presidency. They both detested FDR & the New Deal. /6
Yet even as they opposed the New Deal--and published endorsements of his opponents--Mormons continued to vote for FDR at every election & overwhelmingly support federal intervention. But LDS & Democrat leader Henry Moyle observed that Grant & Clark started a shift. /7
Mormons still backed Dems--including strong support for LBJ's Great Society in 1964--but the culture wars in the late-sixties shifted the political landscape. Led by Ezra Taft Benson, Mormons bought in on the new culture wars that formed a new conservative coalition. /8
(If you want more on Mormonism during the Civil Rights debate, check out this previous thread.) /8.5
(And if you want more on the anti-intellectual tradition that stems from this era, see my Washington Post essay.) /8.75 washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/0…
This trajectory was confirmed in late-70s & 80s with the rise of the Religious Right. Mormons found cultural inroads with religious conservatives over gender politics & were part of the new coalition. Sucked in w/the southern strategy, they became tethered w/family values. /9
As I wrote about the Tab Choir's performance at his inauguration, the LDS community's embrace of Trump demonstrates how far that relationship has come. Having previously been political outsiders, they can't fathom no longer being party loyalists. /10 religiondispatches.org/mormon-taberna…
Among the many lessons from this story is a reminder that no political coalition lasts forever. Today's configuration would have seemed impossible in the 1930s. So who's to say where the Mormon vote will go from here? /fin
And for those who like the different medium, here's the TikTok version of this thread. tiktok.com/@benjaminepark…
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The Tim Ballard saga—especially reactions from his defenders like Glenn Beck—is an important reminder of a particular type of Mormon dissent.
Namely, the prevalence of conservative schism, and how it differs from progressive critique. /1
1st, let me make clear: I’m not saying conservatism leads more to dissent than liberalism. I’ve no idea the quantitative difference. Nor do I care. (I assume most who go inactive do so not purely for ideological reasons.)
Rather, I’m saying they react to dissent differently. /2
The long tradition of progressive Mormonism—“Liahona Mormons”—have devolved a language of prophetic fallibility that allows them to deal w/leaders who do things they consider wrong. They’ve built a framework for sustaining leaders with whom they disagree. (To a point, anyway.) /3
LDS Church denounces Tim Ballard for using Apostle Russell Ballard's name and alleged support. The OUR founder “betrayed their friendship, through the unauthorized use...for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable.” vice.com/en/article/bvj…
Here is the full statement from the church. For those who follow this kind of stuff, it is *very* rare to get this kind of explicit denunciation from LDS authorities.
For those who might wonder where OUR got its information for where and how to run their operations?
Well, prosecutors discovered 10,000 pages of psychic readings where a medium received information from NONE OTHER THAN BOOK OF MORMON PROPHET NEPHI.
There's a lot of talk about the new Chat GPT and how it will affect writing assignments, so I thought I'd jot down some ideas about what it is, why it's seen as a threat, and some measures for what to do. /1
If you haven't noticed, a company released Chat GPT, an advanced chatbot designed to answer questions with human-like responses. It's leagues beyond anything that's been available before. And it's free! chat.openai.com/chat /2
You can ask specific questions with precise parameters, like, "In 2,000 words, what is..." The unique answers are drawn from data canvassed across the internet. And they're pretty good. Here's the answer to "How did FDR's New Deal help America escape the Great Depression?" /3
We're three days--seriously, THREE DAYS--away from @signaturebooks publishing #DNAMormon. So let's highlight another chapter!
The always brilliant @CristinaMartaR wrote on Quinn's contributions to the study of fundamentalist Mormonism. /1
First, Rosetti details how Quinn came to become interested in the topic. All scholarly projects have roots in questions. Quinn was struck by post-manifesto polygamy for both personal & historical reasons, especially since 1970s-80s was a boom for fundamentalism. /2
The LDS church's response to the rise of fundamentalist conversions was to deny post-manifesto polygamy existed. Yet Quinn's research soon demonstrated the story was *much* more complicated...and fascinating. /3
We're FOUR days away from @signaturebooks releasing #DNAMormon, so time to highlight another chapter.
Today I'm overviewing Ian Barber's engagement with Quinn's famous EARLY MORMONISM AND THE MAGIC WORLD VIEW. /1
Quinn published the first edition of MAGIC WORLD VIEW in 1987. It was a climactic moment for the field of Mormon history: just a couple years removed from the Mark Hofmann bombings, and in the middle of the tense internal debates over the field. /2
It was into that realm that Quinn lobbed his first monograph, which also turned out to be one of his most controversial. He was forced to resign from BYU the next year. The book argues that early Mormonism was steeped in & drew from early America's magic culture. /3
We're FIVE days away from the release of #DNAMormon (@signaturebooks), so time to highlight another chapter.
The legendary @patrickqmason and his student Hovan Lawton dug into Quinn's fascination with LDS leadership, and offer a compelling & surprising conclusion. /1
This chapter kicks off the second section of the book. The first section, comprised of the chapters I've already covered, treated Quinn as a historical figure. This and the next three chapters cover his historiographical contributions. /2
Quinn is perhaps most famous for his MORMON HIERARCHY series, a trilogy of books that explore LDS leadership. This grew out of his PhD dissertation and culminated with his final book, so the interest spanned his entire career. /3