Mormons’ uneasy victory
- Stephen Stromberg, Special to The Washington Post
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is becoming a potent political force. Last year’s story was that Mormons had risen to some of the highest offices in America – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid belongs to the church, as does former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. This year’s headline is that, with the encouragement of their religious leaders, Mormons gave loads of money and man-hours to pass Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage in the state. Indeed, they were probably the most organized and consequential force behind the measure’s passage. But in the face of post-election protests outside its temples, the church doesn’t seem to want to take much credit…
It’s unusual for an institution to shrink from responsibility for a victory at the ballot box. But being Mormon isn’t quite like being, say, Southern Baptist. The highly centralized LDS church makes a lot of Americans nervous, and it has done so since Joseph Smith founded the movement, which was driven out of state after state before settling in the Salt Lake Valley. Where some see an efficient religious organization that requires unusual devotion from its members, others see conspiracy, even cult.
It’s an impression that has its roots in, among other things, the church’s practice of polygamy in the 19th century, and it has been self-reinforcing since. Non-Mormons see the church as outside the mainstream; Mormons feel under attack, which fosters a tight communalism within their congregations, and they try to avoid confrontation. Hence Otterson doing his best to play down the role church members had in the victory of Proposition 8 in the face of throngs demonstrating in front of temples.