scholarly journals Not a Country or a Stereotype: Latina LDS Experiences of Ethnic Homogenization and Racial Tokenism in the American West

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 333
Author(s):  
Brittany Romanello
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Immigrant Incorporation ◽  
White Family ◽  
1.5 Generation ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
The Us ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Progressive Policy ◽  
The Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), also called Mormonism, has experienced rapid changes in its US demographics due to an influx of Latinx membership. The most recent growth in the US church body has been within Spanish-speaking congregations, and many of these congregant members are first or 1.5-generation immigrant Latinas. Using ethnographic data from 27 interviews with immigrant members living in Utah, Nevada, and California, LDS Latinas reported that while US Anglo members did seem to appreciate certain aspects of their cultural customs or practices, they also reported frequently experiencing ethnic homogenization or racial tokenization within US Church spaces and with White family members. Our findings indicate that the contemporary LDS church, despite some progressive policy implementations within its doctrinal parameters, still struggles in its ever-globalizing state to prioritize exposing White US members to the cultural heterogeneity of non-White, global LDS identities and perspectives. Latina LDS experiences and their religious adjacency to Whiteness provide a useful lens by which researchers can better understand the ways in which ethnic identity, gender, legal status, and language create both opportunities and challenges for immigrant incorporation and inclusion within US religious spaces and add to the existing body of scholarship on migration and religion.

Mormon Mobilization in Contemporary U.S. Politics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Miles ◽  
Jason M. Adkins
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Mitt Romney ◽  
Religious Aspects ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Church ◽  
The U.S

In 2012, the Republican Party selected a Mormon, Mitt Romney, as their nominee for U.S. president. After decades of persecution and suspicion, many felt like the LDS Church was finally being accepted as a mainstream religion and an equal player on the national political stage. From a different perspective, the “acceptance” of the LDS Church by the U.S. government and the Republican Party has come at a tremendous cost. Unlike those who joined other religious denominations in America, 19th century converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave everything they had to the church. The 19th-century LDS Church controlled not just the political, but the economic, social, and religious aspects of its members’ lives. The LDS Church has traded immense power over a few dedicated members for a weaker political voice in the lives of millions more members. From this perspective, the LDS Church has never been more politically weak than they were in the 2012 presidential election. Previous LDS Church presidents endorsed non-Mormon candidates Cleveland, Taft, and Nixon more enthusiastically than President Monson endorsed Mitt Romney—one of his own. In the 20th century, the power of the LDS Church over the lives of its members has waned considerably, significantly hindering the institutional church’s ability to politically mobilize its congregants. Even in Utah, only the most ardent LDS Church members are swayed by the political dictates of LDS Church leaders.

Digital Resources: FamilySearch

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Horn
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The World ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Digital Collection ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

FamilySearch, which constitutes the largest genealogical archival project and database in the world, offers rich online resources for research on the history of Latin America. FamilySearch constitutes an institutional arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the LDS Church, dedicated to genealogical research. It offers a wealth of resources with enormous potential for historical research on a broad range of topics and through diverse methods of investigation. The digital collection, which expands continuously, includes archival material from all the major regions of the world, including Latin America. For Latin America, the strength of the collection rests with parish and civil registers, censuses, and secondary sources on the genealogical and family history of the region.

Called to Serve

2019 ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Jana Riess
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Positive Experience ◽  
Bright Line ◽  
The World ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
Personal Sacrifice ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines the personal sacrifice that is required of Latter-day Saints (LDS) missionaries, and the deep faith that sees them through tough times; the positive feelings most missionaries have about their experience; the sense that a mission demarcates a bright line between childhood and adulthood in Mormon culture; the growing presence of women in the mission force; and the great statistical likelihood that returned missionaries who served the full tenure of their assigned time will remain as lifelong members of the LDS Church. Mormonism's culture of responsibility extends to the mission experience itself—young people are asked to give up between eighteen months to two years of their lives to volunteer wherever in the world the Church elects to send them. What is more, they are often expected to help pay for it. Nevertheless, Mormons who served a mission regard it as a positive experience that helped them in many areas of their lives.

Contemporary Mormon Religiosity and the Legacy of “Gathering”

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Phillips ◽  
Ryan Cragun
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Church Attendance ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Attendance Rates ◽  
Intermountain West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Member Retention ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Mormon Church ◽  
The Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—the LDS, or Mormon church—has dominated the state of Utah both culturally and politically since joining the Union in 1896. Scholars note that LDS majorities in Utah and other parts of the Intermountain West foster a religious subculture that has promoted higher levels of Mormon church attendance and member retention than in other parts of the nation. However, after rising throughout most of the twentieth century, the percentage of Utah's population belonging to the church began declining in 1989. Some sources assert Utah is now less Mormon than at any time in the state's history. This article examines the degree to which this decline has affected LDS church activity and retention in Utah and adjacent environs. We find evidence suggesting church attendance rates may be falling, and clear evidence that rates of apostasy among Mormons have risen over the past decade.

Public Bioethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 187-212
Author(s):  
Courtney S. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Elective Abortion ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Policy Question

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) ecclesiastical policy on health, medical, and moral issues has seldom addressed itself to the healing professions or to questions of public policy, an ethical insularity coherent with the principles of respect for moral agency and trust in the healing vocation of the professions. However, some issues reveal limits to peaceful compromise between ecclesiastical policy with both professional morality and public policy of the secular state and have prompted the LDS Church to forgo ecclesiastical silence and present a public witness of its values and positions on a policy question to a broader civic audience. This chapter focuses on two such examples, elective abortion and medical marijuana. The public square of moral reasoning within LDS teaching is constructed by principles of engaged citizenship, separation, and the moral core.

Polynesians and Mormonism

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Morris
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Polynesia has a particular place in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The region that heralded the Church’s first overseas missions includes seven of the world’s top ten nations in terms of the proportion of Mormons in the population, and it is home to six Mormon temples. The Polynesian Latter-day Saint population is increasing in both percentage and absolute numbers, and peoples in the Pacific “islands of the sea” continue to play a central role in the Mormon missionary imaginary. This article explores Polynesians in the LDS Church and critically evaluates different theories seeking to explain this growing religious affiliation. Scholars of Mormonism and commentators explain this growth in terms of parallels between Mormonism and indigenous Polynesian traditions, particularly family lineage and ancestry, and theological and ritual affinities. After evaluating these claims in light of scholarly literature and interviews with Latter-day Saints, however, I conclude that other reasons—especially education and other new opportunities—may equally if not more significantly account for the appeal of Mormonism to Polynesians.

MARITAL FERTILITY AND INCOME: MODERATING EFFECTS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS RELIGION IN UTAH

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEPH B. STANFORD ◽  
KEN R. SMITH
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The United States ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Annual Household Income ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Children Ever Born ◽  
Mormon Church ◽  
The Church

SummaryUtah has the highest total fertility of any state in the United States and also the highest proportion of population affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church). Data were used from the 1996 Utah Health Status Survey to investigate how annual household income, education and affiliation with the LDS Church affect fertility (children ever born) for married women in Utah. Younger age and higher education were negatively correlated with fertility in the sample as a whole and among non-LDS respondents. Income was negatively associated with fertility among non-LDS respondents. However, income was positively correlated with fertility among LDS respondents. This association persisted when instrumental variables were used to address the potential simultaneous equations bias arising from the potential endogeneity of income and fertility. The LDS religion's pronatalist stance probably encourages childbearing among those with higher income.

scholarly journals Childhood Asthma Utilization Rates in a Nonsmoking Population of Utah Compared to State and National Rates

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa H. Gren ◽  
Brooke Taylor ◽  
Joseph L. Lyon
Keyword(s):  
Parental Smoking ◽  
Second Hand Smoke ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Office Visits ◽  
Hospitalization Rates ◽  
The Us ◽  
Asthma Hospitalization ◽  
General Populations ◽  
Rate Ratios ◽  
The Church

Risk factors, such as parental smoking, are commonly associated with increased asthma symptoms and hospitalizations of children. Deseret Mutual Benefits Administrators (DMBA) is the health insurer for employees of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their families. Due to religious proscription, employees abstain from alcohol and tobacco use, creating a cohort of children not exposed to parental smoking. Calculation of hospitalization rates for DMBA, Utah, and the US were made in children to compare rates between a nonsmoking population and general populations. Compared to DMBA, rate ratios for asthma hospitalization and emergency department asthma visits were higher for the US and Utah. The incidence of hospital outpatient department and physician office visits was significantly greater for the US population compared to the DMBA. This study demonstrates a decreased need for health services used by children not exposed to second-hand smoke.

scholarly journals Rethinking Welfare: The LDS Welfare Program vs Public Welfare

Studia Humana ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
David R. Iglesias
Keyword(s):  
Public Welfare ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Welfare Program ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Organizations ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Made In

AbstractIn his libertarian manifesto, For a New Liberty, Murray Rothbard [15] points to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an excellent model for what a private welfare program would look like in a free society. In analyzing this same organization, we can see that nearly 50 years later Rothbard’s analysis is truer than ever. Unlike the public welfare programs in the U.S., the LDS church has successfully helped lift countless individuals out of poverty and off the welfare rolls by increasing their level of productivity – a point that Henry Hazlitt [7] made in his book, The Conquest of Poverty. Public welfare, on the other hand, has continuously failed to increase the standard of living or even lift those it ostensibly seeks to help out of poverty; on the contrary, it is a system that prevents economic independence. The analysis in the present paper seeks to revive, amplify and bring up to date Rothbard’s observation and provide further insight on key factors that other private organizations can take from the Church’s model. Ultimately, it reveals that the successful journey out of poverty is not a public but rather a private endeavor.

scholarly journals “How Low Can Humans Plunge!”: Facilitating Moral Opposition in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-59
Author(s):  
J. E. Sumerau ◽  
Ryan T. Cragun
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Sexual Minorities ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
The Church

In this article, we examine how religious leaders teach their followers to protect themselves and others from pornography. Based on archival materials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, LDS Church, or Mormons), we analyze how LDS leaders, responding to the expansion of pornographic influence over the past 40 years, facilitated moral opposition to pornography by teaching their followers to (1) set moral examples for others, (2) save their women, and (3) protect their children. In so doing, however, LDS leaders, regardless of their intentions, reproduced cultural and religious discourses that facilitate the subordination of women and sexual minorities. Likewise, these discourses suggest strong negative outcomes associated with pornography. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding the facilitation of moral opposition across religious traditions, and the consequences these actions may have for the reproduction or reduction of social inequality.

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