Gabriel-Jules Thomas (1863)
At the Church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, in Paris
(Wikimedia CC public domain; click to enlarge)
Compare Matthew 10:24-25; Luke 6:40; John 13:16
Being hated for your religious beliefs and practices doesn’t prove them correct. If that were the case, ISIS and the Westboro Baptist Church would have good claims to truth and legitimacy.
But, overall, if the world at large loves your religious beliefs and practices, that’s apparently pretty good evidence that you’re wrong — and powerful reason to be concerned.
Latter-day Saints shouldn’t be surprised or particularly upset that their faith is an object of mockery, hatred, and hostility. (See Brian Hales’s very appropriate recent comment — or even listen to it — here.)
If anything, as I’ve recently written, the seemingly increasing animosity that the Church faces from elite opinion and from those among its own members who align themselves with that elite opinion represents a return to the normal state of things after the aberration of a relatively peaceful era of “truce” between Mormonism and American civil religion that extended, say, from about 1945 to roughly 1995 or 2000 or so.
I taught a Gospel Doctrine lesson today that focused largely on 1-2 Peter, in which the author seeks to fortify and encourage the Saints of ancient Anatolia in the face of the persecution, contempt, and opposition that they’re experiencing — and in the face of the internal dissent that’s coming to them. Perfect texts for the reflection of contemporary Latter-day Saints.
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