{"id":44903,"date":"2017-11-15T12:10:12","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T19:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44903"},"modified":"2017-11-16T08:06:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T15:06:17","slug":"mormonism-and-the-virtues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/11\/mormonism-and-the-virtues.html","title":{"rendered":"Mormonism and the Virtues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"SL<\/a>
The Salt Lake City Utah Temple \u00a0(LDS\u00a0Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A bravura performance in The Atlantic<\/em> by Hal Boyd<\/a>, of the Deseret News\u00a0<\/em>(called to my notice by Ralph Hancock):<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ignorance of Mocking Mormonism:\u00a0It\u2019s precisely the beliefs of Latter-day Saints that critics dismiss as strange which produce the behaviors those same critics often applaud.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s exactly right. \u00a0More than once, I\u2019ve heard non-Mormons who\u2019ve come to work in Utah praise the unique social virtues of the state, and so forth, just before launching into energetic mockery of the Mormons \u2014 who are to a very considerable degree responsible for precisely those social virtues.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fawn Brodie was given to\u00a0lamenting the stupidity of Mormon beliefs<\/a>, while at the same time expressing confidence that those beliefs could be painlessly jettisoned while leaving the Church intact as a vehicle to convey values, motivate\u00a0charitable service, and foster feelings of community and belonging. \u00a0To put it mildly, I\u2019m not as confident as Ms. Brodie was that such good things or even the Church itself would survive throwing\u00a0belief in the founding events of Mormonism overboard. \u00a0Fortunately, I\u2019m unconvinced\u00a0that such self-mutilation is even remotely necessary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now I\u2019ll pursue\u00a0the theme of religion and virtue a bit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From two prominent evangelical writers:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvangelicals and Roy Moore:\u00a0UPDATED: Giving candidates we like a moral pass debases our culture\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Enduring Appeal of Creepy Christianity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a social conservative:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Conservatives, Raise the Ethical Standard\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And another\u00a0commentary, from a Jewish conservative writer:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo Defend Their Candidate, Roy Moore Supporters Cry \u2018Conspiracy\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, something from, er . . . \u201cDonald Trump\u201d himself:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump Warns That Dumping Roy Moore Could Start a Dangerous Trend of Believing Women\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already posted an item<\/a> on the entirely expected attempt by some to link Roy Moore with Joseph Smith.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are two more helpful articles on Joseph Smith and the case of Helen Mar Kimball:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018A Subject That Can Bear Investigation\u2019: Anguish, Faith, and Joseph Smith\u2019s Youngest Plural Wife\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscussing Difficult Topics: Plural Marriage\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I thank my friend Keith Lane, of BYU-Hawaii, for reminding me of them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, of course, there is the Church\u2019s official Gospel Topics Essay, \u201cPlural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think that the origins of plural marriage are, by a considerable distance, the most difficult historical issue for Latter-day Saints. \u00a0Or, to put it perhaps more accurately, the element in Latter-day Saint history that can most easily be wielded as a weapon against the credibility of Joseph Smith and his claims. \u00a0But I believe that the issue can be handled faithfully \u2014 and particularly so when it\u2019s viewed in a broader context.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I appreciate a comment posted in response to my previous entry by Craig Foster, which I will quote here:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[I]t is a mistake to try to judge Joseph Smith with a 21st century or even a 20th century view. While marrying teens is certainly and understandably frowned upon today, it was not in Joseph Smith\u2019s time, particularly in frontier settings. Nauvoo was a frontier setting given its location on the Mississippi River and directly across from Iowa Territory. There is an in-depth discussion of average and accepted age of marriage in Joseph Smith\u2019s time in Craig L. Foster, David Keller, and Gregory L. Smith, \u201cThe Age of Joseph Smith\u2019s Plural Wives in Social and Demographic Context,\u201d in Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster, eds., The Persistence of Polygamy: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy<\/em> (Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books, 2010), 152-183.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 A bravura performance in The Atlantic by Hal Boyd, of the Deseret News\u00a0(called to my notice by Ralph Hancock): \u00a0 \u201cThe Ignorance of Mocking Mormonism:\u00a0It\u2019s precisely the beliefs of Latter-day Saints that critics dismiss as strange which produce the behaviors those same critics often applaud.\u201d \u00a0 He\u2019s exactly right. \u00a0More than once, I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":32962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMormonism and the Virtues<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    A bravura performance in The Atlantic by Hal Boyd, of the Deseret News\u00a0(called to my notice by Ralph Hancock):   "The Ignorance of\" \/>\n<meta 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