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AR 29:5 - An LDS “correction to an apostate world” no more?
In this issue:
MORMONISM - Did Joseph Smith get The Book of Mormon's mission wrong?
PAGANISM - "The line dividing Protestant and pagan runs through every Western heart"
SECULARIZATION - the standard theory "still doesn't apply" to the USA
Apologia Report 29:5 (1,646)
February 1, 2024
MORMONISM
"How Mormonism Went Mainstream" by Benjamin E. Park (Time, Sep 21 '23) -- Park (American religious history, Sam Houston State University) ends his second paragraph: "there remains a suspicion - sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit - that Mormon beliefs are fundamentally irrational, if not heretical. ...
"An early dissenter exposed the fact that Smith had used the same seer stone with which he sought treasure to translate the gold plates. In response, Smith refused to detail the exact method through which he produced the Book of Mormon, only insisting it was through 'the gift and power of God.' It was an indirect confession that some stories appeared too fanciful. ...
"After decades of slow, uneasy, but steady cultural assimilation, Mormons appeared on the brink of cultural acceptance by the 1970s. Yet an upswing in evangelical anti-Mormonism threatened such advances. Part of the resurgent animosity was rooted in resurrected fears of "cults" that accompanied backlash to the mass murder-suicide at Jim Jones's People's Temple in 1978. [I sincerely doubt this. - PWC] A wave of books, pamphlets, and movies dredged up old stereotypes of conniving Mormon leaders and duped LDS followers. [Far more likely is that the diligent work of groundbreaking researchers Jerald and Sandra Tanner <www.tinyurl.com/AR-on-Tanner> - together with the grassroots Ex-Mormons for Jesus movement - brought long-suppressed information into public view. - PWC] Most successful was the film The God Makers, which showed a caricatured version of the gold plates story to millions of viewers across the nation.
"Mormons were forced once again to adapt. They accomplished this by framing their faith's story, including that of the Book of Mormon's origins, as one of Christian sincerity. They announced a subtitle to the Book of Mormon meant to cement their Christian affiliation: "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." Leaders even re-formatted the church's logo so that the words "Jesus Christ" were far larger than the rest.
"The most successful form of improved collaboration, of course, was in the political sphere." Then, "in the 1970s, followed by their central role in opposing same-sex marriage in the 1990s and 2000s, Latter-day Saint leaders formed firm alliances with Evangelical groups that otherwise found their truth claims blasphemous." Park offers "Mitt Romney's presidential runs" as an example.
"Meanwhile, evangelical opponents, like the supporters of Mike Huckabee, quickly identified the theological chasm between Mormons and 'acceptable' Christianity." One apparent consequence: "Romney's candidacy fizzled well before the GOP convention.
"Yet much changed in the succeeding four years." For example, Robert Jeffress - senior pastor of the massive First Baptist Church in Dallas - "explained that while Mormonism was still obviously a 'cult,' he clarified that it was a 'theological' cult, not a 'sociological' one - a distinction that reflected the Religious Right's emphasis on political over doctrinal fidelity." [Note the example here of the secular inability to comprehend the multi-layer priority distinction: A lack of theological agreement doesn't mean we can't enjoy being good neighbors facing a mutual threat.]
In Park's assessment, "The supernatural elements of the Latter-day Saint faith's founding stories no longer appeared so exotic. ... Mormon supernatural claims were no more outlandish than traditional Christianity's. ...
The church's current prophet, Russell M. Nelson, encouraged his membership and the media "to no longer use the 'Mormon' nickname, claiming it distracted from their Christian message. He also ceased their century-long production of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, where thousands of saints gathered each summer to witness a dramatic reproduction of Joseph Smith receiving the gold plates on the same New York hillside where he claimed to find them. And while the church has rapidly increased its construction of temples, most of the new sacred buildings no longer feature the Angel Moroni."
In conclusion, Park finds that all of this "is not to say the church is forfeiting core doctrines. Far from it. Latter-day Saint belief in the Book of Mormon's historicity, Joseph Smith's divine calling, and prophetic revelation are as firm as ever before. But after two centuries of heated battles with Christian contemporaries, Smith's successors have learned how to frame these fundamentals in less threatening ways. The Book of Mormon is no longer posited as a correction to an apostate world, but a supplement to the Christian canon; his followers are not separated from Babylon, but fellow travelers in a world of pilgrims." Park, by the way, is himself a Latter-day Saint. <www.tinyurl.com/56y8zhsd>
And the foregoing gives us a taste of his just-released book, American Zion: A New History of Mormonism, <www.tinyurl.com/55k6zt2e> which its publisher hails as "The first major history of Mormonism in a decade."
We wonder what a survey of average Mormons today would find in answer to the questions: "Did Jesus actually tell Joseph Smith that all the churches of his day were apostate?" And "If so, has this condition changed?"
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PAGANISM
"Apple's Mother Nature Ad: It's Protestant Paganism" by Glen Scrivener (The Gospel Coalition, Sep 22 '23) -- "It's ancient meets modern, the spiritual meets the corporate. It should work.
"But when Apple tried to pull it off last week at the launch of their new iPhone 15, it went down like a lead balloon. It was ratioed on X (the website formerly known as Twitter). Apple quickly closed comments on YouTube. The attempt fell flat." Why?
"One issue is the moralizing. ...
"In comedy you don't take yourself seriously. When moralizing you take yourself very seriously.
"And while Apple CEO Tim Cook begins the sketch in comedy mode, anxiously rehearsing his opening line, by the end he has risen from his seat to meet Mother Nature's eye and proudly declare his environmental righteousness.
"It begins as a sketch and ends as a morality tale. That clash produced the cringe. And caught up in the cringe is hypocrisy.
"Ever since Matthew 23 was written, a culture built by the Scriptures has been sensitive to hypocrisy. ...
"The slightest possibility of 'greenwashing' triggers us. ...
"Many critics saw an irony in the company's environmental credentials being trumpeted at the launch of a new iPhone. ...
"What makes this skirmish a little different is the third major critique that was leveled. Many were struck by the out-and-out paganism of the video. ... Is this a 'mask slip' moment regarding modern life more generally, or woke capitalism, or modern environmentalism more specifically? Are we seeing a return to ancient paganism? ...
"Mortals are negotiating with a god and appeasing her - no doubt at some sacrificial cost. And they will have to do the ritual again next year, apparently. No wonder the comparisons with ancient paganism have been made. But there are also great differences. ...
Then, "the tale twists in a decidedly modern direction. ...
"In the video, it turns out that the weather is not how Mother Nature wants it to be - the climate, at least, is in our hands. And while Mother Nature begins the video with far superior power and knowledge, she is increasingly shown up by the Apple executives as, frankly, a little clueless about the happenings in her world. In the end she is stared down by the CEO and leaves. If this is paganism, it is a very modern form of it.
"The decisive turn in the video mirrors a decisive shift in history. In a profound sense, Western culture can never be pagan again in the sense that ancient Athenian culture was. Something has happened to the world - and that thing is Christianity. ...
"Once this revolution is taken seriously, you may step into the world trusting an authority given by God and a victory won by Christ. ...
"This isn't ancient paganism. But neither is it the fifth Gospel! So what should we call it?
"One thing you might call it is hubris! Apple's chief has raised himself up and proclaims that his oath and his sacrifices will save the day. ...
"In his new book, Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West, <www.tinyurl.com/3jbkr2v7> Andrew Wilson uses the phrase 'Protestant Paganism' to describe the kind of post-Christian spiritual outlook we've settled on in the West. (Andrew and I discuss these concepts further <www.tinyurl.com/5n93ws8t> in our new podcast, Post-Christianity?) ...
"There are many ways of being pagan - many ways of worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator. One person may worship Gaia, another may serve Mammon. Both are idolaters. ...
"When seen from this perspective, the Apple video is more than a lightning rod for the culture wars, and our responses should do more than ping-pong between 'Woke' and 'Anti-woke.' ...
"What we denounce in the other side may well be present in us. It's personal since, to repurpose a famous line from Solzhenitsyn: 'The line dividing Protestant and pagan runs through every Western heart.'" <www.tinyurl.com/44e5vkwh>
Curious? The ad in question is still available here: <www.tinyurl.com/5cx7u2nj>
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SECULARIZATION
Update: "Does America still defy the classic 'secularization theory' favored by sociologists?" by Richard Ostling (Get Religion, Nov 2 '23) -- following a review of the current debate (noted in AR 28:14) <www.tinyurl.com/5n8ateux> Ostling introduces historian Daniel K. Williams, senior fellow of the Ashbrook Center at Ohio's Ashland University, as "a prime source on modern American religion and politics. ...
"Williams insists that whatever has gone on elsewhere in the world, the standard secularization theory still doesn't apply in the United States now any more than in the past." He contends that "prior reverence for science has eroded to the lowest point in decades, with only 29% in 2022 expressing a 'great deal' of confidence in scientists, down 10% in just two years. [Hmm. Wasn't the media in love with someone who said, "I am the science," around two-or-three years ago?] 'There's not a whole lot of evidence that large numbers of Americans in the last 10 or 15 years have suddenly found scientific explanations more credible than religious claims.'" He continues: "The United States is not exactly secularizing as much as it is becoming more religiously and culturally polarized."
Ostling reports that Williams expects "a Christianity that's less Caucasian, less 'mainline,' more evangelical or charismatic, more Sunbelt, 'more culturally polarizing' yet still exercising 'strong influence.' In other words, the emerging nation will be neither 'nearly entirely' Christian as in the past nor 'nearly entirely post-Christian' as elsewhere in the West." <www.tinyurl.com/2yxdv8zk>
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