Identity in LDS Church, Blog 5

Members of the LDS faith are known for being a demographic more skewed towards conservative, republican decisions when it comes to the political sphere. The only “Mormon” ever to win a major-party nomination in the history of the United States represents the Republican Party. Since the late 70s, the Republican Party candidates have controlled a majority of the Utah State Legislature by a margin of victory of at least 20% (Cotti). At least at face value, it seems that within the church there is some degree of collective political identity, tending to be more conservative in these cases.

                There is certainly a distinct identity, whether political or no, in the LDS church which defines one way that its members “categorize themselves” and feel “close emotional association” (Hawkins). There wouldn’t be much of a punch to the online church catch phrase “I’m a Mormon” if the members of the church (and the rest of the United States, for that matter) made no real association with the title. The question, then, comes to the political side of the identity. It certainly applies to a cursory form of David Samuels’ definition of “the ways that individuals categorize themselves and others” (Samuels 149), but when looking deeper at the issue it becomes clear that if LDS church has a political identity, it must “significantly shape… political decisions” of its members (Hawkins). The key here is not whether members of the LDS church tend one way or another in political decisions, rather the question is: is there a difference between political decisions of members of the LDS church and the general population? Concerning the upcoming presidential election, polls in the state of Utah depict 23 percent of Utah Democrats responding as “favorable” towards Mitt Romney (Monson). This percentage is a reflection of all democrats in Utah, LDS and non-LDS. However, when looking only at the LDS democrats, that number leaps to 42 percent! On this political issue, at least, responses of members of the LDS church differ widely from those of the general population in Utah. Again, the key issue is whether people identify with the church in political decisions, or in other words, whether the membership of the LDS church tends to make certain kinds of political decisions which are different from the general public. With the data available, enumerated and stated up to this point, there does seem to be at least some political identity in the church. The causes of this could be many. Primordialism would suggest that the members of the church, through “family and community context,” are either born with this LDS political identity, or develop it in early childhood (Samuels 153). Constructivists would argue that, while the identity may appear to be primordial, it should be considered more of an “evolving process rather than as a fixed set of identity categories” (Samuels 153). To state it more concisely, members’ close emotional association with the church that shapes their political decisions could come either from birth and circumstance or from defining and shaping experience. In this case, perhaps a combination of the two would be most accurate in describing church members. Obviously, birth into the church is an extremely strong factor in whether or not a person feels a connection with its identity. On the other hand, converts to the church (which are many) are just as much a part of the statistics mentioned, and their identity with the church is also strong seeing as the doctrine and practices of the church are intended to guide every aspect of a Latter-Day Saint’s life. Jeffrey R. Holland made that clear recently, speaking to young adults on the comment of “checking your religion at the door,” confirming to church members that “that kind of discipleship cannot be — it isn't discipleship at all” (Holland). The identity, then, could be just as strongly developed as it is inherited, which sheds some light on the two theories stated. It would seem to be a challenge to find a situation where this is not the case – where some political identity had nothing to do with circumstance and origins, or had nothing to do with experience and development.

                However strong, there is certainly a present political identity in the LDS church. For some, the association with that identity begins extremely early in life, and for others it comes much later through experiences that lead to association with it and the church.

Works Cited

Cotti, Morgan. Do uncompetitive elections hurt turnout in Utah? <www.utahdatapoints.com>. 2012.

Hawkins, Kirk. Class lectures. 2012.

Holland, Jeffrey R. God is always calling. < http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62734/Elder-Jeffrey-R-Holland-God-is-always-calling.html> 2012.

Monson, Quin. Do LDS Dems like Mitt Romney? <www.utahdatapoints.com>. 2012.

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. Pearson Education inc. New Jersey, 2013.