July 5th, 2007 the collective stupidity
Last Sunday, I visited a local Mormon ward (equivalent of a church) with my Mormon roommate. It was a ward composed mainly of the tenants living in my apartment, and the service took place inside a chemistry lecture hall on the BYU campus. I could not help but notice the irony of the fact that there was a huge Periodic Table of the Elements hung at the front of the lecture hall. I was curious as to why we did not have service at one of the gorgeous (or cult-like) looking Mormon Temples I had seen around town, and I would soon find out the sinister answer to this later.
So the service broke apart into 3 parts. The first part is the most similar to a typical Christian worship – singing hymns, doing congregational prayers, etc… And you can bet that during the prayers, I proudly kept my head up and kept my eyes open. I was proud to be the only person in the room who was not superstitious. The one different thing about a Mormon service is that there is no sermon. In fact, the Mormons don’t have a pastor. They only have a Bishop, which is more like a guidance couselor for the ward with a direct line to God. So instead of a sermon, they have “testimonies”. And this is one of the most brilliant brain-washing schemes I have ever witnessed.
Here is the idea: during Testimonies, any ward member is free to volunteer, come up to the podium, and deliver a “testimony”. They usually talk about how they personally experienced the love of God, how God helped him/her during the week, etc. And nearly every person who walked up to the podium started crying. Mormonism is not a passive religion, folks. It’s not like the typical Methodist who just shows up to church every Sunday out of habit. It’s a bonified cult. The most striking part about the testimonies was that EVERY person repeated the line “I believe in Joseph Smith the prophet, Gordon B. Hinkley the president of the church, a seer, revelator, and a prophet, and I believe that this is the only true church on this Earth.” Of course, no body ever explained WHY they believe these things. Only a repetition of “I KNOW this to be true” could be heard. Talk about faith.
This really is brilliant. Rather than have some authority figure (like a pastor) lecture you on why you should believe, they have your Peers do it. How much more effective this must be! And the self-riteousness of these people who walk up to the podium and do these testimonies. They must feel as though they are somehow spiritually superior for doing so. The whole ceremony is a total brain-washing tool, driven by peer-pressure and a collective sense of riteousness.
From my experience, the main difference about Mormonism in practice (as opposed to its theological backgrounds) to other forms of Christianity is its emphasis on Revelations. They claim that because they are the only ones in direct communication with God, they are the only true Christian church. All the other churches and denominations are wrong because they have fallen into “apostasy”. In fact, the president of the church is believed to communicate directly with god. And so the president has the right to say “God told me this, so we will now do this.” This is how Polygamy was started and this is also how it also ended. The current president is Gordon B. Hinkley, a poor old 95 year old man having to carry the burden of divinations from God. What a pathetic lie. And then there are the 12 Apostles, which are sort of like the 12 board members of the Mormon Church, and they are also expected to communicate directly with God. How bizzare is this? In the 21st century, here is a group of people who literally think that their leader really sees, hears, and talks to God. And they don’t mean this in a metaphorical sense.
The second part of the service is akin to a Bible study, broken up into little groups. I followed my roommate to his group. There was alot of unjustified claims and igonrant remarks made during this session, and I had to constantly stop my self from voicing my concerns. But at on point, someone said “I think Science is alot like religion too in that sometimes, it is progressed through revelations.” I couldn’t take this any longer. I spoke out and said: “I think that is a gross mischaracterization of Science. Science progresses thorugh EVIDENCE. For you to think that Science progresses through revelations like your religion does is to spit in the face of millions of scientists who devote their entire lives to objectivity and collecting evidence.” After a silence, they just moved on. I was fuming.
The third part of the service was a meeting among just the male members of the church. The females also had their own meeting. I will not get into the sexual discrimination practiced in Mormonism in this post. In the male meeting, or the “Priesthood” meeting, we talked about the practice of sacraments. Nothing too exciting there.
All in all, I got the impression that if you are inclined to be religious, Mormonism might be very tempting. There is something about it that really draws you in. Perhaps its the fact that the Book of Mormon places the Americas at the center of Chrisitian Theology. Or maybe its the claim that Mormons are in direct communication with God. If that was true, Mormonism would indeed be the only true religion. From an atheist’s perspective, this makes it all the more dangerous. There are things Mormons believe that not even a Christian would admit to believing in. It was Hitler who once said “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.”
And as to why the service did not take place at a Mormon temple, the temples are apparently not for worshipping in. In fact, they are closed on Sundays. The temples are used for Baptisms, Endowments, and other Mormon cult-like ceremonies. An Endowment is a ritual similar to a Masonic ritual where Mormons learn a secret hand-shake that will allow them to enter heaven (I am not making this up). Also, you need a “temple recommend” to be allowed to enter a Mormon Temple. Furthermore, you dress in all-white robes called “temple garments” to enter the temple. Needless to say, all this is very cult-like.
If you have free time, go search for images to a Mormon Temple. It certainly looks very beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, to the point of being haunting.