Latter-Day Ruling Class
In my ignominious career at Bard College I studied theology and was always on the lookout for a good deal on books. One night I remembered that the Latter Day Saints give out the Book of Mormon for free. I invited the two local missionaries to campus. I even got them to cough up Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Boy were they surprised when a Catholic was “chasing” them through Scripture.
And lately it seems like everyone has something to say about the plausibility of Mormon doctrines. There is much to be said about that, but I’ll spare you the excerpts from my considerable collection of James Talmage and Bruce McConkie volumes. The more interesting question is this: what about the plausibility of Mormons themselves? That is, as our next American elite.
Like previous classes of American elites, Mormons at once feel themselves to be American, and yet their faith and the fact that they have a geographic base separate them just enough from the multitude that they feel a special obligation to build up their own private institutions and help each other economically. They are integrated and yet have a sense of solidarity.
For now we should put aside any speculations on the eugenic effects of temporarily allowing plural marriage in the founding generation of the Mormon faith. But have you noticed how, uh, successful Mormons seem to be? I have. Just about every Mormon I know takes a professional job, has a stable marriage, and raises several children
Anecdotally, investment bankers I know who find themselves approved by one prominent Mormon are suddenly in business with dozens of them. Just looking at their culture and history; I think of their incredible missionary efforts, the taming of the Salt Lake region and even the success of the Osmonds and say, “Wow, these people are organized.”. They are as clean-cut and dutiful as the old WASPs but they actually have self-confidence. Did you know that they even refer to their hulking Explorer Vans as “Mormon Assault Vehicles?” Somehow I knew that. Am I tickled by that fact? Yes. Secretly a little scared? Also, yes.
Something is happening here.
Mitt Romney may not make it to the Oval Office. But he has certainly left a more favorable impression than his father. Remember Gov. Jim Rhodes assesment: ““Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football.”
It is easy to imagine Mormons getting much better at this as they grow both through demographic expansion and missionary work. By 2030 they’ll be entering politics in huge numbers, acheiving the same success (or as Mitt would say “Turnaround!”) as they have in the boardrooms of America.
And while I can’t quite picture the bulk of non-LDS Americans singing “If You Could Hie to Kolob” on New Year’s as part of the canon of American civic religion, it is easy to believe that 100 years hence, a genre of literature will emerge about the alienation young Mormons feel while attending their Oregon prep-schools. Imagine a soul-searching story of young disenchanted Mormon named LaEarl Smith melodramatically burning his term papers on “Jesus, The Christ” or Nephite archeology and tearing his temple garments, enraged that he lives under the constant pressure to succeed his uncle as head of the CIA in the fourth Romney Administration of 2120. “The Catcher in Provo” or “A Separate Spirit Prison” may be what every American ninth grader reads in the 22nd Century.
my high school class was half mormon, and there certainly was a perception that mormons were more affluent than average. but to some extent i think it is because even poor mormons have some class (i.e., less likely to sh*t-faced on friday night and run around in their wife beaters around the trailer park on the weekend). but there’s some selection bias going on.
anyway,
page 263 of ‘one nation under god’ by barry kosmin:
‘…the biggest surprise is the poor showing of the mormons, whose own surveys show higher socioeconomic performance. however, their surveys are mailed to members, resulting in an element of self-selection.’
the rank order of ‘aggregate social-status ranking on ‘protestant ethic’ variables by religious group from page 262
unitarian
disciples of christ
agnostic
congregationalist
episcopalian
eastern orthodox
jewish
presbyterian
hindu
NRMs (new religious movements [many jews in these fyi])
buddhist
no religion
catholic
lutheran
‘protestant’
methodist
mormon
churches of christ
muslim
assemblies of god
christian scientist
‘evangelical’
brethren
‘christian’
nazarene
baptist
pentecostal
7th-day adventist
holiness
jehovah’s witness
— razib · Jan 11, 08:03 AM · #
btw, those terrified of a mormon america should look at this table:
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/images/image019.gif
mormons have very high conversion rates and deconversion rates.
— razib · Jan 11, 08:25 AM · #
“I, for one, welcome our new…”
Never mind.
— Matt Frost · Jan 11, 11:12 AM · #
I read somewhere that with a few hundred years blond hair may completely disappear from Scandanavia. When that happens, the lone repository of blond haired women will be among the Mormons. Men will be powerless to stop them. (Is there really some kind of founder effect at work that accounts for the preponderance of blond hair among Mormons?)
— oclarki · Jan 11, 05:37 PM · #
Two points:
1. Utah leads the nation in Prozac prescriptions. File that under “successful” I guess.
2. Selection bias: What fraction of Mormon children quit the faith the moment they’re able to? (Hint: Not minuscule.)
Nice try though.
— KipEsquire · Jan 11, 07:24 PM · #
Sullivan really engaged your ideas suggesting you were a bigot. Hadn’t you gotten the memo, Mike: Thou Shalt Not Make Useful Generalizations About Groups.
I wrote something along these lines at my blog, viz.:
The fact that many Christians consider Mormon beliefs a species of the Arian heresy is less important as a deciding factor in their alienation from voters than in the insularity of Mormons. Americans are not generally discriminatory; an important part of our shared, common values is individualism. In this context, it is coupled with a studied disregard for the details of the religious beliefs of others and, often enough, their replacement with the saccharine sentimentality of our “Mega Churches.” Americans generally “don’t care where you go to Church, so long as you go.”
The problem most voters have with Mormons is not that they have strange beliefs, but that they don’t play ball according to the ecumenist rules. They take their beliefs seriously and often disassociate from the world and from non-Mormons on account of them. Every Mormon I have met has been civilized, well mannered, and a good and productive citizen. While I don’t accept their beliefs, I find them no more offensive than those of, say, Protestants. At the same time, I have never been able to go beyond a surface relationship with any of these folks. I know from conversations with others that I am not alone in this experience. This perceived snobbishness is what voters will think of when they consider whether to vote for a Mormon presidential candidate.
Obama’s blackness and Hillary’s putative femininity will not burden either of those candidates with American voters so much as the far more grave sin of perceived snobbery. Americans will tolerate nearly anything, but they will not accept the slightest infringement on our organizing principle of equality.
— Roach · Jan 11, 07:36 PM · #
Like many American-Irish Catholics, I had a good friend from high school enter the priesthood. He somehow wound up in Salt Lake City. The one thing I remember from a conversation we had at our 20th reunion was that out there, the Catholic parishes sponsor all the AA meetings-
— Jim B · Jan 11, 07:41 PM · #
This was perhaps the first posting on the “Mormon factor” I’ve read which actually shows sense. Thanks for cutting through the irrelevant “plausibility” chatter and engaging with the meat of the matter: what Mormonism actually signifies in our society.
The religion has taken root in our country because it synthesizes and mythologizes distinctively American values:
1. Pioneer spirit (the Book of Mormon’s “Nephites” are animated by essentially the same spirit as latter-day Pilgrims.
2. Cooperation within family and corporate structures (the Mormon vision of Heaven is both a vast corporate entity AND an extended family).
3. Eternal self-improvement (work hard, keep your nose clean and you can be a god someday.)
Evangelical worries that a Mormon President would serve to legitimize the religion are doomed to frustration—Mormonism is too far along the path to Mainstream status to be held back. Like you, I acknowledge this truth with respect and a twinge of fear.
— AndyH · Jan 11, 08:16 PM · #
Just another load of “us vs. them” hogwash perpetrated by the religionists. How dare the Mormons/Baptists/Jews/Catholics/Pagans live in cliquish, semi-closed societies that creep out non Mormons/Baptists/Jews/Catholics/Pagans?
i guess that’s god-fearin’ for you.
— Vic · Jan 11, 08:20 PM · #
Just substitute the word “Mormon” for the word “Jew” and reread your post.
— Dan · Jan 11, 08:29 PM · #
I find it interesting that several people here have suggested feeling some “fear” at the thought of Mormonism becoming mainstream. I simply cannot understand this fear. To my mind, Mormon theology is totally bizarre; but no more bizarre than, for example, the idea of “transubstantiation”: Except for you aspiring vampires out there, the idea that a priest can magically transform wine into the actual blood of a 2000 year old God-made-man and that you then drink that blood with relish (along with a bit of his Godly flesh), well, let’s just say that is no less bizarre than magical underwear. It’s just a bit older. Does age make the bizarre reasonable? No, I say!
So I don’t worry about Mormons any more than I worry about those of other religions. You’re all a bunch of freaks as far as I’m concerned.
— DAve · Jan 11, 09:45 PM · #
Yeah, I’m not “afraid” of anything about Mormons or any religious sub-group – with the possible exception of my fellow-Catholics. I think the LDS and it’s sub-culture is really interesting and thought the idea of them being our next elite is an amusing diversion.
Sullivan has badly misread my intentions.
— Michael Brendan Dougherty · Jan 11, 09:53 PM · #
Sullivan is a typical liberal and believes in diversity so long as we don’t notice anything unkind, neutral, or negative about other people. So what if it said Jew above? Who cares?
Jews aren’t perfect, and when they, as a group, act badly, they should be criticized. Organized Jewry should have been castigated for their moronic response to Mel Gibson’s The Passion.
And the majority of the population—a majority which in our country is Christian, White, European—should have no bones about imposing such standards. And why? Because the majority gets to set the cultural and moral tone in all but the most decadent societies lacking in self confidence. They have the numbers and the power to do so, and they should do so gently, magnanimously, and fairly, but they should do so nonetheless everywhere.
How’s that for real conservatism? This, incidentally, was obvious to just about everyone until, say, the 1960s. It was an age back when no one had to apologize for saying Merry Christmas, nor demand that people’s pants don’t fall to their ankles, nor demand that people give up seats to little old ladies, nor demand that people at least try to speak English. But now we’re ashamed to impose these standards at all, and are particularly afraid to impose any kinds of standards upon different kinds of minorities, including religious minorities. Mormons are well behaved. The same can’t be said for other minority groups and religions.
— Roach · Jan 11, 10:10 PM · #
the simple explanation for why Utah leads in prozac is that Mormons do not “self-medicate” for depression and other travails, like the rest of the world (i.e., on tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs)
And Mormons aren’t snobbish — they’re skittish and over-wary of anti-Mormon sentiment, reluctant to expose themselves to scorn or attack. that’s why they tend toward insularity.
— Jason · Jan 11, 10:10 PM · #
While I indicated that those who are religious do not scare me, I must say that the comments by Roach DO scare me.
Roach argues that a majority of the population has the right (indeed the duty) to impose their standards on the rest of the population. Well, maybe maybe not. We can argue about “rights” and “duties” til the cows come home. The problem is that this kind of argument is ONLY made by those who actually are in the majority themselves.
REST ASSURED that once White Anglo-Saxon Protestants are no longer the majority in the country, Roach and people like him will come up with all sorts of arguments why those who ARE the majority at that time should not have the right to dictate to him about his life. But so long as Roach’s group are in the majority, he is all for majority domination.
My guess is the argument that the WASPS will use once they are no longer the majority is the “Our nation was founded by WASPS and therefore WASPS should continue to mandate their cultural values on everybody.”
— DAve · Jan 11, 10:26 PM · #
Dave, if I moved to France, I’d learn French. If I moved to Israel, I’d not run around saying Merry Christmas. If I lived in Mexico, I’d take a siesta. I respect other cultures, and many immigrants respect the US, but many immigrants and minority groups in this country are filled with hostility, resentment, and a naive belief that the majority will roll over and play dead forever.
And if it changed, I’m not sure what I’d do, other than try to find a little corner of this place to live in peacefully away from the sea of third world humanity.
— Roach · Jan 11, 11:02 PM · #
“WASPS will use once they are no longer the majority”
They haven’t been in the majority for quite some time, honey:
http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/ancestry/table_05.txt
— Jenna's Bush · Jan 11, 11:09 PM · #
<i>I read somewhere that with a few hundred years blond hair may completely disappear from Scandanavia. When that happens, the lone repository of blond haired women will be among the Mormons. Men will be powerless to stop them. (Is there really some kind of founder effect at work that accounts for the preponderance of blond hair among Mormons?)</i>
i know that the comment wasn’t serious, but that’s a <a href=“http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2006/03/delicious_ideas.php”>hoax</a>.
— razib · Jan 11, 11:10 PM · #
damnit, here’s the url:
http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2006/03/delicious_ideas.php
— razib · Jan 11, 11:10 PM · #
“And Mormons aren’t snobbish — they’re skittish and over-wary of anti-Mormon sentiment, reluctant to expose themselves to scorn or attack. that’s why they tend toward insularity.”
hm. i don’t know. i was pretty ‘straight-edge’ in high school so i ran with a bunch of mormons (though i am an atheist from a muslim background). there was definitely and us vs. them mentality toward gentiles (though i’m such a great person that they would never think of excluding me!), and this is in a town where mormons were around 1/3 of the adult population and 1/2 of the children and controlled many of the levers of power. so it isn’t just fear of anti-mormonism, though that’s part of it….
— razib · Jan 11, 11:15 PM · #
Very funny! Plagiarizing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. May be, you could dress up as a Mormon missionary on halloween, Mr. Dougherty.
— Hellmut · Jan 11, 11:35 PM · #
Razib,
My one question I have about that interesting list you produced is whether it accounts for how many black and hispanic people are in each group. I know, for example, that the 7th Day Adventists are becoming a rather black/immigrant religion. There are large numbers of black baptists, /pentecostals, and methodists too, if I recall. Racial/cultural tendencies often swamp purely religious tendencies.
— Thursday · Jan 12, 01:40 AM · #
I have to correct the idea that we have a “special oblication” to build “private institutions.”
If you are talking about worship – temples are private, churches are like other churches.
If you are referring to BYU, it is important to note that there are only 3 church run colleges in the US. Compare that, say with Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists, Lutherans, etc…
The main push from the church is to go to local schools, get a secular education and live in the real world. For the last two decades leadership has emphasised that there are no plans to build additional church colleges because they don’t want us to get too private in our sense of educational development.
— Gilgamesh · Jan 12, 02:04 AM · #
You religious guys are so funny when you argue who’s imaginary friend is better.
— sov · Jan 12, 02:20 AM · #
As I pointed out in my American Conservative movie review, I got my first sense of this coming Mormon elite when attending a studio screening of “Napoleon Dynamite” in 2004. The rest of the audience was made up of the Bright Young Mormons of Hollywood, with lots of beautiful non-trampy-looking girls from the Great Basis. The Mormon golden youth howled with laughter at all the Mormon-style humor, which I simply didn’t get. But the Mormon birthrate is so much higher than the gentile white birthrate that Mormons will have more and more influence.
It eventually turned out when this weird little movie became a hit that a lot of non-Mormon teenagers are tuned into the same wavelength in what’s funny.
— Steve Sailer · Jan 12, 02:41 AM · #
<i>
My one question I have about that interesting list you produced is whether it accounts for how many black and hispanic people are in each group. I know, for example, that the 7th Day Adventists are becoming a rather black/immigrant religion. There are large numbers of black baptists, /pentecostals, and methodists too, if I recall. Racial/cultural tendencies often swamp purely religious tendencies.</i>
that’s a confound. but there’s a fair amount of social science literature that suggests even among whites low church evangelicals tend to be less prone toward the ‘protestant ethic’ than higher church types.
— razib · Jan 12, 03:01 AM · #
ROACH SAID: “How’s that for real conservatism? This, incidentally, was obvious to just about everyone until, say, the 1960s. It was an age back when no one had to apologize for saying Merry Christmas, nor demand that people’s pants don’t fall to their ankles, nor demand that people give up seats to little old ladies, nor demand that people at least try to speak English.”
Yessuh, Mazzah Roach! Back in the days of segregation and Jim Crow, when the white majority new how to keep them uppity minorities in their place!
That’s Christian Conservatism for ya. I suspect its more a function of the former than the latter.
— Vic · Jan 12, 02:43 PM · #
Ah, the brilliant America-was-racist-in-the-past-and-therefore-the-past-is-completely-evil rejoinder. That’s a new one. I’m truly speechless. I mean, like, we should take George Washington off the quarter or something.
— Roach · Jan 12, 09:49 PM · #
I’m intrigued, and wondering if I can get an advanced copy of The Catcher in Provo…that’ll prove an interesting one, alright.
One thing to note, though, before you decree the Mormons our new overlords: this all really only applies to Mormon men. Look around, and you’ll notice there’s very few Mormon women who are investment bankers or lawyers or business(wo)men, except of course those who own and run their own dance studios.
In a country that’s growing more and more to recognize the capacity of women for leadership, I don’t think the Mormon cabal’s going to reach that high without some fundamental cultural changes.
— Burke · Jan 13, 06:30 AM · #
At first I thought this was a satire on anti-Semiticism, then I realized it’s something far less sophisticated. Just another exercise in fearful intolerance. Next, you’ll accuse them of taking over Hollywood. And I don’t know Mormon food well enough to say how you’ll replace “bagel-eating” as a modifier with … whatever.
“You religious guys are so funny when you argue who’s imaginary friend is better.”
Exactly.
— Bob · Jan 16, 06:38 AM · #