Cultural Mormons

drew sagan

Over the past few days I have been doing some research on the Mormon Church. I'm thinking hard about becoming a member.

Ok, just kidding. But I have found out some interesting things about the Mormons that I did not know before. One major one is the concept of 'Cultural Mormons'. People that do no believe LDS doctrine, but continue as being active or irregular in the church to retain the benefits of being involved in the group.

I find this quite amazing. This phenomenon is basically non-existent in the Watchtower. I suppose it mainly has to do with how little the Watchtower is willing to give back to their members. There are no social activities at the Kingdom Hall, nor anything that is geared towards certain groups within the congregation (kids, men, women, ect). The Witnesses do nothing with music or art, and have developed a pretty bland and routine existence.

So, when people realize that the Watchtower is "not the truth" there is little reason for them to want to stay. Sometimes they may stay for family, but even that doesn't usually last forever.

But not for the Mormons. It seems there is a growing number who are able to find away to stay in the faith, keep some of the social benefits, and deal with it.

I wonder how many of us would have stayed "Cultural Witnesses" if the Watchtower didn't come down so hard on everybody and actually invested back in the members somewhat (especially socially).

Here are some links that describe this more in depth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Mormon

http://www.newordermormon.org/

Solace1998

i dont agree with all of your statement -- The witnesses I know live very interesting lives. As a matter of fact, when i lived as a witness, my life was filled with alot of cool things. I am a musician, and i cant even count how many other witness musicians ive played with, on all sorts of different music, not just kingdom songs. overall, the witness life is full of experiences and friendship. It brought me alot of joy. I am not sure if i want to go back, but at least this part is true.

however, yes, tehre is no provision for those that are irregular or df'ed (of course) for any sort of social activity. They are indeed focused on the active members of the congregation, for better or worse.

New light for you

I've often talked about that.

Get a freakin sunday school for the kids so they're not tortured, have SOME THINGS at the hall, social! (gasp!!) Honestly, i really think i would have stuck around. I could see it then.

Even though it's a stupid cult.

drew sagan

i dont agree with all of your statement -- The witnesses I know live very interesting lives. As a matter of fact, when i lived as a witness, my life was filled with alot of cool things. I am a musician, and i cant even count how many other witness musicians ive played with, on all sorts of different music, not just kingdom songs. overall, the witness life is full of experiences and friendship. It brought me alot of joy. I am not sure if i want to go back, but at least this part is true.

however, yes, tehre is no provision for those that are irregular or df'ed (of course) for any sort of social activity. They are indeed focused on the active members of the congregation, for better or worse.

My comments we generally geared not towards personal relationships within the group, but the social environment that is cultivated by policy and procedure within the organization. For instance, the kingdom hall is never (or rarely ever) used as a place of social gathering. And while certain groups of people do get together and friendships are had, there seems to be a total lack of leadership within the movement to really bring people together. Much of the time people spend "together" at the Kingdom Hall is listening to a person lecture from the platform.

New light for you

Solace...

Welcome.

Learn more. I thought my life was great "in the truth". until you realize it's all a lie, you wasted your life, and all your friends only love you conditionally. Sorry to ramble on this thread, but anyway.... I couldn't stop myself.

drew sagan

I'll ditto those comments by New light for you. I see that Solace1998 is a new member here (welcome!). I know what it was like to just be coming on a message board like this one. Still halfway believing that the JWs are the truth, and still seeing the movement in a very positive light. It was a confusing time.

Hope you stick with coming here Solace, your comments are appreciated.

Solace1998

well, this isnt about me -- but i have been out of the truth a while now. I certainly have NOT wasted my life, and would not trade my witness experience for anything. It has helped me overcome alot in my life, things i have retained even being out of the organization. My friends love me unconditionally. -- they just think its the loving thing not to talk to me -- its strange and i think the org needs refinement there, but my friends certainly love me.

drew sagan

My friends love me unconditionally. -- they just think its the loving thing not to talk to me -- its strange and i think the org needs refinement there, but my friends certainly love me.

I would tend to agree with this statement more had I not seen how much active JWs vilified those who left the movement. There was around 5-8 people that I can remember who left the religion and all were slandered beyond belief after they were gone. They were viewed as traitors and their names were dragged through the mud. What makes it quite awkward is when these ones come back to the hall and everybody is their friend. I had a hard time with this. People talked dirt on individuals when they were gone, but as long as they were practicing JWs they were friends again. It fit the perception that it was all conditional friendship.

Maybe your friends are different, but the few congregations I had association with showed a very different attitude.

james_woods

Interesting thought, Drew. However - it brings up a couple of questions:

What in the world about this weird religion would make a person want to be in that culture if you didn't believe it? (same for JW, I guess - but wouldn't it be safer to say that you were bowing to peer pressure, or family issues if you did this?)

For a JW - who in the world wants to go to hours of meetings, forego all benefits of education, maybe die from blood transfusion issues, and embarrass themselves door to door weekly?

For a Mormon - here I could sort of see it...maybe you own a 7-eleven in say Provo, Utah. You don't believe any of Mormonism really, but you still need to be "normal, so to speak" with your customers. The costs are probably not as great as a non-believing but social witnesses, probably. Just no coffee, no tea, no alcohol, etc...maybe make a wedding or two or some meeting once a year?

BTW, would Mitt Romney fall into this "social Mormon" category, perhaps?

drew sagan

What in the world about this weird religion would make a person want to be in that culture if you didn't believe it? (same for JW, I guess - but wouldn't it be safer to say that you were bowing to peer pressure, or family issues if you did this?)

For a JW - who in the world wants to go to hours of meetings, forego all benefits of education, maybe die from blood transfusion issues, and embarrass themselves door to door weekly?

You're comparing the mormon experience to the JW one, two things that are not exactly the same. That's why I thought I would bring this up. Typically we think of both groups in many of the same ways, but I think the Mormons have really evolved past the JWs on this one.

Mormons are a much more social group. The inside of their churches have activity rooms, sunday school, and many more different things. To me it appears that they actually have a very rich culture. I'm sure there are many more things, but those are some of the few things I do know about. From what I have found there still are many of the same pressures to conform and such, but it does not occur in the same way the JWs do it.

I think another big factor is field service. Not all mormons go door to door weekly. I think that when it comes to weekly activity the mormons are less demanding on the individual, and they also have more choices and variety. It seems as though 'faders' have a much easier time in the LDS church than those in the Watchtower. The fact that there are multiple websites filled with members describing this attest to that fact. On the other hand, there is barely anybody on the net talking about living in the WTS while not believing it. Most are trying to find a way out and stay out.

Cultural Mormons

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