Happy Pioneer Day!

 July is a wonderful month full of celebrations. It starts with a celebration of our national heritage and ends with a celebration of my (perhaps our) LDS heritage. The fourth of July is amazing for its inclusivity and broad reach. All people join in celebrations of our shared heritage as Americans. We all honor our brave founding fathers and the democratic ideals they fought for. Individual linage is not important we all celebrate OUR founding fathers and national principles whether we are newly naturalized immigrants or we can trace our lineage back to Plymouth Rock or Jamestown. For various reasons, Pioneer Day seems to have a different feel to it.

I consider myself culturally Mormon.  I understand that the LDS church is doing its best to eliminate the usage of that word. My use of the word here is very intentional because I am not only referring to the Brighamite Salt Lake City church. I use that word to the place myself and my culture within a broad sociocultural context that includes 30 something organizations that can draw their roots back to Joseph Smith and the modern frontier religion he created. Now I understand that my discussion of Pioneer Day limits the inclusion to the Brighamite group and it’s offshoots – yes that includes Warren Jeffs and his Colorado City compatriots. Love it or hate it, he’s part of our culture. This also includes the Mormon colonies in Casas Grande and Northern Mexico. Now it does not include the Community of Christ (RLDS as they called themselves in the 90’s) or any other Midwestern offshoot that did not take part in western migration. Despite this, I hope that it can be understood that the ideas I plan to discuss can and do apply to our Midwestern kin as well despite my pioneer focus. To my readers who are not familiar with Mormon culture and history, I apologize, and hope you either make copious use of google or choose to skip this and tune in next time.  

I grew up in North Las Vegas in the North Las Vegas steak. Surprisingly, the LDS community is very strong in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas. LDS pioneers actually attempted to settle the Las Vegas valley but gave up due to stagnant water, malaria and infighting. Never the less, it did not take them long to move back in once the US Army took over their old fort and brought in fresh water. As such, Las Vegas is more or less a Mormon Settlement and the LDS community is one of the primary powers that make things happen in that town. For the curious, the major players in Las Vegas are the Mafia, Howard Hughes Corporation, and the local LDS community. Less the LDS church and more the people themselves, partially because one of Howard Hughes’ eccentricities was to only trust LDS folks to do his accounting and administration. To this day, LDS people handle most of the accounting, legal work and advertising that is done in Las Vegas. Given this history, it should be no surprise that I grew up in a strong LDS community that was proud of its heritage. My mother read me and my siblings all of the little house on the prairie books and frequently discussed our pioneer ancestors and heritage. From a young age, it was very clear to me that I came from the brave and adventurous folks who traveled out to the western US to tame it in the name of God.  Pioneer Day was a big deal growing up. My steak threw huge parties on Pioneer Days with carnival rides, fireworks, talent shows and handy craft competitions. This thing was a slice of Americana right out of a Normal Rockwell painting or a Mark Twain book. We’re talking quilt competitions, auctions, and baking competitions. These celebrations are fond memories and were critical to cementing my sense of community and culture as a child. This focus on LDS heritage was not limited to my local stake. Gordon B. Hinckley, the prophet of my youth, frequently spoke of pioneers and his heritage growing up in the frontier outpost of Cove Fort. I remember attending the Sesquicentennial celebration ware President Hinckley spoke and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang. It was a very big to do put on to a sold-out stadium for multiple days.

All of that seemed to change with the passing of Gordon Hinkley. The 2000’s and forward have been marked by an incremental stepping away from the LDS church’s history and heritage. On good days, I attribute this to an effort to be more inclusive in a worldwide church. On my more cynical days, I believe that it is an effort to distance “the church” from the more difficult to explain aspects of the LDS church’s history.  In truth, it is likely a mixture of the two and a number of other factors I am not privy too.

Before I left the LDS church, the trend was to teach “every member a pioneer” and emphasize ways in which new members could be pioneers. I have always – regardless of my other opinions about the institution – strongly disagreed with this approach – even when I was a faithful card-carrying member. For starters, genealogical connection does not matter.  Again, no one in America believes one must have a direct genealogical connection to a founding father to lay claim to American Heritage. Likewise, all who are members of the Mormon community (remember I am using this inclusively here – RLDS, FLDS – the whole gang of us) can lay claim to the heritage of Joseph Smith, and in the case of most of the other splinter groups, the Brighamite pioneers as well. While most “mainstream LDS” folks want to deny their relationship to the polygamist splinter groups, the reality is that their orthopraxy is much closer to Brigham Young and John Taylor’s version of the LDS faith. 

To me, this modern relationship to Pioneer Day is tantamount to forsaking our forbearers and their vision. I believe that there is a deep cultural and personal risk to forgetting where we come from. Not that I would idolize or aggrandize the ghosts of the past, quite the contrary. I believe it is very important that we as a culture examine all of the complexities and less attractive parts of our forbearers as well as honor and celebrate their inspirational attributes.  Historical hero worship and demanding perfection of our history have come at a cost. For example, John Taylor was the third prophet of the main line LDS church, and someone I deeply respect to this day. As a child, the version of John Taylor I learned stopped at the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. John Taylor sang “Poor Wayfaring Man of Greif” for Joseph Smith, then an angelic intervention saved President Taylor’s life when a musket ball hit his pocket watch. It is an amazing faith promoting story. Also, the parts we don’t talk about are amazing. Taylorsville, Utah is named so because it is where John Taylor settled with his 8 wives. They lived on “Taylor’s Row”, where each wife had her own house lined up next to each other. John Taylor was arguably the first LDS academic, certainly the first academic president of the church. He was relatively progressive and a staunch defender of the practice of polygamy. Brigham Young and John Taylor did not always agree, in fact “Brother Brigham” purportedly once threatened to burn John Taylor’s library – and forbade John Taylor from continuing to host intellectual discussions in his home. John Taylor was a prolific European missionary where he sparred with some of the great minds of his time in defense of LDS doctrine and the practice of Polygamy. The Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake is called that in honor of John Taylor’s failed attempt to refine sugar from beets after his mission to France. John Taylor spent the last 10 years of his life in hiding from the American government because he would not disavow polygamy. His family claims that on his death bed John Taylor received revelation that polygamy was divinely inspired and must remain a practice of the LDS church throughout time. Taylor’s successor Wilford Woodruff ultimately disbanded the practice.

 John Taylor’s legacy is largely lost to the memory of “The Faithful” because of his strong connection to Polygamy and fundamentalist offshoots. It didn’t help that Taylor’s son (also John Taylor) resigned his position in the quorum of the twelve in protest to the ending of polygamy.  We might think of this as “Ancient History”, however, I’d like to provide another perspective. The “Absent-Minded professor (the original “Flubber” movie), a movie I enjoyed as a child was written by John Taylor’s grandchild who died in 1997. Put another way, John Taylor’s grandson and I were alive at the same time.  It is a matter of 3 or 4 generations of people from pioneers to present day progeny. The pioneers came into the Salt Lake valley in 1847. My great grandmother was born in 1895, a mere 50 years since the pioneers settled. I have fond memories of my great-grandmother who was raised by pioneers. The practice of Polygamy was first ended in1890 and then a second time in 1904. Several plural marriages are known to have been sanctioned by the church between 1890 and 1904. Assuming this time line, new Polygamous marriages ended about 120 years ago, although the families continued to cohabitate and even have children well into the 1930’s. My grandmother could have reasonably been born as a member of a polygamist family.  From this perspective, the pioneers and polygamy are recent history. Their legacy has a direct impact on us in ways we have likely have never imagined.

One of the distinct characteristics of the LDS culture I grew up in was an unspoken mistrust of outsiders (“non-members”) and an outspoken distain for “anti-Mormon literature.” This was paired with a sense of victimization, a strong filial feeling in our somewhat insular community. One of the things that first struck me after I left the faith was just how scared I was-of everything and nothing in particular. Now I admit that certain idiosyncrasies of my family lent themselves to a unique type of paranoia. Never the less, I argue that those “features” of my family were in many ways uniquely Mormon and developed out of uniquely Mormon circumstances. I do know that other “ex-Mormons” have shared a similar experience of fear.

Personally, I am six years out and have done a great deal of deconstruction. This has resulted in a massive reduction of my anxiety and feelings of peace the LDS church only ever promised in the afterlife. I want to be clear I am not saying one needs to leave “the church” to find this peace; I am not advocating against the LDS church here. I do believe though that finding this peace requires deconstruction of cultural habits/beliefs. Many of these are so deeply ingrained that they are “the water we swim in” unconscious and unnoticed mostly. My passion for “church history” (Mormon studies is the official academic title now) was instrumental in my deconstructing. I have great empathy and understanding for the cultural fear I grew up in. I have been able to develop a practice of compassion for myself and other Mormon folks.

Briefly consider a few pieces of history. The biggest enemies of the church and Joseph Smith were former members. By the time of his death, Joseph Smith had been abandoned – some might say betrayed – by most of his closest associates. Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, Sydney Rigdon all disavowed Joseph and left. Sydney Rigdon even tried to start his own competing church and took several church members with him. The printing press Joseph Smith smashed was run by a former members of the church. Many members of “the Mob” who burned Mormon homes and eventually killed Joseph Smith were former members. By the time the LDS folks left for “the west”, they had faced decades of persecution and the hands of former congregants and friends. Brigham Young was an eyewitness to many of these betrayals of the prophet and formed the Danites, a sort of secret service meets hit squad who protected Young and harassed – possibly killed – his political enemies (I know this is controversial I also know it is well documented in John G. Turner’s book “Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet”). Having witnessed the persecution of Joseph Smith, Brigham instituted a strict no tolerance policy for dissention. He then headed out for what was at the time Mexico. The Mexican American war co-occurred with the Brighamite migration- remember the Mormon Battalion. By the time Brigham reached the Salt Lake Valley it was an American territory. This seemingly incidental detail would lead to decades of tension between the LDS church and the federal government including the period know as the “Utah War”. This tense relationship ultimately led to the disavowal of Polygamy and the induction of Utah as an official state. Understanding this history has helped me to find compassion for the cultural fear I and many other Mormons felt. Knowing this makes it clear why outsiders would be mistrusted and why we collectively feel so strongly about dissenters and criticism of the church and its’ leaders.   

(Content Warning: from here on out I will be discussing abuse and multigenerational trauma.)

Polygamy is another core issue that requires understanding. There are many theories as to why polygamy was practiced and necessary to practice. What I want to focus on is the impact/legacy of the practice. Many people work hard to differentiate Warren Jeffs from the early Mormon forefathers. Jeffs is seen as despotic and abusive while the forefathers are inspired men of God. I want to be clear right now my intent is not to take anyone down or to abuse the LDS church. I am simply hoping to examine a practice and it’s impacts on the culture and the people within it. The official stance is that people voluntarily joined polygamist unions as an act of devotion. I posit that there is nothing voluntary when your trusted religious leader tells you that an angel with a flaming sword has commanded an action and that refusing to do so will lead to damnation while complying will yield eternal exaltation.  At the very least, there was a certain element of compulsion to polygamy. As a dynamic, polygamy certainly has a number of power differentials and opens the potential for abuse to occur. Abuse must have occurred in at least a small handful of polygamist households as it does in monogamous households.  It is likely, though, that the strong tendency towards patriarchal power structures paired with an aversion to dissent led to a culture of abuse and multigenerational trauma.

I am not interested in assassinating the characters of our forebearers, rather I am discussing this because the effects remain immediate in our lives today.  I know that in my own family, a historically polygamist family, there is a history of multigenerational abuse with perpetrators being shielded by the institution of the LDS church in the name of “redemption” and “atonement”. Healing from this kind of trauma requires that we acknowledge the “ghosts in the nursery.” The mainstream LDS church has already been taking big steps away from patriarchy. Word on the street is that women no longer have to covenant to obey their husband. The other day I read the new “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet to assist with some work I was doing with an LDS family. I was shocked to discover that there are no longer any clear rules or “suggestions” rather the document focuses on ones’ relationship with the divine and establishing one’s own standards that are meaningful to oneself. These are great institutional steps. Yet moving forward without looking backward is only half the healing equation. I think of a family member who was recently chastised by their aunts and uncles for not inviting their perpetrator to their wedding. This was at least thirty years after the wedding in question. Sure, everyone was focused on moving on in the scenario but no one had bothered to admit the damage done or worry about the healing of the victim. Abuse, particularly sexual abuse, tends to be accompanied by a secondary trauma of denial and secrecy. Victims are often blamed for the abuse or families deny that the abuse ever happened. The invalidation and denial can be devastating and profoundly detrimental to one’s mental health.

The damning aspect of multigenerational trauma is that both perpetrators and victims tend to be family members. It is beautiful that we strive to forgive perpetrators and help them be better people; it is equally important that we attend to the needs of victims – which culturally have been overlooked or framed as “sacrifices for God” and “faithful obedience.”  Healing would require that we take time and examine where our culture and history come from and acknowledge that certain elements have contributed to a culture of abuse. A solid understanding of history will be important here as well. Starting with the culture of secrecy that Joseph Smith developed around “the law of celestial marriage”, as well as the ways in which “Brother Joseph” utilized polygamy as a test of faith; framing marital betrayal as sacrifices made for God – sacrifices made under the threat of Damnation. We then pair this with the authoritarian culture and “Blood Atonement” ideology established by Brigham Young and you have a perfect storm for patriarchal authoritarian abuse. One of the issues of shame I personally have had to work through is my history of weekly interviews with the bishop to make sure I wasn’t masturbating. When I discuss this with friends Mormon and otherwise, they almost always ask me why I didn’t just lie to the bishop and move on with life. My commitment to the bishop’s authority and the thought of chastity rendered me incapable of claiming my own authority in this way.  For a long time after leaving the LDS church, I struggled being independent and desperately wanted someone to guide me and tell me what to do. I still have moments of anxiety in which I desire someone’s guidance. Moving through this has been difficult but it has been very helpful for me to understand the reasons these cultural elements developed. That understanding has helped me find compassion for the culture and compassion for myself. One of my primary therapeutic assumptions is that all “maladaptive behavior” developed at some point as a survival mechanism. The behaviors only become problematic when the context for them changes. Brigham Young’s authoritarian fanaticism was exactly what was needed to get the LDS folks out to Utah and to help them develop the solidarity required to survive. It was ideal for that situation. Now the world is different and it demands different behaviors and new cultures. Moving forward will require a firm understanding and honoring of how we got here. As a parallel example, I would offer the United States own boogeyman – racism. Bringing our nation together and moving through the current racial crisis requires a firm understanding of how and why we got to the situation we are in (that’s an essay for another day). The real point is that every culture has its own ghosts in the nursery to cope with, these ones are ours – let’s celebrate!

My wish for us this Pioneer Day is that we own our heritage and honor where we come from. May we find belonging and peace as the hearts of the children turn to the fathers. May we find ourselves connected to a long line of brave and strong pioneers who worked to bring about “God’s Kingdom” here on earth. Above all may we honor our forbears by helping to cleanse and correct the more difficult aspects of their legacy.