christian@topaz.UUCP (12/03/86)
For a non-Mormon, non-Christian, mainstream slant on the LDS experience,
I would recommend two recent books:
* Gottlieb, Robert and Peter Wiley. America's Saints: The
Rise of Mormon Power. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986
(1984). (ISBN 0-15-605658-5)
* Heinerman, John and Anson Shupe. The Mormon Corporate
Empire. Beacon Press, 1985. (ISBN 0-8070-0406-5)
I would like to stress for those not acquainted with the world
of educated opinion that these books are not part of the (mostly)
fundamentalist Christian hate literature about Mormonism. This
latter literature is easy to distinguish from the more reputable
world of educated opinion by simply noting the publisher. Also,
the fundamentalist Christian press publishes nothing but
Christian tracts. HBJ and Beacon Press, in contrast, publish
books in a variety of subject areas; however, Beacon Press is
either owned or at least affiliated with the
Unitarian-Universalist Association, I believe. Some of you
Christians may see this as a form of bias, but heaven help you
if you do! :-)
Opinion in both of these books fairly represents what people in
the (very?) liberal Christian/secular/scholarly/media establishment
think about Mormonism. These writers could easily publish in
the likes of the Atlantic, New York Times, New Republic, New
York Review of Books, etc. I think most of the criticisms of
the LDS Church in these books are accurate and fair. I have
been disappointed at the lack of adequate response to these
criticisms given by various Mormon friends. Some of you may
remember a posting I made a few months earlier summarizing the
dollar amounts the LDS church deals in daily -- these were derived
from the Heinerman book. I received two Mormon replies from the
net saying that they would have to check things out to see if
the dollar amounts and criticisms were accurate. To date I have
received no more communications. In reality -- naturally enough
-- Mormons like most Christians have bought so hard into their
faith that they turn a deaf ear to even faint criticisms.
All-encompassing belief systems -- ideologies -- do that to
people.
I *have* run into thinking Christians, but, characteristically,
the more they think, the shallower their faith. This is due to
the inherent implausibility of much of Christian dogma when
compared to the knowledge derived from the current standard of
reasoned judgment -- the legacy of rationalism begun by the
Greeks, revived in the Renaissance, strengthen in the European
Enlightenment, and institutionalized during the 19th and 20th
centuries in European and American universities. The
overwhelming success of science in explaining the world and the
transformation of civilization brought on by business and
government turning the knowledge of science into technology has
shoved things religious into an ever shrinking corner.
In spite of all this, though, the intellectual respectability of
religious experience (but not dogma) will probably return once
science and scholarship really do investigate the world of
psychic phenomena. Science and scholarship have been flirting
with psychic phenomena for just over a hundred years now but in
fits and starts, never being able to make up its mind. Religion
knows that the spiritual world and psychic phenomena exist;
science will probably also know in another hundred years or so.
Until that time the prudent Christian should be very caution
about what parts of Christian dogma he or she decides to
"believe in". I believe that science and scholarship will
eventually vindicate genuine religious experience but that much
of religious dogma will finally really be shown to be false.
Christianity is a real puzzle. My two year sojourn in Jesus and
early Christianity research has led me to Hyam Maccoby and
others of the "Jewish School" of early Christianity research. For
my money, these folks have the best solutions so far to the
Jesus puzzle. If your faith can stand it, I would be happy to
pass on bibliographic information so you can make you own
informed judgments about Jesus and early Christianity.
***********
Here's the blurb from the paperback cover of Gottlieb's book:
"The Mormons' uniquely American belief system emphasizes the
family, hard work, and self-reliance. But the Mormon Church is
much more than a belief system. It is a vast economic empire
whose holdings range from a huge media chain and formidable
investment portfolio to real estate and banks. And it is an
increasingly potent political force, flexing its muscle
nationally in Congress and the White House and internationally
through its growing Third World involvement.
"After meticulous research and extensive interviews with Church
insiders, Robert Gottlieb and Peter Wiley have assembled this
compelling and controversial portrait of the Mormons'
organizational structure and economic empire -- and the
little-known men at the top who control both. They reveal a
membership for which the Church is an all-pervasive presence --
and a leardership that must face challenge from within even as
it comes into increasing conflict with the outside world."
That should give you the flavor of the book -- not an expose,
but definitely a book with a slant. (The right one from my
point of view!)
Here's the blurb from the dust jacket for the Heinerman book:
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is an American
religious success story. From a small-time cabin faith of
barely thirty members, the Mormon Church has burgeoned into a
global religious organization spanning every continent and
boasting a membership of over five million. John Heinerman and
Anson Shupe have looked behind the public image of the LDS
Church to find a tremendously powerful financial empire with a
distinctly authoritarian ideology. The authors document
carefully how the Mormon Church has sought to extend its
economic, political, and theological influence into nearly every
sector of American life, from communications to the CIA, from
government to the military. *The Mormon Corporate Empire* is a
thorough examination of Mormonism as a corporate entity that
influences the lives of all Americans."