Deseret News
Published: Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 7:00 p.m. MST

David Letterman knows how to get a laugh.Like most comics, he riffs on the day’s news, deadpans the camera and revels in audacity.”Oh, did you hear about this?” the host of CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman asked his audience recently. “A campaign staffer on the Newt Gingrich campaign was fired because he was making negative comments about Mormons. I thought, now, wait a minute — isn’t Newt in favor of multiple wives?”
Laughter rumbled from the audience followed by applause. The polygamy punch line is a familiar one when it comes to poking fun at Mormons — as though Mormons and polygamy are synonymous in mainstream media. Ironically, the practice that’s most linked to Mormons is a practice most Mormons oppose, according to a groundbreaking new study of Mormons in America released Thursday by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life.

According to the study, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally reject polygamy — only 2 percent said the practice is morally acceptable — evidence of a yawning gap in what Mormons believe and how they are perceived. Mormons’ opinions are overwhelmingly conservative, the study shows, but in many ways, their views are also surprising — especially when it comes to opinions on moral issues, divorce, homosexuality and polygamy.

Morality

Mormons also take a significant stance on moral issues in other areas, such as divorce, sex outside of marriage and consumption of alcohol.
Although teachings from the LDS Church emphasize the importance and eternal nature of t

he family, only 25 percent of Mormons surveyed said divorce is morally wrong, according to the study. That means Mormons are slightly less morally opposed to divorce than the general public.
“For Catholics, divorce does not exist. They think it is not only wrong but it is impossible,” said Matthew Bowman, member of a board of expert advisers to the Pew Research Center for the study and author of “The Mormon People,” a book on the history of the LDS Church. “That has not been true for Mormons. There is theological space for divorce within Mormonism. It is undesirable, but Mormons recognize it is sometimes necessary and sometimes the right thing to do.”

Other moral views revealed in the survey — 54 percent said drinking alcohol was morally wrong, compared with 15 percent of the general public — set Mormons apart, Bowman says. The assumption on the part of non-Mormons is that if Mormons think drinking alcohol is wrong, then they must think everyone who imbibes is morally flawed. That apprehension can make people suspicious of Mormons, and wary of an elitist attitude, he says.

Differences in moral viewpoints can create a stumbling block for Mormon acceptance — not only in high-profile arenas, such as a presidential election, but also in communities.
“What you find throughout the report is a tension,” said David Campbell, assistant professor at Notre Dame and an adviser on the study. “Mormons like to use the phrase, ‘Be in the world but not of the world.’ They are certainly living their lives in the world. They are active and involved in their communities, but they have these beliefs and practices that set them apart a little bit, and sometimes there is conflict.”

Homosexuality

Mormons have some of the most conservative opinions when it comes to homosexuality. The survey asked Mormons if homosexuality should be accepted by society or discouraged by society, with an option for neither, both or “don’t know.” The response — 26 percent said homosexuality should be accepted, 65 percent said it should be discouraged — puts Mormons as the least likely to say homosexuality should be accepted by society. But a 26 percent acceptance rate, with roughly 1 in 4 Mormons saying homosexuality should be accepted, might be surprisingly high to some.

Of particular interest is the fact that only 8 percent of Mormons surveyed identified themselves as liberal, and 66 percent said they were conservative. That means some of those who said homosexuality should be accepted also identify themselves as politically conservative, Bowman says. That distinction illustrates the complexity of Mormons’ opinion on sexuality — that it is rooted more in religious precepts than politics.
Still, it’s difficult to draw a conclusion about Mormons’ views on homosexuality based on the study, says Pew Research Center adviser Terryl Givens, professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond.

“Results need to be viewed cautiously,” Givens says. “Official LDS pronouncements insist there is a distinction between (sexual) orientation and behavior, but the survey blurs that difference, probably leaving many Mormons unsure how to answer that question. What is clear, however, is that Mormons are trending toward greater acceptance of same-sex relationships, just as society as a whole is, although by a much smaller percentage.”

Polygamy

At one point 120 years ago, some Mormons practiced plural marriage, hence the association between Mormons and polygamy. The practice was discontinued in 1890, but the cultural association persists, perhaps in part because Mormons are sometimes confused with members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, a polygamist group not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the October-November 2011 study of a national sample of 1,019 Mormons, 86 percent said polygamy is morally wrong. That’s a number that surprises Bowman.

Were it not for the confusion surrounding Mormons and the FLDS Church practice of plural marriage, Bowman says that statistic might not be as high.

“It’s my experience that Mormons have a fraught relationship with polygamy,” Bowman said of the study results. “There is a sense that rejecting polygamy identifies a member of the LDS Church and distinguishes us from the fundamentalists. That is a cultural signifier as much as a theological statement.”

Some who responded to the survey, 11 percent, said polygamy is not a moral issue.
Email: achoate@desnews.com

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Now, I’m a self-confessed writer and a long time lover of fairy tales, so I can’t help thinking that the best stories start with “Once upon a time…” So what better way to start the story of my life?

Once upon a time…there was a girl named Kimberly. I was a good girl for the most part, except when it came to eating vast quantities of cookies and perhaps not being too quick to do my chores when I had a good book on the go.

I was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Though I was given opportunities to learn many things through church activities, I focused pretty much exclusively on my love of music and literature. Alas, anything I do with my hands tends to go amiss. Plants die. Thread knots. Baking burns. I find my greatest joy in writing, playing piano, and singing. At the age of thirty (that’d be now) it hit me that my talents fit well with motherhood. I’m finding ways to incorporate music and storytelling into the raising of my children.

I met my husband Neil at the age of twenty-two while sorting apples at a church welfare orchard. Talk about being blessed for giving service, eh? We were married the following year and awhile later moved to Forest Grove, Oregon where my husband attended Optometry school. We felt strongly, and had it confirmed through much prayer, that is was not yet time for us to have children. Now that was a tough prayer to accept the answer to! But as time passed the reasons for waiting became clear. Even so it was difficult to wait, but it was all the sweeter when Emma Ann arrived in June 2004 and Rebecca Lynn in January 2006.

When Neil graduated in May 2006 we moved to a small town in Northern British Columbia, where the church congregation [branch] ranges from 20-40 people attending each Sunday. Having grown up in a congregation of approximately 200, the change was a bit of a shock. Slowly we began to adjust, though it was difficult at first. There’s something about a small group that really hits home just how individual we all are. Dramas tend to escalate more quickly, rumours spread with a disturbing amount of speed, and if you want to avoid someone it’s awfully difficult to pull off.

I won’t deny it, I felt uncomfortable and out of place for quite some time. As the months went by though, I slowly came to know every individual in our congregation. Personality quirks began to make more sense, and as I learned the history of certain of our brothers and sisters, any frustrations I had had with them melted away and instead I was overcome by feelings of compassion and love. There are things I have learned here that I simply couldn’t have learned elsewhere. I’ve learned more about being Christ-like in the past three years than I learned in the rest of my life put together. Sometimes it takes extreme situations to help us learn what our Heavenly Father would have us learn. It’s been an amazing and awe-inspiring experience.

Last year was a year of intense changes for us. We bought our first house. We bought the Vision Clinic where Neil had been working. I had my first miscarriage. And then Neil was called to be the leader [branch president] of our small unit of quirky, but loveable saints. It hasn’t been easy for him. Neil is a kind, man with a generous heart, but he has little patience for unkindness in others. I’ve been able to share some of what I have come to feel and know about the people in our branch, to help him understand them better. This has strengthened our marriage exponentially, as I’ve felt the joy of helping him through a challenging experience, and he’s found new respect for me and the blessing my different perspective can be.

We are closer now than we ever have been, and as we look forward to the arrival of our third little girl this December, we know more than ever that the struggles we’ve experienced as individuals and as a couple have helped strengthen us for whatever might lie ahead. And as we teach our children a love of their Savior we experience afresh our own love for Him.

And I can’t help thinking…not bad for a chore-shirking, cookie-binging bookworm.

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For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

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