tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/mormon-13036/articlesMormon – The Conversation2022-12-07T13:42:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1922992022-12-07T13:42:44Z2022-12-07T13:42:44ZAsexual Latter-day Saints face an added dilemma: Finding their place in a tradition focused on marriage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498345/original/file-20221130-17-nqgq1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C1020%2C685&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pride flag flies in front of the historic temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pride-flag-flies-in-front-of-the-historic-mormon-temple-as-news-photo/497172074?phrase=gay%20latter-day%20saint&adppopup=true">George Frey/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It can be difficult to imagine two identities more conflicting than being queer and Mormon.</p>
<p>The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often called the LDS or Mormon church, <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng">teaches that</a> heterosexual marriage and binary gender roles are divinely dictated. Prophets and other leaders previously taught that <a href="https://mormonleaks.io/wiki/documents/4/4c/Homosexuality-1981.pdf">queerness was a sinful condition that could be cured</a>, although today the church tells members “<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/gay/individuals?lang=eng">a change in attraction should not be expected or demanded</a>.”</p>
<p>LGBTQ people face similar challenges in a variety of religious traditions. Yet there are unique aspects of LDS doctrine, particularly how it emphasizes the importance of family, that intensify queer church members’ struggle to reconcile their identities and relationships. This can be especially challenging for one group not often discussed when issues about LGBTQ individuals and the LDS church make the news: asexual Latter-day Saints. </p>
<p>We are both communication researchers who study how cultural messages affect queer and transgender communities: <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YLsyxq8AAAAJ&hl=en">One of us</a> researches the intersections of race and queer identities, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6jza63QAAAAJ&hl=en">while the other</a> focuses on queer and asexual issues within Mormonism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four people holding signs stand smiling on the sidewalk outside a large white building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498344/original/file-20221130-9976-cycbbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activists outside the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mormons-pose-for-a-picture-and-hold-signs-outside-the-news-photo/1135413792?phrase=lgbtq%20mormon&adppopup=true">George Frey/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Chastity and marriage</h2>
<p>People along <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/understanding-asexuality/">the asexual spectrum</a> experience little to no sexual attraction. A common term for people who identify as asexual is “ace.” </p>
<p>Since asexuality is a spectrum, it’s important to note some ace folks still desire and form <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-asexuals-navigate-romantic-relationships-192685">romantic and other intimate relationships</a>. Folks who do not experience romantic attraction – which is separate from sexual attraction – are known as aromantic, colloquially called “aro.” Ace and aro are usually represented as “A” in the popular acronym LGBTQIA+.</p>
<p>Because of the church’s emphasis on chastity – its own version of <a href="https://religionnews.com/2016/09/27/dismantling-mormon-purity-culture/">the “purity culture</a>” many Christian groups promote – some closeted ace teenagers may find themselves applauded, because avoiding sexual activity comes easily to them. Once in high school and college, however, religious pressure to date increases. Many young Latter-day Saints <a href="https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/9/29/22684425/what-latter-day-saint-missionary-work-looks-like-during-a-pandemic">serve as missionaries</a> – men for two years, women for 18 months – and are often encouraged to get married soon after. </p>
<p>Church policies <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/38-church-policies-and-guidelines?lang=eng">prohibit same-sex relationships</a> and gender-affirming care or <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/transgender-understanding-yourself/what-is-the-churchs-position-on-transitioning?lang=eng">transitioning</a> for transgender members. In contrast, leaders have not issued a specific policy against asexuality. Mormon scripture does, however, teach that heterosexual marriage is <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/131?lang=eng">required to achieve “exaltation” in the highest level of heaven</a>.</p>
<p>This teaching does not specifically discriminate against asexual church members, since some ace individuals desire marriage, while some non-asexual folks – commonly referred to as <a href="https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/lgbtq-history/lgbtq-terminology">allosexual or zedsexual</a> – do not want marriage.</p>
<p>But LDS culture prioritizes dating and childbearing in unique ways. For example, in addition to scripture teaching marriage is required for heavenly exaltation, the current prophet, Russell Nelson, <a href="https://www.thechurchnews.com/2018/10/6/23264577/president-russell-m-nelson-sisters-participation-in-the-gathering-of-israel">has said</a>, “Every woman is a mother by virtue of her eternal divine destiny.”</p>
<p>Further, the church oversees “singles only” congregations known as <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/belong/a-place-for-everyone/single-adults">singles wards</a> in many areas and encourages attendees to date. And while LDS childbirth rates are <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/06/15/the-incredible-shrinking-mormon-american-family/">on the decline</a>, members of the faith still have <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/22/mormons-more-likely-to-marry-have-more-children-than-other-u-s-religious-groups/">more children than their peers</a>. On average, middle-aged Latter-day Saints have had 3.4 kids, compared with the national average of 2.1.</p>
<h2>Being ace in the church</h2>
<p>A recent research essay that Brandley co-wrote with rhetoric scholar <a href="https://miamioh.edu/regionals/academics/departments/ics/about/faculty-staff/spencer/index.html">Leland Spencer</a> uses data from interviews and online posts to study how Latter-day Saint ace people navigate romantic and sexual pressures toward marriage. Many participants reported hearing frequent anti-queer messages from religious leadership and family members, which sometimes led them to internalize shame and self-hatred.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2022.2108891">One participant recalled</a> a missionary telling them that their lack of interest in sex or children “is proof that I’m apparently under demonic influence” and that their “asexuality is evidence of the devil working in my life.”</p>
<p>Yet other ace members feel more comfortable in church environments. For example, another participant said she has never “gotten that kind of pressure that other people get,” such as questions from leaders inquiring, “Who are you dating? When are you going to get married?”</p>
<p>These drastically different experiences can, in part, be connected to how congregations are run. Local wards do not have paid, formally trained clergy; instead, <a href="https://news-ca.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/mormon-lay-ministry">members volunteer</a> for various “callings,” such as teaching religious classes or serving as a bishop. This leads to local leaders having room to approach various challenges based on their personal preference, which some members refer to as “<a href="https://www.timesandseasons.org/index.php/2022/02/bishop-roulette-vs-one-size-fits-all/">leadership roulette</a>.” One bishop may approach issues around gender and sexuality differently than another.</p>
<p>Some ace Latter-day Saints also face difficulties due to religious messages shared by their families. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2022.2108891">Brandley and Spencer’s research interviews,</a> most participants reported that their families did not discuss sex, or that when they did, they emphasized rejecting sexuality. As young people reached adulthood, it felt jarring for their families to suddenly start emphasizing the importance of having children.</p>
<h2>Finding a place</h2>
<p>Given these unique cultural and religious values around dating and marriage, many ace Latter-day Saints can feel stuck, lonely and even traumatized. </p>
<p>One ace participant shared how being raised in Utah LDS culture made her feel pressure to date in order to be the quintessential Mormon woman. She shared, “I forced myself into situations” that felt unsafe, and left wishing “I had listened to myself.”</p>
<p>Research suggests that some queer Latter-day Saints do <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2022.2100468">try to embrace</a> both these aspects of their identities. There are signs in recent years that more leaders and members of the church, especially millennials, <a href="https://theconversation.com/gays-cheered-at-brigham-young-university-millennial-mormons-are-increasingly-tolerant-of-same-sex-attraction-116401">want to create more accepting congregations</a>. </p>
<p>Yet for now, when queer Latter-day Saints feel <a href="https://xtramagazine.com/love-sex/what-its-like-navigating-relationships-as-an-asexual-filipino-mormon-107992">welcomed and affirmed</a>, it is in spite of the dominant interpretation of the church’s doctrine. </p>
<p>Many church members who describe themselves as experiencing same-sex attraction assert that they are not gay or queer, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2018.1564006">a 2019 psychology study</a>. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/26387714/Navigating_Sexual_and_Religious_Identity_Conflict_A_Mormon_Perspective">Another study</a> found that 53% of queer LDS respondents had abandoned their religious identity, which may suggest how unwelcome they felt. And <a href="https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/simmons_brian_w_201712_phd.pd">one doctoral dissertation</a> found that 86% of the LGBTQ Mormon respondents would likely meet the criteria to be diagnosed with PTSD.</p>
<p>The Latter-day Saints church preaches for its adherents <a href="https://www.thechurchnews.com/2020/10/4/23217103/general-conference-october-2020-sunday-morning-session-president-nelson-race-prejudice-equality">to abandon prejudice</a> and have love for everyone. Yet embracing asexual people as they are, and embracing the kind of love that they experience, seems to be a challenge to that commitment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent years have put more attention on LGBTQ people’s struggle for acceptance in the LDS church, but asexual Latter-day Saints face unique challenges.ben Brandley, Ph.D. Student of Communication, Arizona State UniversityLoretta LeMaster, Assistant Professor of Communication, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1860992022-07-22T12:28:50Z2022-07-22T12:28:50ZUtah’s Pioneer Day celebrates Mormons’ trek west – but there’s a lot more to the history of Latter-day Saints and migration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474338/original/file-20220715-16-smlu3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C16%2C5351%2C3411&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A couple rides on a float with a handcart during the parade for Pioneer Day, an annual Utah holiday, on July 24, 2019, in Salt Lake City. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PioneerDayUtah/34e6e0d87bbc4d9283f3f6ddcbb6db5e/photo?Query=%22pioneer%20day%22&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=53&currentItemNo=11">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each July 24, the state of Utah celebrates “<a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/july-24/">Pioneer Day</a>.” There are parades, rodeos, fireworks, a marathon, hikes and historical outfits, plus lots of red, white and blue – similar to the Fourth of July and other patriotic events in America.</p>
<p>Pioneer Day, however, commemorates something unique: the day Mormon migrants arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. The label “Mormon” refers to any church rooted in the teachings of founder Joseph Smith, although the largest of these, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/07/14/jana-riess-oh-now-i-get-it/">has rejected the name</a> in recent years. </p>
<p>The first Latter-day Saints to reach Utah had fled Illinois, more than 1,000 miles away. On July 24, 1847, after months on the trail, church president Brigham Young caught sight of the valley and proclaimed, “<a href="https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/297">This is the right place</a>.”</p>
<p>For Latter-day Saints, the holiday involves church activities like talks, dances, potlucks and sometimes reenacting pioneers’ experiences by walking along the “Mormon Trail” with handcarts. In Salt Lake City, there is a large parade called “<a href="https://www.daysof47.com/">Days of ‘47</a>” with floats reflecting an annual theme related to pioneers.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://history.utah.edu/graduate/current-past-students.php#modal-18">historian who studies Mormon migration and immigration</a>, I see the pageantry of Pioneer Day as a reflection of the church’s long, complicated relationships with race, nationalism and identity. Each year’s commemorations emphasize stories of hardship and heroism. However, they remember just one story of migration out of many in the diverse history of the church and the region.</p>
<h2>Church on the move</h2>
<p>Smith founded the LDS church in upstate New York in 1830. Ever since, its history has been one of movement.</p>
<p>Smith claimed to have received revelations and visions indicating that Latter-day Saints should gather to prepare for <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/second-coming-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng">Jesus Christ’s Second Coming</a>. The church taught that God <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/gathering-of-israel?lang=eng">would gather his people in a place</a> called Zion – a word found in the Bible, often used to refer to Jerusalem or Israel – before Jesus’ return. By converting people to the LDS church and encouraging them to migrate together, 19th-century Latter-day Saints believed that they were building Zion.</p>
<p>In the faith’s first few decades, the LDS church changed headquarters several times, gathering in New York, then Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois. Each time, their arrival prompted conflict with local communities that did not trust the new church – discrimination that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/mormonism-and-violence/F7B0CE66A87F4F4677F8AE9B0F957028">sometimes broke into violence</a>. After Smith, the founder, was killed by a local mob in 1844, Young led a large faction of Mormons on the long, difficult journey to Utah.</p>
<h2>Western years</h2>
<p>When Latter-day Saints arrived by the Salt Lake in 1847, the area was Mexican territory. The United States gained control of the territory the next year as part of the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/guadalupe-hidalgo">Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</a>, which ended the Mexican-American War and ceded Western lands to the United States.</p>
<p>It would be another half-century before Utah became a U.S. state, however. The territory was technically under U.S. control, but for the time being, Latter-day Saints celebrated their autonomy. As part of the effort to gather church members together, Young established <a href="https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/blog/perpetual-emigrating-fund-company?lang=eng">a micro-loan system</a> that financed converts’ migrations to Utah from both inside and outside the U.S.</p>
<p>Many did not trust the U.S. government, given the church’s previous experiences of discrimination. Nor did many Americans trust the LDS church, partially because of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explaining-polygamy-and-its-history-in-the-mormon-church-81384">practice of polygamy</a> – which church leaders formally disavowed around the turn of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Some Americans in the 19th century considered Mormon immigrants to be <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-of-a--different-color-9780199754076">racially nonwhite</a>, although the vast majority were coming from Europe. Anti-immigrant sentiment was rising at the time, and critics sometimes conflated their fears about <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerethnhist.41.1.0005">Mormon, Chinese and Muslim immigrants</a>.</p>
<p>The U.S. federal government tried to <a href="https://juvenileinstructor.org/the-end-of-the-gathering-mormonism-and-immigration-regulation/">stop Mormon immigration in a number of ways</a>, such as <a href="https://iehs.org/jeff-turner-mormonism-immigration-regulation-in-1891/">forbidding people who supported polygamy from entering the country</a> in 1891. Even so, hundreds of Latter-day Saints immigrated each year.</p>
<h2>Overshadowed stories</h2>
<p>Migration stories are a source of pride and identity for many Utahans, and Pioneer Day celebrations have a long history. Within two years of the first Latter-day Saints’ arrival in 1847, they <a href="https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/PIONEER_DAY.shtml">started celebrating the anniversary</a> with <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674416857">cannon salutes, music, bell ringing and speeches</a>.</p>
<p>Later celebrations included reenactments. For the 50th anniversary in 1897, some celebrants reenacted part of the trek along the Mormon Trail and watched a procession of wagons and horse-drawn floats, a tradition that gradually formalized into the Days of ’47 parade.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photograph shows a row of covered wagons trying to cross a river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474361/original/file-20220715-14-spmagy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A covered wagon caravan of Mormon emigrants trying to cross a river in 1879.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/covered-wagon-caravan-of-mormon-emigrants-trying-to-cross-a-news-photo/615306872?adppopup=true">Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To some, Pioneer Day symbolizes exclusion and forgetting – especially the church’s impact on Native Americans. In <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/07/21/commentary-pioneer-day/">a 2019 op-ed</a>, <a href="https://as.nyu.edu/departments/anthropology/people/graduate-students/doctoral-students/baca-angelo.html">documentary filmmaker Angelo Baca</a> and <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/history/faculty/bsumeke">historian Erika Bsumek</a> wrote that Pioneer Day “represents a key moment in the history of the colonization of the American West,” which caused “Utes, Paiutes, Shoshone, Goshute and Navajos” to lose “their homes, lands, and even, in some cases, their families.”</p>
<p>Pioneer Day is also the anniversary of the arrival of Black people, both enslaved and free, whose experiences have often been overlooked in Utah history. However, <a href="https://utahhistoricalmarkers.org/c/slc/legacy-of-the-black-pioneer/">monuments</a> and <a href="https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of-black-mormons/page/wales-hark">written records</a> have helped <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/07/24/jana-riess-what-does-an/">spark discussion</a> about <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/20/tribes-were-displaced/">how to remember their legacy during the holiday</a>.</p>
<p>As Latter-day Saint membership has grown more globally diverse, Pioneer Day celebrations have included more diverse <a href="https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/blog/foreign-pioneers-experiences-the-pioneer-overland-travel-database?lang=eng">pioneer narratives from the faith’s history</a>. In recent years, church programs have also <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/pioneers-in-every-land-lecture-addresses-churchs-global-historical-landscape?lang=eng">emphasized stories</a> of how “pioneers” are building up the faith all around the world, not only in Utah.</p>
<p>As Utah and the church continue to become more diverse, Pioneer Day participants will continue to recover histories of migration, displacement and courage that shape their identity in the present through their remembrances of the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186099/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I helped build the websites for Century of Black Mormons and Utah Historical Markers.</span></em></p>The Utah holiday is a reflection of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ slowly changing identity, a historian of Mormonism and migration writes.Jeffrey Turner, Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History, University of UtahLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1164012019-05-06T10:39:10Z2019-05-06T10:39:10ZGays cheered at Brigham Young University – millennial Mormons are increasingly tolerant of same-sex attraction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272287/original/file-20190502-103068-1r3kxlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mormons for Equality march during Salt Lake City’s annual gay pride parade in 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Gay-Pride-Parade-Utah/da9c64057b204faa96fe77d0fdcf920a/21/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During a recent valedictorian graduation speech, student Matthew Easton came out saying he is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/29/i-am-proud-be-gay-son-god-mormon-valedictorian-comes-out-graduation-speech/?">“a gay son of God.”</a> His admission was met with loud applause from the audience. </p>
<p>What makes this unusual is that Easton is a student at Brigham Young University, the flagship educational institution of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which forbids any form of same-sex intimacy. </p>
<p>What does this coming out as gay mean for the church and modern-day Mormonism?</p>
<h2>Coming out at BYU</h2>
<p>In recent times, coming out at BYU has been increasingly accepted, if not always cheered. </p>
<p>Charlie Bird, who wore BYU’s cougar mascot costume “Cosmo” from 2015 to 2018 and became the face of Brigham Young University, <a href="https://www.outsports.com/2019/2/26/18242312/byu-cosmo-charlie-bird-comes-out-gay">came out</a> just a few months ago. </p>
<p>Last year one of BYU’s official Instagram accounts was turned over to student Kyle Manwaring for one day, who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHiPIQtij7s">talked about</a> what it was like to be gay at BYU.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.usgabyu.com">student group at BYU</a>, “Understanding Sexuality, Gender and Allyship,” has become a resource for many LGBTQ students there.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://kzoo.academia.edu/TaylorPetrey">a scholar of Mormonism and sexuality</a>, I would argue that what made this possible was a <a href="https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5684555&itype=NGPSID&source=rss">change in the honor code in 2007</a>. </p>
<p>The honor code at BYU since 2007 explicitly <a href="https://policy.byu.edu/view/index.php?p=26&s=s1164">states</a>: “Brigham Young University will respond to homosexual behavior rather than to feelings or attraction and welcomes as full members of the university community all whose behavior meets university standards….One’s stated same-gender attraction is not an honor code issue.” </p>
<p>While still prohibiting homosexual “behavior,” this revised code is accepting of same-sex attraction. </p>
<p>Under this code, students could take on LGBTQ identities but not kiss, date or show other forms of physical intimacy that are allowed for straight members. </p>
<h2>‘Don’t say gay’ policy</h2>
<p>That the church has become accepting of LGBTQ labels needs to be seen in its historical context to understand how big a change this is from a previous era.</p>
<p>Historian <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/09/26/mormon-historian-scientist-to-speak-on-why-his-church-needs-to-go-further-to-embrace-its-lgbt-members/">Gregory Prince</a> writes in his book <a href="https://uofupress.lib.utah.edu/gay-rights-and-the-mormon-church/">“Gay Rights and the Mormon Church”</a> that starting in the 1960s, LDS church leaders believed that homosexuality could be “cured” and that it had certain social and psychological causes.</p>
<p>By the 1970s, the gay rights movement was <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15524.html">gaining a lot of ground nationally</a>, and LDS leaders were afraid of its impact on the Mormon community. </p>
<p>Around this time, LDS church leaders came to believe that the use of the terms “gay,” “lesbian” and “homosexual” could contribute to same-sex sexual attractions. A 1981 <a href="https://archive.org/details/Homosexuality1981/page/n1">church handbook</a> advising local church leaders on how to counsel with young people advised: “Be careful not to label people ‘homosexual.’ This both discourages them and tends to make them feel that they cannot solve their problems.” </p>
<p>These ideas held sway for a long time. In 1995, church leaders began to regularly speak in terms of a psychological condition that they called “<a href="https://www.lds.org/study/ensign/1995/10/same-gender-attraction?lang=eng">same-gender attraction</a>.” That was their alternative to the sociopolitical labels of “gay” and “lesbian.” </p>
<h2>Change and resistance</h2>
<p>Along with the BYU honor code change in 2007 came a better acceptance of Latter-day Saints identifying as gay, lesbian and queer. In fact, the church too uses these labels actively. </p>
<p>An official church website organized in 2012, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121208042918/http://www.mormonsandgays.org/">MormonsandGays.org</a>, and its update in 2016 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161101182721/https://mormonandgay.lds.org/">MormonandGay.lds.org</a> prominently featured Latter-day Saints who adopted these identities. </p>
<p>Not all church leaders, however, have welcomed these changes. In 2009, <a href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/elder-bruce-c-hafen-speaks-on-same-sex-attraction">high-ranking church leader Bruce Hafen warned</a> that “you feed the angry dog” of same-sex attraction when you “label yourself as gay.” </p>
<p>And in 2014, another top church leader, David A. Bednar, responded to a question about how to welcome homosexuals in the church, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mormon-leader-homosexuality_us_56d5c8a3e4b03260bf782ee5">saying</a>: “there are no homosexual members of the church.”</p>
<h2>Mormon millennials and change</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272528/original/file-20190503-103060-1qhmw1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protests in Salt Lake City in 2015 against the Mormon Church position on same sex couples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mormons-Gays/0dd252c64d814630a1e1c221208ee488/4/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even though same-sex erotic behavior is still forbidden at BYU, I argue that the cultural and policy shifts that allow for identifying as LGBTQ at BYU are important signals of larger shifts in Mormonism. </p>
<p>Scholar <a href="https://janariess.com/">Jana Reiss’</a> new book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-next-mormons-9780190885205?cc=us&lang=en&">“The Next Mormons”</a> documents that more than half of Mormon millennials support same-sex marriage. </p>
<p>A recent protest against the Brigham Young honor code has also called for <a href="https://www.ksl.com/article/46530636/this-is-all-about-love-byu-students-sit-in-to-protest-honor-code">changes to the way</a> it treats LGBTQ students. </p>
<p>Indeed, LGBTQ BYU students still <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/03/15/i-thought-i-was-the-only-queer-person-at-byu-lgbt-students-host-panel-focused-on-faith-and-gender-identity-at-mormon-church-owned-university/">report</a> alienation, loneliness and judgment. But, at the same time, the cheers for Matthew Easton’s graduation speech show that a significant change is happening.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Petrey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A valedictorian at Brigham Young University came out in his address as a ‘gay son of God.’ And his admission met with loud applause. An expert explains how big a change this is for the Mormon Church.Taylor Petrey, Associate Professor of Religion, Kalamazoo CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/353082014-12-23T10:44:15Z2014-12-23T10:44:15Z‘Let us adore and drink!’ A brief history of wine and religion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67961/original/image-20141222-31573-ndz6l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Caravaggio's 1595 masterpiece Bacchus. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bacchus-Caravaggio_(1595).jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a letter to the Abbe Morellet in 1779, Benjamin Franklin mused that the strategic location of the elbow is proof that God desires us to drink wine. After all, had God placed the elbow lower on the arm, our wine glass would never make it all the way to our mouths. Had the elbow been placed higher, our glass would shoot straight past our lips. </p>
<p>“From the actual situation of the elbow,” Franklin <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Fireside-book-wine-anthology/dp/0671224662">wrote</a>, “we are enabled to drink at our ease, the glass going directly to the mouth. Let us, then, with glass in hand adore this benevolent wisdom; – let us adore and drink!” </p>
<p>Franklin’s contention was offered as lighthearted fun. But it does remind us that wine, more than other beverage, is intimately connected to celebration and worship.</p>
<h2>Wine and religion: ageless companions</h2>
<p>The Egyptians, for example, associated several gods with wine as early as 4,000 BCE. Hathor, the Egyptians’ patron god of wine, was duly honored on a monthly “Day of Intoxication.” </p>
<p>Similarly, the Greeks hailed Dionysus as the giver of all good gifts and identified him as the patron of wine. Dionysus was said to offer ecstasy and spiritual vision to his devotees. The Romans, meanwhile, believed that wine was bestowed upon the human race by Jupiter, the great god of air, light, and heat. </p>
<p>Nearly all Roman religious festivals coincided with important phases of the grape-growing and wine-producing agricultural cycle. Asian cultures, too, associate wine with the spiritual, as seen in the large casks of sake located at Japanese Shinto shrines and the placement of wine on the ceremonial altars honoring the Chinese god of prosperity.</p>
<p>The “cult of wine” has permeated both Judaism and Christianity since ancient times. In ancient Mediterranean culture, wine wasn’t a luxury – <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dionysus-Social-History-Wine-Vine/dp/B001U8ZPPQ">it was a staple of life</a>, drunk by people of all classes and all ages. For this reason, it’s no surprise that Hebrew scripture depicts wine as a sign of God’s blessing (Genesis 27:28, Deuteronomy 7:13, Amos 9:24). </p>
<p>The Christian New Testament reports that Jesus’ first public miracle occurred at the wedding at Cana, where he turned water into wine. The Christian sacrament of communion illustrates how fully the subtle pleasures of wine drinking became associated with the spiritual urge to find both union with God and fellowship in a community of love. For centuries, Catholic priests preserved and propagated the skills of winemaking as they supplied sacramental wine to worshipers in the Old and New Worlds.</p>
<h2>One nation, under God – with wine for all</h2>
<p>The intimate association of wine and religion carried over to the American colonies. The Pilgrims began making wine <a href="http://www.amazon.com/History-Wine-America-Volume-Prohibition/dp/0520254309">shortly after they landed at Plymouth</a> and used their wine to celebrate the first Thanksgiving in 1623. <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Early_History_of_Wine_Production_in_Cali.html?id=g6FEAAAAIAAJ">In 1697</a>, Father Juan Ugarte led a small group of Jesuit priests from Mexico into the Baja region of California, where they immediately planted grapes to supply the mission with a reliable source of wine for celebrating Communion and to supplement the priests’ otherwise meager meals. New missions were eventually built in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco – which, together, resulted in California becoming the wine-producing nucleus of the nation.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67964/original/image-20141222-31551-1nlmw1n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wine, Benjamin Franklin wrote, is ‘proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Franklin.PNG">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The religious settlers of America’s Midwest were no less interested in sharing wine as a way of forging community. The German Protestants who settled in Missouri, as well as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Amana-Winemaker-George-Kraus/dp/0941016153">those who founded Iowa’s Amana Colonies</a>, discovered that drinking wine provided a sense of camaraderie and festivity that bonded them together in Christian community. Meanwhile – in what may come as a surprise to readers – during its early years, when congregations existed in places like Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Wine-Cultural-History-Drinking/dp/0870499114/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419283581&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+fuller+wine+and+religion">found that drinking wine produced altered moods conducive to religious fervor</a>. </p>
<h2>Nectar of the gods or ‘cup of devils’?</h2>
<p>It’s no wonder, then, that the “wine question” was a point of debate among temperance advocates who pushed for the total prohibition of alcohol. </p>
<p>There were many social and cultural reasons for Prohibition, like concerns about economic efficiency, protecting women and children from alcoholic men, and safeguarding the nation’s Protestant heritage from Irish Catholic immigrants. </p>
<p>Still, lawmakers ensured that the “Medicine of Life to the Nations” would be protected. The passage of the Volstead Act that enforced Prohibition in the United States from 1920 until its repeal in 1933 was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alcoholic-Republic-American-Tradition/dp/0195029909/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419283633&sr=1-1&keywords=the+alcoholic+republic">politically possible only by making provisions</a> for the continued production of wine for both Christian and Jewish congregations. </p>
<p>Interestingly, in their zeal to promote Prohibition, many conservative Protestants <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Problem-All-Ages/dp/1290474095/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419283673&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=the+liquor+problem+in+all+agese">argued that scriptural references to wine had mistranslated original texts</a>: they claimed that scripture had intended to refer to simple, unfermented grape juice. While virtually no serious scholars support this view, it does remind us that many Christians find the consumption of alcohol to be a vice and substitute grape juice for wine in their religious services.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67962/original/image-20141222-31229-cjllz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To the Welches, wine was ‘the cup of devils.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Bramwell_Welch.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thomas Welch, a Methodist minister turned dentist, was so strident in his opposition to alcohol that he perfected a process for removing the alcohol-producing yeast from grape juice. <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/Welchs-Grape-Juice-Chazanof-William-Syracuse/8496998113/bd">As his son, Charles, reflected</a>, the Welch Company “was born in 1869 out of a passion to serve God by helping His Church to give its communion the ‘fruit of the vine,’ instead of the ‘cup of devils.’”</p>
<p>But Benjamin Franklin would have likely disagreed with Thomas Welch. Wine, Franklin wrote, is “proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.”</p>
<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s running series on wine.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Fuller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a letter to the Abbe Morellet in 1779, Benjamin Franklin mused that the strategic location of the elbow is proof that God desires us to drink wine. After all, had God placed the elbow lower on the arm…Robert Fuller, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Bradley UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/331672014-11-05T11:15:15Z2014-11-05T11:15:15ZWhy are we meeting the Mormons?<p>In October the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released its new documentary <a href="http://meetthemormons.com/#/filter-all/page-1">Meet the Mormons</a> to wide theatrical distribution. The film depicts the lives of six individuals – two women and four men – whose career and family choices reflect lives grounded in Christian belief, strong families, and humanitarian action. </p>
<p>The film was met with some curiosity by non-LDS observers, and great excitement by members of the church. To both groups, it signaled the arrival of a Mormon public relations campaign packaged for broad, public consumption.</p>
<h2>A history of public engagement</h2>
<p>Meet the Mormons should be seen as a natural outgrowth of the Church’s past efforts to showcase Mormonism through personal stories. One needs only to look back at the <a href="https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/homefronts?lang=eng">“Homefront”</a> television advertisements of the 1970s and 80s, and the more recent <a href="http://www.mormon.org/blog/family-isnt-it-about-time">“Family: Isn’t it About Time?”</a> spots to recognize a consistent theme: the church emphasizes feel-good family values, universal faith, and Christian service, while downplaying or omitting any unusual doctrines and practices. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63637/original/fnsdcqfv-1415118680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair offered an audience for the LDS Church’s early public relations efforts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ferris-wheel.jpg">New York Times Photo Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, the LDS Church has had more than 100 years to refine its razor-sharp public relations skills. Since <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exhibiting-Mormonism-Latter-day-Chicago-Religion/dp/0195384032">appearing</a> at the Chicago World’s Fair and international exhibitions in the late 19th Century, the church has aimed to balance two competing impulses: how to display a picture of Mormonism that is both mainstream and non-threatening, but also exceptional and peculiar in its beliefs. </p>
<p>Meet the Mormons, which has <a href="http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Meet-the-Mormons#tab=box-office">grossed</a> nearly $5.4 million and has been shown in 317 theaters, is one of the church’s most extensive public outreach efforts to date.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4JqPTEL13IY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The official trailer for Meet the Mormons.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Responding to negative press?</h2>
<p>Like much of the church’s past media efforts, Meet the Mormons might be aimed at addressing legitimate issues regarding the Church’s conflicted history of racism. See, for example, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-genesis-of-a-churchs-stand-on-race/2012/02/22/gIQAQZXyfR_story.html">2012 firestorm</a> over BYU religion professor Randy Bott’s use of racist doctrines to justify the Church’s pre-1978 priesthood exclusion for black males. </p>
<p>The widespread media attention that “Bottgate” received in the months during Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign – and the Church’s <a href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/racial-remarks-in-washington-post-article">firm response</a> to it – now provides an interesting correlation in the planning and pre-production of Meet the Mormons.</p>
<p>There is no question that the six individuals were consciously chosen to portray a picture of Mormonism that is racially diverse. Four of the six subjects are people of color, and a fifth is the mother of a biracial child. They include an African-American bishop, a Samoan-American football coach, a Costa Rican female kickboxer who balances ambition with maternal responsibilities, and a Nepalese engineer and humanitarian. At the end of the film, the narrator reminds the audience that “Mormons come in all sizes, shapes, and colors.” </p>
<p>The film certainly strives to downplay the history and context of controversial elements of Mormonism – like its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/racism-and-the-mormon-church.html">history of discrimination</a> – and replace it with a forward-facing Mormonism that is racially and culturally inclusive. In some ways, Meet the Mormons appears to be moving the Church’s message forward for both Mormons and non-Mormons alike, showing how the Church is working out its internal transitions and doing so in front of a global audience. </p>
<h2>Meet the Baptists</h2>
<p>In obvious ways, Meet the Mormons is about Mormonism. But this film is also about what is happening to traditional religions in an <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/1741931-155/percent-christian-kinnaman-church-churchless-god">increasingly secularized world</a>. All religions – Mormonism included – share a concern about their ability to attract new members, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/commentary-if-millennials-leave-religion-then-what/2014/04/21/5c6619d0-c98b-11e3-b81a-6fff56bc591e_story.html">a declining interest among Millennials</a>, and some understandable embarrassment about historical problems, odd practices, and past messages of exclusivity. </p>
<p>The LDS Church is not unique in its PR efforts. The Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, produces <a href="http://sherwoodpictures.com/">films</a> – like Facing the Giants and Flywheel – that also seek to positively portray the church. Even the Mormons’ own <a href="http://www.mormonchannel.org/Im-a-mormon">“I’m a Mormon” campaign</a> has already been noted for similarities to the “I am a Scientologist” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clBtEd631i0">campaign</a>, which featured individuals speaking in 40-to-50-second spots, using a familiar script: “My name is <em>____</em>. I’m a <em>____</em>. And I am a Scientologist.” Other projects like “Why I’m an Episcopalian” and “Inspired by Muhammed” have followed <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/51074977-80/church-says-faith-members.html.csp">similar patterns</a>.</p>
<h2>Propaganda or push back?</h2>
<p>So what are the larger effects of this project? Some see this as a harmless feel-good film meant to normalize observers’ perceptions of a <a href="https://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/01/news-of-the-church/church-growing-in-more-than-160-countries?lang=eng">global</a>, but perpetually misunderstood religion. Others have pegged this as part of a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/movies/meet-the-mormons-explores-stereotypes-about-a-religion.html?_r=1">subtle evangelizing campaign</a>, with an eye toward gaining sympathetic followers (while the film avoids any deep theological discussions, it still gives appealing nods to Mormon scripture, family values, a healthy lifestyle, the importance of missionary work, and Sunday worship practices). Still others mark the film as a <a href="http://rogersmovienation.com/2014/10/07/movie-review-meet-the-mormons/">concerted propaganda effort</a> aimed at recovering the Church’s bruised public image from a sometimes troubled past of racism, sexism, and insularity. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63641/original/brq6q9kq-1415119585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1241&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An anti-Mormon cartoon from the late 1800s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Anti-MormonCartoon.jpg">Charles W. Carter Collection</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet bigotry and exclusivity are not unique to Mormonism. There is an underlying antagonism that the Church has long endured from both the right and the left – and by critics who have been plagued by their own issues of racism and religious intolerance. For all the contradictions in Mormon ideology and the religion’s checkered past, there’s the claim that some of the religion’s most virulent critics were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/opinion/anti-mormonism-past-and-present.html?_r=0">sexist and racist themselves</a>. </p>
<p>The LDS Church has long ago learned the strategy of being defensive without being offensive, of pushing back against generic anti-Mormonism with appealing snapshots of the best that Mormonism has to offer. Meet the Mormons and its website are a technologically sophisticated example of a long-standing campaign, but for a 21st century audience. </p>
<p>Whether these positive portrayals and inspiring stories of a group of diverse Mormons will help mute the contradictions of Mormonism remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Radke-Moss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In October the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released its new documentary Meet the Mormons to wide theatrical distribution. The film depicts the lives of six individuals – two women and four…Andrea Radke-Moss, Professor of History, Brigham Young University-IdahoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/325412014-11-05T11:10:45Z2014-11-05T11:10:45ZIs your religion ready to meet ET?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61446/original/35p9v35b-1412987953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Square away your personal philosophy now; proof of life beyond earth is coming.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-117721720/photo-ancient-observatory-kokino-macedonia.html?src=lb-29877982">Stargazing image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How will humankind react after astronomers hand over rock-solid scientific evidence for the existence of life beyond the Earth? No more speculating. No more wondering. The moment scientists announce this discovery, everything will change. Not least of all, our philosophies and religions will need to incorporate the new information.</p>
<h2>Searching for signs of life</h2>
<p>Astronomers have now identified <a href="http://exoplanet.eu/">thousands of planets in orbit around other stars</a>. At the current rate of discovery, millions more will be found this century.</p>
<p>Having already found the physical planets, astronomers are now searching for our biological neighbors. Over the next fifty years, they will begin the tantalizing, detailed study of millions of planets, looking for evidence of the presence of life on or below the surfaces or in the atmospheres of those planets. </p>
<p>And it’s very likely that astronomers will find it. Despite the fact that more than one-third of Americans surveyed believe that <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0628/More-than-one-third-of-Americans-believe-aliens-have-visited-earth">aliens have already visited Earth</a>, the first evidence of life beyond our planet probably won’t be radio signals, little green men or flying saucers. Instead, a 21st century Galileo, using an enormous, 50-meter-diameter telescope, will collect light from the atmospheres of distant planets, looking for the signatures of biologically significant molecules.</p>
<p>Astronomers filter that light from far away through spectrometers – high-tech prisms that tease the light apart into its many distinct wavelengths. They’re looking for the telltale fingerprints of molecules that would not exist in abundance in these atmospheres in the absence of living things. The spectroscopic data will tell whether a planet’s environment has been altered in ways that point to biological processes at work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61450/original/6gh8mvc4-1412989314.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What is our place in the universe?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-186568286/photo-closeup-portrait-young-blonde-woman-dreaming-thinking-about-future-life-on-other-planets.html?src=lb-29877982">Woman image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If we aren’t alone, who are we?</h2>
<p>With the discovery in a distant planet’s light spectrum of a chemical that could only be produced by living creatures, humankind will have the opportunity to read a new page in the book of knowledge. We will no longer be speculating about whether other beings exist in the universe. We will know that we not alone. </p>
<p>An affirmative answer to the question “Does life exist anywhere else in the universe beyond Earth?” would raise immediate and profoundly important cosmotheological questions about our place in the universe. If extraterrestrial others exist, then my religion and my religious beliefs and practices might not be universal. If my religion is not universally applicable to all extraterrestrial others, perhaps my religion need not be offered to, let alone forced on, all <em>terrestrial</em> others. Ultimately, we might learn some important lessons applicable here at home just from considering the possibility of life beyond our planet.</p>
<p>In my <a href="http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/religious+studies/book/978-3-319-05055-3">book</a>, I investigated the sacred writings of the world’s most widely practiced religions, asking what each religion has to say about the uniqueness or non-uniqueness of life on Earth, and how, or if, a particular religion would work on other planets in distant parts of the universe.</p>
<h2>Extrasolar sinners?</h2>
<p>Let’s examine a seemingly simple yet exceedingly complex theological question: could extraterrestrials be Christians? If Jesus died in order to redeem humanity from the state of sin into which humans are born, does the death and resurrection of Jesus, on Earth, also redeem other sentient beings from a similar state of sin? If so, why are the extraterrestrials sinful? Is sin built into the very fabric of the space and time of the universe? Or can life exist in parts of the universe without being in a state of sin and therefore without the need of redemption and thus without the need for Christianity? Many different solutions to these puzzles involving Christian theology have been put forward. None of them yet satisfy all Christians.</p>
<h2>Mormon worlds</h2>
<p>Mormon scripture clearly teaches that other inhabited worlds exist and that “the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (Doctrines and Covenants 76:24). The Earth, however, is a favored world in Mormonism, because Jesus, as understood by Mormons, lived and was resurrected only on Earth. In addition, Mormon so-called intelligences can only achieve their own spiritual goals during their lives on Earth, not during lifetimes on other worlds. Thus, for Mormons, the Earth might not be the physical center of the universe but it is the most favored place in the universe. Such a view implies that all other worlds are, somehow, lesser worlds than Earth.</p>
<h2>Bahá’í without bias</h2>
<p>Members of the Bahá’í Faith have a view of the universe that has no bias for or against the Earth as a special place or for against humans as a special sentient species. The principles of the Bahá’í Faith – unifying society, abandoning prejudice, equalizing opportunities for all people, eliminating poverty – are about humans on Earth. The Bahá’í faithful would expect any creatures anywhere in the universe to worship the same God as do humans, but to do so according to their own, world-specific ways.</p>
<h2>Light years from Mecca</h2>
<p>The pillars of the faith for Muslims require the faithful to pray five times every day while facing Mecca. Because determining the direction of Mecca correctly could be extremely difficult on a quickly spinning planet millions of light years from Earth, practicing the same faith on another world might not make any sense. Yet the words of the Qu'ran tell us that “Whatever beings there are in the heavens and the earth do prostrate themselves to Allah” (13:15). Can terrestrial Muslims accept that the prophetically revealed religion of Muhammad is intended only for humans on earth and that other worlds would have their own prophets?</p>
<h2>Astronomers as paradigm-shatterers</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1207&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1207&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63659/original/r89spnwr-1415137492.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1207&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philosophers and scientists have forced worldviews to adapt in the past.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At certain moments throughout history, astronomers’ discoveries have exerted an outsized influence on human culture. Ancient Greek astronomers unflattened the Earth – though many then chose to forget this knowledge. Renaissance scholars Copernicus and Galileo put the Earth in motion around the Sun and moved humans away from the center of the universe. In the 20th century, Edwin Hubble eliminated the very idea that the universe has any center at all. He demonstrated that what the universe has is a beginning in time and that, bizarrely, the universe, the very fabric of three-dimensional space, is expanding. </p>
<p>Clearly, when astronomers offer the world bold new ideas, they don’t mess around. Another such paradigm-shattering new idea may be in the light arriving at our telescopes now. </p>
<p>No matter which (a)theistic background informs your theology, you may have to wrestle with the data astronomers will be bringing to houses of worship in the very near future. You will need to ask: Is my God the God of the entire universe? Is my religion a terrestrial or a universal religion? As people work to reconcile the discovery of extrasolar life with their theological and philosophical worldviews, adapting to the news of life beyond Earth will be discomfiting and perhaps even disruptive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Weintraub does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets and the hunt is on for life beyond Earth. Once biological neighbors are identified, our planet’s philosophies and religions will need to adapt.David Weintraub, Professor of Astronomy, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/328482014-10-24T09:45:26Z2014-10-24T09:45:26ZMesa’s ‘most conservative’ title is puzzling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61857/original/zzr3b74p-1413385151.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does this look like a conservative city to you? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Downtown_Mesa_Arizona.jpg">Ixnayonthetimmay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mesa, Arizona: a place with wide streets and narrow minds. Or so goes a once popular saying about this traditionally laid-back, conservative community that came into official existence in 1883 as a Mormon town of 300 people. The wide streets came straight from a plan designed by church leader Joseph Smith for Mormon settlements. No accounting for the narrow minds.</p>
<p>Now a booming city of <a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/04/0446000.html">450,000 residents</a> – only 13% of whom are Mormons – located within commuting distance of Phoenix, Mesa is still widely regarded as a conservative stronghold, especially in state and national elections. A recent finding that it is the most conservative big city in the US, however, is a bit more startling and a bit misleading.</p>
<h2>What does ‘most conservative’ mean?</h2>
<p>Mesa’s “most conservative” label is found in <a href="http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/88528#files-area">a recent study</a> by two political scientists, Chris Tausanovitch of UCLA and Christopher Warshaw of MIT, who examined the policy preferences of people in 51 cities with populations larger than 250,000 and explored how they matched up with a range of policies actually pursued by their municipal governments. </p>
<p>Their central finding was that, contrary to some studies, municipal governments are responsive to the ideological positions of their citizens. They concluded, for example, that municipalities with the most liberal populations spend more and tax more on a per capita basis (in the process of providing more services) than municipalities with more conservative populations. </p>
<p>Mesa easily outdistanced Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the most conservative municipality. But those familiar with the city are likely to come away from this study somewhat concerned about the impression it leaves as well as by what it does not say. </p>
<h2>The Mesa story</h2>
<p>Over the past several years, Mesa has in fact been led by a set of relatively moderate Republicans who, in the effort to bring life to the growing but somewhat sleepy bedroom community, have often been doing many of the same things implemented by Democratic mayors and council people in their more liberal leaning cities. </p>
<p>Mesa has become a big city and has acquired big city problems. Leaders have sought to revitalize the downtown area, combat sprawl (which is a particularly severe problem in Mesa), encourage use of light rail and attract new job-creating businesses. They also have worked to overcome Mesa’s image as a really boring place to live. </p>
<p>Conservatism may be evident in several policy areas, but much of what has been happening in Mesa has not been well received by people on the far right. They are not happy with the increased spending and debt. Nor do they approve of planning strategies that place an emphasis on increasing population densities.</p>
<h2>Making change happen</h2>
<p>Scott Smith, Mesa Mayor from 2009 to 2014 provided much of the momentum for change. Smith, one of several Mormon leaders in the community, shunned ideology and took a pragmatic approach to the city’s problems, trying to build a culture of innovation. He rolled out several high-profile developmental programs. Smith had the backing of other council members, groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, and a city staff that, as Smith saw it, did not just think outside the box but threw the box away. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62551/original/fnkppxym-1414001499.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">That’s Mesa in red.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2014 City manager Chris Brady was the recipient of a prestigious award from the Arizona City/County Management Association. In their <a href="http://www.azmanagement.org/pages/newsletters/azmgmt/2014/0214/index.cfm?a=brady">citation</a> the judges highlighted not only the extension of the light rail but also the recruitment of five liberal arts colleges and the building of spring training facilities for the Chicago Cubs. </p>
<p>Scott Smith, however, lost out in his bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2014. He came in second in a contest where he stood out as by far the most moderate of several candidates, too moderate win the nomination in the view of political observers. </p>
<p>Most citizens, for their part, have been more than willing to help out by approving bonds for carefully chosen infrastructure projects. Mesa voters have also regularly approved proposals that the city be given the home rule option to spend beyond the limits imposed by the state. </p>
<p>In 2006, Mesa voters rejected a measure suggested by the city council for a primary property tax to provide revenue for the municipality’s general operations. At the same election, however, they approved the council’s recommendation for an increase in the local sales tax rate from 1.5 to 1.75 percent. More recently, there has been some sentiment expressed in public forums for cutting the sales tax and turning to a less regressive property tax in an effort to secure a more stable revenue stream. </p>
<h2>A city in transition</h2>
<p>The MIT/UCLA study compares cities on a set of specific policies. In this context, Mesa comes off as the most conservative big city in the nation.</p>
<p>Looking at the city over time, however, it seems fair to say that as the city has grown it has actually become less ideological (in this case less conservative) and more pragmatic. It has acquired many of the problems and policies found in big cities with more liberal populations and political leaders. </p>
<p>Mesa is still a Republican city, as it has long been, but moderate Republicans have replaced conservative ones in leadership roles. Who knows, with more growth and diversity and a more mobilized Hispanic population, it might even become more open to the Democratic Party.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David R. Berman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mesa, Arizona: a place with wide streets and narrow minds. Or so goes a once popular saying about this traditionally laid-back, conservative community that came into official existence in 1883 as a Mormon…David R. Berman, Senior Research Fellow Morrison Institute For Public Policy, Professor Emeritus of Political Science , Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.