So, I have a small confession. I may have used a little bit of hyperbole in that last post. Maybe our villain Tim wasn’t really as nefarious as I made him out to be. And maybe I wasn’t really such an unassuming victim as I insinuated. And I’m pretty sure that even back then I would never search LDS.org for information about the Prophet’s alcohol use.
The truth is, even though I grew up in an active LDS family, for a good chunk of my teenage years I was a closet atheist. Most of my classmates and friends in high school were incredibly hostile toward the Church, so I was exposed to troubling doctrines and history at an age that I was completely unequipped to handle it. At age 17, after I eventually became “converted,” I had to spend a lot of time reconciling issues like polygamy, polyandry, Egyptology and The Book of Abraham, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, etc.
In reality, for a “Stage 3 Mormon” in his mid-twenties, I was probably uncharacteristically qualified to handle what for reasons we’ll address here is considered troubling information like alcohol use in the early Church. As for Tim, rather than a devious apostate, and like most individuals trying to escape the clutches of Correlated Mormonism, he was probably testing the waters with me, perhaps hoping to find someone (anyone) to whom he could confide.
As such, my somewhat exaggerated telling was intended to illustrate what is a typical experience for many mainstream LDS folks who stumble across troubling information about Church History, doctrinal inconsistencies, or a variety of other factual matters that are incompatible with the romantic version of the Restoration we’re given in Primary, Sunday School, Seminary, and Priesthood/Relief Society. To many LDS, the revelation that Joseph Smith drank booze, or smoked cigars, or had any other [fill in the blank character flaw] can be earth-shaking.
What’s been fascinating for me to discover is that these experiences of painful discovery are actually a thoroughly researched psychological phenomenon called “cognitive dissonance.” Without getting too wonky or bogged down with psycho-babble, cognitive dissonance occurs when new information, facts, ideas, etc. come into conflict with our previously held beliefs/notions/cognitions. This disharmony between opposing cognitions creates an uncomfortable psychological sensation that usually results in nausea, anxiety, and anger.
Because cognitive dissonance causes such great discomfort, from a young age humans actually develop a myriad of defense mechanisms to avoid or quickly remove the anxiety connected to CD. Some disregard the new information, pretending they never heard it, and move on with their original paradigm (that is until the next conflict arises). Some will use false logic, unrealistic qualifiers, and confirmation biases to discredit and reject the new information. For others, the new information has so much power and momentum and is so antithetical to their existing belief structure that the old belief/cognition is shattered by the introduction of the conflicting one. For these people it is easier to just jettison their old beliefs than to endure the CD.
Here is a wonderful video from TED that explains CD and its accompanying coping mechanisms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqONzcNbzh8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Most Mormons who are either raised in the Church, or have been members for an extended period of time become ingrained with a series of false doctrinal and historical expectations, or what psychologists would label “cognitions.” Some of these expectations/cognitions are created by mainstream LDS culture:
- Joseph Smith wasn’t a polygamist
- Joseph Smith is one of the finest human beings that ever lived (save Jesus only)
- Blacks didn’t hold the priesthood before 1978
- The events of The Book of Mormon took place in Central America, and the modern Native Americans are Lamanites
- The early Saints in Missouri were innocent victims of mob violence, and their repeated expulsion from Kirtland, Missouri, and Nauvoo, as well as the martyrdom of Joseph Smith was the work of evil men under Satanic influence, thus standing as a testament to the validity and divinity of this “Marvelous Work and a Wonder.”
- The practice of polygamy in the LDS Church ended in 1890
- The statements and positions advocated by Bruce R McConkie in his book Mormon Doctrine are in fact Mormon Doctrine.
Some of these cognitions are created by the second-hand influence and/or official positions of the LDS Church itself:
- Joseph Smith used the Urim and Thummim, an ancient biblical device, through which he examined the leafs of the Gold Plates and perfectly translated its contents while dictating to a scribe who sat on the other side of a sheet partition.
- “The prophet will never lead the Church astray.”
- Though not infallible, when speaking on behalf of the Lord, the President of the Church is always correct, and his counsel/directives/orders must be followed and obeyed.
- Any criticism or disagreement with the Church or its divinely commissioned leaders constitutes “steadying the ark,” and anyone who does so has embarked on the road to apostasy and must repent or face the wrath of the Eternal God.
- The Priesthood is the Lord’s Government for his Kingdom (aka The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
- New revelation trumps old revelation
- Daily operations of the Church such as the use of tithing funds, the calling of General Authorities, and the global distribution of 19 year-olds is always done with prayer and executed under the direction of the Holy Ghost.
- Any historical facts, information, groups, or individuals that conflict with the current official position of the Church are led by Satan.
In many ways expectations like those listed above contribute to the higher levels of happiness, mental stability, productivity, and familial unity that Mormons are famous for. So, on its face, there isn’t anything wrong with having these cognitions — that is until a conflicting cognition is introduced. What cognitive dissonance research has shown is that our minds are unable to hold two opposing cognitions at the same time without experiencing the distress touched on earlier.
For example, let’s say that I hold the cognition that blacks didn’t hold the priesthood before 1978, and that blacks were “fence sitters” in the pre-existence and/or they are inheritors of the Curse of Cain and Ham. One day I discover that Joseph Smith and others ordained black men to the priesthood, and that Elijah Abel was a black member of the Seventy until his death in 1884. I have now experienced an opposing cognition, and because my cognition on blacks and the priesthood is something I’ve either read from a place like Mormon Doctrine or a quote from Brigham Young, I’m experiencing a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance. I may feel a pit in my stomach. I may feel anxious. Regardless, I have to find a way to get rid of this feeling.
It is at this point that we start to hear Mormons make statements like “that’s the problem with history — we don’t understand the context,” or “we can’t rely on history, because memories fade,” or “I only give things like this 50% relevance, because I wasn’t there, so I don’t know if any of it is true.” Maybe you will hear “Perhaps the Lord told Joseph Smith to ordain a few blacks to test the faith of the Saints,” or “That’s why we have modern revelation to understand which parts of our history is accurate, and which parts aren’t.” These are the Mormons who are able to successfully disregard these new opposing cognitions by developing elaborate strings of deductive reasoning, or whatever other means necessary to justify their original cognition.
Other Mormons aren’t so lucky. Several months ago I listened to a Mormon Stories podcast where a recent resignation letter was read. The author was an active, faithful LDS woman, who while reading an online news article about the FLDS sect and Warren Jeffs came across a reader’s comment who claimed that Joseph Smith, like Warren Jeffs, also had child brides sealed to him.
This righteous sister was repulsed by this blatantly false accusation made against the Prophet of the Restoration, and quickly came to his defense by posting her own comment refuting this claim. She stewed over this blasphemy as she monitored the news article’s comments section, waiting for the perpetrator’s response. Finally it came. The post simply listed several hyperlinks. With hesitation she clicked the first link which contained journal entries from one of Smith’s underage wives. The next provided sealing records of these marriages, and so on. The evidence was right there in front of her.
What becomes especially damaging in these situations is that many of these false cognitions are constructed on top of each other and interconnected, very much like a house of cards. For this woman, many expectations worked in concert to set her up for a painful faith crisis. The most prominent of these cognitions was that she never knew that Smith was a polygamist. She had probably taken institute courses on Church History, never missed a Relief Society lesson from The Teachings Of The Prophet Joseph Smith manual, and may have even read a Joseph Smith biography from Deseret Book. How could she have spent her entire life in the Church and never known this? This then effects another cognition: her reverence for Joseph Smith, his moral character, and the pedestal that he had been placed on in her life. From there the “prophet will never lead the Church astray” comes into question. After that it’s all a ripple effect. Thus, all it took was ten minutes and a few clicks of a mouse for this daughter of God to lose her faith and leave the Church. For her the cognitive dissonance was too much to bear. No amount of logical gymnastics and justification could reconcile the opposing cognitions.
Stories like this are so unfortunate, and increasingly frequent. No doubt this woman was married to a devout priesthood holder and the mother of a gaggle of blue-eyed, pink-faced children. Is she still married? Do her parents still speak with her? How was she treated by her bishop and others in her ward? These stories are tragic not only because they often break apart families and destroy people’s lives, but even more so because they are so unnecessary. Though it is possible to reconcile opposing cognitions by combining them into a singular “hybrid” cognition – ie, “Since prophets CAN make mistakes, even in the name of the Lord, and since Joseph Smith was a divinely appointed yet flawed servant of God, I can overlook his many human weaknesses, even his sealing himself to minor girls” – it is so much easier to not develop the false cognition in the first place.
Ultimately, I think that is what this blog is all about for me. I feel very strongly that we have a serious problem in the Church. I’ll deal with Correlation quite a bit as I go along, but suffice it to say that it is a cancer to our faith. Aside from setting up its unassuming victims for the crises of faith discussed in this post, the greatest crime of Correlation is that as we try to revise and sanitize our history, we in turn dishonor those who sacrificed and died for it.
As I attempt to document my own quest of ridding myself of these false cognitions, my hope is that I can help others to do the same. We don’t need to hide from or be ashamed of our past. It’s what defines who we are and makes us Mormons. We should stand tall and embrace who we are, worts and all, and honor those who did the same before us.
peepstone 