Comments on: Mormon Culture

By: Tara

Tara — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t believe that it’s correct to say “rightly claim” because technically without baptism, you just plain aren’t a member of the church.

However, I do think that if you’re a part of the community, know the customs, attend the meetings, and are fairly ingrained in the lifestyle, you could make the claim that you’re a part of it.

By: Mary Siever

Mary Siever — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well….my siblings who are still members but are fully inactive don’t consider themselves “Mormon”.

By: fMhLisa

fMhLisa — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know if it is inevitable that we’ll get to the point where this kind of identification is as natural for cultural/ethnic Mormons as it is for cultural/ethnic Catholics or Jews. It may be something that comes with age. But I don’t think we’re there yet.

I think most Mormons who identify with the church culturally, but who don’t attend/believe still feel the need to qualify their Mormonness in ways that Catholic/Jewish inactives do not. My sister has been a believeing inactive member for thirty years and calls herself a Jackie Mormon, rather than simply Mormon. And most of my friends/aquantances who no longer attend/believe say they were “raised” Mormon or “I’m Mormon but I don’t go anymore.”

By: Tara

Tara — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My sister who is totally inactive and claims she doesn't want to have anything to do with the church, refuses to have her name removed.

But if you ask her if she's Mormon, she'll say no.

Saying it doesn't make it so or not so.

By: Mary Siever

Mary Siever — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tara

This is how my inactive brothers and sister see it too. They refer to "Mormons", and don't include themselves in the category, although they are all still members.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

One of the players on “Survivor” right now refers to himself as “a gay mormon,” yet he’s never been baptised, according to news reports. His parents apparently were LDS as are other relatives.

By: ltbugaf

ltbugaf — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

While serving my mission in Quebec, I found there was a very strong sense of being “Catholique” that had little to do with whether one went to mass. Saying you were Catholic was like saying you spoke French at home–it was a big part of people’s identity as Quebecois. One of the barriers we had as missionaries was that people believed we were there to make them stop being Quebecois. Considering the history of French Canadians’ struggles not to be crushed or swallowed up by competing cultures, I can see why it’s a sensitive issue.

By: Mary Siever

Mary Siever — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It's the same with Irish Catholics to a large degree.

When did you serve your mission, ltbugaf?

By: ltbugaf

ltbugaf — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was in the Canada Montreal Mission 1986-1987.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In many cases, if you know what the church is all about then it is difficult to say that you are a mormon if you are not active at some level. I feel that the LDS church holds very high expectations of what members should be doing (and rightly so). It seems that it is not as much the case for catholics/jews – I may be wrong. I guess I feel that saying you are a mormon publically is more meaningful in how you live your life than it is for many other religions. Of course there will be exceptions in both camps.