House of Mormom
From what I'm gathering, Mormonism is all about Christ. And more specifically, that he rose again (the second coming) in these here hills. After the death of the founder, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young led followers west to Utah in 1844 or so. Since then, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints (LDS - not to be confused with LSD) has spread around the world. The FLDS (Fundameltalist Latter Day Saints) claim to be the pure ones and cherish the ability to hoard wives.
Our hosts, who admittedly are not experts in the matter, tell us there are said to be tablets and texts hidden hither and yon in the mountains around us. There are modern prophets, who head things up and are the conduit to god - or possibly Jesus. Apparently, he's still talking (not so much to me mind you). There is something of a shroud of mystery around the whole thing as even honest to goodness Mormons cannot fully answer our host's questions on the how's and why's of the faith. They have gleaned, however, that there is much good in the philosophy. Some not so good as well.
Mormon philosophy means you give back- and happily: 10% of income goes to the church. Church, in turn, supports the Scouts, they build parks, playgrounds, trails etc.. And temples. They're everywhere around here. Most impressive, set high in the hills (looking over the realm), and with really big parking lots.
Also interesting, the Bishop has a day job - and can only serve for 5 or so years. No need to go on TV to raise funds. The Bishops, it turns out, carry out a role rather like social workers in the community. Very good - in principle at least.
Back to these other guys - the prophets. I gather there are 6 or so of them currently. They are shrouded in mystery, can read from the tablets in the unknown language and much, much more - but I am not able to comment further - for obvious reasons.
Traditional Mormon values hold that women are expected to raise the children while men to go out and provide. A typical church service lasts 3 hours. After church sermon of an hour or so, men and women are broken into two camps for lessons - and kids into a third - presumably custom-tailored to their specific roles in the community. This makes sense - in this context.
Hard work, chores for children and a general nose to the grindstone ethos are held in high esteem. All good stuff. And no surprise then that Utah is called the Worker Bee state. No surprise either that despite their good will to humanity, the strong work ethic puts them rather firmly in the Republican camp - at least as far as that 47% is concerned.
Oddly, and so far inexplicably, candy is huge here - particularly in Mormonish grocery stores. This is a non-sequitur. I have nothing else to add on this point. Please feel free to read between the lines.
I would be remiss if I weren't to mention the best bit: one of the guys, Joseph or Brigham, wrote the tablets in a language that no one else knew. I'm sure this as a consequence of divine intervention, and it had the fortunate side effect of making him grand pooh-bah as only he knew the word. Or words, in the event there were more than one. I'm not clear on this and the prophets aren't telling.
Discussing all of this internally, it turns out that what does not sit well with the family, is that excess is not tolerated. No coffee, no alcohol etc.. This does not hold for other aspects of life however - wives for example (for the FDLS). And all that hard work seems to provide for pretty fine incomes and leads to the next blog - so stay tuned.
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