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March 22, 2005
Changes in Mormon Attitudes Towards Evolution
Yesterday an article by razib on Gene Expression discussed Mormons and their changing views towards evolution. Being a former Mormon myself, I found it quite interesting.
Ronald L. Numbers in The Creationists recounts that 'In 1935 only 36 percent of the students at the Mormon's Brighman Young University denied that humans have been "created in a process of evolution from lower forms." By 1973 the figure had risen sharply to 81....' The results at BYU might be due to decreased sample biasing as the student body increased in size, but, I think there is a real sociological process going on here: between 1930 and 1970 Mormons became, more or less, part of the American mainstream.1 And, to some extent they identified sociologically with conservative Protestants, who have been at the forefront of the "War against Evolution" since the rise of Darwinism in the United States.
This brings up an interesting point. Mormons may now identify sociologically with conservative Protestants, but this was not always the case. At the beginning, Mormonism was very different from Christianity and proud of the fact. It had kind of a “frontier” feel, and was all about adopting doctrines that made more sense to the spirit of American individuality. (For instance, the doctrine that gods were once men and men can become gods, the rejection of the classical concept of the Trinity as “not making sense,” etc.) Over the years Mormonism has become more of a mainstream religion in order to get along with the world. This might explain why Mormons were once more accepting of evolution than they are now, wheras the attitudes of other Christians has not changed much over the years.
I think the attitude toward evolution among the Mormon laity is a reflection of sociological forces buffetting them in the sea of American culture in which their peculiar beliefs have no great impact. Many of my classmates in high school were Mormon, and when I discussed evolutionary theory with them I would generally encounter less hostility than from my evangelical peers, but overall they were "unbelievers." But, when I pressed them for theological or doctrinal justification for their position they could not produce anything, in contrast with evangelicals who often encountered Creationists literature at their church and so were ready with prefab talking points intelligible in their literalist worldview. My Mormon friends often ended up somewhat confused as to why they rejected evolutionary theory in the context of their religion, but I think the reality that my inquiries were exposing was that the Latter Day Saints are far more affected by the zeitgeist than they themselves are aware of.This is I think part of a greater process of the canalization of various religious sects and denominations into a few broad rivers of practice and outlook in the United States. Because most Mormons have placed themselves within the "religious conservative" camp they have absorbed some talking points reflexively without further reflection as to whether it is truly in keeping with their explicitly stated religious beliefs. Over time I would not be surprised if the Creationist bent of the some of the laity percolates upward toward the Church Hierarchy (generally drawn from successful businessmen)
I do think, however, that the author shows some misunderstanding of these points.
In my experience many Mormons seem to live with the contradictory opinions that they are really Christians and people who claim that they aren’t don’t really understand that the differences between Mormons and the rest of Christianity are not all that great; but on the other hand believe that they are the only ones who really even come close to understanding the truth. Obviously the latter opinion is not at all unique among religious people, but combined with the former it creates this sort of a “I’m not going to let you into my club, but you’re mean for not letting me into your club” attitude. There certainly are more liberal-minded Mormons (in the classical sense of the word) who apply critical thinking and consideration to ideas outside of their religion (my family was like that.) However, I think while your typical Mormon may seem to the outside world to be similar to other Christians, they are not jumping on the cultural bandwagon because they simply see their ideas as superior. The fact that his Mormon friends couldn't come up with much justification of their opinions reflects this unwillingness to consider anything beyond what they are told at church.
In fact, typically I think changes come from the top down, as the church leadership tries to make itself more acceptable to the mainstream culture in order to attract members. The rejection of polygamy and inclusion of blacks in the priesthood reflect this. It’s true that there were plenty “regular” Mormons were in favor of these changes, but the main source of change came from the top. Observe, for instance, that typical Mormons view themselves as being quite set apart from the rest of the Christian world in doctrine (and indeed are), but if you ever see any of those Mormon commercials, they are very much about appealing to the religious mainstream.
Of course this is all the opinion of someone who hasn’t been particularly connected to Mormonism for the past seven years. (I'm sure my brother or Dad will be emailing me.) As my family often tells me, I don’t “really know what’s going on” anymore, plus I was young when absorbing all this. On the other hand, some distance from an issue provides some insight, and I do think that my youthful experiences are especially useful for absorbing the culture, which is what we’re really talking about here.
Posted by illuminaria at March 22, 2005 04:03 PM