Course Description:
The aim of this course is to gain an understanding of how religion influences public policy in the United States. We will do this by investigating the case of Mormonism and its role in public policy in the United States. For the purpose of this course, the terms Mormon and LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) will be used interchangeably, as they are used interchangeably by members of that church. I chose this religion to focus on instead of faiths with greater numbers of adherents and political influence in the United States, like Evangelical Christianity or Catholicism, for a number of reasons. Among them is that it is easy to decide who counts as Mormon due to the orthodoxy of the religion that leaves little room for the gray areas that exist in the Bible Belt. Additionally, there is a strong concentration of LDS members in the intermountain west region of the United States. This makes it easier to specifically attribute certain policies to the influence of Mormonism as opposed to political or other influences. This makes it a strong first foray into public policy analysis with respect to religion in the U.S. In order to fully analyze this, we will approach Mormonism and government policies that were affected by it through a historical, philosophical, and religious studies approach with the aim of understanding how public policy is influenced by the “elephant in the room” of our personal beliefs and worldview so that we might be more effective in creating empathetic policy.
Week 1: Religion and Public Policy in General and Why Mormonism?
Readings:
LDS Church Official Statement on Political Neutrality
This is the LDS Church’s official policy on political neutrality. It stipulates that the Church is and will remain politically neutral. Whether this was actually the case historically and whether this continues to be the case is up for discussion.
Doctrine and Covenants Section 134
This is the section of LDS scripture that offers an explanation of what the role of the State ought to be according to the LDS Church. It offers additional insight into the political stances or lack thereof of the Church.
Pew Forum Conversation on Mormons and Civic Life
This transcript touches on multiple areas and offers a solid background on Church jargon and culture. It also looks into what members tend to value and the unique place members occupy in the U.S.
Week 2: Background
The documentary offers a really strong background on Mormonism past and present. The first part offers a comprehensive exploration of Church history and the second part looks at the place Mormonism occupies in the modern world. Together they paint a picture of where Mormonism was and where it is and where it is going.
This book offers a comprehensive background on the relationship between Mormonism and policy in the U.S. throughout its history, starting with when Joseph Smith tried to run for President and ending with the 2012 Presidential election. Read Sections I and II, as they provide crucial background for our discussion.
Week 3: Case Study – Polygamy in the 19th Century/Background Cont’d
This book is a relatively quick read that offers additional background on Mormon history and also comprehensively explores issues of Polygamy in Mormonism. It will serve as a main jumping off point for this week.
Reynolds v. United States (1878)
Above are the Supreme Court opinions for this test case. It is important to consider the arguments given here in the context of the historical framework and the evidence for the idea that Mormonism was seen as a threat to how the majority of the people in power in the US saw the nation, as a Protestant one. How did this influence policy in Utah and the country as a whole?
Polygamist, Under Scrutiny in Utah, Plans Suit to Challenge Law
‘Sister Wives’ Case Goes To Court: Everything You Need To Know About The ‘Historic’ Polygamy Ruling
The above two articles address an attempted challenge to the ruling in Reynolds v. United States (1878) in the 21st Century by modern polygamists.
Week 4: Case Study – The Equal Rights Amendment
The Need for the Equal Rights Amendment
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s article for the American Bar Association Journal offers arguments for the importance of the ERA.
Historical Misunderstandings and the Defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment
This article offers a solid background of what happened with the ERA and what is generally accepted as the historical narrative for why it failed to become ratified.
Map of States that Failed to Ratify the ERA
The above map and article challenge the conventional wisdom that prevails today (Goyette, Kyle T., Southern Discomfort: The Equal Rights Amendment, the new right, and the southernization of American Politics, 2014) that the American South is responsible for the failure of the ERA to pass and that the amendment’s fate was “ultimately decided in the South.” Instead, let us consider that if the amendment were ratified by Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, all states where a significant portion of the population is LDS, the ERA would be part of the U.S. Constitution. This is not insignificant.
The LDS Church’s Campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment
This is a long one, but it discusses specific actions by the institutional LDS Church that were intended to prevent the ratification of the ERA and is therefore important to read.
Week 5: Proposition 8
Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage
The Mormon Money Behind Proposition 8
These two articles from The Atlantic and The New York Times both illustrate institutional LDS Church involvement in the passage of Prop. 8 in California.
This is the opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of Prop. 8. Consider the argumentation given by the majority and minority opinions.
Week 6: Case Study – The 2012 Presidential Election
Read section III for this week, which goes into detail about the 2012 Presidential election, but also George Romney’s (Mitt’s father) run for President. We will compare the two races and how they differed and/or were similar.
The Stained Glass Ceiling: Social Contact and Mitt Romney’s “Religion Problem”
This article explores the extent to which hesitancy from outsiders about Mormonism affected the 2012 presidential election.
The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election (2013)
This short book by John Sides explores the effect of Romney’s religion in it alongside other factors. It does draw a comparison to the Nixon v. JFK election that is interesting to explore.
This article is a bonus because I have yet to gain access to it. It argues that there exists a paradox that Romney was able to run for President both because of his LDS faith and in spite of it.
Week 7: Case Study – The 2016 Presidential Election
Demography, Identity and the 2016 Presidential Election
U.S. religious groups and their political leanings
These pieces looks offer a demographic survey of the 2016 electorate. This includes Mormons, but it is also worth looking at more broadly to understand the where Mormons fit in the 2016 electorate.
Utah’s Top Mormons in ‘All-Out Revolt’ Against Donald Trump
There is a disruption from the norm in the disfavoring of the Republican candidate by Mormons, a very historically reliable voting block for the Republican party.
Why Donald Trump could lose red Utah: Mormon America has found another candidate
This article explores an interesting development in the 2016 Presidential race in the intermountain west where Evan McMullin is rising in popularity as a candidate.
Week 8: Case Study – October 2016 Release of Tapes
Leaked Videos Pull Back Curtain on Mormon Leadership
Videos were leaked demonstrating LDS Church involvement in the politics of a Senator from Oregon, Gordon Smith. This article analyzes the effects of the release.
Watch them.
LDS Church responds to leaked videos of briefings for Mormon apostles
This is the official LDS Church response to the leak.
