Mormonism and culture/Attitude toward non-members

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Criticism

Critics charge that LDS members are taught to look down upon or reject those who are not of their faith.

Response

One former member wrote that the Church

"encourages its followers to ignore or depreciate the lives of all non-believers."

Only following his apostasy did this person

"accept…that all others were as worthy as I am. So…I held myself aloof from the rest of mankind as a result of my Mormon conceit."

— Bob McCue, “The Downside of Mormonism's ‘We Are The Best’ Attitude” post at www.exmormong.org, 24 Oct 2004 10h29.

Conceit this is, but hardly "Mormon." (Indeed, the Book of Mormon condemns in the strongest terms those who adopt such an attitude: Alma 31:16-19, Alma 31:27-35).

Gordon B. Hinckley

Warned President Gordon B. Hinckley:

There is no room for arrogance in our lives. There is no room for conceit in our lives. There is no room for egotism in our lives. We must be humble before the Lord. He has so declared, and if we will do it, He will hear our prayers and answer them with a blessing upon our heads.

— Gordon B. Hinckley, at a meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 4 August 1998, cited in Liahona (Aug. 1999): 14.

Of the specific conceit which the critics claim they are taught, President Hinckley said:

Be respectful of the opinions and feelings of other people. Recognize their virtues; don’t look for their faults. Look for their strengths and their virtues, and you will find strength and virtues that will be helpful in your own life.

— Gordon B. Hinckley, cited in Sheri L. Dew, Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 536, 576.

It’s hard to see how looking for “strengths and…virtues” in non-members to help an LDS member’s own life constitutes ignoring or deprecating all non-believers.

President Hinckley further said:

There is no need in any land for conflict between diverse groups of any kind. Let there be taught in the homes of people that we are all children of God, our Eternal Father, and that as surely as there is fatherhood, there can and must be brotherhood.

— Gordon B. Hinckley, “Four Simple Things to Help Our Families and Our Nations,” Liahona (June 1996): 3.

Members and non-members have the same status before God. This does not support the idea that members are somehow to "hold themselves aloof."

Russel M. Nelson

Elder Russel M. Nelson counseled:

Learn to listen, and listen to learn from neighbors. Repeatedly the Lord has said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour.” (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 19:19.) Opportunities to listen to those of diverse religious or political persuasion can promote tolerance and learning. And a good listener will listen to a person’s sentiments as well...The wise listen to learn from neighbours.

— Russell M. Nelson, “Listen to Learn,” Ensign (May 1991): 22.

M. Russell Ballard

These ideas are echoed:

I encourage you to build personal, meaningful relationships with your nonmember friends and acquaintances…If they are not interested in the gospel, we should show unconditional love through acts of service and kindness, and never imply that we see an acquaintance only as a potential convert…We must not reserve our kindness and affection only for our fellow members. We must be sensitive and not oblivious to the feelings of those whose views may differ from ours. Considering the early history of the Church in these latter days, unkindness or indifference toward others should be abhorrent to members of the Church. I bear my testimony that “God is no respecter of persons”; we should follow his example in all of our associations with our fellowmen.

— M. Russell Ballard, “The Hand of Fellowship,” Ensign (Nov. 1988): 28, emphasis added.

LDS members are not taught to be aloof or indifferent to others.

Conclusion

The attitude attributed by the critics to the Church is an abhorrent one. Critics want to blame the Church for the bigotry which they confess they had. This makes as much sense as blaming the IRS when we cheat on our taxes.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

• Lies_and_self-contradiction
• Marriage
• Wayward_family_members

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide:

External links

• Links to external web pages

Printed material

• Printed resources whose text is not available online