Do Mormons Hate Questions?

Joseph Smith had a question. He studied it out. He talked to people. Eventually he asked God. He got an answer and started the Church. That’s the story I’ve been taught since Primary. 

So why are questions so often shut down in the Church?

Just the other day I was at an activity for the 8-11 year old girls and saw the girls’ questions get shut down repeatedly. I am a co-leader of this group and the other co-lead planned the activity that night. We were going to the construction site where a temple is currently being built so we could learn about the construction from the on-site senior missionaries. On the way there, I drove as my co-lead talked to the girls about the purposes of the temple.

I realize it was slightly unrelated to what the leader was saying, but a girl asked, “How did Adam and Eve know what to do since they were the first people? How did they figure out how to do anything?”

My own daughter has asked me similar questions and we’ve had big conversations about various beliefs about Adam and Eve (e.g., some people believe the story is an allegory, some people believe the story is exactly as told, some people believe there were already humans but they were more like animals and Adam and Eve were the first to have human-like emotions/brains) and I’ve given my daughter time to reflect on what these various ideas could mean to answer her questions.

The co-leader just said something like, “We don’t know that. But maybe we’ll learn someday after we die.” 

Maybe she didn’t want to get into it. Maybe she felt that it was off topic. Or maybe she has been taught to shut down questions like that and then instinctively did the same thing with this girl.

We got to the temple and the senior couple was telling us about the construction. One of the girls asked “Why aren’t there Angel Moroni’s on the temples anymore?” One of the missionaries said, “In 2019 they stopped putting Moroni on the top of the temple. That was the same year they changed the logo of the church from Moroni to Christus. I invite you to go home and ask Heavenly Father why they made that change.” 

I like the idea to invite prayer, but aren’t we allowed to have any discussions before prayer? Couldn’t the senior missionary have changed the rhetoric slightly to encourage questions? Maybe she could have said, “In 2019 they stopped putting Moroni on the top of the temple. That was the same year they changed the logo of the church from Moroni to Christus. I’m not totally sure all the reasons for this change. What do you think might be some of the reasons?” After a discussion of various possibilities, she could have invited prayer at home. 

I got home from the activity and started thinking about all the times my questions have been met with resistance. The thought occurred to me: I think Mormons hate questions. But aren’t we supposed to like them? What about Joseph Smith’s question? Still, I think Mormons might hate questions.

Am I wrong? 

Picture taken from the church website from an article about asking questions. It seems like we at least say we like questions!

Caveat: I realize I am someone who LOVES questions. As a social science researcher, I am professionally paid to ask hard questions and try to get closer to answers to these questions. Maybe Mormons don’t hate questions any more than most people, but I just happen to associate with a lot of people professionally who value questions so much so it skews my view of the people I associate with at church.