No, It’s Not Just in Utah
I’ve noticed a strange pattern recently. Whenever I post on my socials about a negative childhood church experience, someone always pops into the comments to tell me “that’s just because you lived in Utah.” Fun fact: I grew up in California. I still live in California.
Yes, Utah has a very unique Latter-day Saint culture that often breeds harmful and problematic things. But that doesn’t just happen in Utah! Mormonism isn’t only problematic, orthodox, or weird in Utah. I’m so tired of people trying to give me that excuse, as if something happening in Utah means that we don’t have to take it seriously or be worried about it. This is only a way to move the goal posts so we don’t have to deal with the actual issues church doctrine and culture cause.
I think this knee-jerk reaction to blame a location is another facet of members feeling the need to protect the church. They don’t want people to view the church negatively online, so they try to come up with a quick excuse. But how does saying “oh that’s just in Utah” make that better? Are people really going to join the church because the bad stuff is only in Utah? Utah is literally the heart and soul of the LDS church; what happens there happens everywhere. That’s like saying the heart pumps poison but it’s fine if you’re the stomach.
Even more concerning to me is that members don’t want to face reality. They see a lived experience that’s negative and want to find an excuse to soothe the cognitive dissonance it brings up. Blaming it on a location rather than the real roots of doctrine and culture allows people to pretend that it’s not actually a problem. This frightens me most of all. We’ll never solve the real issues if we just pretend it’s a [insert place] problem.
I’m a born and raised California Mormon. I’ve lived in this state in two of the most liberal areas (Bay Area and LA area). It’s true we don’t have the exact same culture as Utah but we’re not immune to the issues of Latter-day Saint doctrine and lived religion. Here’s just a few of things that happened in my childhood California stake:
-They passed conservative political petitions around and openly spoke as if everyone was a Republican.
-One time chants of “Glenn Beck!” broke out in the adult Sunday school in response to something in the lesson.
-Gun culture was alive and well. The YM frequently went shooting and one youth conference I remember going to a range as an activity (I refused to shoot the gun).
-American exceptionalism as supported by 2nd Nephi was enforced repeatedly. We were taught that the US was the promised land and better than everywhere else.
-Our ward/stake had a pioneer day celebration every year. We would dress up in full pioneer garb and have picnics, play pioneer games, even pull handcarts down the busy road by our stake center.
-Members were constantly “keeping up with the Joneses.” Gotta have that 15 passenger van. That boat. That brand of clothing.
-Messages of traditional motherhood and not having a career were paramount in young women’s lessons. I remember how poorly the women spoke of a sister that had a career “even though her family didn’t need the money.”
-Purity culture galore. At girl’s camp/youth conference, we had to wear a modest one piece (no cleavage!) with knee length board shorts over it. One year we even had to wear a shirt or tank over the top.
-The bishop came to our young women’s class one Sunday and told us if we were ever held at gunpoint and being raped, we needed to tell our assailant to shoot us instead because it was better for us to die than be impure.
-Mutual activities were typically homemaking nights. We learned how to sew buttons on men’s shirts, how to iron, how to cook. The boys played basketball or went to lazer tag.
-Prop 8. I still have nightmares about the enormous pressure to donate, knock doors, put up signs, and make it our entire purpose.
-I was taught by multiple leaders and teachers that polygamy was an eternal principle and that I would be a polygmist in the celestial kingdom.
-One mutual activity we pretended to go on plane flight, which “crashed.” Then we walked through the telestial, terrestial, and celestial kingdoms. It was so weird and horribly manipulative. (Also, I have a fear of flying so yeah.)
-When a young man’s hair grew a little too long, members gossiped about it. Some didn’t think he was worthy to pass the sacrament.
This list could go on and on. We were taught out of the same lesson manuals as Utah. We had just as many members who assumed you had to Republican to be a good Latter-day Saint. We had the same programs. The same obsession with perfectionism. The same orthodoxy.
It’s time to stop blaming everything negative about the church on Utah. In the end, it’s all coming from the same roots. The Book of Mormon is racist whether you’re reading it in Utah, Los Angeles, or China. Polygamy haunts us in Georgia, Washington, and Canada. Ezra Taft Benson’s many problematic teachings were heard in Provo, San Francisco, and London.
Instead of pretending it’s a Utah thing, we need to actually look at ourselves and accept that this is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There may be local quirks in different places but overall, the church comes from the same roots everywhere. And if we don’t like what we see, then it’s time to change it.
