Would you eat a cherry that was in a bowl of cockroaches? Would you eat a cherry if there was one cockroach in the bowl? How much impurity is too much? I had a boss years ago who would never eat anything at a potluck dinner because of her fear of food contamination.
When we lived in Singapore, we would start our weekly youth Sunday School class with an ice breaker. We would ask each student to introduce (him or) herself and share what was the most unusual food she had eaten. Answers included things like camel, alligator, crocodile, kangaroo, emu, monkey, donkey, baloot, chicken palm, pigeon, snake, century egg. Living abroad, all of us were exposed to foods that are cultural taboos in the U.S. or whatever our native countries were. In fact, one of the things that was often required of me as an executive at business dinners was to prove my open-mindedness by eating whatever the locals were eating with them increasingly upping the stakes. (This was because I don’t drink, so I couldn’t simply drink them under the table like most business people do to prove their mettle.)
Our bishop in Singapore met with us when we first moved there, explaining that the expats met in our own ward, not one mixed with the locals. This was done because the locals tended to defer to input from members from western countries who had lived in Utah, and the stake’s preference was to grow local leadership and to avoid infiltration of western traditions that often get mixed in with the gospel. He concluded by testifying to us that “Utah Mormonism is not true.”
I saw this tendency to overwrite local culture when I served a mission in the Canary Islands, too. One senior missionary was appalled that the local sisters didn’t knit, so she “put things right” by highjacking the next enrichment meeting to teach them what she considered an indispensable skill. Of course, she neglected to consider that it’s a tropical climate, and people don’t wear sweaters there. And yet many converts are eager to learn about the culture of their new religion. They often adopt traditions like Halloween and funeral potatoes thinking that it’s part and parcel of the gospel culture.
Last Sunday’s Gospel Doctrine lesson was a personal favorite, and since I was asked to sub, I thought I’d share some of the timely insights from Acts 10. The story is about the first gentile convert, Cornelius, a Roman Centurion. He was friendly to the Jews, and after a vision, he seeks out Peter for further knowledge about Jesus. After Cornelius begins to seek him, Peter has a pivotal vision in the formation of the Christian church. From Acts 10: 11-15:
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Why didn’t Peter just kill and eat one of the “clean” animals when there were animals of all kinds? There is a distinction here between animals that are “unclean” or prohibited by the law of Moses (the Greek word is akathartos) and animals that are “common” or that are clean, but have been in contact with an unclean animal (the Greek word is koinos).[1] The identification of clean and unclean animals is part of the Law of Moses, written in scripture. The idea that a clean animal is rendered “common” through contact with an unclean animal is a tradition of the Pharisees who loved to create hedges about the law. Peter is told to let go of the traditions he was raised with.
The word “common” to us means “base,” but it had a slightly different meaning to a Jew in that time. They were supposed to stay ritually pure, untouched by non-believers. Jesus was judged to be a “bad Jew” by the Pharisees because he did not observe these traditions of the Pharisees. How could the gospel spread if it was just a sect of semi-apostate Jews? The divisions that prevented them from interacting with other cultures had to be broken down.
Do we still have these attitudes among church members today? Clearly we do. A few that readily spring to mind:
- Kids not allowed to play with non-Mormons – mentioned in a recent conference talk.
- Missionaries making light of the beliefs of other religions
- Avoiding even the “appearance of evil” – Jesus certainly didn’t do this. Peter did, though.
- Conflating politics with doctrine.
I was on a flight a few months ago and coincidentally sat next to one of our stake leaders. We ended up talking about how we can make visitors feel welcome at church. He is a convert, and when I said we should not care whether women wear pants or skirts he agreed, but added conspiratorially, “They’ll get the message soon enough anyway.” Unfortunately, I suspect that’s true, and the way they get that message is through judgmental stares and double-takes or private take-downs that can cause embarrassment. I have seen several single sister converts in the last few years who go inactive soon after joining. Most of them are the sole pants-wearers in our ward. Skirts are a cultural tradition, and when you’re the only one not conforming to a tradition, you may feel like an outsider. Would they have left for other reasons? Who knows?
We may ask why, after walking with Jesus, did Peter still worry about eating something unclean or common?
The apostles, like all of us, were steeped in their time and culture. They were a product of how they had been raised. And observant Jews didn’t enter the homes of Roman centurions or eat with them.
What cultural traditions do we mistake for the gospel? I’ve blogged about some others before here, here, and here.
Discuss.
[1] Oddly, the manual misquotes the scripture as saying that God says not to call an animal unclean that is clean, but God is saying don’t call a clean animal “common.”
Wheat & Tares 
If there’s a cockroach anywhere near the bowl of cherries, please at least wash them before putting them in your mouth.
I served in Singapore, and I’ve always had mixed feelings about the expat wards. Yes, they help nurture local leadership, but they also create a division between the two groups.
On the broader topic of cultural imperialism and the conflation of religion with culture, I can only contribute one thought: very few people remain in the Church when they don’t fit in with the general culture. Women who wear pants, men in dark shirts, gay people and racial minorities—they leave much more readily than your average middle-class white male. For this reason, the Church ought to strive for inclusiveness, and yet the recurring message from on high is homogeneity, conformity, blind obedience. I don’t think it’s a winning strategy.
Oh that’s why I felt less than welcome attending the wrong ward in Singapore… Oh well. The Raffles Long Bar was somewhat more welcoming…
Great post!
What cultural traditions do we mistake for the gospel?
After 10+ years of reading LDS blogs I’d say liberal politics.
I think the opposite is true KLC, people come here because there is nowhere else within the gospel that they can fit.
I’ve really found it hard as a Brit to gel with Utah culture, it’s just way outside of my quiet, apologetic, diffident background. I really struggle with the passive aggression so often manifest to those who have eyes-practical jokes would be a case in point. Generally sanctioned cruelty in my view.
When my husband was baptised he was horrified that any other people would be attending other than invited family. To him it was a private event, and today I was talking to a friend who was deeply offended that an adult friend of his would tell him that he would be going to hell if he didn’t become an avowed christian. She was proud however of the fact that her son had overcome this and maintained the friendship in spite of this breach of etiquette. I just had a small moment there where I wondered if that was a good time to invite her to church. It’s so interesting to take a moment to see ourselves as others see us.
It’s going to be awhile before the Church collectively gets past this cultural baggage. Mormon culture is basically an unresolved persecution complex combined with a superiority complex. For better or for worse, it’s in our DNA.
“an unresolved persecution complex combined with a superiority complex. For better or for worse, it’s in our DNA”
Sometimes the like button isn’t enough.
#5,#6 – Au contraire. I miss the ‘thumbs down’ choice. If Jack is no longer active or has his name on the rolls with an attitude like that, he won’t be missed (unless you once had an abscessed tooth and longed for the excruciating pain).
Hawk, I ALMOST liked the comparison of ‘una cucaracha en un tazon des cerezas’. If one is dining at Alcatraz, not only are the cherries an extraordinary treat, but the cockroach is sore-needed protein. However, Peter’s apprehension about eating ‘unclean’ wasn’t misgivings about sanitation, it was that he’d reflexively shy away from eating these animals forbidden under the laws of Moses. Indeed, there was even debate amongst the primitive Church about whether male converts had to be circumcised (Yikes!).
I too have seen cultural imperialism force-fed to the Saints outside “Norte Americano”, and I don’t like it. We already have more members on the rolls outside North America. Now, if we want more ACTIVE members likewise, we have to do a better job of letting the Saints abroad build their respective stakes of Zion IAW their own unique cultures. Like Superman, in his disguise as Clark Kent, the mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet, we ‘fight’ for truth and justice, but NOT, as the George Reeves version, did, the “American Way” (though no one ought to question MY Americanism and Patriotism), but rather the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is no respecter of international boundaries.
Lots of things are cultural. Are you okay going from dresses to long pants to capris to shorts to bikinis (which is what they wear to my nephew’s protestant church near a beach). Where do you draw the line, or do you draw a line at all? I’m not saying we ostracize members, new or old or returning, who wear what we might consider “non-traditional” clothes. Culture is ever changing, and it’s changing in and out of the church. Like or not, we’re all weathering out constant changes all around us. It shouldn’t affect whether we have a testimony or not.
And FWIW, when I attend “conservative” churches, women predominantly wear dresses, the men shirts and ties, many in suits. It’s only the “new” and younger evangelicals (guitars/drums/keyboards) and protestants who tend to dress more casually. There are certainly “cultural” things about the church, but I seem to recall a talk by Elder Oaks that said despite where we live across the globe, members should strive for a “church” cultural. It just so happens that culture is predominantly created by the inter-mountain west. I see it changing incrementally as the church goes. Who knows what we’ll eventually morph into.
As for attire, I do note that even in Africa, where likely most of the members (at notably HIGHER activity rates than in the US of A) are likely of very humble means as compared to Americans, the women tends to wear that bright, delightful African garb with those headdresses that resemble a turban (sorry, IDK what the local names for that garb are), but the men will wear dress slacks, a white shirt, and tie. It’s not like most of them don’t have experience with some form of Christianity, and to them as well as us, you wear your “Sunday Best”, and they don’t use ‘poverty’ as an excuse for anything less.
I ask myself this question a lot and have for years.
Great post Hawk.
I’ll bet that in Singapore, like in Thailand, cockroaches make up a delicacy, but apparently, they’re best deep fried. http://healthclover.com/cockroaches-edible-healthy-eat/
to the orthodox jews, of course, lobsters and shellfish were more than just non-kosher…they were an abomination to the Lord. It’s amazing what constituted an abomination. I’ve always kind of thought that shrimp and lobsters are like the cockroaches of the sea, but that may not be entirely accurate. John the Baptist ate “locusts”. I had a tacos made with protein rich chapulines — grasshoppers. I’ve also had a grasshopper or two (Creme de menthe…)
which brings me to answer your question in the post. Certainly the kosher laws are in parallel to our Word of Wisdom. I found that the proscription against Tea, for example, to be a completely untenable proposition in India and China, where Tea is akin to a national beverage, and NO-ONE thinks it is harmful to health there. According to Leonard Arrington, the specific proscription as a mandate against tea was part of the 1869 retrenchment, when the railroads would allow import of tea, coffee, wines, and spirits — and this would waste valuable moneys needed for emigration. But how does that apply to a country, for example that doesn’t import its tea, but rather, manufactures it? It would seem to me that if the word of wisdom would be written in India, it would have a firm proscription against most if not all meat…. Well, duh. the Word of Wisdom is entirely a western cultural artifact of the Temperance movement.
Almost everything we have in the church is a cultural tradition. Our word of wisdom is only the start: Boyd K Packer’s “the unwritten order of things”, “sunday school”, temple endowment, the stories of the book of mormon — all of these derived from cultural context.
But I believe it goes deeper. Having spent time, like you, in asia, the very core of our doctrines, the idea of a personal and personified god, rituals such as baptism, folk healings by laying on of hands — all of these, too, become apparent when we look at the evolution of parallel and incompatible rituals in asian religions and culture. What makes our definition of God superior to, say, “Shangdi” of the ancient chinese, or Brahma/Vishnu/Siva of the hindus? What makes our Christ inherently superior to Gautama Siddhartha or Kongzi?
One of the most amazing historical times was the first Chinese mission of the Jesuits under Matteo Ricci. Ricci set aside the western cultural paradigms and became a Confucian scholar. He wore the robe and the cap of a confucian rather than the westernized habit of a jesuit. He found the “gospel” not in the traditions of the West, but in finding the nexus of the gospel within the incredibly rich Chinese traditions. And it worked — Christianity began to take off in China.
But then, the Dominicans and Franciscans took over, and were appalled that Ricci had “corrupted” correlated catholicism. They immediately tried to remove the confucian influence from the Church, and the result was that catholicism, and all christianity, was invited to leave china.
Dumb.
What I find delightful in early, Joseph Smith-era mormonism was his “syncretism”, he was willing to experiment with the gospel, learning hebrew from Josiah Seixas, temple rites from the freemasons, virtually everything we have in mormonism was an innovative hybrid of cultural paradigms. Some ideas worked, others failed miserably. But it was alive, culturally vibrant, inquisitive…out of control and chaotic.
Correlation has taken the soul out of the church.
And then, a few years back, I directed the music for a priesthood leadership meeting in our stake presided over by BKP. Someone asked a question about getting access online to the Church’s member information system. BKP, being quite old at the time, didn’t understand the question, but he made it clear that when members ask for things that are not in the correlated program, based upon special needs of an area, that was NOT ACCEPTABLE.
He said, “If it cannot be the same everywhere, it is going to be no-where”.
Okey dokey. Maybe that’s why the worldwide church in some areas, cannot relate to utah cultural mormonism….
I don’t like the idea that American or any other culture is exported to another part of the world disguised as “Church” culture. OTOH, I wasn’t hot of the idea of Utah culture being exported to California, where I joined the Church.
In Colorado Springs, there is more Utah here than in California.
What is interesting to me, those that complain about “Church culture” are, in many cases, just embracing a new set of culture that they hold in higher regard.
Sometimes these things are more progressive than traditional thinking in the Church like racial views and should be embraced and others are cultural things which cross the line from Gospel teachings and should continue to be rejected.
If it is, this causes discontent to those folks who seem to have a foot “in the world.”
“He said, “If it cannot be the same everywhere, it is going to be no-where”.”
I’ve heard this before from BKP. And yet we still have release time seminary and BSA.
Living in Australia, the most obvious Utah culture is the ultra conservative politics of most the members. It is assumed members are conservatives.
As far as I am concerned the attitude of the church to gays and women are purely conservative politics and will gradually improve. Sadly no one in leadership will allow it to happen in places where those attitudes are no longer acceptable.
Gay marriage is not yet legal here because we have a very conservative government at the moment, but 80% approve so once it is legal we will look very bigoted if we don’t move.
We are having a discussion about women in politics. One party already has more women than men, Labor has a target to have 50/50 within 5 years and the conservatives can’t commit.
Our conservative party is more comparable to the Democrats in US, so members who try to ape the Utah conservatives are very extreme.
The WofW could do with an update. Coffee and tea should not be a problem.
Food storage, I,ve thrown mine out (spoiled ) after carting it around for decades.
Home teaching may work when your ward is compact, but I remember home teaching taking an overnight, 2 day trip when we first joined the church.
I believe the church should help us live the Gospel and when culture or programmes don’t do this they should be questioned.
I am afraid cultural imperialism is not only a 19 century phenomena. I “loved”the senior (SLC) couple as the wife viewed the,literally, poor people in an Eastern Block country as they attended Sacrament Meeting, I asked her about the people expecting a generous response but was meet with the comment “I now know why I was sent here, …..to show them how to dress for Sacrament Meeting.” She did not take into account that besides being extremely cold that they travel on Public Transport or walk, sometimes long distances and therefore where pants to keep warm!
As a Senior Missionary I have a long list of these type of experiences in Eastern Europe but as an Australian I agree with Geoff that there is a diet of Conservatism that infiltrates our culture via the ” middle management” of the Church via SLC, Mission Presidents, Area Presidencies and also Senior Missionaries but for me it is more than that, we have thrust upon us the Business Model as a Church, the SLC model, our Area Presidency is a great example, the 1970’s revisited…more reporting more threats more making them look good, a touch of Apostle envy ? A classic meeting last year where we were actually abused as not performing, trying to re activate the tens of thousands of disenchanted….( with an undercurrent of …if you were in the US etc etc) ( Classic business sales ” US ” motivation)
I well remember my first visit to SLC in 1982, it was just a little more than a country town…..I was staggered …how could this tiny city have the gall to thrust it’s culture on my country….it was so foreign and as I found out more so when I lived there and was introduced to ultra conservatism and largely folklore mixed with doctrine….I must say Australia never ever looked so wonderful.
Photos of little girls in white baptismal dresses sitting on temple grounds is one cultural trend I’d prefer gone. Same with the professionally printed invitations to the baptisms.
It took me several years to finally recognize the air of superiority some Mormon Corridor members displayed in other states. I understood the stigma against Utah Mormons, and as a Utah Mormon it was disconcerting. There was some expectation tied to that perspective that activities, musical numbers, etc. were unacceptable if they weren’t crazy elaborate and over the top. I was previously cured of that view after living in an urban ward for 4 years where 90% of the membership was on government assistance, including myself.
The modesty issue is hugely cultural. My husband served his mission in West Africa where American elders had to get used to a very different definition of modesty. Even here in the states modesty is great and all, until you have a baby and realize you really don’t care who sees what when you desparately want that tiny human being out of your body. Medical professionals have a very different perspective on the human body than many churchmembers.
I just about cried one time as a youth leader when one of our girls was barred from a dance for showing too much cleavage. She’d had a baby months before, given it up for adoption through LDS services, and we were desparately trying to get her comfortable with other LDS youth after being ostracized for well over a year. We’d been so careful about making sure everyone had stupid sleeves… but her postpartum body was apparently too inappropriate. One of the youth leaders was able to procure an adult’s cardigan to cover all offending areas, but we were still furious.
#15,16 – Thanks to Geoff and Kangaroo for their perspectives as members from the “Land of Oz”. Interesting that LDS members are perceived as “Conservative” (Aussie standards) there as well. Also appreciated the “business model” aspects…methinks that often there’s an expectation that someone who was a ‘top producer’ in his field can just translate that success into winning new converts or reactivation. The difference is that your can FIRE those that don’t meet your expectations (or at least refrain from doing further business). With a group of Saints, such as the Australian membership, you gets what you gets.
Salt Lake City itself has always well impressed me…b/c it has gang graffiti, run down areas, bikers, vatos, bars, etc…IOW, not unlike any good-sized town in the Western USA.
For one cockroach I’d wash the cherries. If there were many more I’d give the cherries to the birds. I really don’t like cockroaches.
I’ve seen people tie themselves in knots over the whole avoiding the appearance of evil thing. My very first seminary teacher explained this was why some of her family members would not be invited to their daughter’s wedding, because they were ‘living in sin’. It struck me as bizarre then. Mind you, this was the same family that tithed on their Christmas presents… We certainly have our share of zealots in Britain.
Regarding IDIAT’s comment about Elder Oaks, that is from his April 2005 talk on Priesthood Authority in the family vs. church. He says,
“There are cultures or traditions in some parts of the world that allow men to oppress women, but those abuses must not be carried into the families of the Church of Jesus Christ. Remember how Jesus taught: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, … but I say unto you …” (Matt. 5:27–28). For example, the Savior contradicted the prevailing culture in His considerate treatment of women. Our guide must be the gospel culture He taught.”
I support that wholeheartedly.
But he and other leaders have also spoken elsewhere about respecting the local culture on issues that are NOT incompatible with the local traditions. Such as having a ward Moon Festival party rather than a Halloween party.
Our stake patriarch regularly wore to church one of those embroidered Hawaiian shirts designed to be worn without a tie. We’ve had a guy in an African robe pass the sacrament. I guess the need for conformity varies from place to place.
In Texas, I was impressed at how comfortable everyone was with women breastfeeding without all kinds of fancy coverings. It is part of the Mexican culture, and nobody gave it a second thought or glance.
I had a run-in with the stake RS president regarding the value of ward RS presidency meetings. Maybe she was right that I should have met more than once a month. But what we did instead was make visits every week, at least once each with a counselor and secretary. In between stops I would discuss the stewardship of the sister who was accompanying me. And with our constant-turnover college-town ward, I felt that tracking down the many new names on the list was more important than sitting in a room at church. My bishop was entirely supportive and grateful, recommending that model to the priesthood quorums.
I remember once when my oldest daughter was somewhere in preteen years (I wish I had been much, much better in keeping a journal so I could have been much, much better in remembering these things). She had come down stairs one Sunday morning wearing a dress that I was very shocked to see on her. (Shocked and saddened.) I can’t even remember what I said to her or if I said anything at all but I do remember putting one of my arms on her and leading her to the opening of the kitchen where my wife was working on something on the counter – probably some food. I asked her if she was aware of what the daughter was wearing. She didn’t look up but she said something to the effect that she was aware and I knew by her countenance, that she was sick of the battles she had been in. At this point and to the point where I had not said anything more to my daughter, she looked at me and said she would go up and change into something else. When she came down I, again looked up, and this time I smiled and was very happy and I told her that looked so much better. She never wore that kind of stuff again.
She is now married and has three children so far. The oldest is my first grandchild. She is quite strict with them. I hope that doesn’t go too far. Bernice and I love our son in law.
My second daughter is not married yet. I sometimes think that she only wants to marry an exalted god. I’m sure she wouldn’t like for me to say that because it is not true. It’s just that if her mother would have searched like our second daughter is I wouldn’t have been her father today and I really like my daughters. I hope it all turns out.
My third daughter and final child started developing a figure at an early age that was like WOW. For me, the things I didn’t care for was what she started to wear. All three of my daughters became at playing a musical instrument very well. (Violin, piano, and cello) They could make money per hour I would never be able to make per hour that I would never be able to make in my life. So, in other words, she had money. So she bought a couple of ( shirts, blouses, t-shirt, or whatever you call them ). I didn’t like them an awful lot. I told her to take them back. She didn’t care for that but she did it and I was much more satisfied even though she wasn’t.
At a later time, we were at some event in our extended family where she was a bit older and was wearing something that just didn’t cover her enough. I saw some boy, helplessly, as I would judge it, entranced in it, like he was becoming dizzy. To this day I wish I would have called my daughter away and told her what a terrible thing she was doing and that she should consider what that boy could be doing to himself to give his body the feelings it was screaming for. But I didn’t. That day I failed as a father.
Epilogue. Parents, what are you doing? Don’t’ do some of the failures I did. What are the Church leaders supposed to do – let some weaken others? O yes, if the others are members they should be stronger, but if the others aren’t – send the others to hell? I may not know the answers but we should try not to blame the leaders when bad things happen and they are trying to correct it. Maybe sometimes everybody gets hurt.
Hawkgrrrl, did any children say eating Durian was on their list?
I wonder if the attraction of the church in some other countries is the “peculiar” nature and being apart of something different. That would lead to an attraction to adopt things that aren’t gospel, but american culture, and possibly making it hard to know when something is culture and when it is gospel. Well…we do that here in the US too…it is hard to know when leaders share experiences that are traditions.
My trips to Singapore showed the people there welcome westerners. But they like their native customs and protect them. THat was my experience.
Chili crab was mandatory for me, I felt, while visiting there on business.