Not too long after October, 1962, a USAF jet carrying a fusion weapon, armed and then discarded the weapon at the end of a runway in Newfoundland (Harmon AFB). As you might suspect, it was a mistake, the pilot thought he was discarding some external fuel tanks to make landing easier and happened to engage in pilot error. In the resulting clean-up, a number of men were involved, including the one man who disarmed the weapon (and yes, I realize that it is a two person job, and yes, usually if one person does it alone I’m aware that the safeguards will kill him. He got lucky with some intense sustained winds). Of course, rank has its privileges. Everyone involved was promoted — except for the man 
who actually disarmed the bomb since he was the lowest ranked person in the event.
Not too long afterwards, my family was living at Perrin AFB (now closed) in Texas. My dad bought me a used bike, and was able to give it a fresh coat of gray paint. A major’s son saw it, took a rock and “scratched the hell out of it” because, as he put it, even a used bike with a fresh coat of paint was too nice for an enlisted man’s son. No one should be surprised that he suffered no punishment or other repercussions.
From time to time there is a good deal of talk about the intersection of class and race. Because of my youth, growing up in trailer parks and in a military family, I grew up in a class structured and based world where class tended to trump everything. I remember getting a scholarship to BYU. So did an officer’s son from our area. My grades and test scores were higher. His scholarship from BYU was larger. It was made clear to me that class mattered.
I’ve also dealt a good deal with academics, who generally move in a world of class privilege and who often leverage that in other areas. They also tend to exploit — what would be called cultural appropriation in any other context — or just plagiarism — non-academic communities.
We have similar things that have developed in the Church. Family and other ties create class and status networks. It was no surprise that when I clicked on a Google link for “God is no respecter of persons, LDS” this was where it led — the file not found page: https://www.lds.org/error.xqy?lang=eng&r=nc OK it was a surprise that when I clicked on the link it led me to a “file not found” page at LDS.org. I’m sure they will get that fixed, though it was suggested that the result may be part of the new naming initiative. I found a working link to what looks like a similar essay and it is in the postscript.
The point of this essay is not to say that there is not race/ethnic group based animus and discrimination (I’ve been litigating civil rights cases since 1985 or so and have a §1983 case going up on appeal to the 5th Circuit at the moment). Federal judges in Houston are still arrested for walking while Black in their own neighborhoods (well, at least one was while I’ve been at my current job). I’m very aware of that sort of problem.
And the point is not just taking a moment to illustrate where class fits in at “the intersection of class and race” which is something that gets a lot of lip service, but little thought.
The point of this essay is to ask questions.
- Have you ever noticed class based actions?
- People stressing or using class markers for status?
- Do you find that though God may be no respecter of persons, sometimes people in the Church can be?
- That class and other distinctions are the heart, sometimes, of the bloggernacle?
- That sex, or race, or class can make a difference on how people are treated?
- Do these factors lead to people feeling entitled?
- Are there replacements, such as family and social connections that are creating their own class structures?
What are your thoughts and experiences?
Also, the most important question: how do we avoid discriminating on the basis of race, sex, class or other factors and become like God, not a respecter of persons?
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Postscript. Images are from Wikimedia Commons.
Working link to LDS Org on the topic: https://www.lds.org/manual/new-testament-gospel-doctrine-teachers-manual/lesson-30-god-is-no-respecter-of-persons?lang=eng
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Recently President and Sister Nelson visited our Stake and guess who got reserved seats? her family. Granted there weren’t that many but they can see them anytime, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Saints here. I doubt God wants this but some of his people don’t mind one bit
Interesting point.
I have lived in wards with pretty clear divides along the lines of education and income. People in those wards tend to socialize a lot more within their group—the people with more years of formal schooling/higher income tend to stick together, while people with less formal education/lower income tend to keep to themselves. The higher income groups in my wards were mostly willing to give time and other resources to support people in the lower income group, but beyond that their social lives just don’t intersect very much.
I think the Church is pretty much a middle-class institution with a middle-class culture. Poorer members we try to raise up and richer members serve like anyone else, and in fact are more likely to serve in time-demanding leadership callings. The result, I think, is muted class consciousness or conflict within the Church.
The LDS system of geographical assignment to church units, fairly strictly enforced, reinforces this mixing. That’s somewhat dependent on the distribution of incomes in any particular locale, but most wards have a pretty good mix. It is a system of congregational organization that is fairly unique, as far as I know.
On our high council in our Utah stake, the jobs are as follows for the twelve men: attorney, small business owner, optometrist, church employee, BYU employee, engineer, small business owner, teacher, custodian, retired truck driver, bookkeeper, and mortgage broker. They are of varying socio-economic backgrounds. Half do not have college degrees; three have post-graduate degrees. All serve in the same way, and there is a great feeling of unity and “oneness” among them. The youngest are in their 30s, and the oldest in their late 60s. I have no way of knowing if this is typical, but there seems to be little “class” distinction in this group.
Yes, of course, class is a factor in the Church. Outside of Utah, family/genealogical status seems less significant. But money talks. Those who have it often self-servingly mine prosperity gospel nuggets from the Book of Mormon. The “haves” often enjoy the education, ability, and time to accept higher callings, taking that, also, as a sign of their righteousness. There can be class inequities in Church discipline, just as there are in the US justice system. Anyone who’s been to BYU has witnessed signs of class-based assortative mating. Anyone passing through the Bloggernacle often sees the casual disdain for those who are less educated, intelligent, and/or informed. While there are significant institutional structures and teachings within the Church calculated to resist class biases, they don’t eliminate them. They don’t even come close to doing so.
Having been the poor family in a rich ward (we weren’t poor, just middle class) I can say that the church tried to integrate as much as possible. It’s just such a cultural divide. There’s nothing like listening to the boys talking about towing their new jet skies to the lake in their new truck when you’re having to borrow your parents’ car. The sad thing is that they were always nice, they were just excited about their new stuff.
After that experience, I completely understand when people talk about institutional racism (as I understand the meaning of the term). There’s just subtle things that good people do, not realizing what they’re doing, that make you feel small.
I don’t blame the church or anyone, it’s was something so ingrained in our culture that they didn’t even realize it.
One aspect that might be interesting to see is how views of class distinction might be different between members in wards along the Wasatch Front and those outside the Mountain West. When my family lived near San Antonio, our ward covered three outlying towns. We had both “sides of the tracks” meeting together in the same ward. When we moved to Utah, we lived in a ward that consisted of three streets. It was very homogeneous – we pretty much were all standard middle class, living in houses built in the 70s..
This Utah ward, however, backed up, on the North side, to a newer development of upper middle class houses that happened to be in a different stake. Eventually, one of the lots at the end of one of the streets that led into the new development, was sold and the owner put up a house that matched the newer development. I was ward clerk, saw that this new house was clearly in our ward boundaries and asked the Bishop about adding it to our roster. To my surprise, he said no, that the owners would probably want to be part of the other stake and they would just redraw the boundaries. And that was what happened.
To our South were two wards, of similar class (same neighborhood) and some farm land/orchards. Eventually the farm land and orchard was sold to developers who built some spectacular multi-million dollar homes. Due to the city of Enoch being plopped in the middle of one ward, our three wards were realigned. Interestingly the Bishop I mentioned above, happened to be the Stake President presiding over the realignment. I wasn’t too surprised, this time, when most of the middle class elements of the ward with the new mansions were consolidated into the two remaining wards with older homes. To some degree, the geography lined up that way as well, but there were a number of folks who felt displaced by being “dumped” out of a ward they spend decades in for people who had just arrived.
I’ve since moved North into a county with less concentration of Mormons, so the ward covers more ground and economic conditions. My previous stake might be an aberration, but it sure seemed like there was a conscious effort to align the wards in that stake along economic classes. Conversely, a stake I lived in in Ohio, took in part of an blighted section of Dayton. The ward that had that chunk of Dayton struggled. In that case the stake presidency realigned boundaries of wards like a like sections of a pie and divided the poor portion among several wards.
One thing to keep in mind with the rich ward described above, I have a relation who still lives there in a modest house. I’ve learned they have had turkeys dropped off at their house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They’ve gone from being slightly lower middle class to being ward projects for the new members.
Jesus was constantly reaching out to those of low social standing and class; it is one of his defining characteristics. Bonhoeffer said that the gospel or good news in it’s most basic and original form was that the rich would be brought down and the poor would be raised up, (Luke 6:20-26, etc).
Related to this. . . I attend the 7:00 a.m. Eucharist service at St. Mark’s here in SLC every Wednesday. We typically have a group conversation about the texts, rather than a sermon. Our texts yesterday were Ezekiel 34:1-11; Psalm 23, and Matthew 20:1-16. The gospel text in particular–the same rate of pay for workers working very different hours–emphasizes that God’s priorities and view of reality, justice, grace, etc. deeply contradicts our own. In pondering these texts and the ensuing conversation, I wonder how much of our lives are spent unlearning the embedded acculturation of our youths? One of the most challenging aspects of the years I have spent working with immigrant survivors of violence of all types has been learning to work through issues of responsibility and choice, including learning to patiently and repeatedly walk them through the pros and cons of various courses of action, and then let them make their own choices, even when I disagree with the choice. I do agree that the wards outside of the mountain west are often (but not always) more economically diverse. . . and anything we humans find to be ‘good’ we tend to privilege in one way or another. Focusing on process/relational theology, where process and choices, experience and relationality are the fluid of reality, and all else is illusion helps remind me that the only source of reality worthy of trust is God. But it is nevertheless an ongoing challenge to trust God’s version of my future over my own desire to plan and ‘solidify’. That is far easier in challenging times than it is good times . . . one of the reasons wealth so easily corrupts.
Older singles in the church as a class.
Have you ever noticed class based actions?
Absolutely! But it is highly variable and depends a lot on the bishop and stake president. The most conspicuous fofr me was at Los Altos; half the members were way upper middle class, but half were airmen and sailors at nearby Moffett Field Naval Air Station. Many did not own a car. The cultural gulf was enormous as was the wealth gulf. Still, for all that it did not seem unpleasant.
Reciprocity is a human desire, and honorable people have a strong desire to reciprocate. But how can a poor or lower middle class person reciprocate the social gifts of the wealthy person? The wealthy man does no service bestowing expensive gifts on the poor; they cannot reciprocate. What the wealthy can do is not flaunt wealth; do good things with it, get rid of conspicuous excess in useful ways.
Oakton, Virginia was a classful ward of mostly Mercedez-Benz driving members that wouldn’t give me the time of day. Eventually I started going to a lower middle class ward that was much better.
The best wards were military wards, but even there class was important; not so much among officers or among enlisted, but officers are not permitted to fraternize with enlisted. When the Relief Society President was appointed, another woman was angry because her husband had more rank than the husband of the woman appointed to RSP.
That class and other distinctions are the heart, sometimes, of the bloggernacle?
It is why many blogs exist. Maybe most. What good is it to think oneself special without an audience of sycophants?
Are there replacements, such as family and social connections that are creating their own class structures?
Nearly infinite are the signals of “us” versus “them”; virtue signals, thought police, grammar police. For LDS, watch for those that ascend the Rameumptum.
Amen to Andy’s comment. I grew up in a fairly poor part of the South. I married into a family that has is much better off than mine financially, firmly upper middle class. Of course, they don’t realize that to someone like me they are the wealthy. They had to settle for used cards from their parents (You’re parents bought you a car!). They didn’t own a beach house they would rent one (You took a vacation every year!). And on and on. Again, really good people, they just don’t realize the class distinction. I take a healthy dose of humble pie here too, I’ve lived many years abroad via mission and military service. Most Americans are far better off materially than many of our brothers and sisters in much of the world.
Does the church perpetuate this? YES!!!! Studies show that your socioeconomic class is a good predictor of your grades and high school output – but those do not necessarily reflect your intelligence. So who is most likely to get into BYU? Better off kids. The stake I grew up in was pretty poor, we had wealthy members, but for the most part pretty humble wards. The kids who went to BYU? Children of doctors, lawyers, business owners etc. So my father, who had 8 children, and made between 30-40k while I was growing up faithfully paid tithing for those wealthy children to go to school while his kids….did not. The situation isn’t unique, most wealthy kids go to school, most poor kids don’t graduate college. But the church is redistributing money from poor families like mine to wealthy families via a subsidized education they CAN afford without the church.
If the church wanted a more equal footing it should offer help to all its members in pursuing education and career. After my mission I realized many of companions from abroad qualified for the perpetual education fund, others were going to a BYU, and those in between – out of luck.
Couldn’t we do better? Cut the BYU’s off from the church, make them truly independent. Or find a way to serve all your members, especially those who MOST need it?
God may be no respecter of persons, but he’s no particular defender of them either. See his apparent utter indifference to the (wrongful, by the church’s own admission) suffering of black members during the (overtly) racist period of the priesthood ban. His failure to inspire his mouthpieces to do anything to help racial minorities in this country throughout the church’s existence doesn’t exactly qualify him as a champion of equality.
One small mechanism of class insensitivity I see in my ward is an annual dinner and cake auction to raise funds for girls’ camp. Everyone in the ward is invited to attend, of course. But when the bidding begins, it turns into the Virtue-Signaling Olympics. Rich members (and, tackily, their children on their behalf) will run up bids into the hundreds of dollars for a single cake. Members who can’t reasonably afford to pay one or two hundred dollars for a cake are put in a very difficult position, with three unattractive options. Option One: they don’t bid, highlighting their poverty and/or lack of generosity. Option Two: they do bid and end up spending needed money unwisely, in order to avoid Option One. And Option Three: they bid, win, but then turn in an empty envelope, avoiding Options One and Two, but by allowing themselves to be pressured into dishonesty (and generating no funds for girls camp). After the bidding is done, the rich bring the cakes back to their tables and invite everyone to come have a piece. At the end of the evening, those who stick around to clean up take the rarely-more-than-half-eaten cakes and dump them in the trash can. The rich never take home leftovers.
This is vile, unseemly, and inconsistent with Church Handbook guidelines. That’s been communicated to our bishop, but he doesn’t care. (It’s so much fun…for those with the money to show off.) In talking around, it seems that this is a fairly common thing in wards in the US.
Guess what? There are classes in the heavens. Make sure you end up in the one you wanna be in.
Yep, other distinctions include pioneer ancestry, being related to a General Authority, and being a former bishop or other presiding officer.
In the parable of talents I see that no preference or distinction is made between the man that turned 5 into 10, or 2 into 4. Classes exist, as Wonderboywonderings points out, even in Heaven. What matters is what you do with what you have been given (Gandalf).
Abraham 3:22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.
“Members of a Mormon congregation in a Salt Lake City suburb encountered someone they thought was a homeless man at church on Sunday. What they did not know was the man was a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ”
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24096320/lds-bishop-dresses-as-homeless-man-to-teach-lesson
No particular mention is made what people OUGHT to do with a homeless man. Being homeless, or seeming to be so, is at times a lucrative profession. But I can still be *kind*.
I give to the church welfare system and we are generous with our less well-off neighbors; it is those neighbors that I know their needs truly.
So let’s see…
Ostensibly if your father made 30k$/year he would pay no more than 3k$ a year in tithing.
AB doctor earning 200k$ a year might pay towards of 20k$ in tithing… The doctor is paying for far more of byu than your father. But never let facts get in the way of a good pity party.
Our GA worship and shoulder-patting (e.g. President Nelson’s accolades as a world-famous heart surgeon, and other constant praise of GA professional accomplishments- especially to youth and missionaries) perpetuates classism. At the MTC, no one ever spoke to us without someone reading their *Professional* bio – which was always astounding. We hear about the professional experience of each newly called apostle. In our culture- a lofty successful white collar profession is a sign of God’s favor and one’s Calvinistic righteousness- their ability to unlock the prosperity promises through their spiritual ways and disciplined obedience. Would we be so proud today to say that we were led by a mostly illiterate plow-Boy Prophet? Hardly!
I’m heartened to read peppered examples of “my bishop is a custodian” or another blue collar profession on the bloggernacle- but in my half-century of experience- I’ve never -repeat- never- seen a blue collar PH leader. Ever. Women often talk about the deep divides between SAHMs and working moms- female class divides in the church fueled decades of talks like “women come home from your typewriters and laundry vats”. But, the branding and classist consequences for men are much more severe. His PH office, position, and church “track” are based on the power of his job and his %contributions to tithing. Wanna be a bishop, SP, mission pres? It ain’t gonna happen if you are a car mechanic. Or an enlisted man. Or a factory worker. As long as there is a small cadre of white collar workers in your area- a professor, Doctor, officer, finance guy, executive, etc. you will never have to worry about such responsibility.
Seriously. As a new brother in a ward- – see how long you can go without someone asking what you do for a living. If you are a woman- whether you work or stay at home and how many kids you have. Go ahead. Start a stopwatch. Make sure it is set to seconds, not minutes.
Mortimer – That is less and less true for women in my area (SFBayArea). So many women now work (many by financial necessity, but a good chunk by choice) and so many women are single with careers that worrying too much about the divide doesn’t work on a practical level. There just aren’t enough members of the church overall, so if you want Mormon friends you give up your biases. Interestingly enough, our YW program is mostly run by the working women and my girls LOVE it. I wonder if this is perhaps different in Utah though.
With that, I also have never had a blue collar Bishop, even in the town we are in now which has a much higher percentage than other parts of the Bay Area. And all Ward Council Attending callings also go to white collar workers, which in terms of being truly representative of the ward is kind of problematic. I can see this being a class issue, except for one thing. It is that it’s hard to get someone to accept the calling of Bishop and I wonder then how that affects who gets chosen as I can see white collar workers having more desire and less financial restraints to serving in the calling.
Mortimer writes “President Nelson’s accolades as a world-famous heart surgeon”
I wish I knew the professions of all of my leaders. My bishop is a tax accountant of modest means and big heart. Stake president is a landscaper. Area Leader performs colonoscopies if I remember right, which I don’t since he slipped me a mickey. He knows me inside and out! My interest is human interest; what you do, why you do it; what you believe, why you believe it.
Mortimer: You must live in a wealthy ward area your whole life. I live in a modest to middle income area. My present bishop is a short haul truck driver, the EQ president sell insurance from home, but was a long haul trucker for years before that. YM president is a machinist. Pasted bishops were front line supervisor, an athletic trainer, and a salesman for a furniture store. I see lots of leaders at the stake level who have regular type jobs.
As for asking about you job, it is a easy ice breaker question. Most people love to talk about what they do.
Michael 2 and Scott J,
I believe that our country and Mormonism were founded in an enlightened egalitarianism. I believe in the plow-boy prophet and God’s Frequent use of humble servants from all walks of life to serve in any calling. I’m heartened to hear that you have some blue collar bishops, but….
1-a tax accountant is a white collar finance guy, educated, even if he has a middle class income.
2- a landscaper SP? I’m willing to bet that he owns his own business or is in that business’ management team and that business goes after big contracting jobs. I bet at this point his work is administrative- not just manual. I bet that he isn’t an hourly laborer, is he? Sorry- construction- management is not the same thing as labor. Huge huge huge difference.
3 – Michael 2, by “guy who performs colonoscopies” do you mean your area leader is not just a physician (like I said was an acceptable leadership profession), but a highly trained board specialized gastroenterogist who is probably making upwards of $350k? He has important community connections, a lot of social capital, money, and education, huh? I think you are helping me make my point.
As for other blue-collar bishops- again, I am glad to see them, but think they are exceptions, not the rule. I’m a lower middle class person, but have lived in the mission field where wards and stakes encompass large socioeconomic and geographic borders. I’ve never seen a blue collar bishop, SP, or MP and never seen an enlisted man lead officers in a LDS priesthood calling. Never. Ever. Ever.
I’m also talking about a leadership track that includes bishops, SPs and leads to GAs, mission presidents, temple presidents, etc. not all “leadership” callings that report to those persons.
I wonder whether the blue collar workers serving as bishops cited as examples are representative of the demographics of the ward, or were called to lead a disproportionate number of white collar-more wealthy-more educated-more powerful-more administratively trained men. Just wondering. I highly doubt it.
* if that were the case, I would cheer. FDR as president was a member of a Masonic group led by a Gardner- the White House Gardner- and the implications of that relationship were vital to the practice of masonry, and even our representative government. I think the church is supposed to be that way, but often suffers from white-collar classism.
I’ve had enlisted bishops and blue collar bishops as well.
Interesting thoughts though.
Mortimer writes “1-a tax accountant is a white collar finance guy, educated, even if he has a middle class income.”
Agreed. It tends to be seasonal income peaking in April and rather slim pickings for the rest of the year. Seems to me Peter the Apostle was a tax consultant or something like that.
“2- a landscaper SP? I’m willing to bet that he owns his own business or is in that business’ management team”
He owns his own little business so far as I know. His business has a strong seasonal component with not much landscaping through the winter. Running a small business means he has some leadership experience and knows how to budget resources during lean times (winters).
“construction- management is not the same thing as labor. Huge huge huge difference.”
Agreed. A person has basically three choices of how to approach life: Being told what to do (blue collar), telling others what to do (white collar), or avoiding both and being a professional, self-employed person (wear any color collar you want).
“As for other blue-collar bishops- again, I am glad to see them, but think they are exceptions”
To me it is inconsequential. The color of your collar does not automatically convey to me whether you are honest, humble, inspired or possess the necessary skills with regard to bishop or stake president, each of which is primarily a “temporal” duty (buildings, money, management) rather than ecclesiastical (powers of God thing). Small business owners are probably ideal if you can find one that is also reasonably honest.
“never seen an enlisted man lead officers in a LDS priesthood calling. Never. Ever. Ever.”
In a military branch the senior officer is going to be the branch president. The choice may not be ideal but the experience and qualifications of a senior officer in the Navy make for a pretty good bishop or branch president. Better than most, actually, since good officers already know to listen to and depend on anyone with relevant information and have also been well taught to delegate to the lowest level decisions and actions.
“I wonder whether the blue collar workers serving as bishops cited as examples are representative of the demographics of the ward”
Inasmuch as bishops are drawn from the membership of a ward it seems likely to be so.
“never seen an enlisted man lead officers in a LDS priesthood calling.”
I was hoping to avoid a Battle of Anecdotes but it might be worth mentioning that I was the enlisted EQ president and in my quorum was a lieutenant. He was the branch president so I answered to him in all areas except the assignment of home teaching in which case he answered to me. To avoid impropriety from a military standpoint we simply appointed each other as home teaching companions and we went together.
Micheal 2,
Great points! I’m delighted to see blue collar leaders, but see that we in the church hold to stereotypes about one’s profession and their ability to serve in leadership positions. When it comes to leadership callings for men- these assumptions often (in my experience) are more important than those unusual “inspired” callings. Going back to the main point of the post, I think there is a strong bias in both our perception and selection of leaders. I’m heartened that there are still blue collar bishops and even a sprinkled SP here or there, but I think we have a blind spot in seeing past these worldly positions and identifying natural leadership or spirituality. I promise to eat my words when our next Q12 is an artist or day laborer instead of another lawyer, corporate exec, or PhD. Just saying.