BuzzFeed responds to recent ribbing of Mitt Romney with a helpful primer on “garments,” the underclothes worn by Mormons:
Though it’s common in Mormon-mocking rhetoric to use some variation on “magic Mormon undies” to describe the garment (paging Bill Maher), there’s nothing especially mystical about them.
Mormons are taught that by putting on “the whole armor of God”–a Biblical metaphor regularly employed in LDS discussions of the subject–they are afforded protection from temptation, in that they have a physical reminder not to sin. But there’s no magical guarantee involved. Just as cheating spouses ignore the vows symbolized by their wedding ring, plenty of garment-wearing Mormons sin. The power is in the symbolism of the garments, not any kind of miracles that result from wearing them.
Within Mormon folklore, there are stories of garment-wearers receiving physical protection–being spared from injury in a car accident, for example–but this isn’t part of official LDS doctrine, and it’s not widely preached.
Elder Carlos E. Asay, a high-ranking church official, explained the garment like this: “It is given to remind wearers of the continuing need for repentance, the need to honor binding covenants made in the house of the Lord, and the need to cherish and share virtue in our daily living so that promised blessings may be claimed.”
More here. None of this sounds very weird or nefarious to me. I have my disagreements with Mormonism (to say the least) but I have no sympathy for those who mock practices of the LDS that, to secular eyes, look very similar to the use of scapulars, religious medals, and cinctures by Catholics.
January 30th, 2012 | 1:46 pm
[...] That is frankly the most important consideration, but this words are disrespectful of religion generally. What makes Mormonism “voodoo” and Catholic infant baptism “generally accepted practice?” Well, there are only three choices. One, you’re, say, Catholic and find Mormonism heretical. We’ll get back to this in a minute. Two, you believe all religion to be “voodoo.” Fair enough, but that also says if you are one of the people in the first category, you should be defending the Mormons because your practice is, in the eyes of the second category, just as “weird” as theirs. At a minimum a person of a faith that finds Mormonism errant should temper their vocabulary out of simple decency. (Looks like some Catholics agree with me.) [...]
January 30th, 2012 | 2:17 pm
I have no sympathy for those who mock practices of the LDS that, to secular eyes, look very similar to the use of scapulars, religious medals, and cinctures by Catholics.
I suppose it is always (or usually, anyway) wrong to mock, but if people find it amusing or odd that Mormons wear special underwear instead of Calvin Klein, 2xist, Hanes, or whatever, I think they have that right. The idea of religious underwear is a little odd, in my opinion. One can respect the practice and still find it a little weird. In fact, I think in some sense that when people have certain religious practices that set them apart, it takes away from them to attempt to make them seem perfectly “normal.” If we have to make the case that things that strike us as odd aren’t really odd in order to get ourselves to respect them, what kind of tolerance is that?
January 30th, 2012 | 2:34 pm
Well put, David.
January 30th, 2012 | 2:37 pm
I don’t buy Mormonism either, but sacred underwear is really no different than scapulars, tallits and a number of other religous articles.
January 30th, 2012 | 3:29 pm
“If we have to make the case that things that strike us as odd aren’t really odd in order to get ourselves to respect them, what kind of tolerance is that?”
Very well said, David! I’m happy to agree on this.
January 30th, 2012 | 4:25 pm
You’ve hit on an important insight here: There is no great virtue in showing respect for things that we do not find odd, just as there is no great virtue in guaranteeing the rights of people whose opinions we do not disagree with.
January 30th, 2012 | 9:38 pm
Why, though, is it a virtue to respect Mormonism? I don’t mean to ask why it’s a virtue to respect the right of people to be Mormon. Or to acknowledge that plenty of good and decent people are Mormons. Or to respect the fact that many people sincerely believe Mormonism to be true. Or acknowledge that devout Mormons might come up with interesting and provocative philosophical and theological insights. I mean why should Mormonism itself be respected?
I honestly find it absurd. I think the whole thing is an absurd con job, on a par with L Ron Hubbard’s Scientology. Should I not feel this way or express this view? Would it be disrespectful to do so if I was a public figure?
January 30th, 2012 | 11:08 pm
If I were Mormon I would view this as a good sign rather than a threat: the history of America’s “melting pot” suggests to me that such ridicule of whatever is different is a normal part of the process of being accepted as part of the culture.
The only way to keep “magical underpants” creepy is to keep them mostly out of sight – with hints and insinuations that make the offending garments seem mysterious and therefore slightly sinister. Once you’ve started openly ridiculing the strange and novel custom, it’s only a matter of time until it’s not strange anymore. Then hostile ridicule turns into affectionate kidding, eventually to disappear altogether.
January 31st, 2012 | 9:46 am
Boonton, I suspect that Schmitz is advocating “respect” in the same areas you cite, and not for Mormonism’s tenets. In other words: even if one has a hard time taking Mormonism per se seriously, it seems sensible to respect those Mormon practices that wouldn’t be wholly out of place in what one considered a more “reasonable” religion.
January 31st, 2012 | 10:35 am
“I honestly find it absurd. I think the whole thing is an absurd con job, on a par with L Ron Hubbard’s Scientology.”
I think the singling out of Mormons is what is absurd. Presumably I think every religion is wrong insofar as it disagrees with me as a matter of the Law of Non-contradiction. Members of other religions are free to say the same of my own. But it is not clear to me why Mormonism should be singled out for ridicule over and above other religions.
January 31st, 2012 | 12:15 pm
I think that one of the reasons why Mormonism is often singled out for ridicule is because so few non mormons know what it teaches. Most anti-mormons only know and repeat what they have heard other anti-mormons say. Anti-Mormon remarks are invariabley caused by ignorance of Mormon doctrine. Half-truths, missunderstanding are rife. Those who claim that the Book of Mormon is false, usualy have never even read it let alone studied its deep doctrinal teachings.
There are many falicies bandied about such as the use of Joseph Smith using cristal spectacles looking into his hat to transalate the ancient record. As for the undergarments some Mormons wear, it is the LAST thing they remove … should they be tempted to commit a sexual sin. A good final reminder of the covenents they have made with God.
February 1st, 2012 | 9:40 am
Anti-mormon rhetoric, which has been bandied about for 180 years, none of which is new, or not been replied to thousands of times, will continue regardless. Like i previously stated, most is based on missunderstanding, half truths and often compleate fabrication. Therefore my remarks on here are or little use. If one GENUINELY wants to know what Mormons believe and practice, one should go to a Mormon (LDS) official site and ask. ie., lds.org. and not bother with non-mormon sites, however they may try to be nuetral, they often have incorrect information.
I will invite any person who wants to discuss Mormon doctrine and not want to just be contencious, to email me. sidneyrynr@aol.com
Should one want to know the truth of so called mormonism, ask a Mormon, not an anti-mormon.
One of the Articles of Faith of the Mormon Church is ” We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship now, where, or what they may. Mormons RESPECT others beliefs.
February 1st, 2012 | 10:30 am
Like S.L. Hersey, I take the “respect” here to mean “treat with respect,” not “feel respect for.” As jason taylor says, all beliefs other than one’s own run up against the law of non-contradiction, and you can’t really “respect” something if you believe it’s just plain wrong. But you can treat it with respect in the sense of not inordinately mocking it just because it looks odd to you. Still you do not have to surrender your judgment about what is, and is not, odd to you.
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