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Georgetown University welcomed Dr. Benjamin Park, associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University, for a February 2 conversation about his most recent book, American Zion: A New History of Mormonism (2024).
Dr. Park joined Berkley Center Senior Research Fellow Judd Birdsall for a discussion about the history of Mormonism and the story of how the religion succeeded in the United States.
The Origins of Mormonism
In writing this book, Park hoped to demonstrate how the history of Mormonism can offer insight into broader American life, religious history, and democracy. He argues that we can all benefit from understanding how Mormonism came to be largely socially conservative, politically republican, and yet culturally diverse.
“Mormonism can tell us something about how we got to our current divided state of America where we are beset with conflict and strife. So, I argue that Mormonism, like America in general, is a product of two centuries of culture wars.”
When Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830, many American perceived it as a threat. Smith's practice of polygamy and theocracy challenged norms around marriage and church-state separation. Mormons were subsequently expelled from multiple U.S. cities, moving around the country before finally settling in Utah.
Race in nineteenth-century America was bound up in Social Darwinist ideals. Mormon practices set them apart from the ways that white Protestant Americans believed a religious communities should act. As a result, Park explains, Mormons were seen as undeserving of religious liberties and labeled as non-white and foreign.
The Emergence of a Religious Right
It may come as a surprise to many that at the onset of the twentieth century, Mormons were not perceived to be a pillar of the cultural and political right. In response to almost a century of marginalization, the church would begin shifting toward the right, enacting certain changes, such as banning polygamy and embracing the two-party system, in an attempt to demonstrate their commonality with the dominant American culture.
Following World War II, Mormons entered the political scene, joining the culture wars over topics such as gender and sowing the early seeds of what would become the religious right. In embracing a new vision of Christian libertarianism, some prominent Mormon leaders merged Christian ideals with the right-wing conservative vision of America as one nation under God.
“Now that they are part of this cultural coalition that’s soon to be called the religious right, they have found a venue to flex their political muscles, as long as they can define their issues as moral rather than political.”
Mormon political influence became so strong that they played a large part in shifting support away from the Equal Rights Amendment. Moreover, the merging of Mormon ideals and modern politics was especially evident during the 2020 presidential election when a Mormon protestor dressed as Captain Moroni suggested that the Democrats’ alleged theft of the election was an example of evil straight out of the Book of Mormon.
Mormons in the Cultural Consciousness
In highlighting the difficult cultural work that Mormons have done to prove their patriotism, Park makes clear that, despite bumps in the road, they have been mostly successful in shifting the cultural consciousness in their favor. At one time Mormons were considered dangerous foreign entities. After joining the political sphere, this changed, and as they further adapted to fit into mainstream American society, they became not only harmless, but key cultural touchpoints.
By 2012, Mormons were everywhere: Mitt Romney was running for political office, the musical Book of Mormon was selling out, and television shows such as Sister Wives and Big Love were gaining popularity. Park points to these as illustrations of the way Mormons had become both a devoted Republican voting bloc and a central part of American society.
Thus, cultural assimilation was seemingly successful for the LDS Church. In some ways they adapted their institution, abolishing polygamy, removing racial restrictions in the church, and attempting to move away from the nickname “Mormon” in order to highlight similarities with the broader Christian church. To be a successful religion in America, Park argues, requires a delicate balancing act.
“One of the things that has made Mormonism successful, in terms of converts and growth over the years, is that they have been able to adjust to changing cultural circumstances while convincing followers that we’re remaining the same.”