The obligatory "you're a mormon, right?" FAQ

Introduction

You may have seen the badge on my sidebar urging you to "get the gospel, now!" with an obvious Salt Lake Temple sillhoutte and wondered:

"What in the fresh hell? Are mormons invading my webzone?"

the answer is yes, yes we are.

What is a mormon?

A "mormon" is a general term for those connected either by theology, culture or heritage to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the general american restorationist movement that this church is apart of. While the preferred name of the mainstream church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints", the term "mormon" can still often be used to describe the culture surrounding the religion.

What do mormons believe?

The beliefs of mormons can seem dauntingly complex but the general tenets of the religion that most healthy and rational mormons abide by are the following:

• God is real physical being and your loving Heavenly Father.
• Jesus Christ is the messiah, the son of the living God.
• The complete teachings and church of Jesus Christ were lost and misconstrued by centuries of cultural and political distortion.
• The fall of Adam and Eve were vital to the salvation and exhaltation of mankind.
• The heavens are not closed; Continuing revelation will continue to persist until the end of times.
• Prophets are called to receive revelation, but individuals are also capable of receiving revelation

Some things some types of Mormons may believe, but I absolutely do not believe:

• The church and its leaders are infallible.
• Polygamy or Plural Marriage is a celestial mandate and all must abide by it eventually.
• Other religions such as Catholicism are the "Whore of the Earth" as outlined in the Revelation of John.
• Race is spiritually decided, originates from the seed of cain, and other wildly racist theories.

What do you believe?

I think its important to note before I continue: Not all Latter-Day Saints are the same. Like any group of people we all have our own opinions, deeply rooted beliefs, and ideas about the world around us. As such none of what I say in the following section is an accurate representation of the views of The Church as an organization. They have their own website if you want their take.

How I feel about Gender

I have very little direct experience with trans identity, as a cis-man myself I am not going to for a second claim I know what the average trans person goes through on a daily basis.
That all being said, I believe it is a divine mandate to love all people the way my savior loves me. This statement usually gets used as a platitude, but I am dead serious. While my biggest exposure to trans identity is the handful of trans and non-binary friends I do have, I strive to not let a lack of understanding or ability to accurately sympathize get in the way of my ability to practice empathy and love. My religious community has a lot of current issues with this specfic topic, and I am not going to try to pretend those issues don't exist.
However, I want you to know that not only am I not like those people, but that I work near daily to change hearts and minds within my faith community to be not only more tolerant, but even encouraging them to stand up for the rights of people they may not understand.

Sexuality and The Family

I have expressed in private the skepticism I hold for the "set in stone" nature of current church policy regarding non-heterosexual relationships.
Being bisexual myself its easy for me to get caught up in my identity and want to actively fight against a faith so central to my life. However, I have seen that the church not only has made an effort in repairing the damage of previous policy decisons but also currently has a set of policy suspiciously similar to the policies in place for those of African descent before the 1978 revelation.
As it stands, the current doctrinal word on the matter is somewhat confusing at best, and harmful at worst, times like these I find solace in the words of The Savior himself:

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

~ Isaiah 49:16

I do think that a healthy family is vital to the growth of a child and relevant to our eternal progresion. But I have seen the fruits of happy, healthy, and loving non-traditional families.

So isn't The Church supposed to be racist or something?

Whether you heard it from that damn Ed Decker cartoon or just read into our history for 5 minutes you will find that as a culture, Mormons in the 20th century did some insane mental gymnastics to justify the racism that was not only prevelant in the church, but also the united states in general.
What we do know about the Preisthood Ban that barred those of african descent from holding the priesthood or worhiping in the temple is:

• It was something started by Brigham Young, the second president of the church.
• Young emphasized a "not one drop" policy that excluded anyone with any african heritage
• It was specfic to Africans, not all people with dark skin, though it may have been enforced contrary to this fact in some stakes.
• When the ban was finally lifted the leadership at the time were finding that there was no actual record of it being a revelation on doctrine.
• The policy persisted without this source for so long leadership expressed that they honestly didnt know how to approach the problem.

There are usually one of two schools of thought on this. Either the policy was a racist mistake upheld by men who did not care until it was in their face. Or it was a mandate from heaven we may never understand in this life. I am of the former. I certainly do not agree with Brigham Young on the status of Adam as being God the Father, so I am unlikely to be swayed to believe he was right about this.
Brigham Young was still a prophet, but he was also a human being just like you and me. He had great things to say about the value of hard work, and early utah economic policy was pretty based. But his racist views were wrong then and are wrong today.
Since 1978 the church and its community have been working to put such evils in the past. In the words of a current apostle D. Todd Christofferson:

"We should be diligent in rooting prejudice and discrimination out of the church, out of our homes and most of all out of our hearts."

What about this Banned Mormon Cartoon?

Ed Decker has been roasted by people who live their lives criticising the church, his scholarship is shaky at best and straight up disinformation at worst.
Its extremely disappointing when I see people who are otherwise academically and intellectually prudent take this absolute joke of a video at face value.
The only version of this need you concern yourself with is the following: