Anthropology 1010

Final Paper: Ethnography of Mormonism

Marisa Calistro
Introduction:

Introduction to Mormonism

An uprising and fast-spreading religion that is making its leaps and bounds across the

world is Mormonism. Members of this religious society are commonly referred to as Mormon,

LDS, Latter-Day Saints, just to name a few of their titles. Within the state of Utah, where I have

resided in for the past 10 years, the Mormonism is the prominent religion that nearly defines the

majority of the Utah population. In comparison, I am Christian, but have found myself at times

curious of how the LDS church’s society functions and how it defines a Mormon. In this, this is

identified as a culture shock, in that I indeed felt thrown into an unfamiliar culture, along with

their set of ideals that I only discovered with the time spent living in Utah, especially with Utah’s

largest temple grounds only a mere 15 minutes away. Though I feel well out of the woods with

the culture shock, I have not taken the personal time to understand why members of the LDS

present and function, which helped me determine why I chose Mormonism as my ethnography

research. The desired outcome of this research is to better understand Mormonism, which will

help me better understand members of this religion, that I also have many relationships with, and

to acknowledge the key differences from Mormonism and Christianity. Inclusive to this

ethnography will be covering the subject of the LDS religion, delving into the organization of the

political organization as well as the social stratification of the members of the church.

Information about kinship, marriage, gender, and the culture identity that the LDS church

acknowledges and accepts in their culture, but also the subjects taboo points as well.

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Methods:

The fieldwork for this research comprises of conversation interviews with both strangers

and acquaintances, best noted as a triangulation method, which is a mixture of various

ethnography research method. To start the process, I selected a few people, as well as met a

couple of people, of the LDS church or have been involved in the LDS church that would be able

to provide me with a helpful insight into Mormonism. This the list of people I had interviewed,

along with their age, gender, and my relationship as to how I know them:

-Paul Cruistine, 28, Male, Friend for 3 years

-Ena Cruistine, 27, Female, Friend for 3 years

-Jeff N., 25, Male, Cousin’s Boyfriend

-John, 32, Male, Stranger (Met at Single Ward night)

-Lauren, 23, Female, Stranger (Missionary)

I had selected Paul and Ena Cruistine as prime examples of uprising members of the

church, most recently taking in part of rites of passage and devoted to the LDS religion. He also

served as my tour guide through the Temple grounds and helped me better understand the

various structures and exhibits. Jeff N. I am acquainted with, but do not know the man very

well, as he is a relative of mines partner. However, I wanted his insight of the LDS church as his

point of view is of someone who was seemingly excommunicated from the church. These three

selected members of the church were selected for formal interviews, where we had both sat down

and I had few defining questions for them and best noted down their responses. As for the other

two, John and Lauren, their interviews were informal. I had recalled John after the fact that I had

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participated and met him at a Single Ward night, being a common member of the LDS society

and a good example of a middle-class man. Last, but not least, was Lauren, who I didn’t

interview, but I had interacted and who had provided me with a great example of who or what a

missionary is. I was not prepared to interview these two with prompted questions, but they had

mentioned things worthy of taking notes on and invoked questions from myself on the spot.

Fortunately, I did keep my note-pad with me while I out in my fieldwork so I could take notes on

their remarks or replies.

I also attended two social gatherings, the Single Ward night at the Dai Ichi Ward and the

General Conference at the LDS Temple grounds in Salt Lake City, using both the direct

observational or participant method. With the participant method, I was able to participate in a

couple of rituals and compare those rituals to Christianity, as well as strengthen bonds with LDS

members both old and new. The direct observational method distanced myself from members of

the church, but allowed me to focus more on my study, noting anything I had questions to

question when it came time to interview my interviewees or to research on my own time. I also

took time to walk through the Temple’s Visitor center a couple times in a day to observe it there

were any differences based on the time of day or to see if I encountered different interactions

with members of the Church, though I found little to no change on the time of day affecting the

studied members.

Targeted Areas for Fieldwork

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 The targeted data collection area that I mapped out consisted of two locations throughout

the research. The first and most well-known in the area, with also being the location that

provided the most observational information, was the LDS temple area referred best as Temple

Square North Visitors’ Center. This vast 10-acre property, owned by LDS Church, is in the heart

of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, and is open to all walks of people, even if not of the LDS

religion. At least, for the most part. I requested two friends of mine to guide me through the

Temple grounds, seemingly alike to a guided tour. When researching online for when to attend

the Temple grounds, General Conference stood out to me as a great opportunity to observe and

possibly participate observe vast quantities of members of the LDS church. LDS General

Conference is the gathering of members of the LDS church to receive instructions from various

Church leaders at the LDS Conference Center, which can be attended in person as well as

televised, to which it is also translated into numerous languages for those across the world who

also sit in to the four two-hour long sessions. Due to the large gathering for the conference, it

was as if the downtown area was taken over by members of the LDS church.

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 Temple North’s Visitor Center and Conference Center (Temple Square) (Retrieved from Google Maps)

Body:

Cultural vs. Personal Identities

Observing the crowds and crowds of people, there was noticeably numerous races, easily

marked to me with name plates pinned to their chest. Observing closer the clothes, I felt as if I

stood out of the crowd as I was just dressed in jeans and a tank top, everyone else around me

dressed conservatively, little skin shown. Learning later to dress a bit more conservatively out of

respect when I visited next, there were dress code rules that lead to this conservative look, such

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as no shoulders shown or no show of cleavage, needing to wear an undergarment. As we

continued through the Temple’s North Visitor center, I was informed the well-dressed women

were referred to as Sisters and the well-dressed men as Elders, the title on their tags followed by

their last name, with a few having attached country flags that I had deducted it was where they

were from originally. Though the name tags weren’t present on every man and woman, and I

jotted down a note to question why didn’t everyone present a name tag on their chest. When I

later interviewed Paul Cruistine, a member of the church and a friend of mine, he responded to

this question. ​ “They are people who are currently serving missions. They wear the badges to let

others know that they are part of the church and that they are are approachable men and women

in their community and that they are there to help anyone in need.” (Statement of interviewee

Paul Cruistine)​ Referring to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, missions are described as those

who are called upon to spread and deliver God’s message and word to those across the world.

When I questioned Cruistine more, he informed me that as long as you are over the age of 21,

you can serve a mission and can continue to serve missions for as long as you choose, but every

one has a choice to not serve a mission, even their first. In their customs, the first mission is

their most important and is a rite of passage, titled Missionaries, that represents a symbolism of

reaching adulthood with being allowed the responsibility to spread God’s word away from their

family, as missions are commonly served away from where the Missionary resides.

The Gender is only Man or Women

This observation shows that Mormonism is a wide spread religion and welcomes, as well

as contains, various race. In addition, all ages and genders are welcomed, or at least seen that

way. Not too far back, anyone who defined their personal identity as one of the opposite sex

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were not looked upon with high regards. In fact, it is with such little regard that same-sex

marriages are not allowed in the LDS church and can even result in denied access to the Temple,

which can only be entered by members of the church. Even further action, the leaders of the

church have the action of excommunicating these individuals if they see fit, inclusive of the

children they may also have. In the most recent news, on April 4th 2019, there was a policy

change within the Church that any children of LGBT parents may now be baptized in the church.

Researching into this, it was discovered that children of LGBT parents were not allowed to be

baptized, an immense rite of passage commonly at the age of 8, and could only do so if they

were either approved by their leaders or they denounced their parents at the age of 18. This

policy, titled the “November Policy”, stratified those of the opposite gender apart from those in

the church. With this policy update, you can observe change affecting the LDS church’s outlook

on LGBTQ members with more positivity, where same-sex attraction is not a sin, but acting

upon it is. ​(Retrived from Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints (Mormons), The Human Rights Campaign)

The Rites of Passage of Marriage

Alike in that, baptism is a heavily desired rite of passage for those in the church, which is

the ceremony seen as being blessed with eternal salvation and receiving the gift of the Holy

ghost, so is marriage. More so specifically is to be married in the Temple. Paul Cruistine

married his long-time girlfriend Ena, both elated that they were able to have the blessed

opportunity to be married in the Temple. The LDS views marriage as God’s central plan, circled

heavily around the ideals of family, and is stated in ​“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”:

(The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles statement) “...marriage between a

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man and a women is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for

eternal destiny of His children.” (Retrieved from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day

Saints, Intellectual Reserve) ​ In this, the First Presidency defines that marriage is a sealment into

the celestial kingdom to be sealed to one another through life and even through death in God’s

kingdom, but only though a Temple marriage as it is on God’s grounds, rather than a marriage

elsewhere in the city where you would be sealing yourself into the laws.

A picture of a sealing room in the Temple as I was unable to enter these sealed rooms as well as

photography of these rooms are not allowed. ​(Retrieved from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The

Intellectual Reserve Inc.)

The Cruistine’s together explained to me that for themselves, they are sealed into the

temple in which they were married in, however there were several steps that they had to oversee

before they could have their Temple wedding. Ena explained to me that there was only

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disappointing factor in becoming married in the Temple. ​“I am the only one in my family that is

LDS and in order for them to be at our wedding, they had to wait outside the Temple until our

marriage ceremony was over.” (Statement of interviewee Ena Cruistine)​ Learning more about

their temple marriage, Ena also was not allowed to pick out a dress she originally would have

wanted and had to select instead a Temple wedding dress. A year after they were married, they

had a non-Temple marriage and had a typical Western marriage for not only their friends that

were unable to attend due to also having a lack of a Temple Recommendation, but Ena’s family

as well.

The Social Norm of Kinship and Stratification

After marriage comes another rite of passage that is seen as God’s sons or daughters

spirits of a premortal life brought to earth; children. The LDS smiles proudly upon families, a

larger smile with larger families. It is commonly mistaken that LDS families must comprise of

copious quantities of children, even if it is more common. Upon participating in a Single Ward

night at the Dai Ichi Ward, an event every Wednesday held at a local ward (church house) for

young single men and women, I met a man named John. While we were talking, I learned that

John was number 3 of 1 out of 10 children total in his family. Questioning him further, as well

as others that I had met that night, I had started to observe the common lifestyles of those in the

LDS religion. One example is that wives were almost expectant to be stay at home mothers

when they bore their children, especially as having more children than having one child was

highly desired and which would make the caretaking of these aging children basically a full time

job. This left the husband to be expectant as the provider of the family, making enough money

and providing the supplies to which their family could survive off of. It is not seen as taboo if

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the wife and husband choose to have less children and if that the wife works whilst the man takes

care of the children, but it is more commonly practiced the opposite and is very much in common

with old Western traditions of the man being the provider and the women being the support,

which also leads into men typically having more authority.

The man’s authority in the church heavily shows if you review the head leaders of the

church, comprised of nearly 92 men; no women. Beneath those 92 or so men are other political

divisions that are of lesser power that do withhold 9 women and 9 men. Though it is said that it

is that the roles just differ, women with responsibilities of motherhood and sisterhood and men

with responsibilities of fatherhood and priesthood, which leaves less women in higher ranks of

power. However, this isn’t the only stratification that presides within the LDS church, but there

is also different social classes based on the taboos of church members that leads to the lowest

form of class in the Church; excommunication. For example, I had also interviewed someone I

already knew before the research with knowing that he had proclaimed that he was no longer of

the Mormon faith. Jeff had withdrawn from the church about 10 years ago in that the social

construct of the church weighed down on him uncomfortably and he shared that, although with

much harsher tones, that there was a heavier weight of judgement from his own family. He

explained that he had set down a negative path in his life, at least how it was viewed from his

family and it was not how he saw it. Jeff had wanted to seek out new experiences that were

frowned upon in the church, such as alcohol. Opposite to that, there were experiences that he

also did not want to embark on when the time came which was seen as taboo, such as serving a

mission. Jeff explained that he quickly became outcasted not only in his community, but also

within his own family. He felt judged and instead of not being welcomed, he felt as if all eyes

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were on him. In his LDS community experience, his social status was seen as the lowest of low.

In fear of the possibility of becoming excommunicated, he instead took charged and denounced

his belief in the LDS church and discarded the religion he was raised in.

Mormonism vs. Christianity

After reviewing all of my notes, I observed that though Mormonism and Christianity

believe in the same God and Jesus based off of the bible, the teachings, rituals, and practices of

these religions differ vastly. In Christianity, there are no dress codes and though they should

dress respectfully towards others, the choice in garments were open. The only title that you

could find on a nametag or that is proclaimed onto someone is a Pastor, a role given to a male

who provides as God’s voice and word. The LDS Church and Christianity are similar in that the

authority lives more towards males than females, acting more as the instruments through which

God speaks. The picture of a family is ideal and desired, though Christians do not see it as

children from a premortal life coming down to earth, also leading to the lesser idea of having

multiple children. Marriage and baptism is a sacred ceremony for both of these religions, though

access to both are more accessible to Christians who are more free to select their locations,

whereas Mormons must go through these rites of passage through the Temple, which requires

that they are allowed in the Temple with a Temple recommendation. Personally, I was baptized

in the ocean in Hawaii with my family around me, the idea that I was just to be cleansed and

baptized in water. For Mormons, there is a the Baptistry room that is only accessible to the one

to be baptized, the parents, and a member of the ward to oversee the baptism. Overall, both

religions seem to be open minded and welcoming to new members of the church, where I was

often stopped by missionaries to be talked to about the Book of Mormon and about God, like

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when Lauren stopped me and even handed me a copy of the Book of Mormon when I stated that

I was Christian, the girl ecstatic that I seemed to have a firm basis of God already.

Copy of The Book of Mormon received from Lauren as a gift.

Conclusion:

Final Thoughts

This study provide deeper insight into the LDS church’s beliefs, practices, and lifestyle,

helping me better understand why members of the church present themselves and how they

interact with others, inclusive of the relationships I have with those of this religion. There are

still things that I would never be able to observe and understand unless I became a member of the

church, such as rooms that were sealed off from me on the Temple grounds due to the fact that I

am not a member of the church. I also question if the teachings of the LDS church differ from

here in Utah compared to different states or countries, but I have learned much about the

Mormons of Utah. This study with further help develop others a motivation to learn more about

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the LDS religion and not to take things at just the surface, in that they should go deeper to better

understand how the Church is organized and functions as a prominent society throughout the

world.

References

-Riess J., Bigelow C.K., (2005). ​Mormonism For Dummies,​ Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing,

Inc.

-Intellectual Reserve Inc. (2019). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved

from​ ​https://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

-Lee, Harold B. Library, Brigham Young University. (1992). Encyclopedia of Mormonism.

Retrieved from​ ​https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/5426

-Intellectual Reserve Inc. (2019). General Conference. Retrieved from

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/what-is-general-conference

-The Human Rights Campaign. (2019). Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Retrieved from

https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-da

y-sainthttps://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-church-of-jesus-christ-of-la

tter-day-saint

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