As I’ve mentioned, I don’t tend to like talking religious specifics, but that’s only because I tend to view them as rather personal. It’s absolutely not a matter of not being familiar with them. Though I will admit I tended to see the specifics differently from how many would say I was supposed to view them.
I was raised in the Mormon tradition by a very traditional Mormon family, and studied some of the religion at the very traditional Brigham Young University. I grew up reading the Book of Mormon and other Mormon scripture as well as the Bible, every single day. Read all of them cover-to-cover a few times, and came away with a very loving, giving and forgiving message.
To me, the Word of God was all about treating one another with unconditional love and compassion, answering every need with charity and every hurt with tenderness. It was not our place to judge what others would choose, merely to offer what we felt was a wise example through our kindness and support of their troubles in life. We were expected to keep only what we needed for ourselves, sharing the rest so that all may be cared for, in body as well as in spirit. All were our brothers and sisters, to be sustained through the bonds of community without judgment of who (or what) others would call them.
Yeah, like I said, some would say I wasn’t getting the message. However, I came across an article the other day that reflected my own thoughts back to me:
Ironically, while Romney would prefer to discuss wealth inequality in “quiet rooms,” the topic consumed both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young’s sermons and writings. For a short time in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites abandoned their love of riches and established “Zion” — a classless utopia that “had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, but they were all made free.”
The Nephite story provided the template for Smith and Young’s social experiments with communalism. They would both try repeatedly to replicate the mythic Zion. Smith repeatedly told his followers, “if you are not equal in earthly things you cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things.” Young also championed wealth redistribution, “We have plenty here. No person is going to starve, or suffer, if there is an equal distribution of the necessaries of life.”
When Mormons Were Socialists: Why the Mormon Church’s Founders Would be Very Disappointed in Mitt Romney by Troy Williams
I remembered seeing a church musical all about a young pioneer woman who resented the communal economy of the early city of Zion, only to become disillusioned with the soulless materialism of the world outside. She returned to find them throwing out their communal values to chase the American Dream, and imploringly sang to them the same chorus they had sung to her about the shininess of materialistic wants: “It doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter!”
I found it pretty goofy and overblown for what I figured was an old message that went without saying. I was pretty disappointed when I realized that it still needed to be said, and to people who continue to profess more public Mormon piety than I ever felt I should.
Nynia in the Now 