Creating a Universalist Mormon

My husband and I have been talking about what traditions we want to teach our child. We both agree that there are some aspects of Mormon culture (to be distinguished from the doctrine taught in the Book of Mormon) that we do not want our child to learn.

One of these aspects that was prominent in my childhood was the tradition of excluding anything or anyone that was not "Mormon". The books in our house had to be sanctified by my parents as pro-Mormon and our friends had to be active Mormons. My husband and I don't want that life for our child, we want our child to be exposed to and appreciate all of the world's religions and all of the world's cultures. We hope that our child will have a variety of friends; we only ask that they are good kids.

The question is how do we accomplish this goal. I enjoy attending the Mormon congregation that I attend. I have friends there and I like the feeling of community that I get being part of the congregation. I have good memories of attending the children's classes and as a teenager participating in the youth activities. Just because I don't like some aspects of the Mormon culture, I don't want to discard the things that were good and beneficial.

However, if we allow our child to participate in the activities, our child is going to be exposed to the aspects of Mormon culture that we don't like. While it is going to be a challenge to ensure that our child doesn't accept the teachings that are not in line with our beliefs, we are going to have the challenge regardless. Each place our child goes, whether it be church, school or friends homes he/she is going to be exposed to beliefs with which we don't agree.

So, we'll continue to attend our Mormon congregation and make sure we are talking to our child and correcting any teachings that disagree with our beliefs. We will also take our child to the Thai Buddhist temple that we like to visit from time to time. We will probably also take our child to other congregations of other denominations. We already have a wide variety of books and our discussions among ourselves cover a number of topics that are not always pro-Mormon. The reality is that my husband and I are open and accepting so chances are that is what our child will learn.

Our desire to raise our child in an open and accepting environment is not against Mormon beliefs. This openness seems to be something that has been conveniently forgotten when it doesn't benefit the believer. Our 13th article of faith says: "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."". In the Book of Mormon, there is a scripture that supports acceptance: "For behold, the Lord doth grant [teachers] unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true." (Alma 29:8) I added the word teachers to provide some context. If the Lord gave teachings to all nations then all religions are from the Lord and there is truth to be learned from them.

Interestingly enough a recent edition of Newsweek had an article about Huston Smith who wrote the book "The World's Religions". As Newsweek describes the book, it summarizes the most important and valuable aspects of the 8 main religions of the world. To quote Newsweek: "Smith introduced Americans to the notion that the world is full of all kinds of believers and that an educated person might learn a thing or two from another's faith." My interest was definitely peeked. I checked the book out of the library and I'm currently reading it. I'm loving it!

The Newsweek article called Huston Smith's beliefs universalism. His Universalism had a Methodist swing because he grew up Methodist. Maybe my child will be a Universalist Mormon!