Thinking of Mormons, Use Of The Word Cult, and Freedom of Speech.

Last Thursday, at my book club, we somehow got on the subject of Mormons. One of the book club members proclaimed Mormons to be a cult. I object to using the word cult. Because although it means: a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader (source: dictionary.com). How most people mean the word is: Any religion that I don't like. Also having had a loved one who was a member of a "cult (for lack of a better word)" I know that people sometimes do and say truly heinous things to supposed cult members and justify it by saying, "They're a cult." Supposed cult members have had their children taken from them, have been arrested, been beaten up, harrassed, had bags of flaming dog crap left on their porches, etc. Just to name a few things that I've personally seen happen to supposed cult members. I used to work with a lot of Mormons. Mormonism was majority religion in that work place. My Mormon co-workers told me about being out on their mission and having dogs set out on them, being sprayed with hoses, chased off with shot guns, etc - just being cursed at was a welcome change. Because of that I always try to be nice to the Mormon missionaries when they come to my front door. Anyway, a young girl appearing to be no more than 18 years old was sitting near by and heard all this. She is a Mormon. She got upset and cried. The girl's mother came and told us off. The person who called the Mormons a cult did offer to apologize, but the mother obviously wouldn't let her near the girl.

This led into a discussion of the First Ammendment which guarantees the rights of Mormons to - well - be Mormons, and the rights of others to be able to say things like, "Mormons are a cult." I am probably well on record that my First Ammendment rights are the ones I value most highly. As a member of a minority religion (that sometimes gets called a cult) I value both my freedom of religion and freedom of speech highly enough that I would be willing to die for them. But, with freedom comes responsibility. If you exercise your freedom of speech in an offensive manner - you accept that there could be consequences. You could get punched in the nose. You could lose your job - for instance I'm not allowed to do any kind of political campaigning or I'll get fired. When I worked for the DOC I couldn't speak to the media without permission of the Director, or I would have been fired. All kinds of bad things can happen because you opened up your big yap and said something offensive. In this particular case, it will probably result in my book club being thrown out of Barnes and Noble. But, there's another potential consequence that I didn't think of until later: It could affect my job - even though I am not the one who said it. I often go out in public and represent the agency I work for at local churches. Around holiday time, a lot of local churches have "Alternative Giving Fairs" and invite local charities to send a representative and set up displays. I have gone, on more than one occassion, to the local Latter Day Saints (Mormon) church to represent my agency. Now, I feel like I can't go there anymore. How the heck am I supposed to explain to my boss that I can't go to the LDS church lest I be recognized as being part of that group of obnoxious big mouths that called the Mormons a cult and made a young girl cry, and that recognition ends up costing my agency money in lost donations? And how is my boss supposed to respond to that? Will she say, "You can't participate in that group anymore?" Will I get fired? If I'm going to get into trouble with my employer I want it to be because of something MY big mouth actually said.

Of course, I'm assuming that the mother is Mormon, and that she will create a lot of trouble. But, she didn't say, "I am a Mormon." She said, "My daughter is a Mormon." The daughter could have moved - well, she did move, but not until after she got upset by our hate speech. Barnes and Noble should have put out the sign reserving the area for the book club, but they didn't. Not to mention - as loud as some of us are you really wouldn't have had to have been sitting right by us to hear us. But, the statement, "My daughter is a Mormon" tells me that the daughter is probably not only very young, but possibly a recent convert. So, how is an 18 year old/possible recent convert supposed to stand up and give a defence of her faith to a large group of people who are 1) obviously a lot older than her 2) more educated than her, 3) have just been calling her names (use of the word cult). Nobody would have listened to what the girl had to say anyway. When someone starts throwing that word around it means they've made up their minds, and they won't hear further discussion.

In fairness to my book club, we are equal opportunity pickers. We pick on Catholics - even though three of the group are Catholic. We pick on Presbyterians. We pick on Mennonites. We pick on Pentacostals/Evangelicals. We pick on Quakers. But, here's what we don't do - we don't hurl the word "cult" at any of those groups, and I'm assuming that we wouldn't - because using that word crosses a boundary of decency. Mormons often use the works of C.S. Lewis to defend their position on certain issues. The Great Divorce is a great example of that because it holds out the possibility of conversion after death - a very Mormon idea. It is entirely possible - as long as we keep meeting in a common place like Barnes and Noble - that a Mormon could come to participate in our group. And while we would undoubtedly pick on him/her - we pick on everyone else - would that person have to endure having the word cult hurled at him/her? If that person tried to give a reasoned defense of his/her faith (as most of my former co-workers were completely capable of doing) would that person be listened to, or would we just start ridiculing him/her about his Holy Mormon Underwear. And seriously folks - is wearing special underwear any stranger than say - circumcision? Wearing a covering? Dressing in plain clothes? Having to have a beard? Earlocks? Get over it.