Latter-day Saints, NAACP Collaborating on Inner-City Initiative

Earlier this year, the LDS church hosted a “unity luncheon” in Salt Lake City for NAACP board members. This luncheon was the beginning of collaboration between the two groups. Following this event was a speech given by a top LDS leader at the civil rights organization’s annual meeting, and NAACP board members traveling to attend part of the Mormon biannual conference.  The association between these two groups is focused on creating plans for fostering education and economic empowerment in urban centers across the country.  

The talk of collaboration continued when President Russell M. Nelson, top church officials, and NAACP officials joined together to call for “greater civility, racial and ethnic harmony and mutual respect.” They continued speaking about the joint effort at the 64th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education when NAACP President Derrick Johnson stated that, “all peoples can work together in harmony and should collaborate more on areas of common interest.” The collaboration efforts are expected to begin next year and involve making materials and manuals appropriate for people of all faiths and no faith.  

Early in October 2018, the LDS church and NAACP members met in Salt Lake City to continue making plans for an “education and employment initiative.” The topics that they hope to cover include personal finance and entrepreneurial advice. They plan on implementing these initiatives all over the country. The hope is that African-Americans will primarily attend the programs. Rev. Amos Brown, chair of the NAACP’s interreligious relations committee, made it clear by stating the LDS church does not have a hidden agenda of increasing its membership, but rather has a mission to foster better education and employment opportunities.  

In Albert Raboteau’s “Thomas Merton and Racial Reconciliation,” he explains how Merton agreed with white liberals that passing the Civil Rights legislation was needed, but that there was more that was needed than just passing a law. Raboteau explains, “…even if the law ‘were perfectly enforced it would still not be able to meet critical problems that were more strictly economic and sociological (jobs, housing, delinquency, irresponsible violence)’” (Raboteau 17). Merton’s explanation of the problems, beyond just enforcing the law, parallels what the LDS church and the NAACP are trying to do with their new collaboration and initiatives. Merton continues his statement by arguing that many African Americans consider the battle won after the Civil Rights legislation was passed, but he thinks that the Civil Rights legislation was only the beginning of more critical conflict.  

The collaboration between the LDS church and the NAACP has a mission of fostering education and economic empowerment in urban centers across the country. They hope to change the lives of African Americans who do not have easy access to resources and classes by giving them the skills they need to attain better education and employment. This initiative is the kind of affirmative action that African Americans have been seeking since the Civil Rights Movement, and the NAACP along with the LDS church plan to make it a success starting next year. 

 

Banks, Adelle M. “Latter-Day Saints, NAACP Collaborating on Inner-City Initiative.” Religion  

News Service, 15 Oct. 2018, religionnews.com/2018/10/15/latter-day-saints-naacp-collaborating-on-inner-city-initiative/. 

Raboteau, Albert. “Thomas Merton and Racial Reconciliation.” 

In the Mennonite Church USA, Congregations Realign on Sexuality

The Mennonite Church USA decided more than two years ago to welcome members of the LGBTQ community into the church. This led to a Mennonite pastor performing the marriage of a same-sex couple. As a result, pastor Issac Villegas’ ordination credentials were suspended with no plans to review the case or find a resolution. This put a major strain on the Virginia Mennonite Conference. The congregation transferred its membership to other churches and reinstated Villegas. This example proves that even in small denominations, realignment due to issues such as sexuality and gender is inevitable. Despite many of the denominations breaking away and coming together, Shimron states, “But the realignment is far from over.” The Mennonite Church still has a lot of reshaping coming in their future. 

The Mennonite Church is not the first church to be divided by issues to homosexuality and gender. In fact, many issues have been dividing churches since as early as the 19th century. These issues include slavery and women ordination. However, the most prominent issue in the 21st century is sexuality. The Episcopal Church divided dramatically after the first openly gay bishop was elected. Some conservative Episcopalians left the church to join Anglican bodies or a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in Africa. The reshaping of the Episcopal Church has many similarities to that of the reshaping of the Mennonite Church. 

The division of churches was also a topic in class when “My Homosexuality Is Getting Worse Every Day” by Rebecca L. Davis was discussed. Davis discussed, “As liberal Protestants, following the psychiatric mainstream, began to walk away from the sickness/treatment paradigm, evangelical and Pentecostal Christians marched in the opposite direction, championing the disease model of homosexuality” (Davis 361). Even in the 1970’s, the debate over homosexuality was a prominent topic. The debate was over whether homosexuality is a disease that can be cured. The liberal Protestants believed it was a disease until Evelyn Hooker a researcher from the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. said there was no difference in mental health between heterosexual and homosexual individuals. This was the turning point for liberal Protestants to accept this point of view. On the other hand, conservative Protestants adopted the disease/mental health model of homosexuality during the same time.  

The realignment of churches in the United States over the same topic continues to be a burning topic still fifty years later. Often, these divisions continue to be based around conservative Protestants and liberal Protestants. This parallel continues to show in the article “Breaking Faith: Religion, Americanism, and Civil Rights in Postwar Milwaukee” by Kevin D. Smith. In 1963, the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference split apart after the Missouri and Wisconsin Synod could not agree on a wide variety of issues including demographic changes and racial friction. Although this example did not include disputes over homosexuality, it does show how disputes in churches cause divisions that reshape churches. 

As displayed in the many examples above, reshaping of churches and denominations in America is a prominent part of studying religions in America. Although the topics of division and reshaping vary, divisions have been happening for a long time and continue to happen today. 

 

Davis, Rebecca L. “‘My Homosexuality Is Getting Worse Every Day.’” pp. 347–365. 

Shimron, Yonat. “In the Mennonite Church USA, Congregations Realign on Sexuality.” Religion News Service, 26 Sept. 2018, religionnews.com/2018/09/25/in-the-mennonite-church-usa-congregations-align-along-sexuality-axis/. 

Smith, Kevin D. “Breaking Faith: Religion, Americanism, and Civil Rights in Postwar Milwaukee.” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, vol. 20, no. 01, 2010, pp. 57–92., doi:10.1525/rac.2010.20.1.57.