Go West, Young Religion: Mormonism on Exhibit

[rug]

A docent with visitors at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, which presents the history of the Mormon church. (Kristin Murphy for The New York Times)

By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
Published: April 22, 2012

SALT LAKE CITY — The president, according to Mormon doctrine, is literally a seer, a prophet — the president, that is, of the church. Usually American presidents have a somewhat lower reputation.

Now that Mitt Romney, an active Mormon, is aspiring to the more mundane office, new attention has come upon the faith that guides him. And much of that attention has been accompanied by controversy, confusion and concern about how Mormonism fits into American society.

For a glimpse of how Mormons see themselves, though, it’s worth visiting the Church History Museum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here. Created by believers, for believers, the museum shows how close to the center of American life Mormons consider themselves to be.

The gap is enormous between that perspective and the one embedded in the wider culture. The hit Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” riotously mocks the church’s doctrine. The high-toned HBO soap “Big Love,” which ended last year, relished the complications of polygamy (once endorsed by the church and long since renounced). Reports of posthumous Mormon baptisms of Holocaust victims have fueled outrage. Accusations of extremism and murder appear in thrillers reaching back to Sherlock Holmes’s first case in “A Study in Scarlet.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/arts/design/in-salt-lake-city-museum-shows-how-mormons-see-themselves.html

[edhopper]

1. Do they have copies of the

Golden Tablets? Or a diorama recreation of the White Salamander?

[rug]

2. It appears to showcase church history rather than church theology.

http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/museum

The copies of the plates is The Book of Mormon. Moroni took the plates back. You'll have to go to Manchester, New York for the diorama (and pageant).



http://www.josephsmith.net/josephsmith/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=014968f0374f1010VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD

[madrchsod]

3. i wonder if there will be miniature gun battles they had with the Baptists?

[rug]

4. Don't know but you can go to Nauvoo, Illinois to learn about the massacres.

http://www.lds.org/placestovisit/eng/historical-sites/nauvoo-visitors-center

http://www.lib.niu.edu/2000/ihy001211.html

[madrchsod]

7. been there when i was a kid

my dad read just about everything to do with early illinois history. so growing up i ...whether or not i wanted to hear it..learned a lot about illinois history. one of my history teachers in community college was an authority on illinois history. he worked with paul simon historical plaques and monuments across the state.

[rug]

8. Local history is too often neglected.

Glad you got a dose of it.

IIRC correctly, a group stayed behind with Joseph Smith, Jr. after his father was killed and formed the Reorganized LDS.

[cbayer]

5. Kathleen Madigan's stand up routine on visiting Salt Lake City is hilarious.

She didn't make it to this museum, but did see some temples.

[kestrel91316]

6. I'd lay serious odds that the exhibit doesn't mention

anything at all about the Danites..........

[EvolveOrConvolve]

9. "Presents the history of the Mormon church..."

Yes, a highly sanitized version of LDS history. There are some pretty nasty pieces of Mormon history that they do a good job of glossing over or hiding entirely.

If you think I'm kidding, Google "Danites" or "Blood Atonement" or "Mountain Meadows Massacre". The early LDS church was incredibly similar to what nowadays we would call Organized Crime.