LDS Political Identity by Randall Raban

Political Identity

Utah is a state that has a unique political character. The reason for the state’s uniqueness is the high percentage of the population that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this blog post, I argue that members of the LDS church do in fact have a distinct political identity here in the United States. To support my argument, I will provide brief statistical data that shows a clear preference among LDS Americans concerning the two main political parties, which also suggests the presence of a distinct political identity among Mormons. Then, I will use both the primordialist and constructivist arguments to provide an explanation as to why this distinct political identity has formed.

Mormon = Republican

               An interesting dynamic of the LDS faith is the vast number of its members that favor the Republican Party. According to the National Survey of Mormons that was conducted in the fall of 2011 by Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, 80% of Mormons in Utah belong to the Republican Party. 8% of Utah Mormons are independent voters and only 12% are Democrats(City Weekly, 2012). One might think that this partisan trend exists only among Utah Mormons; however, 74% of Mormons living outside of Utah identify themselves with the Republican Party, 9% are independent voters, and 17% are Democrats. This data suggest that certain elements of the LDS faith encourage members all over the United States to identify themselves with the political ideologies that are represented by the Republican Party as opposed to those represented by the Democratic Party. The next paragraph uses both the primordialist and constructivist arguments to explain some likely causes of the presence of this distinct LDS political identity.

Primordialism and Constructivism

According to the book Comparative Politics, primordialism is an idea that suggests that a political identity is formed during a person’s infancy as he or she is subject to the political preferences and ideologies of his or her community (Samuels 2012). The book also states that this kind of political identity can become politicized when “individuals view the visible manifestations of their community’s culture--its language, religion, symbols, clothes, food, and other practices--as natural, timeless, and worth defending” (Samuels 2012, 153).The LDS church definitely has a distinct community that has its own language, symbols, dress code, food (funeral potatoes), and practices. The majority of the members of the LDS faith feel that principles that are taught within this community are worth defending such as traditional marriage between a man and a woman and the preservation of life for unborn children. Therefore, one reason that so many members of the LDS faith identify themselves with the Republican Party is because it is the party that most closely promotes the ideology that exists in their culture.

In addition to the primordialist argument, the constructivist argument suggests that a political identity can be acquired, replaced, or changed in time.  In one example, the book points to Christian missionaries as a means of the politicization of religious identities. The book states that “slow, long-term change in the social context shapes how individuals conceive of themselves and their community, which, in turn, influences the politicization of identity as whole” (Samuels 2012, 159). The LDS church has one of the largest missionary programs of any church in the world. Young missionaries teach the principles of their church in hopes that other people will be converted to them.  As people accept these principles many times they abandon their old way of thinking and align their beliefs with that of the LDS culture.

Conclusion

               As seen in the paragraphs above, the LDS religion does indeed have a distinct political identity. The causes of this unique political identity can be seen in both the primordialist and constructivist arguments. On one hand, political identity is created within the LDS culture which aligns itself with the teachings of the church, and on the other hand, missionary efforts help in the changing of political identities by teaching the principles of their religious culture.

 

REFERENCES

1.      City Weekly. Myth of the Utah Mormon. http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-77-15433-               myth-of-the-utah-mormon.html (accessed October 11, 2012).

2.      Samuels, David J. 2012. Comparative Politics. New Jersey: Pearson.