"I'm a Mormon" Campaign

I'm a Mormon Campaign: I am boycotting it. I don't like it. It feels cheap, like we are selling our religion. I know the campaign is attempting to dispel the increase in negativity toward us, but that is just part of being who we are. I feel ashamed that we have to plaster our religion on billboards throughout the city, or run TV commercials that are trying to say that Mormons are all around you and you don't even know it. As if we are Mutants in X-men trying to tell the world that we aren't the bad guys. I think it is sad that they pick the people that stick out (like the black guy, the guy who builds motorcycles, the trucker, the woman who adopted two special needs kids, or the widowed mother of 5 teens) to be in their commercials; it's like we have to wave a flag and declare "we're not all middle-class white stay-at-home moms who have 5-10 kids" even though the the stereotype IS true of Mormons, no matter what our slant.

I read an article in the New York Times that reflected this campaign. Its focus was on how Mormon fashion trends have changed; it is no longer solely the BYU-preppy look but a more retro look that is now okay in modern times, adjusting somewhat to having to wear garments underneath. The article's underlying tone is negative to guidelines Mormons must adhere to, insinuating that it is okay to fudge it a little, that some tattoos are acceptable and there are ways to "get around" having to wear garments. I am not saying that I love wearing two layers in hot humid summers, or that I have no qualms with saying no to the cute top that looks flattering on me, and I certainly can't rightly say that long shorts look good on a short person with little leg to bare in the first place. I suppose I hated the article because it felt like my inner struggle was exposed, and the feelings I have been trying to change have been condoned. It IS hard to be fashionable/pretty and modest, especially since I think many people are modest who don't wear sleeves or knee-length shorts. (I feel it is acceptable to at least be obedient while I am still working on the attitude part, so don't judge me too harshly.) I am sure the aim of the article was to show that it is possible to do both, but it felt more like saying it's now okay to fudge it to fit in; the fashion spin on the "I'm a Mormon" campaign was to show another aspect of how your Mormon-next-door was just like everyone else, not an alien. But again, I feel like it makes us out to be even more weird than we already are because we have to try so hard not to look like it.

I think it's terrible timing. While the Campaign has nothing to do with Mitt Romney running for president, the fact that it has been launched just as he has been getting hit with anti-Mormon mudslinging makes people think the LDS church is endorsing his candidacy. Or the other way around: using his candidacy as a platform to pump up the Mormon image. Personally, I don't like that a Mormon is running for president. If I vote for him, it will be despite his religion, not because of it. (A friend of mine was so excited to find out her doctor was Christian; she felt more confident trusting his medical opinion. My thought was: what does that have to do with how well he does his job? Would she have felt different if he was Jewish or Muslim?) I foresee only bad things coming from it: 1.Mormons under the microscope: media finding every tiny infraction an imperfect Mormon makes and waving it as an example to the world that Mormons are bad. 2."We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." D&C 121:39. Power corrupts, and I worry Mitt Romney would be no different. This would be bad for the Church on every count. 3.No president can make the people happy right now. More than half the nation will hate the president, whether he is Mormon or not, and his religion will create more fodder for them to hate.

I don't really think that a person's religion would be a big deal to other people. What does it matter to them? As far as the president goes, I don't see what it has to do with their qualifications for the job since church and state are supposed to be separated. Second, I kind of thought, for the most part, the Mormons were the ones that made a big deal about negative media about our religion. When there were things on TV about polygamy or the Broadway play that came out last year making fun of our religion, Mormons were up in arms over it. I doubt very many people even knew about them until the Mormons started talking about it. When some preacher juxtaposed Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, saying one was Christian and the other was not, I figured the only people who even knew about this incident were the Mormons. But apparently, it was plastered all over the news. I suppose for this reason, the "I'm a Mormon" Campaign is helpful in that it gets curious people a place to go to get real answers. But how much of this negative feedback are we getting because we are asking for the added attention? For the most part, the non-Mormon friends I have made in the last year or two understand that I am Mormon, which they know is a Christian religion, but they don't care one way or another. All this publicity, whether solicited by the Church or spotlighted by the presidential candidate, would, in my opinion, if anything, shine a negative and/or desperate light on us. I read an article called Why is anti-Mormon rhetoric acceptable in US? that talked about how it is okay to openly hate Mormons when it is such a crime to hate Jews, Blacks, or Gays. Someone said in response to that article that the reason people get away with bullying the Mormons so much is because we don't angrily retaliate against attackers. If this campaign is meant as a way to stand up against these bullies, then I am okay with that; I don't like it when we just lay down and let people spit on us. But if it is to push our religion under the noses of people who don't care or who already hate us, I am very much against it. I don't like being visited by Jehovah's Witnesses coming to the door when I have already politely told them 5 times in the last month that I am not interested; I hate pushy salesmen and actually hide from them if I see them in the store. If I feel that way as the receiver, then I would hate to do that to someone else. It makes me a terrible missionary, I know. I never planned on serving a mission for a reason.

I am anticipating a lesson on this campaign in church on Sunday: what it is, how to create a profile, etc. I'm sure it is a great missionary tool. But for me, who has had my religion used against me, it makes me feel too exposed. Perhaps I'm wrong to want to be cautious about sharing my religion with others. But what about casting pearls before swine? I've been hurt too many times; I am scared to let others know who the real me is before I know them enough to trust them. Heck, I've been hurt too many times by "my own people" to let them know who the real me is! My religion is such a big part of me, but I don't define myself by it. Yes, I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, but I am first and foremost a Child of God, a Mormon second. I'm saying that I am still me, with or without my religion; take me or leave me, but don't judge me one way or another because of a label.

I don't like parading around my religion, the same as I don't like people watching me dance. (I dance best when I pretend no one is watching, even though I know in the back of my head that people see me...but I don't need to dance in the spotlight.) I am a relatively private person. When I am open about things that are close to my heart, I make myself vulnerable, and usually, I end up regretting it.

Does this make me a bad Mormon?