Review
======
Title: Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics
Author: David E. Campbell, John C. Green, J. Quin Monson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Genre: Israel; Judaism; Mormonism
Year Published: 2014
Number of Pages: xiv + 294
Binding: Paperback
ISBN10: 1107662672
ISBN13: 978-11076662674
Price: $29.99
Reviewed by Colby Townsend for the Association for Mormon Letters
Politics have been a central component to Mormon History from its early beginnings. In large part much of the persecution that came in the early settlements of the Saints was due to political disputes between the Latter-day Saints and locals. [1] Historically Mormons have tended to vote as a body, which has been fuel for those outside of the community against the faith. In a time like today when an LDS bishop attempts to publicly question the faithfulness of a high ranking Democrat, and in almost the same month the publication of a faithful approach to understanding why there are many Mormons who are Democrats,[2] it seems like we have come a long way toward more political diversity in the faith (even if this fact is not accepted by everyone). For this reason “Seeking the Promised Land” is a welcome text in the ongoing discussion of awareness of political diversity within the LDS faith, and comes highly recommended for anyone interested in understanding the role of Mormonism in American politics.
The project began back when both Campbell and Monson were undergraduate students at BYU. With both of them studying Political Science they decided that they would one day write a book together on Mormons and Politics. Green is the only one on the team who is not Mormon, and so provides a perspective to the topic that the others could not. Together they have crafted a wonderful book.
The book is laid out in three parts. In Part 1 the authors describe how Mormons are an ethno-religious group by first introducing the reader to the Mormons, ironically titling the chapter “Meet the Mormons” at the same time the LDS church has a movie in theaters with the same title. In chapter 2 they note that they are not the first to call members of the LDS church an ethnic group, citing a statement written in 1861 by a U.S. Army officer that even describes the physical features “of the new race.” [3] Chapter 3 asks questions about how exactly Mormons are a “peculiar people,” and provides valuable information from surveys about the number of Mormons that hold specific beliefs and practices and compares and contrasts those results to members of other faiths. Although there are many charts and graphs that may be heavy for some, this is important and welcome material for the topic and will be extremely helpful to similar studies in the future.
In Part 2 the authors discuss the political distinctiveness of Mormonism, highlighting how the Republican party has become the dominant political view of modern Mormonism, even though it hasn’t always been so. Some of their most interesting findings include the fact that, although leaning heavily toward the Republican party and being the religion that has the highest percentage of Republicans, [4] Mormons will vote against the Republican party if there are issues accepted by the party but are perceived to run contrary to the faith. [5] Chapters 4-6 discuss these issues in detail, with chapter 6 looking closely at how Mormons approach and react to political cues they receive from the leadership of the church. This chapter again includes many charts and graphs, but many readers will be interested in both the graphs and the lengthy discussion of topics such as Mormonism’s role in and support of Proposition 8, the MX Missile during the Cold War,and even immigration reform. These test cases show “LDS leaders’ ability to persuade Church members” [6] on important political topics, and sometimes even away from more conservative stances.
In Part 3 the authors discuss in detail the consequences of the distinctiveness that Mormonism finds in itself. Chapter 7 reviews how the perception of Mormonism by the American public has had both positive and negative consequences attached. An example provided and outlined is that of Reed Smoot and his time as a U.S. senator. Smoot’s career as a senator was long and successful, running from 1903-1933. From 1903-1907 it was unclear whether Smoot was going to have a career as a senator because there were many in the Senate who did not approve of a Mormon, especially one in line to possibly become president and prophet of the church (Smoot was an apostle), taking office. After a lengthy debate, including the majority of the LDS hierarchy testifying in court, Smoot and seated and he had a successful three decades in the Senate.
In chapter 8 the authors look specifically at presidential campaigns and how the public perception of Mormonism has affected those Mormons who have been candidates for the presidency in the past. In this area the high point of a negative effect is found in Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2008, which made him lose much of the Evangelical vote to rivals in crucial states. Although Romney’s religion was an important factor in 2008, it was less so in 2012, and even less when his father ran in 1968 and in Morris Udall’s campaign in 1976. The public perception of Mormonism seems to have the ability to have very negative effects on the presidential run of individual Mormons, but more so today than it has in the past.
In chapter 9 that authors discuss how both Mitt Romney has affected Mormonism and Mormonism has affected Mitt Romney. Although the public perception of Mormonism in 2008 was quite low, dealing negatively toward Romney’s run for the White House, in 2012 he lost not because he was a Mormon, but instead as “a Mormon candidate who lost a presidential election.” [7] There is a big distinction in this. The authors claim that the difference between 2008 and 2012 was that most Americans did not have firsthand experience with Mormonism and were unsure of what it was exactly, outside of little myths and tales they had heard from friends growing up. With the presidential run in 2008 and questions surrounding Mormonism, most Americans were more aware of what Mormonism was in 2012. In this regard Romney has affected Mormonism positively, making more Americans aware of the religion, while at the same time the 2012 race was not as focused on Romney’s religion because many of the questions had been answered in 2008.
The authors then have a short concluding chapter appropriately titled “Seeking the Promised Land.” There are many little treasures throughout this book that Mormons and non-Mormons alike will find fascinating. It will be important for many to have a lot of the figures and information readily available to share in discussing Mormons and politics, either in person or online, and this book is a ready reference for the topic. While there were minor slips (“Thomas B. Monson” on page xi) here and there throughout the text, I found very little to complain about from the actual substance that is presented throughout the book.
This is a scholarly and learned book, and will impart important information about the influence of Mormonism on American politics for many generations to come. Anyone wanting to write a treatment on this subject will out of necessity turn to this book for their work, because it has so much new information to offer to the field.
Footnotes
=========
[1] Campbell, Green, and Monson, Seeking the Promised Land, 77.
[2] See Richard Davis, The Liberal Soul: Applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Politics (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2014).
[3] Campbell, Green, and Monson, op. cit., 26. There are also many other examples of scholars and laymen alike that have labeled Mormonism an ethnic group.
[4] The percentage of American Mormonism that is Republican is just over 50%, with the closest religious group, Evangelical Christians, coming in just under 40%.
[5] Campbell, Green, and Monson, op. cit., 23.
[6] Campbell, Green, and Monson, op. cit., 148.
[7] Campbell, Green, and Monson, op. cit., 251.