Mormon Culture Archive
At the World Congress of Families V in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Aug. 12, 2009, Russell M. Nelson spoke to the delegates about the importance of the traditional family. Elder Nelson is an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes informally referred to as Mormons. He said,
“Dear friends, future happiness and even the future of nations is linked to children. Families with children need to be re-enthroned as the fundamental unit of society. We simply must value children more than we do! Without a new generation to replace the old, there is no wealth; without families, there is no future.”
The traditional family is a fundamental principle of Mormonism. Mormon beliefs center around Jesus Christ as the head of the church, and the family as the fundamental building block of society. Children learn their first values from their parents, and parents should always be the primary teachers of values. Churches and other organizations can only support... Read the rest of this entry »
The Mormons are sometimes seen as having a great many restrictive rules. Mormons themselves know that within the rules are many opportunities for freedom, and that these rules actually make them freer than those with no rules.
An often-used example of freedom within structure is the sonnet. A sonnet is a poem with very strict rules.
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Shakespeare’s sonnets each contained fourteen lines. Every line had ten syllables written in iambic pentameter. Despite this very strict structure, Shakespeare managed to come up with 154 sonnets, all different, and many other people have also created sonnets based on this formula. The structure does not prevent people from being creative and writing something close to their heart. Rather, it actually frees the author. By having the structure in place, the poet is free to focus all his attention on the message and wording of the poem, which, after all, is the point of a poem.
In the same way, a Mormon is free to live a life of great variety without breaking... Read the rest of this entry »
The Pew Forum, which is not affiliated with the Church in any way, did a study of Mormons in the United States. One aspect of Mormons in their personal lives involved their feelings about and relationships with God.
The study found that every Mormon surveyed believed in God, which was higher than any other religion previously
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surveyed. In addition, nine out of ten were absolutely certain of God’s existence. Ninety-one percent of Mormons believe God is someone you can have a relationship with. All these figures are well above the normal for other groups.
What is it about the Mormons that makes them so likely to believe in God in a very personal way? One reason Mormons have a high rate of belief in God is that much time is spent teaching children and investigators of the church about God, and about how to find out if He is real. Those new to the faith, whether due to age or experience, are taught that they can pray to God and receive an answer to their sincere questions. They are taught... Read the rest of this entry »
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is touring the central United States this summer. Named America’s Choir by Ronald Reagan, they are considered an important part of American culture.
Brigham Young, the second president and prophet of the church, knew the Saints, as Mormons are often called, would need to keep their spirits up as they moved west after being forced from their homes in Illinois. When he put together the small group of people who would make the initial trek to Utah, he included musicians. In fact, every wagon company included at least one musician. Twenty-nine days after the first Mormons settled in Utah, a conference was held on August 22, 1847. A small choir sang at this conference, and the church has actually had a standing choir even before this, since the earliest days of the church in Ohio and Illinois. The first large choir was organized in 1829 under conductor George Careless.
In 1987, the church built a beautiful tabernacle that required four years to construct. The Mormon... Read the rest of this entry »
