A contemporary religious political movement: LDS Church’s nation-wide political campaigns

Abstract

Drawing empirically on the examples of the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ (Mormon) participation in anti-ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) ratification campaign and its latest attempts to influence other political issues of moral consequences (such as same-sex marriage) in the United States, the paper attempts to analyse the dynamics of a contemporary religiously motivated political movement.

Despite being, on any of these issues, a part of a wider coalition of political actors, the Mormon church displayed a specifically religious motivation, justification and modus operandi. Owing to strong religious legitimacy of their power – based on the doctrine of continuous revelation and enhanced by a sort of “personality cult” of the Church President-Prophet developing in late 20^th century – the leadership of the church has been capable of effective grassroots mobilization, achieved through a disciplined universal priesthood structure.

While, from the theoretical point of view, this Mormon political movement is of a traditional, “old” variation (ideological and social cohesion of members, well-defined, stable membership, hierarchical leadership etc.) it has nevertheless been relatively successful in modern political environment. The Mormon engagement, at least in the anti-ERA campaign, had made a difference certainly in Utah, and probably elsewhere as well.