On a cold, damp night in late March I took a walk around Temple Square in Salt Lake City. I don't know what I was expecting but I found the monuments to Mormon life to be awe-inspiring. Dominating the 10 acre square is the massive, 20-story tall Salt Lake Temple. The temple is constructed of 9-foot thick walls of granite.
The temple is used by Church members for marriages and other sacred ordinances designed to "strengthen families," both now and for eternity. So says the sign out front. I'm sure they're referring to traditional families (see more on this below). Tourists are not invited.
What is a "Current Recommend?"
One must possess a "current recommend" to be admitted to the temple. It is a long list of years-long morality feats one must accomplish, so, alas, I would likely never pass. Link to current recommend requirements
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Historical materials available in the Square said the rock used in the construction of this magnificent building was hauled 23 miles by ox-drawn wagons from Little Cottonwood Canyon. The golden angel on top of the Temple heralds the restoration to earth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days.
While I'll make no comment about their beliefs in general I will say the subjugation of women and persecution of the LGBT community must end if they are to have a place in modern society.
The most charming building—and most inappropriately named—in the Square is the Salt Lake Assembly Hall. A plaque on site says the Assembly Hall was constructed of discarded granite stone from the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, across the Square.
The building is Victorian Gothic with rough granite walls laid out in cruciform style making the hall's exterior look like a small gothic cathedral. It is neither small (seats 1,400 audience) nor Gothic inside. It has no vaulted ceiling. You wouldn't know it from looking at it here with its 24 spires marking the perimeter of the building's footprint and a tower rising from the intersection of the floor plan's crucifix. On this cold, wet night it was delightfully deserted so I was able to admire it in peace.
A large American flag flies in front of the towering west wall of the Salt Lake Temple.
Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood
The Square features several bronze statues with some description. The bronze Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood includes this text:
On May 15 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery went into the woods to inquire of the Lord concerning baptism. As they prayed, "a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light" (Joseph Smith—History 1:68). This messenger was John the Baptist, who had baptized Jesus Christ in the River Jordan and was now a resurrected being. He laid his hands on Joseph and on Oliver and conferred upon each of them the Aaronic Priesthood. This priesthood, which had been absent from the earth for many centuries, includes the restored authority from God to baptize for the remission of sins.
Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood
Another bronze comes with this text:
The Melchizedek Priesthood is the authority of God to lead His Church, give the gift of the Holy Ghost, and perform other saving ordinances. This authority has been on earth whenever the Lord has revealed His gospel. It was lost from the earth after the death of Jesus's Apostles, but it was restored in may 18290, when the Apostles Peter, James and John conferred it upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. In the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood, "the power of godliness is manifest" (Doctrine and Covenants 84:20).
Some interesting stuff. Nothing I had ever heard of before, but interesting.
As I strolled around the Square with all of my cameras making artsy images of the place, several groups of women wearing long skirts and traditional hats came up to me hoping to save my soul. It was interesting to me that this job was delegated to young women. What are the adult men doing? I wondered. I was polite but told them my soul wasn't for the saving, I just wanted to admire the architecture. These women, I would learn later, are the sister missionaries (more on this below).
Their dedication to their cause was commendable. I walked past the Tabernacle where choir was in session into a large building with a spiral ramp leading up to the Christus statue pictured below.
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| The statue is a replica of the Christus, a statute of Jesus by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. It is located in a domed room with large windows and a ramp that leads up several stories to its seating platform. The walls are painted to resemble "heaven." |
The North Visitor Center was full of this kind of Jesus iconography, leading to this giant statue up a spiral ramp with 360° mural of an imagined heaven. There was a huge scale model of Old Jerusalem, and more young women handing me tracts and trying to save me.
On my way out of the Square I noticed the choir had exited the Tabernacle so I decided to go in for a peek. This building is really phenomenal. The 9-foot-thick roof was constructed with hardly any nails (they were scarce in 19th century Utah). The builder used a Remington lattice-truss arch system. Its cavernous interior has no obstructing columns. The building is massive (seating about 7,000). Its acoustics are incredible because of the roof's three-dimensional ellipse. Wow. Oh, and how about that organ. 11,623 pipes. Really something to behold.
I went back to the Temple Square to make some composed, daytime photos. It was not as special as at night but it is still impressive. By day it was full of worshipers and tourists. The noise alone kind of spoiled the daytime experience for me. The buildings remain awe-inspiring, and those young women were still out there trying to save souls.
I would later read that Temple Square visitors' centers and grounds are staffed by full-time sister missionaries and senior missionary couples exclusively; no single male missionaries are called to serve on Temple Square. The sister missionaries are from around the world, speaking enough languages to cater to the majority of visitors. They wear flag tags indicating their country of origin. No explanation of why for any of this, but it is what I experienced, twice. No couples, but lots of young women working hard to soul-save.
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| An artsy reflection of Salt Lake Assembly Hall in the Deseret Book Company building on the south side of Temple Square. Deseret is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, the holding company for business firms owned by the Mormon Church. They do radio (Bonneville), finance, medical insurance, Hawaii property management, Utah real estate, etc in addition to books. |
Alas, not all souls are equal in Mormon land just like in other organized religions. LGBTs are definitely persona non grata. That made this article all the more interesting, published a few days after my visit to Temple Square (below). More of my Temple Square photos are displayed with the article below.
Mormon Church to allow baptisms, blessings for children of LGBT parents, reversing 2015 policy
Children of LGBT parents can now be blessed or baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, church officials declared in a new policy on Thursday, April 4, 2019, dramatically reversing a 2015 decision that excluded those children from the rituals until they were 18. The church will also update its handbook for leaders, removing the label of “apostasy” for same-sex marriage.
“While we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression, it will not be treated as apostasy for purposes of Church discipline,” three Mormon leaders said in a joint statement on Thursday. “Instead, the immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way.”
The new policy, which effectively removes the threat of ex-communication for gay Mormons, was announced during the leadership session of the church’s 189th Annual General Conference.
“We want to reduce the hate and contention so common today,” the statement said.
However, the church, which lobbied against gay marriage in California and Hawaii before it became legal across the U.S., emphasized that the reversal of its policy does not change Mormon teaching that sex is intended for marriage between a man and a woman.
“People who are progressive see this as a positive change, but still not where they want the church to go,” said Steve Evans, a Salt Lake City-based contributor to the popular Mormon blog “By Common Consent."
The initial decision to exclude LGBT families from the core rituals, announced in June 2015, was met with fierce criticism across the 16 million-member Mormon Church. Many Mormons said at the time that they planned to exit the church over the announcement.
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| A distorted (on purpose) view of the west facing wall of the Salt Lake Temple. There are inscriptions in the lighted wall near the flag pole about moral living, etcetera. |
“It sent a shock wave through the church,” said Taylor Petrey, a religion professor at Kalamazoo College who is writing a book on gender and Mormonism.
Petrey said he was especially surprised by the new policy because the president of the church, Russell M. Nelson, was one of the old policy’s most vocal defenders.
“He called it a revelation, which is the highest status of church teaching there is,” he said. “To see that rescinded while he’s the head of the church is a shocking reversal.”
The policy and its reversal was determined by the church’s 15 member male leadership, which is known for being silent about its decisions. The church said it would not comment further.
Before the policy was announced in 2015, Mormon leaders were becoming known for trying to find a balance between advocating for their religious freedom and allowing for LGBT rights by working out a political compromise with LGBT leaders in Utah earlier that year. Surveys from the Pew Research Center found that the share of Mormons saying homosexuality should be accepted by society rose from 24 percent in 2007 to 36 percent in 2014.
But many Mormons saw the controversial policy as a step back from the relationships and reputation it had built as a broker between conservative religious communities and the LGBT community. Some local Mormon leaders weren’t sure how to implement it, said Matthew Bowman, a historian of the Mormon Church. For example, some Mormon children had parents who were in a same-sex relationship, but they weren’t living with them due to divorce.
“There have been local leaders who have slow-peddled it, put it on hold, or sought further clarification,” he said. “Because of that, the impact of it has not been [as widespread as] it could have been.”
Under the old policy, once the child of an LGBT parent turned 18, he or she could disavow the practice of same-sex cohabitation or marriage and stop living within the household and request special approval of church leaders to to join the church. Under the new policy, it will be no longer necessary to do this.
Children are usually blessed as infants and baptized around age 8, practices which Mormons believe are a covenant with God, necessary for salvation and essential for other rituals like marriage.
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| By day the Salt Lake Assembly Hall still looks like a quaint Gothic church (on the outside). You can also clearly see the Seagull Monument in the foreground. The Miracle of the Gulls is a story about Mormon settlers praying to God to stop a plague of crickets, which was so done thanks to seagulls (or something like that). |
Evans said that the reaction against the initial policy was so swift in large part because it seemed to punish children for the actions of parents.
“It’s probably the first time I’ve seen direct public opposition to a church policy by the rank and file,” he said. “That might have something to do with the reversal today.”
Still, he said, there might be pushback among some who thought the old policy was supposed to have been divined by God.
“People who supported it are saying, was it from God? If it was from God, why are you rolling it back?," Evans said. "Other people are saying, we knew it wasn’t from God. Does it call into question the church’s claims to divine authority because of the reversal? Maybe it points us to a leadership that isn’t infallible.”
Kerry Spencer, who was raised in the Mormon church and taught at Brigham Young University for several years, said the policy was a big reason she left the church in 2016. Mother of two children and engaged to be married to another woman, she said she was “cranky and annoyed” because her forthcoming marriage would still be considered a “serious transgression” by the church.
“You’re constantly made to think there’s something broken about you,” she said. “You’re somehow unfixable in this life.”
Mormons place a high emphasis on the family, and the church teaches that one must be married to achieve the fullness of salvation. Spencer said she doesn’t expect the church to make any further steps
“I’m glad they’re making baby steps,” she said. “It feels safer to have not much hope.”
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