An American Church?

I was remembering back to a paper I wrote in College in one of my comparative religion classes.

In this class we studied about black churches in America, and Santeria style religion.  I think we dealt with Judaism though I can not remember all that well.  Being over 10 years ago things are a little foggy.

At the end of the class we had to write a paper.  Pretty typical really for a class like this.  Paper, and a couple of tests and you have a final grade for the class.

So I decide to write about a church/religion that many believe is American.  Any one that has read this blog a few times might know I'm referring to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is considered American because of it's origins in upstate New York.
This is compared to religions like Hinduism or Buddism that come from Asia and have that distinctly Asian flavor or style.

Anyways, I regressed a bit.

The stance or point I took is that even though it has it origins in New England it was essentially rejected by the churches of the time as unacceptable.  I was thus shunned by a large portion of the population.  There is still all these 170+ years later a portion of the population that thinks members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are off there rockers, not christian, a cult and the like.
Thus, there are still some that don't accept this church as normal, acceptable Christianity.  Some finding it hard to put us in the Protestant or Catholic camps claim we are like a third spoke in Christianity.  It's true we are not protesting anything and we definitely believe we did not come from the Catholic tradition.

The reasoning I took early on is the fact that there was so much opposition to the religion and the things that Joseph Smith was teaching at the time.

Many believe that revelation had ceased;  He taught it had not and in fact claimed he had even talk with Jesus Christ and God the Father.
He taught that the Godhead (Holy Trinity) consisted of Distinct beings; He was shunned for that.  He taught about proper authority and the fact you don't just get is because you want it, or take issue with doctrines out there or go and study for 9 years;  He was persecuted for that as well.

The list could go on for some time.

The Americas since the 1500's had been a place that many people went to find religious freedom.  They did not like having the local ruler (king, prince, Emperor, etc) dictating to them they way to practice their religion.  So they came to a place that within a short time was free to practice your religion as you pleased.  To a point.  Back then due to the hardships of life community was very important.
If you belong to a specific community and began deviating from it's religious practices you could end up in trouble.  The Salem witch trials and Anne Hutchinson are prime examples.

However, due to the amount of space available, limited government and other circumstances you found that over time a bunch of different group could co-exist and various churches formed. These rights to religious freedom became enshrined in the constitution years later.
Some break ways from existing ones due to doctrinal differences.  Some splitting over leadership succession, finances and the like.
The bottom line is they could with little or no issue, persecution, or other problems.

This religious freedom that existed at this time had its benefits and blessings.  It allowed for the formation of various churches catering to varying beliefs.  But, because of this it also created a bit of confusion.  You see everyone of these churches was looking to increase their membership.  That is how the majority of the preachers supported themselves.  Through donations of the congregation the preacher was freed up to prepare sermons and do other church related business.

So it is no wonder then that with a multitude of churches and christian sects present in New England a young boy of 14 would be a bit confused as to which he should join. Each one in its own way talked bad about the others.  They heavily promoted their key points of doctrine, and what set them apart from the others.  That opened things up for a ton of confusion.

So Joseph Smith got inspired and went and asked after he found a very simple verse in the bible.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5).

And this is what set in motion the "American Church".  In reality due to the fact we believe it to be a restoration and not a new church I don't think the title fits all that well.  The church in it's organization works around the world in the multitude of cultures and countries.  Members have learned that if you show up in a church meeting in Hong Kong the format will be virtually identical to that which you will find in a meeting in Brazil or Germany.
Small minor changes may be present but, the overall format is nearly identical.  You may not understand the language but, you will know when they are handling the sacrament.  You'll be able to identify the likely leadership, speakers and the like.  The hymnals are essentially standardized the world over and the scriptures as well.

Now some of these things have changed over time.  And yes meetings are not the same as they were 50 or 150 years ago.  Things have to change.  They change as the needs change.  They changed as leadership had questions, received revelation (answers provided by God).  They still change as circumstances dictate.  However, the basic format, and structure has not changed.

I guess some would say that the American way of doing things has had it's effect on the overall setup and system of the church.  They may be correct in some respects.  Some things work better here in the United States but, upon implementation around the world don't so well.  A classic example is food storage.  The Northern countries of the world that have a real winter season with snow and lack of food have the necessity to do food storage.  The canning of the fruits and other items harvested is common place.
Now try and translate that "canning" to the Polynesian islands, or northern Brazil up by the equator. They have in many cases fruit growing on the tree year round.  They may be able to harvest a crop more then once a year.  Try doing that in Norway or Sweden!

Now, the overall food storage principle that the church teaches works in just about any location.  In as much you may not doing "canning" in Brazil, you still can store up some food.  Have a little extra on hand when an emergency occurs.  I think back to the time they had the riots in Los Angeles in the early 90's.  There was wide spread looting, mayhem, and other civil unrest.  Curfews were put in place and free movement as a little limited.  Now think if you had a bit of extra food stuffs on hand.  You'd be able weather the storm, survive with out exposing yourself to the activities going on around you.  This becomes just one of the many advantages of following the church leadership's council.

So go ahead and call it an American Church, but do it for the right reasons.  And keep in mind that it was not widely accepted back in the day when all it was was in America.  But, keep in mind it went international within just a few years.  Missionaries went to the Native American tribes in the 1830's.  They also headed across the Atlantic ocean to various parts of Europe at the same time.  The islands in the Pacific ocean had missionaries before the church was more then 70 years old.  Really, one of the only areas where the church is not officially proselytizing in the Middle East.  There are members all over the place there and other parts of Asia minor but, not to many missionaries.

Check this page out to find all the place the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are in.  Church Facts and Statistics


Don't try and claim that since it started in New York it has to be American.  Remember we were not so accepting of new things back in the day.  We were oddly a bit to intolerant of new religions or doctrines.  That changed over time to our benefit so much so that we didn't fall in to the same set of issues we fled Europe for.

So we had a fertile place was full of churches, sects and religions.  A boy with an innate desire to join the right church and the gumption to actually ask the source.....  and if that is truly American then so be it.....  That would make the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints a bit American.

Buaidh - NO - Bas