The Church Americans Often Mock Could Teach Us to Heal

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In the aftermath of tragedy, Americans are used to hearing politicians offer words of comfort and promises to find answers. But Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination last month felt very different. He called Kirk’s killing a “watershed” in American history, where we can choose to escalate or make the choice to embrace a common life together. “We can always point the finger at the other side, and at some point we have to find an off-ramp or it’s going to get much, much worse. … All of us have an opportunity right now to do something different.”

Cox’s words were important on their own, but understanding where they came from is critical. Cox embodies a deep civic tradition rooted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a tradition that teaches not just coexistence but cooperation across divides.

Two years ago, I was named an Impact Scholar at the University of Utah. I’ve made six trips to Salt Lake City since that appointment and met several times with Gov. Cox. The man is nothing if not sincere. In an era where partisans take pleasure in burning down each other’s houses, he has made building bridges the signature theme of his time in office and as the chair of the National Governors Association.

Though elected as a Republican governor, he speaks more like a civic leader than a partisan politician. His primary concern is what’s good for the nation, not just his own party or political survival. President Obama displayed a similar quality. And while I’m sure Cox’s approach frustrates some Republicans — just as Obama’s civility frustrated partisan Democrats — this commitment to considerate conversation across lines of disagreement could not come at a more crucial time

It’s a commitment shared widely in the Mormon tradition. Bridging divides was central to the theology of Russell Nelson, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who died last month at age 101. Here’s what he said in a Time magazine essay written on his 101^st birthday:

“Imagine how different our world could be if more of us were peacemakers — building bridges of understanding rather than walls of prejudice — especially with those who may see the world differently than we do. I have seen bitter divisions soften when neighbors chose to listen to one another with respect rather than suspicion. Even small acts — like reaching out across lines of faith, culture, or politics — can open doors to healing. There is power in affording others the human dignity that all of God’s children deserve.”

Unexpected Admirers

This devotion to cooperation across differences has found admirers beyond the Mormon faith. Author and gay activist Jonathan Rauch, for example, does not believe in the Latter-day Saints doctrine or its value system of heterosexual monogamous marriage, but does embrace what he calls its “civic theology.”

The church’s core message is simple: We are called by God to live our own convictions, to respect the identities of our neighbors, and to not simply coexist amicably but to cooperate enthusiastically with them.

From their inception in 1830, however, Mormons have been a reviled minority in American life. The federal government considered their growing community so dangerous that President James Buchanan sent 2,500 troops to Utah to intimidate the early Mormon settlers. Even today, Mormons come in dead last on religious favorability scales. Anti-Mormon chants have become a regular occurrence when Brigham Young University’s football team plays an away game.

Ridicule in the media is partly responsible for these negative perceptions. Consider the caricaturizing of Mormons in the Broadway play “The Book of Mormon.” The television show American Primeval depicts Brigham Young, the faith’s founder, as a bloodthirsty tyrant.

Such perceptions can turn into prejudice with tragic consequences. Just last week a man who had developed a deep grudge against Mormons allegedly murdered four of them during a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints service near Flint, Mich.

This time of grief for the Mormon community should also be a time to move away from harmful stereotypes and learn from the civic vision that has enabled them to endure hostility and contribute so much to America’s common life.

The Salt Lake Example

Salt Lake City has the highest rates of upward mobility in the country, meaning a poor child has a better chance of rising out of poverty there than any other city in America. The secret, columnist Megan McCardle discovered, is not big government, it’s civil society: namely the social welfare institutions created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, staffed largely by Mormon volunteers, and committed to serving everyone.

In Utah, those volunteers don’t just run food pantries. At Welfare Square, the church’s vast social service hub in Salt Lake City, they staff bakeries, dairy operations, and canning facilities, creating a remarkable full-service safety net.

This ethic of service yields massive results outside of Salt Lake City as well. After hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida, more than 21,000 Mormons volunteered to help clean up and provide relief. Just last month, volunteers with the Latter-day Saints partnered with the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition to feed more than 1,000 Chicago families.

Devoted not just to fellow adherents of their faith, but to neighbors of every background, Mormons are willing to join hands to advance the common good — even with those who hold dramatically different beliefs and definitions of social justice. They are an excellent example of how tight-knit community can build bridges of cooperation.

Inspiring Ideals

Despite the challenges and prejudice standing in their way, Mormons encapsulate what is perhaps America’s most paradoxical quality: that our most reviled minority groups help the nation achieve its most inspiring ideals.

In 1965, amidst similar unrest and anxiety about the future of the country, Martin Luther King Jr. assured us that the American dream “is a dream of a land where men of all races, of all nationalities, of all creeds can live together as brothers.”

Carrying the torch into the new millennia, Barack Obama’s first line after winning the 2008 presidential election affirmed a kindred truth: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

Both King and Obama called us to our higher ideals during crucible moments in American life — moments when division seemed insurmountable and hope was at a deficit. Now, Utah’s Mormon governor joins that company, placing the onus on all of us to steer Americans off the road of division and political violence and onto the path of pluralism and promise.

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