MORMONISM (CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS), BIOETHICS IN

The religious movement that has become known worldwide as Mormonism began in an obscure region in New York State in the 1820s. The founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., declared to both followers and opponents that he had, beginning at age 14, received a series of visions and revelations from God, Jesus Christ, and angelic messengers. Smith maintained that through these divine ministrations, he had received authorization to "restore" the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity and fullness to the world (Pearl of Great Price (PGP)). A principal form of tangible evidence for Smith's divine call was the production of a new scriptural record, called The Book of Mormon, which related an account of God's promises to the peoples of the western hemisphere. Smith, as well as close associates, stated that he had translated the text from inscribed golden plates through divine inspiration, and the Book of Mormon was published in 1830 (Book of Mormon (BM)). The terms Mormon and Mormonism derive from the title of this book, although the terms were most frequently invoked as epithets by opponents of the new religion.

Ecclesiastical Overview

In April 1830, Smith organized the Church of Christ in Fayette, New York. An aggressively evangelistic religion from the beginning, the new church gained adherents and inspired animosity as it gradually followed the westward migration of the American frontier, moving its central locus to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois during the next fifteen years. Smith continued to receive revelations, which were first compiled in 1835 into another new record of scripture, entitled The Doctrine and Covenants. In 1837, Smith was instructed to call the organization "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (LDS), the title by which the religion is formally known today. This title contains four defining themes:

1. Church—The organization was deemed to be the repository of divine truth and ritual practices necessary for the salvation of human beings.
2. Jesus Christ—The church was to understand itself as authorized and governed by the resurrected Jesus Christ, and not to take its identity from a book (the Mormon church) or a person. A theocratic hierarchy was established within which Joseph Smith (and his successors) were acknowledged as "prophets" or spokesmen through whom Christ would reveal his will for the church and for the world. Their ecclesiastical office and responsibility was portrayed as similar to that of Moses for the people of Israel (DC).
3. Latter-Day—Church teachings were to emphasize a millenarian eschatology; the world was considered to be in its "final days" prior to the return or "second coming" of Jesus Christ.
4. Saints—All members of the religion were to be known officially as "saints," as was deemed the practice of early Christianity.

The population concentration of communities of saints in what were at the time sparsely settled regions of the frontier often led to conflicts with previously-existing institutions, including churches, business, and political systems. Smith was frequently imprisoned, typically on charges of sedition or for posing threats to public morality. On one such occasion, in June 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered in a jail in Carthage, Illinois. After a period of controversy over Smith's successor, the senior member of the remaining ecclesiastical leadership, Brigham Young, assumed the role of presiding officer of the church and eventually was acknowledged as the "prophet" (Arrington and Bitton).

Beginning in 1846, Brigham Young led the LDS migration to a geographically isolated, and hence, religious oasis, founding Salt Lake City and other communities in the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains. Indeed, within the next three decades, fueled in large measure by emigrants from the British Isles, Young was responsible for organizing over 350 settlements in what are now seven states.

It also fell to Young to make a public announcement of the religious practice that would make the religion a pariah for the next seventy-five years, "plural marriage" or polygamy. Joseph Smith had initiated this practice among leading church elders in the 1840s. Smith prayed over the question of why the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as the kings David and Solomon, had been allowed to have plural wives and concubines. The divine answer, he claimed, was a revelation regarding the "new and everlasting covenant of marriage," which included the eternal bond of the marital and family relationship, and permitted the "sealing" of faithful males to additional wives in special circumstances (DC). Plural marriage continued to receive formal endorsement by Smith's successors until 1890, when a Manifesto issued by prophet Wilford Woodruff officially renounced the practice (DC). In the intervening period, the U.S. government passed several laws that permitted the confiscation of ecclesiastical property and fines and imprisonment for practitioners. Despite well over a century of emphasis on monogamous marriage and the nuclear family, the polygamy legacy continues to be part of the public identity of the LDS religion. Indeed, splinter groups continue the theology and practice of polygamy in remote areas of southern Utah, and northern Arizona and northern Mexico.

In the post-polygamy era, ecclesiastical leaders made a concerted effort to move the church into the mainstream of American religious culture and social life (Bush, 1993). It sought to portray itself as exemplifying the work ethic of the larger culture, while ensuring a welfare program for those unable to work. Leaders advocated the family unit, structured around heterosexual marriage, as not only divinely required but a social necessity. The historical hostility to political and legislative paternalism was gradually transformed into a committed patriotism, with the U.S. Constitution portrayed as a divinely inspired document to be defended.

The acculturation of the LDS church to American civic mores was accompanied by the continuation of evangelism virtually worldwide. Since the middle of the twentieth century, church membership has grown eleven-fold to just over 11 million adherents, the majority of whom reside outside the United States. The twenty-first century internationalization of what was a very small and exclusive movement in the nineteenth century is the most significant ecclesiastical challenge at this time.

Scriptures, Authority, and Agency

As indicated previously, a distinctive feature of the LDS religious tradition from its inception is its explicit acceptance of continuing divine revelation, including an "open canon" of scripture. There are four recognized books of scripture, collectively known as the standard works, in that they provide "the standard" against which truth and error can be discerned. The source of Joseph Smith's original questioning about religious truth was the Holy Bible; in ecclesiastical practice and discourse, the King James Version is used as authoritative. The Bible does not have preeminence in the faith, however; that distinction is claimed by the Book of Mormon, which was described by Smith as "the keystone of [LDS] religion" (p. 194). An article of faith (comparable to a creedal statement) written by Smith in response to a query about the basic beliefs of the religion asserts: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God" (PGP, p. 60).

The two books in principle are held to be theologically complementary, and both are considered authentic renditions of ancient history. The Bible is portrayed as the story of the word of God and the covenants of God's people in the Semitic, Hebraic, Jewish, and Hellenistic world. The Book of Mormon is considered to be the story of God's word and the covenants of his people among the original inhabitants of the continents of the Americas (c.a. 2000 b.c.e.–400 c.e.). At the core of both texts, the tradition believes, is a testament of Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. Indeed, responding to long-held perceptions that Mormons were not Christians, the Book of Mormon was given a subtitle in the 1980s, Another Witness of Jesus Christ.

A third authoritative text is The Doctrine and Covenants, which is comprised of some of the revelations and writings of Joseph Smith from 1823 to 1844, as well as some additional proclamations, declarations, and revelations promulgated by Smith's successors and accepted by the ecclesiastical body as canonical. The most recent addition to this book occurred in 1978. A fourth book, known as the The Pearl of Great Price, was not officially accepted as scriptural until 1880. It contains writings on the Genesis creation narrative attributed to the biblical figures Abraham and Moses, as well as a short history authored by Joseph Smith about his religious experiences.

These four texts constitute the ecclesiastical standards for assessing both sacred and secular knowledge. They are not, however, self-interpreting or always directly applicable to situations that individuals may confront in everyday experience. A second distinctive feature of the LDS religious tradition is that it relies on a lay clergy, which is hierarchically organized under the direction of two bodies of ecclesiastical leadership known as The First Presidency and The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. These groups, typically comprised of fifteen males, were originated by Joseph Smith and are the principal resource not only of ecclesiastical governance, but also for scriptural interpretation (DC). In a tradition that does not have any formally trained priests or theologians, the scriptural interpretations rendered by the general authorities as these groups are called, are indispensable authoritative guides. Moreover, the LDS canon makes it clear that when general authorities speak as moved by divine influence, their words are the "ecclesiastical equivalent" of canonized scripture. The tradition is emphatic in claiming that God's words and works are "endless," and cannot be fully contained in one book, or even four books, but also include the words (and actions) of these ecclesiastical leaders (DC, PGP).

Divine influence is not confined to such leaders, however. Each baptized member receives a blessing that enables that person to receive the companionship of the divine spirit for his or her own personal, familial, religious, and even vocational, roles in life. Indeed, LDS scripture teaches that each person born into the world is given the capacity for "moral agency." Moral agency grants to capable persons the freedom of making decisions about moral right and wrong, virtue and vice, and good and evil. There are safeguards, however, that prevent a collapse of moral agency into subjectivism. First, while individuals are free to choose their actions, they cannot freely choose the consequences of their choice, and will be held accountable (by conscience, peers, God, etc.) for their actions. Second, the tradition teaches that human beings are more apt to choose the good and virtuous through relying on divine influence, whether that is manifested in the form of individual discernment or revelation, or from teachings of ecclesiastical leaders, or from the canonical scriptures. The concept of moral agency overlaps in important respects the bioethical principle of respect for autonomy; these similarities and differences will be highlighted in the section below on bioethical questions.

The Christian Status of Mormonism

Joseph Smith, Jr. insisted that he was an instrument in God's hands in restoring the good news or gospel that Jesus Christ had preached, as recorded in the New Testament and then practiced in the primitive Christian church. Smith's message of restoration was, however, often perceived by others as a demonic perversion of Christian faith. As Smith wrote of the response to his first vision, a minister "treated my communication … with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles.…" (PGP, p. 50). The question of the Christian status of Mormonism has remained an enduring issue and source of controversy since the latter's inception.

Smith also maintained that the fundamental principle of the LDS religion concerned the redemption of humanity through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a theological claim that would seem to be in harmony with traditional Christian doctrine. However, Smith's call to restore and proclaim this gospel to the world in its last days presupposes that contemporaneous Christian religions had departed in some way from Jesus's invitation to salvation. As LDS theology developed, primarily in the formative years from 1830 to 1844, substantive differences with traditional Christian thought emerged over such matters as:

The nature of the Trinity;
The concept of the Fall and original sin;
The redemptive efficacy of Christ's sacrifice;
The necessity and timing of baptism;
The relationship of grace, faith, and works;
The presence of spiritual gifts (such as prophecy and healing);
The authority of extra-biblical sacred writing;
The source of ecclesiastical authority;
The meaning of divine revelation.

In the judgment of most Christian writers and denominations, LDS answers to these issues of orthodoxy, or right belief, have been cumulatively sufficient to place the tradition outside the boundaries of the Christian communion. This judgment has been reinforced by attitudes about particular LDS practices and rituals. Most prominently, these included the revulsion (informed by mores of the Victorian age) against polygamy, the LDS practice of which confirmed judgments of doctrinal deviation. Moreover, LDS evangelical zeal, with its presumption of privileged access to divine truth, seemed to run contrary to the emerging ethos of ecumenism and respect for religious pluralism. LDS evangelistic exclusivity has been reinforced by ritualistic exclusivity: The most sacred of LDS rituals, including the covenant of marriage, are performed in temples, special houses of worship that are not accessible to the public.

To be sure, in an age of increasing acceptance of religious pluralism, the Mormon version of the Christian message no longer seems to elicit a pariah designation among most mainstream Christian denominations in the United States. The Christian status question is currently most compelling among evangelical Protestant churches, particularly in areas of the world where there is evangelistic competition for converts.

Indeed, the evolving internationalization of the LDS Church has stimulated interest about commonalities and differences with the classical world religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, as well as many indigenous faiths. Historically and conceptually, the LDS tradition situates itself within the Abrahamic family of religions including Islam and Judaism, as well as Christianity. However, LDS scripture indicates that God has provided religious truth to all peoples (BM); figures such as the Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse, Mohammed, and Moses, as well as sacred writings such as the Qur'an or the Upanishads are considered prophetic figures and revelations of divine wisdom for their specific cultures and eras.

Worldview and Bioethics

LDS teachings on bioethics are embedded within a comprehensive worldview of divine design, human destiny, and ultimate meaning. Within LDS discourse, the worldview is most commonly referred to as "the plan of salvation." It includes the eternal nature of the self, the pre-mortal existence of persons, mortality as an educational and probationary realm, and genealogical research and liturgical rituals to offer salvation to individuals who have died.

PRE-MORTAL LIFE. A distinctive teaching of LDS theology is that all persons are spirit children of God, in whose presence they lived as individual selves in a life prior to mortality. During this pre-mortal existence, human spirits received instruction about their eternal nature and destiny, and the necessity of experiencing mortality. In this realm, all spirit selves subsequently born on earth made a defining use of their moral agency, choosing to accept God's plan for salvation articulated by and embodied in Jesus Christ.

This narrative of human origins informs certain LDS perspectives on bioethics questions at the beginning of life. The plan of salvation requires that all spirit children of God experience mortal life. This narrative is connected, in direct and indirect ways, to judgments on such issues as procreation and contraception, reproductive technology and abortion, and use of pre-conceptual and pre-natal genetic testing (Campbell, 1993).

MORTALITY. In the narrative of salvation, mortal life has very specific purposes. Mortality first of all provides each of God's spirit children with a physical body. In contrast to theological dualism or Cartesian mechanism, LDS scripture asserts that the human "soul" is constituted by spirit and body (DC).

Second, mortality is the proving ground for the responsible use of moral agency. Mortal life is unavoidably made of encounters that require persons to use their agency. These choices, to one degree or another, manifest the extent of their fidelity to their pre-mortal promise to follow the plan of God. The commandments articulated by God's Son and by God's prophets illuminate the ultimate purpose of these choices.

These mortal purposes and choices set out further LDS perspectives on bioethics issues. The theology of embodiment underlies positions on procreation, transplantation, and a health code known as the Word of Wisdom (DC). This teaching emphasizes a healthy diet through consumption of such things as herbs, fruits, and grains, as well as the discriminating use of meat, which is to be used sparingly, only in times of excess hunger and cold. The prohibitions of the Word of Wisdom are more culturally familiar, and more ecclesiastically enforced; they include specific prohibitions on the use of tobacco, consumption of wine or strong drink (alcohol), and hot drinks (which tradition has interpreted to refer to coffee and tea) (Bush, 1993).

Although there is, as described below, general ecclesiastical guidance on numerous bioethics issues, in almost all circumstances, this guidance directs adherents to rely ultimately on their personal moral agency. The two circumstances in which ecclesiastical teaching restricts or proscribes agency concern the intentional taking of life in abortion and euthanasia.

RESEARCH AND RITUALS FOR THE DEAD. The plan of salvation is universal in scope—God seeks to redeem all his spirit children—but is respectful of moral agency. All persons, regardless of their cultural or temporal epoch, must receive a fair opportunity to be educated about the plan, and the restoration to God's presence through the redemption offered by Jesus Christ. Persons cannot be held responsible for complying with theological commandments and moral standards about which they have no knowledge. With this knowledge, persons are positioned to enact their agency most fully. This understanding provides a theological warrant for a principle of informed consent.

LDS teaching acknowledges that its evangelical programs notwithstanding, in point of fact relatively few persons have received this opportunity during their mortal sojourn. What of those billions of persons who have lived and died without awareness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its restoration? A defining mission of the LDS Church is to encourage its members to participate in genealogical research and trace ancestral lines. Such research intends, in part, to identify deceased persons who have not been informed of the story of salvation. This education, LDS scripture maintains, occurs through evangelization in the post-mortal world of disembodied spirits (DC). Meanwhile, living persons assume the role of proxies for the deceased and perform essential liturgical rituals of salvation, such as the covenants of baptism and marriage. Moral agency for the living is coupled with presumed consent for the dead to manifest the universal and eternal reach of the divine plan.

Specific Questions in Bioethics

Formal LDS engagement with contemporary medical ethics can be traced to a June 1974 ecclesiastical document entitledAttitudes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints toward Certain Medical Problems. This statement was developed in the aftermath of the court decision in Roe v. Wade (abortion rights) and promulgated in 1977 in the wake of In the Matter of Quinlan (right to die). A good portion of the document was eventually incorporated into the general policy manual of the church, The Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI), and soon became an authoritative basis for local ecclesiastical leaders (Bush, 1979). These attitudes have undergone generally minor modifications in the intervening years in response to pastoral concerns and developments in biomedical technology and its professional regulation. What follows is a short overview of current guidelines on nine questions of bioethics shaped by issues at life's beginning and ending.

LIFE BEGINNINGS. Abortion. The LDS Church "opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience" (CHI, 157). Exceptions to this prohibition may occur in circumstances where (1) medical prognosis confirms that continuation of the pregnancy places the life or good health of the mother in serious danger; or (2) the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest; or (3) a medical finding that "the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth" (CHI, p. 157).

Artificial Insemination, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), and Surrogacy. The responsibility for resorting to artificial insemination by husband (AIH) or artificial insemination by donor (AID) should be determined by the married couple. The major ecclesiastical concern has to do with third-party gametes and about a supportive family structure for the child. Thus, both AID and IVF using donor gametes are "strongly discouraged," as such may complicate family harmony, but in both circumstances, ecclesiastical concerns acknowledge that the ultimate responsibility for such a decision is left to the married couple. Sperm donation and surrogacy are likewise strongly discouraged, but no decisionmaking latitude is explicitly recognized. The strongest ecclesiastical concern is directed to AID for single women, which "is not approved," and may incur ecclesiastical discipline (Hinckley).

Contraception. Of any LDS ecclesiastical teaching on medical ethics, the position and rationale regarding contraception has undergone the most extensive revision in the past quarter century. The moral agency of the couple is affirmed: "The decision as to how many children to have and when to have them is extremely intimate and private and should be left between the couple and the Lord" (CHI, p. 158).

Sterilization. Current ecclesiastical policy affirms: "The Church strongly discourages surgical sterilization as an elective form of birth control" (CHI, p. 160). Surgical sterilization is a consideration only in circumstances of (1) medical conditions that seriously jeopardize life or health, or for (2) persons who are mentally incompetent and not responsible for their actions owing to experiencing a birth defect or serious trauma.

LIFE ENDINGS. Cremation. Currently, cremation is "not encouraged" as a matter of ecclesiastical policy, but the final decision about disposition is entrusted to the agency of the family.

Dissection and autopsy. The contemporary ecclesiastical attitude is framed in terms of permission—autopsies may be performed—provided the following procedural guidelines are fulfilled: (1) compliance with applicable law, and(2) consent of the deceased's loved ones or family.

Euthanasia. Even as civil and professional society has become more tolerant of euthanasia and physician-assistance in suicide, the ecclesiastical attitude has become more rigid (Campbell, 1994). The 1970s term mercy killing has been discarded in current teaching and replaced by a definition of euthanasia: "Euthanasia is defined as deliberately putting to death a person who is suffering from an incurable condition or disease" (CHI, p. 156). This definition also encompasses "so-called assisted suicide." Resort to euthanasia is considered to "violate the commandments of God," although ecclesiastical instruction does not specify which commandments are contravened.

Transplantation. The donation of bodily organs for post-mortem transplant or research is a matter for individual conscience and agency.

Treatment termination. There is no obligation to "extend mortal life by means that are unreasonable" (CHI, p. 156). The determination of unreasonable, and implicitly, reasonable means is a matter for family determination, who may engage in prayer and fasting to receive divine guidance, as well as consult with professional caregivers, about end-of-life decisions. While there is no explicit ecclesiastical direction on the subject of advance directives, both the silence on the subject and the LDS cultural attitude that preparation alleviates fear suggest they may be appropriate mechanisms for members faced with end-of-life choices.

Ecclesiastical instructions on the above issues are very cryptic and do not provide explicit theological rationales for the conclusions addressed (e.g., the general prohibition of abortion makes no reference to the moral status of the fetus). However, as described above, these teachings are embedded within the broader LDS worldview of the plan of salvation, and this suggests some principles that the bioethics conclusions seem to presume, or without which the ecclesiastical teaching is incoherent. These principles include respect for moral agency, embodiment, family integrity, protection of the vulnerable, the sanctity of human life, and stewardship (Campbell, 1992, 1994). Some important issues in bioethics that are noteworthy for their omission in both ecclesiastical guidance and LDS writing in general include research on human subjects (as well as stem cell research), genetic screening and therapy, access to health care, and determination of death.

courtney s. campbell

SEE ALSO: Authority in Religious Traditions; Christianity, Bioethics in; Family and Family Medicine; Natural Law; Women, Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbott, Deborah, ed. 2002. The Latter-Day Saints Tradition: Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions. Chicago: The Park Ridge Center.

Arrington, Leonard, and Bitton, Davis. 1979. The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints. New York: Knopf.

The Book of Mormon: Another Witness of Jesus Christ. Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Bush, Lester E., Jr. 1993. Health and Medicine Among the Latter-Day Saints: Science, Sense, and Scripture. New York: Crossroad Publishing.

Bush, Lester E., Jr., ed. 1979. "Mormon Medical Ethical Guidelines." Dialogue 12(3): 97–106.

Campbell, Courtney S. 1993. "Embodiment and Ethics: A Latter-Day Saint Perspective." In Theological Development in Bioethics: 1990–1992, ed. B. Andrew Lustig. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Campbell, Courtney S. 1995. "Ecclesiology and Ethics: An LDS Response." In Theological Development in Bioethics: 1992–1994, ed. B. Andrew Lustig. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI). 1998. Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The Doctrine and Covenants (DC). 1981. Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Hinckley, Gordon B. 1987. "Reverence and Morality." Ensign 17(5): 46–47.

The Pearl of Great Price (PGP). 1981. Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Quinlan, In the Matter of, 70 N.J. 10 (1976).

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

Smith, Joseph Fielding. 1977. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book.