Mormon Grassroots: The Mormon Worker

William Vanwagenen of The Mormon Worker was kind enough to answer the following questions about his organization and publication.

This is the second of occasional posts looking at various Mormon-related grassroots political organizations. The first one was with MESJ.

1. Why and when was The Mormon Worker formed?
The first issue of the Mormon Worker was published in September 2007. Myself, Cory Bushman, and Tyler Bushman had been kicking around the idea for sometime to start a newspaper about radical politics, from a specifically Mormon perspective. Much of the impetus came from the frustration we felt as the US invaded and occupied Iraq. Though we felt the war was deeply immoral and contrary to many basic teachings of the Gospel, most Latter-day Saints, and especially Mormon politicians, were enthusiastic supporters of the organized murder the US military was undertaking in Iraq.

After returning from doing human rights work in Iraq in early 2007, I got together with Tyler, Cory and Ashley Bledsoe, and we finally got our act together to get the paper going. We felt that many of our fellow Latter-day Saints would change their views on the war if presented with information about the terrible human cost of the war, coupled with reminders from LDS scripture that war is evil, and can only be justified in self-defense, which was clearly not the case in Iraq.

We were also frustrated to see a number of members of the Church go inactive, question their testimonies, etc, because they were opposed to the war, but felt that being Mormon basically demanded they support it, because most Mormons in Utah seemed to do so, and because in church we seem to be constantly reminded that we are to support the actions of our government in all circumstances.

2. What are the priorities of The Mormon Worker?
Broadly speaking, the purpose of the Mormon Worker is to articulate and promote, in the context of modern politics, some of the more radical aspects of Mormon theology, in particular loving our enemies (Sermon on the Mount), renouncing war and proclaiming peace (D&C 98), caring for the poor and needy (King Benjamin), and challenging the crimes and abuses of those holding political power (Abinadi).

In the modern context, we feel these doctrines encourage us to love everyone, including terrorists, oppose the ongoing US war on the Iraqi people, seek an economic system which will provide for everyone, especially the poor, and criticize our political leaders for the crimes they commit, such as ordering the abduction and torture of thousands of our Muslim brothers, as evidenced in Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

3. Why is there a need for a “Mormon” organization with your purpose? Are there other organizations you cooperate with that are/are not Mormon?
We felt there was a need for an organization like this so that active Latter-day Saints with radical political views could organize themselves to begin participating in the broader anti-war movement, and to do so explicitly as Latter-day Saints. This means we want to try to work with and support other non-LDS groups whose goals are the same.

Additionally, it seems that Latter-day Saints engaged in left wing politics either alienate themselves from the church, or are alienated from the church by more conservative members who feel that supporting the government in times of war and embracing the ethics of capitalism are required to be a good Mormon.

We wanted to create an organization where such members could feel at home, similar to the Genesis group, which was organized for Black members of the Church. Finally, we hope to remind members of the church from across the political spectrum that the LDS Church has as a strong historical heritage of anti-war/anti-militarist thought and concern for the poor, and that these aspects of our theology should not be forgotten.

4. Why should Mormons be interested in The Mormon Worker?
Because it provides a perspective on political issues, which we feel is more closely informed by LDS doctrine, than the perspectives on political issues found in either the Republican or Democratic parties.

5. Are people who aren’t LDS invited to join? What message do you hope to convey to others outside the Church?
Yes, we have several members of the group who are not Mormon. Contributors to the paper have thus far included an Israeli Jew, a Palestinian Muslim, an Atheist, A Quaker, and a Catholic. Most of the members of the group are active Mormons, and we try to have roughly half the articles address topics from a Mormon perspective, while the other half do not.

Hopefully, the paper will be of good enough quality that Mormons and non-Mormons alike will enjoy reading the paper and find it educational. We would like non-members to be aware of the amazing teachings about equality, peace, and aiding the poor found in LDS Scripture. The world would be a better place if everyone, including us as Mormons, did a better job of living Jesus Christ’s basic teachings.

6. Is The Mormon Worker’s main organization on the internet or does it have a physical presence?
Members of the Mormon collective living in Provo/Salt Lake get together for meetings roughly once a month in order to organize publication of the newspaper. We also try to attend events together, such as anti-war rallies, conferences, films, etc, as everyones’ time and schedules permit. Hopefully we’ll have more and more events in the future, and have a larger and larger group. Please contact us at themormonworker , if you would be interesting in attending any meetings, demonstrations, events, etc. with us.

7. Is there an online site for Mormon Worker and its members to interact or discuss issues? Can you recommend any sites or blogs for like-minded people to visit (official sites or otherwise)? Are there particular articles on The Mormon Worker you would recommend?
Some members of the Mormon Worker collective blog at LDSCooperative, including myself. It is a relatively new site, but there are some great resources there.

I wouldn’t recommend one particular article, but there are articles on a range of topics, from the Iraq war, to torture, alternatives to capitalism, racism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the relationship between Socialism and religion, the concept of Zion, etc. All the articles from the first three issues are available to read online at The Mormon Worker.

8. How can people participate with The Mormon Worker?
Ways to participate include 1) subscribing 2) submitting articles to be published 3) donating money to support publication of the paper 4) attending meetings, demonstrations, and activities with us. Those wishing to subscribe can visit the subscription page of our website.

9. How active is The Mormon Worker? How often do you publish or have activities/meetings?
Because members of the Mormon Worker are pretty spread out throughout Salt Lake City and Provo, we only have meetings about once a month. For now, our main activity is to publish the paper and attending anti-war demonstrations.

Over the course of time, we’re hoping to gather enough people to do anti-war demonstrations of our own, civil disobedience, service projects, and so forth. Publishing the paper is not enough. We need to try to create social change, even if only on a small level at first. We of course hope to participate with other non-Mormon activist groups in the above mentioned activities.

10. Has all the attention on the Romney campaign and the Church had an impact on The Mormon Worker?
Because Mitt Romney is LDS, his candidacy has brought a renewed interest in the subject of Mormonism and politics among non-Mormons. Many people with a limited understanding of Mormonism equate Romney’s politics with Mormon teachings. For example, they feel that LDS theology advocates capitalism, unquestioned obedience to government, pre-emptive war against our nation’s enemies, the use of torture, etc. This is a misconception we are trying to combat.

When such people discover that many Latter-day Saints are in fact opposed to Romney’s politics, and that Romney’s politics have no basis in LDS scripture and teachings, they are usually surprised and interested to learn more about what we’re doing. One example, is Eboo Patel, who blogs for the Washingtonpost.com. He visited Salt Lake last fall, and found a copy of our paper at Sam Weller’s Rare Books downtown. Patel was pleasantly surprised to see that Mormon radicals exist, given the generally conservative climate Utah is known for. He wrote a blog post about the Mormon Worker.

I wrote an article in issue #1 of the Mormon Worker discussing why Romney’s political views aren’t consistent with Mormon teachings.

11. If someone wanted more information about The Mormon Worker what do you recommend they do?
Visit our website at www.themormonworker.org or contact us at themormonworker.

Many thanks to Will for participating in this series.

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