Mormons and Easter

It's news that some Mormons might bristle at hearing, especially those sensitive to public perception of their faith, but the fact that the Church-owned Deseret News has been the first to cover a recent study conducted at the Church's own university makes this difficult to dismiss as meritless nitpicking, and for many observers of LDS culture, this news is hardly news at all: There is a disconnect between Mormons and Easter.

BYU Study: Disconnect Between Mormons and Easter - Deseret News

Keith Wilson, an associate professor of ancient scripture at the Church's Brigham Young University, conducted a survey of approximately 500 Mormons to gauge the importance of Easter to them. As a Mormon who cannot, personally, recall much particularly noteworthy emphasis placed on the observance of Easter (outside of the egg hunt, of course), I am wholly unsurprised by Wilson's findings: To Mormons, Easter is only a "minor celebration" and is "almost completely usurped by general conference." (Please pardon, those of you well-versed in all things Mormon, what must seem like unnecessary linkage throughout this post  -- I have several non-LDS acquaintances I share this blog with who can't understand Mormonese without a translation.)

Let me pause right here to preempt any fellow Latter-day Saint who might insist that the Church most certainly does emphasize Easter and that I am dishonestly and unflatteringly portraying the Church by asserting otherwise. I have no doubt at all that there are indeed wards and perhaps even entire stakes out there that make it a point to observe Easter with all the celebration and reverence found among other Christians -- the pageant held every year in Mesa, AZ is proof enough of that -- but, as the DesNews article notes, "there is no formal church-wide celebration of Easter Sunday in the LDS Church, [though] pockets of Christ-centered activities are scheduled by some local stakes and regions." So all I'm saying is, I haven't happened to have been in one of those pockets when Easter Sunday rolled around -- if you have, how lovely for you. =)

Some specifics from Wilson's report: "fewer than half read the Easter story at home or knew when Easter was this calendar year. Only one in six discussed or reviewed the events of the Passion week. Only one in 19 discussed the Triumphal Entry. These participants sent a consistent message from their candid answers: The celebration of Easter among the Latter-day Saints receives little attention beyond a regular Sunday worship service."

Wilson's study also touched on something I had intended to comment on last week: Palm Sunday. According to Wilson, "My students did a little poll this year — 350 to 400 of them — and only 2 to 3 percent of their wards even mentioned Palm Sunday. It's like we're afraid that's another Christian fabrication of mainstream Christianity and we don't want to buy into it." I don't know if Wilson is correct in the reason he gives for the apparent LDS neglect of Palm Sunday, but that a neglect exists I can certainly attest. Easter I can at least recall having some importance attached to it while growing up, but Palm Sunday? Negatory.

For grins and giggles, I did a search of LDS.org to see how often the term "Palm Sunday" appears in all Church content (this covers official Church magazines, unique LDS scriptures, general conference talks, lesson manuals, and entries to LDS.org itself -- in other words, all "official" Church publications archived online). When adjusted to remove duplicate search results, there are only 13 unique returns for "Palm Sunday." Of these 13, at least one appears to be a false match, as it doesn't contain the phrase at all, and another search result merely returns the phrase "Palm Sunday" with no link, no reference, no nothing -- just "Palm Sunday."

So in all the material available via LDS.org, we're talking roughly a dozen unique mentions of Palm Sunday. For perspective, note the occurrence of the phrase "Pioneer Day" on LDS.org. What's remarkable to me about this is the fact that Pioneer Day, while a celebration of what is certainly a significant event in LDS history, is merely a Utah state holiday with observance confined primarily, if not almost entirely, to the Mormon corridor, while Palm Sunday is a day of commemoration for Christians the world over. For a global church with the majority of its membership residing outside the United States, the disparity is puzzling but could go some way to explaining the results of the "little poll" conducted by Wilson's students.

I must admit, the cynic in me predicted that the typical LDS response to the suggestion that the significance of Easter is understated in Mormonism would be one of dismissal or knee-jerk defensiveness; the charge is, after all, one that some sectarian opponents of Mormonism use to criticize the Church (as seen here, for example). And while the observation most certainly has been met with some LDS resistance, I have been surprised by the candor of more than a few faithful Latter-day Saints in acknowledging the underwhelming attitude toward Easter sometimes found in the Church.

For example, Daniel C. Peterson, notable LDS scholar, author, apologist, and Bishop, remarked, "On balance,... I don't think Latter-day Saints -- or, at least, American Latter-day Saints -- always celebrate Easter as they ought to. Sometimes, it's virtually an afterthought, whereas, in my view, it's theologically more significant (in a way) than Christmas is.... If I had my druthers, I would emphasize Easter much more than we do." He also acknowledged that certain critics of the Church who contend "that we [Mormons] don't always emphasize Easter as we should," make the charge "with some justice," while adding that the Mormon celebration of Easter is "fairly anemic."

Finally, at long last, Professor Peterson and I can agree on something. ; )

Happy Easter, all.