Another commonality between the Hasidim and LDS is disassociation from society at large. It’s more than localized consolidation of theologically aligned individuals. Both set themselves apart from society, essentially othering the majority of society. Whether they deem others to be merely goyim (Hasidim) or Gentiles (LDS), or the more extreme views tamei or unclean, a major emphasis is placed on downgrading those outside their faith.
That’s not to say individuals from either religion are viewing outsiders as lesser, necessarily, but from a group level the othering of outsiders is a key component in community building and cohesion. By establishing a state of being which outsiders cannot attain, the scale and scope of the community is severely limited. Community members are forced to look within the community to satisfy innate needs. Companionship, entertainment, education, reproduction, et al can only be obtained within the community.
On a small scale, these practices are very effective from a community perspective and they have limited negative impact outside the community. But at scale, things get complicated, and ugly. It’s not a big step from viewing people as unclean to becoming a cleaner. Highly insular communities are not, sociologically, far off from ethnic supremacy ideologies. The red headed stepchild of tradition is blood purity.
The term “Gentile” to refer for non-Mormons was mostly a thing in the 1800s, and is basically not a thing today. The last time this usage occurred in General Conference was in 1981, and that was quoting something written in the 1800s. The last time this usage occurred in General Conference not quoting something else was in 1936. (The LDS General Conference corpus is great.) The terminology that is used is “the world”, which puts much less focus on the uncleanness of individuals.
Mormonism, outside of Utah, is not disassociated from society at large. The attitude is instead “in the world, but not of the world”. There are some people for whom most of their friends are in the Church, and marriage within the Church is strongly encouraged. But there aren’t Mormon-specific workplaces or grade schools.[1] We do not think that entertainment or education can only be obtained within the community.
Relating insularity to ethnic purity also seems very wrong here. Missionary work is a major thing ! About 1⁄3 of all current members of the Church in the US were not raised in the Church. The world may be perceived as a hostile thing, but it’s full of people who we might potentially convert.
Our Church does have some private grade schools in the Pacific Islands, but none in the US. The ward I grew up in had <20 teenagers, and we went to at least 5 different high schools. In my 22 years of full time education, I have had exactly 1 class that had another member of the Church in it.
At the university level, things are more complicated. The Church does own BYU, BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Hawaii. There’s also SVU, although it’s not run by the Church itself.
I mostly agree, but the word gentile is a medieval translation of “goyim,” so it’s a bit weird to differentiate between them. (And the idea that non-jews are ritually impure is both confused, and an frequent antisemitic trope. In fact, idol worshippers were deemed impure, based on verses in the bible, specifically Leviticus 18:24, and there were much later rabbinic decrees to discourage intermingling with even non-idol worshippers.)
Also, both Judaism and LDS (with the latter obviously more proselytizing) have a route for such excluded individuals to join, so calling this “a state of being which outsiders cannot attain” is also a bit strange to claim.
Another commonality between the Hasidim and LDS is disassociation from society at large. It’s more than localized consolidation of theologically aligned individuals. Both set themselves apart from society, essentially othering the majority of society. Whether they deem others to be merely goyim (Hasidim) or Gentiles (LDS), or the more extreme views tamei or unclean, a major emphasis is placed on downgrading those outside their faith.
That’s not to say individuals from either religion are viewing outsiders as lesser, necessarily, but from a group level the othering of outsiders is a key component in community building and cohesion. By establishing a state of being which outsiders cannot attain, the scale and scope of the community is severely limited. Community members are forced to look within the community to satisfy innate needs. Companionship, entertainment, education, reproduction, et al can only be obtained within the community.
On a small scale, these practices are very effective from a community perspective and they have limited negative impact outside the community. But at scale, things get complicated, and ugly. It’s not a big step from viewing people as unclean to becoming a cleaner. Highly insular communities are not, sociologically, far off from ethnic supremacy ideologies. The red headed stepchild of tradition is blood purity.
The term “Gentile” to refer for non-Mormons was mostly a thing in the 1800s, and is basically not a thing today. The last time this usage occurred in General Conference was in 1981, and that was quoting something written in the 1800s. The last time this usage occurred in General Conference not quoting something else was in 1936. (The LDS General Conference corpus is great.) The terminology that is used is “the world”, which puts much less focus on the uncleanness of individuals.
Mormonism, outside of Utah, is not disassociated from society at large. The attitude is instead “in the world, but not of the world”. There are some people for whom most of their friends are in the Church, and marriage within the Church is strongly encouraged. But there aren’t Mormon-specific workplaces or grade schools.[1] We do not think that entertainment or education can only be obtained within the community.
Relating insularity to ethnic purity also seems very wrong here. Missionary work is a major thing ! About 1⁄3 of all current members of the Church in the US were not raised in the Church. The world may be perceived as a hostile thing, but it’s full of people who we might potentially convert.
Our Church does have some private grade schools in the Pacific Islands, but none in the US. The ward I grew up in had <20 teenagers, and we went to at least 5 different high schools. In my 22 years of full time education, I have had exactly 1 class that had another member of the Church in it.
At the university level, things are more complicated. The Church does own BYU, BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Hawaii. There’s also SVU, although it’s not run by the Church itself.
I mostly agree, but the word gentile is a medieval translation of “goyim,” so it’s a bit weird to differentiate between them. (And the idea that non-jews are ritually impure is both confused, and an frequent antisemitic trope. In fact, idol worshippers were deemed impure, based on verses in the bible, specifically Leviticus 18:24, and there were much later rabbinic decrees to discourage intermingling with even non-idol worshippers.)
Also, both Judaism and LDS (with the latter obviously more proselytizing) have a route for such excluded individuals to join, so calling this “a state of being which outsiders cannot attain” is also a bit strange to claim.