Mormon Identity PREPARING A GENERATION

Episode 2 Mormon Identity PREPARING A GENERATION NARRATOR: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the guests and are not the official position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [BEGIN MUSIC] NARRATOR: Welcome to Mormon Identity, a thirty minute talk radio program that addresses Church topics important to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our host is Robert L. Millet, professor of religious education at Brigham Young University. ROBERT MILLET: Hello, I m Bob Millet and with me today is Professor Brent Top, a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University in Provo. Welcome Brent. Thank you Bob. It s good to be with you. ROBERT MILLET: On Mormon Identity, we want to talk today about preparing a generation of excellence. What it would take for us to prepare a generation that would be ready not only to meet the Savior when He comes, but ready to engage the world and be that leavening, lifting, lightening influence in a world that desperately needs it. And so today, we want to talk about some of the challenges facing our youth. We want to talk about some recent research during the last fifteen years on how LDS youth are doing perhaps as compared with youth of, of other faiths. Um, we want to talk about implications for us wherever we live whether one lives on the Wasatch front in Utah or whether one lives in Maine or Madagascar as a Latter-day Saint. And uh, we want to talk in general about the power of the Gospel covenant to just hold and secure our families forever. Brent, I know that you and Dr. Bruce Chadwick of the Sociology Department for a number of years conducted some very valuable research on LDS youth. Why don t you talk to us about first of all why you undertook the study you did. About fifteen years ago we were kicking around some ideas and things that social scientists had said through the years. In the 1960s and 1970s with all of the uproar that was going on at that particular time it had social effects as well. And one of the social effects was to say that religion doesn t really matter. And a very prominent social scientist by the name of Dr. Rodney Stark advocated that religion only matters within the culture of a prominent religious community. For example, he would say, he called it the hellfire damnation theory was that, meaning that you would only be religious if virtually all of your peers are religious. And that religion wouldn t matter if you were in a minority per se. And so, in essence, if you were a Latter-day Saint in Utah County you would be the most religious not because of belief or theology ROBERT MILLET: But because that was the external pressure upon you. That s the culture. And so we just thought that just doesn t fly with what we understand about the Gospel and we think that LDS youth and Latter-day Saint families 1

and adults wherever they live there is a power of the Gospel not just in the culture or in the community. So we conducted a survey and over this period of time it included several thousand ninth through twelfth graders and we chose areas where the Church was very strong predominantly LDS to areas where there may only be a handful of LDS in the entire high school or community. Where there would be just one or two in a city even. And what we wanted to look at what were the challenges that youth were facing. How were they dealing with those peer pressures? And how, what things were parents doing that were very successful in helping them deal with those challenges. ROBERT MILLET: Now, you studied LDS groups. Yes, we chose LDS because we were testing Stark s theory because we wanted to see if his theory is right, then an LDS kid that s the only LDS kid in his high school, he wouldn t have any motivation to be righteous or to live the Gospel. And yet, we know that out in the world, out in the ways, the branches, and wards and stakes throughout the world that there are great strong Latter-day Saint young people and we wanted to know what is it that makes them so strong when the prevailing culture around them would be pulling them in different directions ROBERT MILLET: So what we have in fact in this conversation interestingly Brent, you were born and raised in Idaho Falls which I presume back then would have been 60 or 70% LDS. Probably, certainly a majority. ROBERT MILLET: I m from Louisiana from Baton Rouge where I don t even think we constituted a portion of a percent. Well then maybe that proves the theory that I was more righteous because of that influence (laughing). ROBERT MILLET: So I think both of us have an interest in this. What did you find? What I like to characterize it as- great news, good news and not so good news. The great news was that we found regardless of the locale, Latter-day Saint youth have higher levels of religiosity, spirituality, devotion to God and lower levels of delinquency, drug abuse, immorality. Significantly lower levels than their national peers. ROBERT MILLET: So in general, Latter-day Saint kids are doing better. Much, much better. On alcohol and drug abuse. Even with the challenges that we face of course. Generally speaking, they are considerably doing better off than national peers regardless of religion. There has been a major study just recently done that identified the same thing across the religious tradition board that Latter-day Saint youth do very, very well. That s the great news. We also found, I think this is great news and should be very, very helpful to parents wherever they live, is that we found that geography really didn t matter very much. That it was not so much where parents live and raise their families as much as what they re doing within their homes. So whether it be in Idaho Falls, Idaho or Madagascar as you said. Whether it be where there is a very strong youth program in the ward to a branch where they may be only two or three in a youth program. It really didn t 2

matter so much where you live as how you are raising your children and what you re doing in your home is what makes the difference. The not so great news was that there are some areas of concern and that as the youth get older, they face even greater challenges and that parents may need to be more focused at an earlier age in preparing them so as they get older they re more equipped to be able to deal with the challenges. ROBERT MILLET: Brent has been describing for us some studies that were conducted by himself and Dr. Bruce Chadwick over the last fifteen years concerning LDS youth and what their status is. How they re doing in general. Brent you had talked about some great news. You had talked about some good news and now you are talking about some not so good news. Why don t you talk about that? Well, one of the challenges that we face in any kind of study like this is that we are going to find that even though we may compare favorably to national studies that by our own standards we fall short. Our youth are not perfect. Their parents aren t perfect. We as mortals are not perfect and so there are some challenges. One of the things that was most disturbing to Dr. Chadwick and me was in the area of young women. It seems that young women are becoming more and more vulnerable to moral temptation and it was actually surprising to us because it s the total reverse of what our generation was like in probably the 1960s and 70s was that men, young men were more sexually active than young women. Our study has found that as the young women get older, more and more of our young women, a higher percentage of young women are involved in immoral behaviors than the young men are. Which was totally surprising. ROBERT MILLET: That s surprising. What do you make of that Brad? Well, we don t know exactly but there are two or three things that we think that is. Almost always the young women are not going to date or socialize or really have any romantic relationship with younger guys so that almost always means that they are going to be dating older guys. And the older they are, the more likely they are to have been involved in those kinds of temptations. And so we were also deeply troubled by not only the differences in ages meaning if they re dating older guys they re going to be more vulnerable to temptation. Most often. Generally speaking. But also, we were very disturbed by the fact of so many of our young people, our young women, feel like the only way that they could have validation is to have a boyfriend. And there is a shallowness to some degree in their own self esteem, their own spirituality, and that they are seeking that validation outside of themselves and their relationship with God. And they get that by thinking if they are attractive to a boy or if he finds her appealing then that means that that gives her some sense of worth. And so that was a very troubling finding we had as well. ROBERT MILLET: So points out the need for us to teach more and more consistently the need for young people understanding what things really matter. Whose opinion really matters. That s right. ROBERT MILLET: And where we take our cues for right, wrong, etc. 3

And that self worth does not necessarily come from status or how hot you look as to use the terms of the kids today, but that your real worth is going to be determined by the approbation you feel from God with your relationship with the Lord. I think there s another factor that came up and that is also we almost exclusively from the time we have a young boy born into our homes we start focusing on missions. And it s a little bit different with young women. And so I think we also learned that we need to have a greater attention on the young women and that we need to keep them focused on spiritual goals and spiritual progression even if they are not focusing on going on a mission when that time comes. ROBERT MILLET: As I recall Brent, there was something in the results as well dealing with honesty. Challenges the young people seem to face with honesty. That was another one of the not so good news tidbits that we found and it was quite disturbing to us. With the exception of the young people in Great Britain but everywhere else across the board, Latter-day Saint youth were at the national average or even sometimes a little higher than the national average with regards to things like cheating in school, stealing, not telling the truth. Honesty issues, there wasn t as big a gap between Latter-day Saint youth and others in national studies. ROBERT MILLET: What do you attribute this to? Do you suppose that we certainly place a great deal of stress upon sexual morality. We place a great deal of stress on a number of matters in terms of attendance in the temple and making and keeping eternal covenants. What do you make of this? I did find it interesting that the youth in Great Britain. And I think again that may be something with their school system and how they approach learning and the importance of integrity. I have found that in our American society particularly those issues of cheating in school and honesty is almost like it s no big deal. Everybody s doing it. It s just like having cliff notes when you are reading for a book review. It s what we have to do to succeed. My colleague Dr. Bruce Chadwick always would say as we would talk about this subject he said, If we could make honesty part of the word of wisdom, maybe it would make a difference. Because there s a big disconnect in the minds of the young people on those things that are clearly wrong and that they would never do but some of those honesty issues they feel like it s just a matter of having an edge in their academic pursuits. ROBERT MILLET: Let me push this a bit Brent. Do you suppose it would be the case either would you see this in the study results or in your own analysis of the study results. Would you suppose it might be the case that a young person who would never ever consider going and stealing something from a store would have no problem cheating. Oh absolutely. I think that is the growing issue of our day and perhaps one of the things that we as parents maybe take for granted because we re so concerned about what we would call the big sins that we forget about those other things that are really part of our religious and our moral character. And I have just thought strongly about having to put greater attention on those very real daily practical temptations that they re facing. That they re having to deal with at school every day and every time they do their homework 4

we as parents need to keep reinforcing that we are men and women of honesty and integrity because that s who we are. It s not just the big sins that we seek to avoid. ROBERT MILLET: Brent, we ve been talking about the whole matter of preparing a generation of excellence. And we ve talked about some studies that you ve been involved with which we ve discussed challenges faced by our youth and some of the things that you ve found in your studies. I want to get back to this matter that we were just considering that the young people in many cases do not seem to grasp the larger meaning of the word morality. Say more about that. Well you know, my experience has been and for my children, whenever we have used the word moral or morality in the church, it meant sexual purity. It was always in the context of sexual behavior. And it may be that that has contributed unwittingly, I certainly don t think we are doing anything as parents or as church leaders or program wise that would do it, but I think it causes a disconnect in the minds of young people that whenever they think of morality they only think If I am keeping my mind clean, or if I am not engaging in premarital sexual behaviors. I m not involved in pornography then I m moral. And yet, morality is a much broader principle. For example, in Doctrine & Covenants section 121 where the Lord speaks of Let virtue garnish thy thoughts, the word virtue there is much more than just sexual purity. It is power. It is an allencompassing principle of godliness and Christ-like attributes. And I think maybe that s what we need to get back to is in teaching our young people. Teaching our children from the time they re very, very young is that being a Christ-like individual and possessing that divine nature. Honesty is absolutely part of the moral life. Honesty, integrity, uprightness is just as vital in our lives as moral as sexual purity is because as a Christ-like person, I want to be moral in all aspects of my life. ROBERT MILLET: I can remember so well in my case that my father just droned this into my head through little experiences. I remember once that I was about eleven or twelve and I often hung out at the radio station where my father was the general manager. Dad had gone out and in preparation for a large day outside the station had taken some pictures and I happened to find the roll of film. And just in a moment of curiosity just unraveled the roll of film. I exposed it. And then I felt silly and bound it back up and hid it back where it was. The next couple of days I heard my dad ranting and raving, What happened to the film? The film is all exposed. Who did this? And I just sat there very quietly waiting for someone to take responsibility instead of me. Dad got to me eventually and said, Son, did you know anything about this? And you know, he had said to me more than once, what he said then. I answered I did Dad. I didn t mean to but I was playing with it and I exposed it. And I remember the way he acted. My dad was a very large man. Had a very deep and strong voice, but I remember that he became very tender. And he looked at me and said, Son, this is going to cost me a lot of extra time. I ve got to go out and redo this. I wish you hadn t done that but I want you to know that I m grateful you told me the truth. Because he said, I want you to always remember. No matter what you may do, if it s wrong. You be truthful with me and I ll try to understand. I don t think I ve ever forgotten that and for that reason, I had this sense that I just could not be dishonest with Mom or Dad. It was just part of me and I think this is something that we desperately need 5

to institute or reinstitute in this generation of excellence. And maybe something that we re desperately in need of now. You know, again it goes back to what we re teaching in the home and what we re exemplifying in the home. I wonder if we have unwittingly left the impression that situational ethics change. Or honesty changes. Sometimes when the phone rings and we ll see, Who is it? Tell them I m not here. Or if I cut corners in this regard or this regard. And making it that there s a means to an end in some regard and so I can be less than totally honest in some ways when it s to my advantage. Maybe we re leaving that message with our young people that if it s to your advantage you don t have to tell the whole truth, nothin but the truth. And as a result, then they apply it in their own lives and say, Well, wait a second if it s just giving me an advantage in school it s not necessarily bad because Mom and Dad are going to like it that I get good grades. I think for me as a parent it causes me to really search my soul to say, What is my example? Am I exhibiting total integrity in everything that I do that I m not just doing honest things, but that I am an honest person through and through. ROBERT MILLET: I m reminded of the marvelous language in the Doctrine & Covenants section 124, the word of the Lord through Joseph Smith. The Lord speaking in verse 15 says, And again verily I say unto you, Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith for I the Lord love him because of the integrity of his heart. And this is perhaps even more powerful. And because he loveth that which is right before me sayeth the Lord. Yeah that wasn t just that he didn t say, I love him because he didn t cheat on tests. It is that to his very core he was going to do what was right and love the Lord first and foremost in his life. ROBERT MILLET: You know I had an experience some years ago as a bishop probably thirty years ago now, where I learned that this was not an uncommon experience to sit in an interview and to have a young person confess to me a particular transgression and in many cases a serious transgression. And then for me to ask them, What is wrong with this sin? And their response, Well, I shouldn t have done it. I know, but why shouldn t you have done it? The response, silence and then Because the Church teaches me I shouldn t do it. I was describing an interview I had where I asked a young person who had confessed a serious transgression some serious questions. I asked, Why is this so serious? Well, because I shouldn t have done it. That s correct. Why shouldn t you have done it? And the reply was, Because the Church teaches us we shouldn t do this. That s correct. The Church certainly does teach you we shouldn t do this. Why do you suppose the Church teaches us we shouldn t do this? Pause. Well, my Mom and Dad have taught me through the years that I shouldn t do this. That s right. That s right. They certainly have. I m glad to hear that. Why do you suppose they teach you that you shouldn t do this? Uh, um, uh probably because the scriptures say you shouldn t do this. Boy they certainly do. Why do you think the scriptures teach us we shouldn t do this. And then there was a long, long, long pause. Now, it seems to me Brent, what they ve picked up on is they have learned the precept quite well. Thou shalt not. In this case Thou shalt not be immoral. Thou shalt not whatever. In some cases they ve even learned behind the principle, behind the precept is a principle. The principle of chastity. That is, there s a principle here. But I think what surprised me is that very few of them 6

got back to the point of God, our Heavenly Father, is a man of holiness, is a holy being. He is without sin. And in order to one day dwell with Him, we need to become more like him. That was the response that I was looking for but I didn t find very often. You know, I think that the Book of Mormon gives us a wonderful pattern. And it s only one verse but it is a very, very powerful message I think to parents and teachers in the Gospel of the teaching of the principle beyond the commandments. You remember in Alma chapter twelve where it says that He gave them commandments after He had taught them the plan of Salvation. ROBERT MILLET: Alma chapter twelve verse, uh. It s in there I know. ROBERT MILLET: Twenty-eight or thirty (laughing). (Laughing) But what we re seeing there is that the commandments get their meaning when we teach the scriptures. When we teach the doctrines of the gospel. I saw in the mission field a lot of time is that the missionaries couldn t connect the dots. And that is because we teach the commandments without the context. And the doctrines of the gospel teaching the scriptures, teaching the why we do things is what helps connect the dots. ROBERT MILLET: In other words, it provides a kind of hook to hang things on. In other words, it isn t always wise to say to a young person Why when you saw there s a restriction. In other words, the answer of Because I told you so is perhaps not the most helpful thing in the world but if I take the time to explain Why then maybe they are going to be a little more eager when we re discussing for example morality or sexual morality if they ask me Why. That s right. Well, you remember, you see the great example in the Book of Mormon also when Corianton had his problems and his sins. You notice that the three or four chapters Alma thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, there s really only one verse on morality. On chastity. ROBERT MILLET: The rest of it is on doctrine. Is doctrine. And I think that is telling us that we really need to get the Gospel into the lives of our young people, not just the commandments. Not just the Thou shalt nots. ROBERT MILLET: So we teach the doctrine. We talk about how the doctrine may be expanded and how the doctrine helps us explain ethics and ethical behavior. Brent, let me ask you this. Summarize for us in looking back on the research you and Dr. Chadwick did, what recommendations do you have for parents or church leaders? Well, first of all I would say very, very quickly that we found you don t need to be a brain surgeon to figure this one out. And that is that if we follow the words of the prophets, it works. ROBERT MILLET: That s an odd idea Brent. 7

You know it s really a novel approach that if we follow the words of the prophets it blesses our lives and blesses our families. And so particularly in the area of family home evening, family prayer, family scripture study, we found that those were huge in helping build the strength, the testimonies of our young people. But more importantly than the family religious practices, as important as they were as means to an end, they really were valuable in helping the young person gain their own personal testimony and internalize the principles of the Gospel. So that was huge. ROBERT MILLET: So personal spirituality. Personal devotion. Personal prayer. Personal scripture study. Those things proved to be more significant in the long run than even what they were taught by parents and what impact peers had on them. All of the things that we do as parents and as families should be leading them to gain their own testimonies. Family prayer should be helping to motivate them, inspire those young people to say their own prayers. Their personal prayers are going to be even more important in strengthening them and gaining their own testimonies than family prayer. And so, we need to find ways to foster their own personal development of their testimonies. And as we do that, it s going to then affect very many different dimensions of their lives because it s coming from within them, not just coming from Mom and Dad or from the church, the quorum or the class. ROBERT MILLET: Excellent. So in looking back today, let s summarize a few thoughts. Number one: there are challenges facing our young people that are significant and as parents, as leaders, as advisors, we can serve an important role in helping them meet those challenges. Recent research is particularly helpful to us in summarizing that yes, peers have an influence. Parents have a tremendous influence. But far more important than any other variable is the extent to which young people themselves have personal spiritual experiences with scripture, with prayer, in church. And so, as well as teaching the gospel, we need to help our young people feel the gospel and experience it in their personal lives. It seems to me Brent there s a great need for us to help our young people to know that the answers to their questions are not to be found in Hollywood or on television but are to be found with living prophets, are to be found in holy scripture, are to be found in faithfulness. Having the Holy Spirit within you. ROBERT MILLET: In having the Holy Spirit as our guide and filling up our lamps of oil if you will in preparation for the coming of the Savior. When our young people do that, they will become more and more of a counter cultural influence in the sense of impacting the world in a major way which is of course what it means to create a generation of excellence. NARRATOR: You ve been listening to Mormon Identity. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you join us next time. [END MUSIC] 8