Mormons and women's rights at the UN. (Divine Discrimination).

MISSIONARIES TO THE WORLD

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church)--also known as the Mormon Church--is once more on the world stage. In February 2002 the church played the part of religious host to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The next role, however, is much more demanding: to shape United Nations policies on the status and treatment of women.

For fifty-six years UN groups have carefully, patiently developed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. What is the purpose of CEDAW? Most simply put:

   To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women,
   with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customs and all
   other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the
   superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and
   women." And "to ensure that family education includes a proper
   understanding of maternity as a social function and the recognition of the
   common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of
   their children, it being understood that the interest of the children is
   the primordial consideration in all cases."

Finally, "States' parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women."

The convention document consists of a preamble and thirty articles. The first sixteen articles set out the aims of the convention; the remaining fourteen articles describe the process for achieving these aims, including the creation of a committee to review the reports of signatories and "make suggestions and general recommendations." Nations may sign the convention with the intent of "achieving the full realization of the right recognized in the present Convention." Any of the signatories may request a revision, which would be voted upon by the General Assembly. Any of the countries may make a "reservation," meaning that the state won't accept certain articles at the time of ratification. The committee has no means of directly forcing a nation to comply with its suggestions or recommendations.

CEDAW has been signed by 170 countries. A broad spectrum of organizations has also endorsed it, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Lutheran World Federation, Haddasah, World Young Women's Christian Association, the American Humanist Association, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, the League of Women Voters (USA), and many others. In July 2002 the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a vote of twelve to seven, sent CEDAW to the full senate for ratification. All of the committee's democratic senators and two republicans, Lincoln Chaffee and Gordon Smith, voted in favor of CEDAW.

While no explicit or specific criticism of CEDAW has yet been made by the First Presidency of the Mormon Church, some "general authorities" of the church and high profile Mormon activists have. Some of the most visible non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are headquartered at Brigham Young University (BYU). The most vocal of these, the World Family Policy Center (WFPC), operates out of the David M. Kennedy Center and the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU with LDS church funding. For this reason the expressed opinions of the directors of this organization could be seen as representative of the church's position.

MORMON CRITICISM OF CEDAW: THE ACTIVISTS

THE WORLD FAMILY POLICY CENTER

Richard G. Wilkins, professor of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU and codirector of the WFPC, is the most measured and thoughtful of the voices. Wilkins became a legend among the Mormons when he unexpectedly--"miraculously," claim some supporters--had a large audience at the Habitat II UN Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996. Wilkins claims that the only text he used in preparing his talk was the LDS church's declaration The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Wilkins' primary concerns regarding CEDAW, and the other UN conferences referring to the family, are that they may influence domestic laws, could undermine national sovereignty, and don't reflect democratic debate.

Kathryn Balmforth, Wilkins' codirector, is much more negative regarding CEDAW. An attorney and a mother, she addresses cultural issues head-on in an extreme, flamboyant style. She refers often to "the radical feminists, population control ideologues, and homosexual rights activists who make up the anti-family movement." Balmforth says that the "anti-family movement" aims to "eliminate all opposition and force all countries and cultures to conform to their radical vision."

Bruce Hafen, member of the First Quorum of Seventy of the LDS church, has been president of Ricks College and dean of the Clark Law School at BYU. Hafen presided as provost over BYU during the 1990s and was directly involved when the university was under fire for academic freedom issues and the controversial firing or purging of feminist scholars. Hafen is a frequent contributor to First Things, a neoconservative magazine promoting the further integration of religion and American society. Hafen has described the UN as "a very undemocratic forum that is far from the world's homes and families."

These outspoken Latter-day Saints are to be found on the op-ed pages of major newspapers and magazines, and on websites and widely distributed e-mails. The views that they articulate appear to be backed by the tremendous political and economic power of the LDS church, which has considerable influence. Under the guise of addressing "moral issues," the LDS church was instrumental in stopping the national passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and successfully sought the defeat of initiatives permitting rights for gays and lesbians, including marriage and domestic unions. By influencing the activities of the UN, the LDS church hopes to shape the policies of nations all over the world.

In 1995, after several years of bad press regarding the firing of academic feminists and excommunication of intellectuals, the LDS church hired Edelman Worldwide, a high-powered public relations firm, to recast the church's image. Soon thereafter the church changed its logo to emphasize its Christian character, staged "events" such as "Sea Trek," and issued The Family: A Proclamation to the World to kick off its latest moral crusade. The proclamation has become indispensable to Mormons in discussions regarding the family.

MORMON CRITICISM OF CEDAW: THE ISSUES

THE FAMILY

CEDAW doesn't define the family. It does, however, describe the need to strengthen the family and refers to "the great contribution of women to the welfare of the family and to the development of society, so far not fully recognized, the social significance of maternity and the role of both parents in the family in the upbringing of children." Ironically the proclamation, which most Latter-day Saints quote to define the family, only defines marriage. As Jennifer Butler of Ecumenical Women 2000+ explains, "The Women's Convention ... strengthens families by advancing the status of women. When women have civil and political rights, access to education, health care and employment, they are better able to care for themselves and their children."

DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE

CEDAW states that women shall have "the same right to enter into marriage" as men but doesn't address the definition of marriage. The proclamation does, however, state that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God" and that "God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."

This definition of marriage is of special interest when placed in a historical and theological context. Leaders of the LDS church began to practice polygyny (a man married to more than one woman) as a sacred principle, beginning with the church's founder Joseph Smith. The practice was publicly disavowed in 1890 under threat of church disincorporation by the federal government, but subsequent investigation by federal officials demonstrated that "plural marriages" were secretly and illegally performed for at least fifteen years afterward. After a "second manifesto" in 1905, the LDS church finally stopped the practice of polygyny and began excommunicating church members who entered into such marriages. The practice of "sealing" multiple wives to husbands, however, continues today. These "posthumous marriages" are clearly polygynous in nature and contradict the proclamation. According to at least one definitive book on LDS church theology, Mormon Doctrine written in 1991 (Bookcraft) by the late church apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Mormons expect to practice polygyny again after the "second coming" of Christ.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

CEDAW urges states to ensure "on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning." Balmforth is suspicious of this language. Referring to a recent conference, she states:

   Anti-family NGOs were up to their usual antics, proposing language
   supportive of "reproductive health services" (abortion), "diverse family
   norms" (homosexual families), and portraying the traditional family as a
   harmful entity from which children should be protected.

Yet the LDS church's position on family planning is that reproductive choice is up to the individual family. According to the 1998 Church Handbook of Instructions:

   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. Church members should not judge one another in this matter.

While the proclamation states, "We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed," church authorities don't excommunicate church members who have abortions, particularly in the usual cases of "rape, incest, or to preserve the health of the mother." The advocacy of high profile Latter-day Saint figures--Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and philanthropist Jon Huntsman--for stem-cell research clearly indicates that this is a theological and moral gray area for the church.

GAY/LESBIAN ISSUES

There is no mention in CEDAW of homosexuality, gay, or lesbian issues. Female sexuality isn't addressed, although female health concerns are. There are elements of the Mormon activist media, however, which publish sensational and erroneous stories of liberal UN activists in which feminists are linked with the pedophile North American Man-Boy Love Association according to Balmforth in the 2002 Family Reporter, Volume 6--Issue 1. It is even claimed that feminists "provide sex-education for teens which promote abortion, homosexuality, and even sex with animals," says Kathy Wall in her article "Fighting for Families: The UN Battleground" in the 2002 issue of Meridian Magazine.

NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Wilkins addresses the concerns of those who fear the United States coming under UN control:

   We have grown accustomed to federal lawmakers in Washington, D.C. imposing
   their will upon local decision makers. Unless the current direction of the
   UN is altered, we will also become accustomed to international lawmakers
   having the same impact.

   CEDAW ... could embody the most advanced and intelligent approach to gender
   relations ever devised by civilized society. The point is that, even if
   they are, those principles have been adopted and implemented without the
   democratic debates and procedures devised by this civilized society for any
   set of norms that purports to call itself "law."

The irony of Wilkins' criticism is that he has admitted using, as his primary text in evaluating UN family and feminist concepts, the LDS church's proclamation in promoting these ideas to the world. The proclamation didn't evolve by any democratic means, is manifestly religious in nature, and is proclaimed by the "First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles"--not a democratic body but a theocratic organization without female representatives. The proclamation features elements of LDS church theology (such as the concept of "divine parents"), which isn't held in common with other Christians, let alone represent the views of all religious or secular entities. Yet this became the standard for promotion throughout the world?

THEOLOGY AND EQUAL RIGHTS: A MORMON DILEMMA

In 1978 the LDS church reversed its stand prohibiting African-American males from holding the priesthood. The former practice was clearly an institutional example of racial discrimination for over a century. Although LDS church founder Joseph Smith had ordained at least one black man, such ordinations were prohibited from the founder's death in 1844 until the presidency of Spencer W. Kimball. Explanations were various. At first blacks were claimed to bear the mark of Cain, a "divine curse" conveyed through the lineage of Ham in accordance with Old Testament interpretations--the same scriptural argument often used by pro-slavery churches prior to the Civil War. Secular historians and commentators consider the "second-class" status of blacks to have been an accommodation to social pressures in the pre-Civil War United States. After the Civil War and up to 1978, the most common justification by the LDS church was that an entire race of people had been "less valiant" in the preexistent state, failing to take sides in the "War in Heaven" between the forces of Jehovah and those of Satan.

This example demonstrates an inclination of the LDS church leadership to give theological defenses for discriminatory practices. While church leaders denied that they were racist, they nevertheless perpetuated what was clearly a racist, discriminatory practice.

The Proclamation to the World describes fathers and mothers as "equal partners" but also states, "By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children." While "circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation," the proclamation makes clear a divinely ordained "division of labor." While this division of labor may be "divine" to the Latter-day Saints, it isn't the consensus of all religious traditions, as demonstrated by the diverse religious signatories.

THE CEDAW TEST

STONE HER! THE AMINA LAWAL STORY

According to Balmforth of the World Family Policy Center,

   The CEDAW Committee's hostility to religion is open and explicit. Religion
   and culture are routinely identified as the primary obstacles to women's
   rights.... The Committee even explicitly instructed one Islamic country
   that it should reinterpret the Koran in ways that were considered
   "permissible" by the Committee.

Balmforth's statement is clearly a defense of Sharia, Islamic religious law, in the face of CEDAW. This is especially interesting because currently in Nigeria a mother named Amina Lawal is under sentence to be stoned to death for having extramarital sex. The sentence was handed down by a Sharia appellate judge who has justified the punishment based on the Quran and the Hadith of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and various other organizations are seeking mercy for Lawal. Her sentence won't be carried out until 2004 so that she can finish weaning her baby daughter Wasila. Then, in accordance with her sentence, she will be buried to the waist and stoned by the members of her village. The father of the child was released for lack of evidence. For him to be convicted under Sharia law requires that he must confess, or four other men must testify that they witnessed the offender's act. Nigeria is a signatory to CEDAW and obviously not living up to its commitments to the convention. But at least, with CEDAW, there may be greater international pressures and sanctions brought to bear against such horrific injustice.

The LDS church, though it claims a "heavenly mother" in its theology, in practice won't even permit public discussion of Lawal by members without the threat of excommunication. Perhaps the church will permit discussion of the terrible abuses against Lawal and the like, and of the victims of female genital mutilation and sex trafficking rather than focusing on the distortions and fabrications of right-wing extremists. Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon voted in favor of CEDAW. Smith is a Latter-day Saint. As a supporter of CEDAW, he is listening at least.

Richard A. Garrard is the editor and publisher of the Utah Humanist, the monthly journal of the Humanists of Utah. Richard is married to Eve O'Neill and researches, writes, and speaks out in Salt Lake City, Utah.