A lot of these organizations are built on fear...

"Fundamentalism..is the fear of differences...the suspicion, even the paranoia of cultural progress, even modernity..any theological belief which is at variance with your own....A lot of these organizations are built on what they're afraid of, what they see as a threat to the gospel"
- Rev. Joel Hunter, in an interview with the Washington Post's Sally Quinn

I don't believe in the religion of fear. I believe that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and a sound mind."

So I took an interest in the interview quoted above, in which Rev. Hunter discusses the differences between the evangelical gospel he preaches and the politically charged conservative fundamentalism that's been infecting this country and my church.

I'm not going to make the allegation against the LDS church that Rev. Hunter levels at the Christian Coalition, that they use fear as a fundraising tool. I simply believe that from top to bottom, the Mormon church has allowed fear to take hold in their hearts, displacing the love they should hold and the sound minds they should cultivate.

Consider the following quotes from the recently completed October General Conference:


"[W]e live in a time when the darkness of secularism is deepening around us. Belief in God is widely questioned and even attacked in the name of political, social, and even religious causes. Atheism, or the doctrine that there is no God, is fast spreading across the world." - Robert Hales

"[S]trong family traditions...have come progressively under attack in this era of globalization." - Joseph Sitati

"We live in perilous times when many believe we are not accountable to God and that we do not have personal responsibility or stewardship for ourselves or others." - Quentin Cook


"[These principles] are the only true and eternal way to face the future, especially in these increasingly perilous and uncertain times in which we now live." - Tom Perry


"Dare to have the 'big talks' with your sons. You know what I mean: talks about drugs and drinking, about the dangers of today's media—the Internet, cyber technologies, and pornography." - Russell Ballard


"We live in an impatient and intemperate world full of uncertainty and contention. With increased spiritual strength, we can protect ourselves from the dangerous excesses and destructive addictions of today’s world." - Kent Watson


"The challenges and the dangers we live with today, including society's tolerance of sin, have been prophesied by ancient and living prophets. These are just as precarious and real as the threat of falling 125 feet (38 m) to certain death from a high bridge." - Ann Dibb



Of course, there certainly are dangers in this world we live in. But it seems like so much of what I hear from the church of my life is aimed at hypersensitizing the flock to the dangers and peril that await them should they stray from the church and its teachings. Sure there's a little preaching of the gospel of love, and a sprinkling here and there of a sound mind (though more frequently squelched by the administration of economic efficiency and intolerance for dissent and intellectual curiosity). But on issue after issue, what I hear from the church is fear-mongering.

This is in keeping, of course, with U.S. political trends over the past eight years, dominated by fears generated by September 11 and stoked by Dick Cheney. Seriously, though, the good news of the gospel is the love of God as embodied in the gift of his Son Jesus of Nazareth.

When the poor, suffering masses came to Jesus, he didn't tell them how dangerous the world would be if they didn't pray to him and mobilize to defeat gay marriage. He fed them. He healed their illnesses. He gave them comfort through the power of his love.

That's what I want from the faith I choose to follow.