There are many themes that run like continuous threads through the Book of Mormon that explains the rise and fall of the Nephite civilization. One of the most important themes is the way that identity politics -politics based exclusively on national, partisan, ethnic, gender, or racial grouping- divided up and ultimately destroyed not only Nephite society, but threatened the Church of God itself. Likewise, the Book of Mormon talks about how the ability of the church, and the Gospel as a whole, to completely demolish the identities created by the world with one that is eternal and universal -that all people are the literal spiritual children of God and are therefore brothers and sisters- ushered in an unprecedented era of peace, prosperity, and unity among the Nephites and their traditional enemies, the Lamanites for centuries until, again, worldly identity politics tore society apart and culminated in the Nephite genocide.
Here we will explore this thread of history in the Book of Mormon and then apply its lessons to our modern world where so many of us today are adopting the monikers of the world and living our lives according the definitions of Babylon, with the result being social discord and strife not just among the various peoples of the world but within the Church itself.
Nephite Ethnic Politics
I will not go into the Lamanite/Nephite nationalistic divisions much here because I have already written about the poison of nationalism in some detail already. Instead of focusing on the Nephite/Lamanite division along national lines, I want to look at the intra-social ways that identity politics tore Nephite society apart. To do that I want to explore the tribal nature of Nephite society, something that is mentioned in the Book of Mormon, often looked over, and deeply vital to understanding their society.
Early on the prophet Jacob, the brother of and prophetic successor to the prophet Nephi (the First), explains the way he is going to generalize the social make up of Nephite and Lamanite society:
Now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites; nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.
But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings. (Jacob 1:13-14)
Notice both the Nephite and the Lamanite societies were heavily tribalized. These differing tribal identities, even though most people shared common ancestors, became highly distinctive ethnic and social identifiers. People hundreds of years later still defined themselves according to these tribal and ethnic differences. For example, there was a whole city of Zoramites that persecute the Nephite prophet Alma, rejecting both the religion and rule of the Nephites; Ammoron, living nearly 600 years after Jacob, explains why he is waging war against the Nephite government, saying:
I am Ammoron, and a descendant of Zoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem. (Alma 54:23)
Clearly these tribal and ethnic differences were defining characteristics of their identities and these differences led to social and political divisions, even warfare and violence. And the farther ahead in Nephite society we go, the more obvious it becomes. In 3 Nephi 7:14, we read:
And it came to pass in the thirty and first year that they were divided into tribes, every man according to his family, kindred and friends; nevertheless they had come to an agreement that they would not go to war one with another; but they were not united as to their laws, and their manner of government, for they were established according to the minds of those who were their chiefs and their leaders. But they did establish very strict laws that one tribe should not trespass against another, insomuch that in some degree they had peace in the land[.]
This suggests that the nationalistic divisions of “Nephite” and “Lamanite” that we read of in the Book of Mormon are largely artificial and help explain why places like Ammonihah had the ability to do terrible things like commit genocide without fear of retaliation from the central government in Zarahemla. Separate cities, separate tribes, were possibly nearly autonomous. The only explanation for why Nephite society could so easily separate into separate ethnic and tribal groups is because those groups had already existed and already had a firm place in society with a great deal of influence and power. Though they don’t appear in the Book of Mormon narrative very much, they never went away and they never lost their importance to the Nephites or Lamanites. As we see in the examples above they played essential roles in the social, political, and national identities of the Nephites and Lamanites- as much as if not more than the nationalist identity of Nephite or Lamanite meant.
Nephite Partisan Politics
The aforementioned Ammoron and his brother Amalickiah are of special interest to us here. After the death of the last Nephite king, Mosiah II, the government of the Nephites transitioned to a society where a hierarchical order of judges ruled, with the top position being a Chief Judge. Alma 46 explains that in opposition to this change a group composed of lower judges and the general public coalesced around the figure of Amalickiah. This group wanted to return to the monarchical form that had apparently worked well for Nephite society up until then with Amalickiah as king. This effort fails and the groups divides into two- one that stays loyal to the Nephite society while the other, led first by Amalickiah and later by Ammoron, secede from Nephite society and join the Lamanites. This sparks a long lasting war between the Nephites and the Lamanites, the story of which occupies the majority of the Book of Alma. The culmination of the story for the portion who stays with the Nephites takes places in Alma 51 when the now named “king-men,” those who want to restore the monarchy, lose a vote to restore it and as a result refuse to fight for a government they do not believe in. The Nephites, under Captain Moroni, respond by massacring the king-men, engaging in mass murder by killing any of the king-men who refuse to fight in the war on behalf of the ruling Nephite state.
This story contains clear warnings about the outcome of identity politics (among other things.) In times of crisis identity becomes paramount and you’re either “with us” or “against us.” If you’re “against us” then you’re an enemy and enemies get eliminated. As the Baltimore American put it during the War of 1812,“When war is declared, there are but two parties, Citizen Soldiers and Enemies-Americans and Tories.” It seems that Captain Moroni felt the same way. Ina time of war (the Nephites had just finished a war against the Lamanites in the same year- see Alma 44) you were either an obedient Nephite or you were a Lamanite. He certainly exacerbated the political divide between the Nephite groups by going around and using religion as a litmus test- pledge loyalty to the Nephite state’s system of judges and you serve God, don’t and you’re an enemy to God.
His efforts split Nephite society into Nephities and Amalickiahites, the latter of which seeing that the Commander-in-Chief of the military was rallying the people against them fled the Nephite nation in terror. Captain Moroni, casting Amalickiah’s fleeing group as an army (even though Alma 46:29 says they’re fleeing because they’re clearly a minority with little chance of achieving their goals) marches out to attacks and destroys those who were fleeing. Only a small band, including Amalickiah and Ammoron escape. Those captured are forced to sign a loyalty pledge or are put to death- i.e. Captain Moroni murdered defenseless prisoners of war. All of this despite them never having actually done anything illegal. Though Amalickiah was a wicked man he hadn’t actually done anything to try and overthrow the government. He had only tried to convince people that he was right. The escalation to violence came completely from Captain Moroni’s side when he gathered his armies and attacked an up-to-then peaceful and law-abiding group of people. It is interesting to note that both Ammoron and Amalickiah were Zoramites as we discovered earlier. So this whole conflict carries more than a tinge of racial and ethnic violence as well as partisan political violence.
Modern Warnings
This is the ultimate outcome of political identity politics. The divisions in political ideals leads to hatred, violence, and death. When you allow your political beliefs to affect your identity, to define who you are, they come to dominate all other considerations. Instead of bringing people together politics divides society. Because only one group can hold the reins of power and dominance at any time, the various groups in society begin to see each other as enemies. Since you only believe positions that you think are right and moral, you begin to see all other people as not only wrong but evil. And the only reaction to evil is to eradicate it.
We see this in the way Captain Moroni reacts to both Amalickiah and the later king-men. At worst Amalickiah was a political opponent organizing an opposing political faction, one which was both a minority political party and a law-abiding one. Whatever pretensions that Amalickiah had and however sinful he was personally, his followers were far from being able to conquer the government, nor does it seem like they were trying to do so. But doesn’t the whole partisan rhetoric sound familiar? Each side claims the moral high ground, denounces the other side for hating God, or liberty, or some other divisive issue. The result of this is to generate an intense loyalty to the party and an intense disgust and hatred with anyone who disagrees, making communication impossible as both sides denounce the other in an ever escalating call to arms that casts the other as an enemy to the country, to the government, and to society itself. All sources of difference are used to win loyalty and increase division -whether that be religious, racial, sexual preference, transgenderism, nationality, ad infinitum. Partisan violence becomes inevitable. If that isn’t familiar sounding, go watch the news or scroll through social media. It’ll show up very quickly.
The generation of that sort of hatred is the point though. In democratic states the formation of political parties is inevitable. The parties form as people of similar political beliefs unite to see their views triumph over the opposing views. (After all in a statist society you’re either ruling or being ruled, something everyone implicitly recognizes even if they’re unwilling to openly acknowledge it, hence ideologically driven political parties.) As the bureaucracy of the party develops to run it, the party becomes a self-sustaining end in and of itself. It needs support in the form of loyal voters and monetary donors to feed its operations and pay its bureaucratic managers. This in turn drives the demonization of those who don’t belong to the party and the demand for ideological purity. If the other side is evil, what won’t you do in order to see your side win?
The resultant mistrust and hatred is pervasive. It isn’t just politics that are effected, it is everything. Even the church becomes divided as people within it pick political sides and denounce the others, mocking them for their supposed stupidity or expressing shock that such evil people could belong to their church. We see this in the Captain Moroni-Amalickiah fiasco as the people of the church turned against one another depending on who they supported. (See Alma 46:7) We see it today as people place political ideology above membership in the Kingdom. Any time we allow our political beliefs to effect our religious convictions, our dedication to the Gospel, or membership in Christ’s church, then we have committed a grievous error in that we have elevated the things and ideologies of the world to dominate what should me the exclusive realm of Christ alone- our hearts and minds. The result is that our “hearts become set more upon the things of this world” as opposed to the things of God.
Lessons For Our Time
I believe I can predict what many of you are thinking. If we don’t use the law to change things how will they get better? This of course is something that is drummed into out brains from childhood- to think that the only answers to society’s problems can be found in using legalized political violence to compel obedience from those we think wrong or to destroy their lives with fines, imprisonment, or even death, as a warning to others who might agree with them and be emboldened if action isn’t taken against them. As common as this viewpoint is, it is all hogwash. When has political division ever brought peace into the world? When have politicians ever not used increasing social conflict as a method of career advancement? When has it eliminated racism, sexism, or nationalism? When has it ever created a society where the people in it were united and loved one another? Never.
But we do know the way, the only way, to a society where racism is a thing of the past, nationalism has been discarded, people love one another, political partisanship has been abandoned, people strive to help each other, peace reigns, and true poverty no longer exists. The Book of Mormon tells us how to get to this seemingly fabled place:
And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.
And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.And they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord.
And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus.
And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.
There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. (4 Nephi 1: 1-2,12,13-16)
All contentions ceased. There were no more nationalist or ethnic divisions; they gave up their political divisions as well. There were no Democratic or Republican Nephites, no liberal or conservative Lamanites. There was no more social strife, lying, lusting, whoredoms -adultery, fornication, prostitution, pornography, rape, sexual assault, etc.- or murder in their society. And it lasted for centuries! Why? How? Not because they engaged in political partisanship. Not because they voted. Not because they shouted malign threats and profanities at each other in the streets. What is the answer? The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Is that really any surprise? Hopefully not. But pay attention to what the Nephites and Lamanites really achieved through the Gospel.
There were no more manner of “-ites.” This tells us they eliminated nationalism- there were no more Nephites or Lamanites to go to war and destroy one another. But there were also no more ethnic differences. Of course this doesn’t mean that no one could trace their lineage back to these ethnic and tribal pasts or even that traditions and cultural heritages like languages or dress were completely abandoned. It simply means it stopped mattering whether they were Josephites, Lemuelites, Ishmaelites, Mexicans, Americans, or Iranians. There were no more Amalickiahites, king-men, Pahoranites, Captain Moroni-ites, Democrats, Republicans, Progressives, or Conservatives. There were no more political parties to cause or take advantage of contention or cause disputations in society.
How? They all became one people -the children of Christ and the heirs of the Kingdom of God. Instead of seeing the Church and Gospel as dividing us from those not like us we must understand that it is worldly ideologies that are dividing them from us and then do what we can to help them embrace the truth. For example, people will say that the Gospel’s teachings about homosexuality divide them from their homosexual family and friends when in realty it is the world’s position on homosexual conduct that divides their friends and family from the member. When we recognize and embrace our one, true identity in exclusion to all others all the other issues lose their ability to break us apart. Issues such as race, nationality, sexuality, transgenderism – or any of the other issue that has dominated our news feeds now which did or did not also trouble them then- didn’t simply go away, rather they were placed in their proper perspective. These issues no longer defined who they are because they knew themselves and all other peoples to be Children of God who are potential heirs to the Kingdom of God. It can be the same for us today. Just as when the Nephites dedicated their lives to keeping His commandments, helping each other in their struggles, lifted up the fallen, and loved one another with the results being unity, peace, and prosperity for all people, if we make the same choices we will gain the same results.
Submission Unto Christ
Now, if this seems mythical to you, that alone should be proof to you that you’ve been lied to and brainwashed most of your life. Because this really happened. And what has happened before can happen again. Yet, we’ve been told such a society is utopian or impossible- an idealistic fool’s dream. In one sense it is- if you think Babylonian politics can deliver or even wants to create such a society then you’ve been deceived. Such a society has no need for politicians, political parties, governments as we know them, or the State itself, making it impossible for worldly politics to achieve. But that doesn’t mean it is impossible, only that you’ve been lied to about what it takes to get there.
If you want a society where there are no riots in the streets, where racism is a thing of the past, where children are not locked into massive prison camps for being born on the other side of an imaginary line, where sexual assault, prostitution, hatred, poverty, murder, social discord, strife, and violence are all things of the past, if you want a society where unity, prosperity, and peace are the common lot of man then here is what you do: Take all that time, effort, wealth, and life you’ve dedicated to your political party and ideology, all that money and effort you’ve given to the government, away from them right now and give it all the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Instead of feeding the Beast and giving it the power and money to manipulate, corrupt, and destroy society, give all of that to Christ for the building of His kingdom. Instead of trying to convert the world to your fallen political system, convert them to Christ. In doing so you will be doing the only thing that can create the world you truly desire. Nothing less, nothing else, will work.
Which is the real reason that if you describe yourself as a “Conservative Mormon” or “Progressive Mormon” -or for that matter as a “Gay Mormon” or a “Straight Mormon” or any other hyphen- you’re wrong. In doing that you’re elevating a political ideology to be as influential in your life as the Gospel is instead of submitting all politics to the Gospel’s commandments. Anyone who thinks the Gospel or Church is “Conservative” need only look at the Church’s support of the Utah Compact, an effort to turn the entire state of Utah into an immigration sanctuary state, to see that their idea is wrong. Likewise, anyone who thinks the Church or Gospel is “Progressive” merely needs to look at the Church’s opposition to elective abortion to the point that you can be excommunicated for merely helping someone get to the clinic to get an abortion to be disabused of the idea. This is because the Gospel does not fit into any of the niches created by worldly politics and trying to make it do so is to dismember the Gospel, not elevate the Church. The only result will only be the degradation of faith. Instead of trying to force Christ to bend to Caesar we should be bending our knees and our wills to Christ’s throne alone. In doing so we will begin the real first steps towards a better society.
Give up the worldly ideas and worldly identity that society has been trying to force on you and into your mind since the day you were born. Give up the ethnic divisions, racial castes, political partisanship, gender concepts, social programming, and all other forms of identity outside of your true one- as a Child of God. If you want to create a better society there is only one way do it –The Way Himself- Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Abandon all other ideologies, identities, and methods because they have never and will never work. They are not who you are and they will not create what you want from the world. They will only maintain division, hatred, and violence. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ when implemented by a society has worked, repeatedly, to create the kind of society everyone claims to want -one of liberty, prosperity, safety, equality, and joy for all. Bend all your labors to doing something that matters, the only thing that matters- building the Kingdom of God on Earth. It is a process, it will take time- a long time. But it is the only way. There are no other short cuts and the longer we put it off because the work is difficult the longer we doom ourselves and our children to suffering. So resolve to take that first step and begin today!
