Latter-day Satyagraha

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Become a people of the Temple – those who see violence but proclaim peace, who feel conflict yet extend the hand of reconciliation, who encounter broken spirits and find pathways for healing. Fulfill the purposes of the Temple by making its ministries manifest in your hearts…. Let it stand as a towering symbol of a people who knew injustice and strife on the frontier and who now seek the peace of Jesus Christ throughout the world. —Doctrine and Covenants 161:2a-b (Community of Christ)

and it shall come to pass in the last days…

The scripture below is one of the most quoted scriptures in the Latter day Saint movement and of the Peace movement! Both movements have Isaiah’s prophetic words about the coming millennium in common. LDS seldom realize this, and neither do peace activists. LDS believe that Isaiah’s words are to be interpreted literally, and for that reason LDS temple ceremonies are connected to the most-quoted millennial scripture in the peace movement “and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks”:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths; And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”.

But for some reason, it does not seem to work well for Utah-mormons that the very single scripture in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon that talks about modern-day temples, as we approach the new Millennium, links LDS templebuilding to peacebuilding and disarmament. In his Conference Address This Great Millennial Year in the newly built Conference Center of Salt Lake City, Gordon B. Hinckley said:

As I contemplate this marvelous structure, adjacent to the temple, there comes to mind the great prophetic utterance of Isaiah: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. … “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isa. 2:2–3, 5).

The late president did not cite verse 4 in his keynote address: “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares”, and “the nations shall not lift sword against nations”. I am guessing that either the “rank and file” members of the LDS Church are not ready for the Church to embrace its millennial calling and/or it is omitted for reasons of a lack of commitment in the LDS Church to peace. In the same way that religions are ambivalent to the use of violence, they are also ambivalent to nonviolence as a tool for social change. Peace is mainly understood as inner peace, the fruit of the Spirit and the result of repentance – as the End of the journey, and not as the Way. Even though Mahatma Gandhi once said: “There is no way to peace. Peace is the Way!”

Hinckley explains the link: “I believe [Isaiah's] prophecy applies to the historic and wonderful Salt Lake Temple. But I believe also that it is related to this magnificent hall. For it is from this pulpit that the law of God shall go forth, together with the word and testimony of the Lord. May God bless us as a people. We have found a new stride in this great millennial year. May we walk in the footsteps of the great Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”.

I can hardly wait!

Swords to ploughshares

“Swords to ploughshares” is a widely understood concept in the field of peace operations in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications. The plowshare is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit mankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword, a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use. The common expression “beat swords into plowshares” has been used by disparate social and political groups.

Ploughshares actions are made by people committed to peace and disarmament and who nonviolently, safely, openly and accountably disable a war machine or system so that it can no longer harm people.

Ploughshares activists are given training in safety and nonviolence and form groups for long-term support. Ploughshares is an enactment of the Biblical prophecies to ’beat swords into ploughshares’ but is now no longer a Christian movement but one which embraces people from many different faiths or from none at all. The underlying appeal is the universal call to peace, to abolish all war and to find peaceful ways to resolve our conflicts. It recognises the abuse of power that war always is, and the deep immorality of threats to kill (taken from Trident Ploughshares website).

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One must ask: Do mormon temples have anything to do with establishing peace between and within nations, and with redirecting our spending from military operations to peaceful and constructive activities? I think they do, but the link is not apparent – as you can imagine. In speaking of the Salt Lake City Temple, Gordon B. Hinckley expressed:

“Inside the temple a further sense of peace is experienced. The world is left behind with its clamor and rush. In the house of the Lord there is tranquillity. Those who serve here know that they are dealing with matters of eternity. All are dressed in white. Speech is subdued. Thoughts are elevated. This is a sanctuary of service. Most of the work done in this sacred house is performed vicariously in behalf of those who have passed beyond the veil of death [...] This sacred edifice becomes a school of instruction in the sweet and sacred things of God. Here we have outlined the plan of a loving Father in behalf of His sons and daughters of all generations. Here we have sketched before us the odyssey of man’s eternal journey from premortal existence through this life to the life beyond…”

I have written another article on temples: structures of peace, where the idea of temples as schools of instruction (HoPE – Holistic Peace Education) is exemplified and may in the future be employed as a potential mormon social change theory. The idea is, as I understand it, to create temple communities around the world, communities made up of individuals, families and neighborhoods that will live up to their sacred covenants and who will in that way “establish Zion”. But over the years, Zion has become less and less what it used or was meant to be. We talk now of Zion as the Kingdom of God on earth, that being the LDS Church.

So the vision of a different and better society is fading. The temple becomes “a refuge from the storm”, “a haven in the midst of chaos”: a form of mormon isolationism in some sorts. The beauty of it all is that no church or social movement operates in a vacuum. Should violence continue unabated to destroy society, we might all conclude – and let us hope we will before it is too late – that we too must lay down our weapons. So that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled. In this light, one may add that there are welcomed changes in LDS Church policy. I make in particular reference to the new-found “purpose” of the Church “to care for the poor and the needy” (it is not a new idea, but the emphasis is). This rediscovered emphasis is good, but it does not as yet provide the vision of a different and better society.

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This article was also posted at Saints Herald