Editor:

Over the past months, I have looked forward to letters from Kellen Wilson. His mindset and rhetoric are extremely symbolic of the LDS community, of which he is a prominent member. I wish to show readers that Wilson cannot be dismissed as a simple-minded rogue bigot but should be viewed as a symbol of the larger LDS social community.

First, Wilson is extremely anti-gay. The LDS community at large follows this mindset. The church teaches that homosexuality is a sin because it destroys the fabric of the traditional family. However, we should not forget that until 1904, the church endorsed the far more destructive practice of polygamy. Furthermore, the church continues to teach that polygamy will be reinstated in the afterlife. With such an “alternative” doctrine, I think Wilson and his LDS supporters should be more sympathetic to other non-traditional forms of family relationships.

Kellen Wilson follows the LDS mindset and opposes the ACLU. I think it’s quite hypocritical for the LDS community to oppose a civil liberties organization when every Sunday its members are indoctrinated with stories of pioneer persecution and discrimination. Wilson is forgetting that until recently, Mormons were considered “wackos” and only organizations like the ACLU would have defended their freedom of religion.

Like many other neo-Mormons, Wilson is caught up in the social fabric of Mormonism and has forgotten the fundamental teachings of his religion. Christ’s first law was to love God and love your neighbor. I don’t recall Jesus ever giving a sermon of hate.

Wilson seems to have twisted Christ’s teachings to justify homophobia and hatred of all things non-LDS. This same pattern was exhibited in Mountain Meadows in 1857. Early Mormon settlers became so caught up in the social fabric of Mormonism that they used an obscure “blood atonement” doctrine to justify the murder of 150 men, women and children.

I hope Wilson continues his flamboyant streak of letters. Every argument he has ever made conflicts with the teachings of his God. The irony is that he is so engrained in the LDS social fabric that he feels God supports his vulgarity and hatred. He and his supporters offer an extremely insightful view into the mind of a socialized latter-day saint.

Andrew WilliamsAlumnus