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Report on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Their Values
COMM 2150
Overview
In this report I will be reporting my research on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. Growing up in Utah, I have always been surrounded by this religion. I have
always been quite close minded towards it, assuming I knew everything I needed to
know. This report will also explain a church function I have attended, as well as my
experience there. I will explain the values I believe the members of this religion holds
and use The Value Orientation Theory developed by Kluckhorn and Strodbeck to
analyze their values. I will also reflect on my experience in researching this project.
Religion
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or better known as the Mormon church
is a religion focusing on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Founded by Joseph Smith, the
Mormons follow a lot of Christian beliefs. They believe that God created the earth, as
well as their saviour, Jesus Christ. God sent his son, Jesus to earth to atone for
humanitys sins. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, you can repent for all of your
wrongdoings and only then can you make it to heaven. Their values include close family
Religious Function
I attended Sacrament meeting, the longest meeting of the Sunday Services of the
church. This meeting entails religious songs sung by the congregation, an opening and
closing prayer, along with various speakers. The sacrament services are also observed
during this meeting. A prayer is said over the sacrament and it is passed to the
congregation. The LDS church explains the reasoning behind this on their official
website:
On the night before His Crucifixion, Jesus Christ met with His Apostles and instituted
of bread and water in remembrance of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice. This ordinance
is an essential part of worship and spiritual development. Jesus Christ said, This is my
body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. This cup is the new
testament in my blood, which is shed for you. The broken bread is a reminder of His
body and His physical sufferingespecially His suffering on the cross. It is also a
reminder that through His mercy and grace, all people will be resurrected and given the
Value Theory
The Value Orientations Theory by Kluckhorn and Strodbeck began with the two
studying Navaho, Spanish descendants, and European Americans in the 1950s. They
proposed that cultural values were central to understanding a cultural group. Values
are the most deeply held beliefs shared by a cultural group. (Martin & Nakayama,
2012) Klukorn and Strodbeck thought it was pertinent for members of each cultural
The orientation theories I would use for this are The nature of human nature and What
Analysis
Pertaining to the value orientation of The nature of human nature; as I said before, I
think the Mormons have a lot of influence from Christianity, if not influence, LDS
members are essentially Christian. Mormon doctrine includes the belief that Jesus died
on the cross for our sins and only through him, can we reach the Celestial kingdom, or
of the Christian view of humans as essentially evil and born in sin. (Martin &
Nakayama, 2012) The value orientation that human nature is essentially bad, is held by
Mormons as well. Since Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Good and Evil in the
garden of Eden; She, Adam and all of humanity were cast out and were now capable of
sin. Mormons believe that all humans sin. Every man will have to observe Christs
The value orientation theory Relationship between humans was an interesting one for
society, I believe the LDS religion is a group oriented culture. They call each other
Brother and Sister. Talking with my Mormon friend, who is devoutly religious and
even served a mission, she explained to me how people in the church come together to
help when a member falls on tough times. If someone has a newborn baby, or is hurt or
sick, church members are known to bring dinner over, or help do work around the
Reflection
Before I began this project, I thought I would choose a culture to examine and report on.
After considering a few different cultures, I kept revisiting the thought of me potentially
needing to be more open minded about religion. I have a higher power of sorts, very
might as well use this project to explore a religion that Ive grown up around. A religion
I learned that this religion wasnt as foreign as I had expected. You hear crazy things
about groups and organizations that are not well understood. My attitude did change
throughout this project. I dont know why I felt like I had a right to judge another group of
people, but I have. I respect some of the values I believe the Mormon religion holds.
Applying value orientation theory to this religion was interesting to me. I compared LDS
values to that of U.S. society, as the religion is much more popular in the United States
than in any other country. It was interesting to see where the two aligned and differed. I
definitely will work on being more open minded. This project was an eye opener on how
close minded I have been on the values of different religions and cultures in general.
Things arent always what they seem from the outside in.
Works Cited