On cue and without any sense of irony, Joe Cannon in this morning’d D-News published the editorial Mormons are entitled to defend their freedom of religion. The editorial begins with a brief paragraph describing Dallin Oaks’ speech on religious freedom then offered a swipe at critics of the speech:

Some listeners took exception to small, isolated aspects of his remarks. Like the scribes and Pharisees of old, these critics strained at a gnat and ignored the camel of the real and present threats to religious freedom to which Elder Oaks’ whole remarks were addressed.

Then offered a defense of Dallin Oaks as eminently qualified to speak on the topic. After that, Cannon offered this clumsy transition:

It is fair to say that no other religious group in the history of the America has greater standing to rise to the defense of religious liberty than do the Latter-day Saints.

He then offers the usual litany of horribles experienced by Mormons before coming to Utah then ends with this:

All liberty, unless zealously defended, is only one generation away from extinction. Elder Oaks was right to raise his voice in defense of religious freedom.

At the heart of contemporary Mormonism is the persecution narrative Cannon rehearses here; the details may vary from telling to telling, but it is always the same in the bigger picture – Mormons were the innocent and blameless victims of persecution in the 19th century and were forced to flee to Utah to establish a new, safe society in which they could have religious freedom. Of course that narrative is oversimplified – as Jon Krakauer recounts in his masterful Under the Banner of Heaven Mormons were neither the blameless victims of Mormon lore nor were they the villains of 19th century anti-Mormon propaganda; the people who hounded the Mormons were neither the slavering villains of Mormon lore nor were they were heroic defenders of orthodox Christianity.

The persecution narrative is so central to Mormonism and to the understanding of the contemporary faith that it is an inescapable component of the faith – so central to Mormonism in fact that no one exploring Mormonism can avoid it. The persecution narrative gives shape to contemporary Mormonism it is the boundary by which Mormons define the experience of Mormonism.

Cannon’s recitation of his whitewashed version of history is not about religious freedom. Look at it this way – a Mormon church truly dedicated to religious freedom and the corresponding value of religious pluralism would not teach that the Mormon church is the only true church. By holding onto an exclusivist theology, Mormonism actually furthers the divisiveness that undermines religious freedom.

Cannon’s editorial is intended for a Mormon audience, intended to rally the faithful to the defense of the faith. Cannon like Dallin Oaks assumes that criticism of Mormonism is per se unacceptable and amounts to an attack on Mormonism. Cannon reciting the persecution of Mormonism isn’t arguing for religious freedom and isn’t making a case that Mormonism today is being persecuted. Neither Cannon nor Oaks actually makes the case that the response to the church’s involvement in Prop 8 actually constitutes persecution; they assume it away and knowing their audience is steeped in the Mormon folkloric narrative will automatically connect the dots – accepting without proof that protestors against the Mormon church are the spiritual heirs of the people who in Mormon mythology murdered Joseph Smith in cold blood and drove the Mormons from the Midwest for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Mormon mythology requires that Mormons were/are innocent victims. In the aftermath of Prop 8, the outpouring of anger at the Mormon church’s political activities actually surprised a great many faithful members of the LDS church. So ingrained is the notion of Mormon victimhood that members could not actually believe – and continue to not believe – that the Mormon church of today is not the besieged minority religion of the 1840s. Cannon’s editorial reinforces the mindset of many Mormons – inviting them not to reflect on the role the church played in politics but instead to see themselves and their church as besieged victims of overpowering outside forces.

Criticism of Mormon theology, practice and governance is a dangerous territory; Mormons see in it a repeat of historical attacks. By reciting the history (repeatedly) by putting it central to the Mormon experience, the church has in essence inoculated itself from outside criticism. Even criticism from members is interpreted as horrifically dangerous, weakening the resolve of the faithful to defend against persecution. Mormonism is uniquely immune to critical thinking and analysis from non-Mormons.

Bizarre as it may seem, the Mormon church, with its billions of dollars of assets, TV stations, radio stations, newspapers and thousands of buildings across the nation, it’s vast Stalinist inspired headquarters and conference center is understood as the innocent victim of protestors. Even the church’s intervention in politics – increasingly active in the last decade or so – is a necessary step in defending the church against a repeat of 19th century persecutions. Every thing the church does – from accumulating wealth to gaining political influence – is part of the process of protecting itself.

I noted before that neither Dallin Oaks nor Joe Cannon actually made the case that protests in the wake of Prop 8 last year actually constituted an attack on the freedom of Mormons to practice their faith (for instance, if they were to argue that the protests actually prevented Mormons from practicing their faith, they’d be asked for evidence; by simply asserting it to faithful audiences, they gain assent without being required to build an actual coherent case). They simply assert that protests against Mormons were attacks on religious freedom. Only for a church community so steeped in and enamored of its history of persecution would see a series of spontaneous protests as attacks on their religious freedom. Consider how many Mormons were convinced that the kiss-ins on the Main Street Plaza was an attack on the church and you begin to get an idea of how profoundly indoctrinated Mormons are with a persecution complex.