Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-238)

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This is a descriptive account of Mormonism in a Maori community in New Zealand. Though this millennial movement has had a deep impact on the community, elements of the traditional religion and social structure continue to function, so that behaviour may be legitimized by either of two cultural systems. While the chapters on church organization, belief and ritual, and the teaching of values focus upon Mormonism, traditional aspects, of culture and society have been given some attention and contradictions between the two systems are shown in some detail. An attempt has been made to demonstrate that specific crises in the community are leading to a progressive acceptance of Mormonism. The Church makes less drastic demands upon the Maori than the dominant white society, but these demands seem to provide for the minimum of social change needed by the people of Whangaruru to cope adequately with the socio-economic problems that are facing them. The Maori Mormon combines in his self-concept the ideals of rapid modernization and of sacral linkage with tribal ancestors. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

On November 17, 1980, twenty Mormon women and one man were arrested on criminal trespassing charges after chaining themselves to the Bellevue, Washington LDS Temple gate. The news media extensively covered the event due to the shocking photos of middle-aged housewives, covered in large chains, holding protest signs and being escorted to police cars. These women were part of the group Mormons for the Equal Rights Amendment (MERA) and were protesting the LDS Church’s opposition to the ERA. The LDS Church actively opposed the ERA and played an important role in influencing the vote in key states leading to its eventual failure. However, ERA literature generally ignores the LDS Church and their influence, instead attributing the ERA’s failure to lack of appeal to lower class and minority women, the ratification process, and confusing messaging about the amendment. Literature that does discuss the LDS Church and its opposition to the ERA fails to tell the story of the small, but bold and attention grabbing group of Mormon women who organized a campaign in direct opposition to the position of their church. This thesis begins with an evaluation of MERA’s use of sacred space in protest, and their portrayal in the media. It then explores how MERA re-appropriated LDS hymns, rituals and language to assert their power and express discontent with the church’s position on ERA, and concludes with an evaluation of the institutional and social consequences MERA members faced as a result of their activism.

This study has two main purposes. First, to develop from theory hypotheses concerning the association between attendance of L.D.S., male household heads at church related activities and certain specific variables; and to test these hypotheses. The second purpose was to test certain other variables, (not related to theory) for association with church attendance of L.D.S., male household heads.The chi-square test was used to determine whether or not the variables were significantly associated and the coefficient of contingency test to determine to what extent they were related. The .05 level of probability was chosen as the criterion for significance. A sample was obtained upon which the findings were based. It consisted of 378 male, L.D.S. household heads whose wives were also members of the L.D.S. Church. It was taken from three distinct random samples of people living in towns and open country areas of Juab and Sanpete Counties in central Utah. The respondents were personally interviewed during April and May of 1958 by six persons especially trained for this purpose.The findings of this study tended to support all of the hypotheses and to lend weight to the propositions from which they were derived.The propositions derived from the findings of other studies and supported in this study were:1. Household heads will have rates of attendance that are generally similar to the rates of attendance at church related activities of other members of the family.2. Those with high attendance at L.D.S. church related activities will more likely conform to certain emphasized standards, principles, and suggestions of the church and will more likely have leadership responsibilities than will those with lower attendance at church related activities.The hypotheses derived from the above propositions and supported in this study are:High attendance of of household heads at church related activities will be positively associated with:1. High attendance of wives at church related activities.2. Number of church related organizations to which they belong.3. Number of church related organizations to which wives belong.4. Usual family attendance at church.5. Regular holding of family prayers.6. Regular holding of family night.7. Frequency of religious discussions between husbands and wives.8. High amount of agreement between husbands and wives about religion.A total of seven of the thirty-one additional variables tested showed significant and positive association with church attendance. These were:1. Family participation in shopping trips.2. Husbands often helping wives with work.3. Frequency of discussion with wives about recreation.4. Frequency of discussion with wives about politics.5. Grades of formal education completed. (By husbands)6. Present house more comfortable than last.7. Number of magazine subscriptions.Amount of agreement or disagreement between husbands and wives on specific items, was found to have no significant association with church attendance.A total of seven variables in the study were found to have corrected coefficient of contingency scores of .40 or above. These were:1. Family usually attended church together.2. Husband belonged to three or more church related organizations.3. Wife belonged to three or more church related organizations.4. Wife attended church related activities 60 percent or over of the time.5. Combined "yes" responses concerning family participation averaged 60 percent or over.6. Husband and wife often discussed religion.7. Family prayers were held regularly.The above variables combined and plotted to form a church attendance pedictability index. Although the predictability of three or less variables was not very reliable, when all seven variables were accounted for, the predictability was 95.2 percent.

Religiosity has largely been ignored by consumer research as a factor in the negotiation of meaning from magazine advertisements containing lifestyle messages. A meaning based study was undertaken to seek to identify its presence and emergence within a religious audience. A qualitative methodology employing in-depth, phenomenological interviewing was designed. Six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, three men and three women, were invited to give their interpretations, thoughts, and feelings towards four magazine advertisements. A second in-depth phenomenological interview was conducted with each participant to provide individual lifeworld contexts. Analysis employed a previously tested conceptual construct, Life Themes, to identify a paramount, existential motivator unique to each participant. Life Themes were consequently examined for influences of personal and institutional religiosity. Expressions of religiosity were found to be influenced by individual Life Themes. Though findings indicate conflicts with personal values derived from religiosity, interpretive consensus was not found in particular incidences or on particular values. Findings also suggest that proximity to Christian lifestyle values, rather than to simply “Mormon” lifestyle values, more fully suggest incidence of shared interpretive strategy in evaluating lifestyle appeals within advertising messages. The study indicates that aligning a product with messages containing values that promote lifestyle conflict is not serving the best interests of the product, nor its intended market.

This study addressed itself to identifying dominant motivational influences prompting seminary attendance of ninth and eleventh grade students living along the Wasatch Front in the state of Utah and to determine if these motivational influences were related to stated objectives of the LDS seminary program. The sample consisted of twelve randomly selected cluster groups of seminary classes from the Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo-Orem areas. Factors relative to stated objectives and to entertainment were incorporated in the survey questionnaire, Survey of Attendance Rationale, used for data collection. Data were collected in February 1981 and submitted to factor analysis, analysis of variance, and the Chi-square test of homogeneity.Results of the hypotheses tested indicated that primary motivational factors influencing seminary attendance were related to the stated objectives of the seminary program, accompanied by the strong influence of and desire for entertainment related activities.

The Seminaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were organized to provide religious education for high school and junior high school students. Inspirational devotional programs are a part of the class procedure in the Seminaries designed to create a spiritual tone in this religious education. Objectives of these devotional periods are:1. To encourage students to reflect and meditate on spiritual subjects.2. To provide opportunities and experiences for student participation in planning and presenting inspirational devotional programs.3. To establish in the classroom an atmosphere or setting which will stimulate the study of scripture and sacred history, thus serving as a lead into lesson work.This project involves a discussion of techniques of planning and producing inspirational devotional programs in the Seminary. In it outlines are given for fifty-nine devotional programs to accompany the fifty-nine lessons outlined in the Teacher Manual which was published in 1961 by the Department of Education of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the Seminary course in Church History and Doctrine.While these devotional programs do no satisfy the daily needs for the entire year, they do serve as an outline for a minimal devotional activity and provide a pattern for further planning by teachers and students.

The purpose of this study was to test the follow null hypotheses:1. There are no differences between boys and girls in religious attitudes and religious activity.2. There are no differences in students' religious attitudes related to the priesthood and religious activity status of the fathers.3. There are no differences in students' religious activity related to the priesthood and religious activity status of the fathers.4. There is no relationship between a student's religious attitudes and his religious activity.A religious attitude index was obtained for each student from a summated rating of students' responses to a Likert-type attitude scale, and a religious activity index was determined from students' expressed religiosity for individual prayer and church attendance. The required data were obtained for 153 students enrolled at the Kaysville L. D. S. Seminary during the spring of 1960.Five groupings were established for the priesthood and religious activity status of the fathers: Seventies and High Priests (active), Seventies and High Priests (inactive), Elders (active), Elders (inactive), and Aaronic Priesthood—Adults (inactive).The following statistics were employed in testing the above hypotheses: simple analysis of variance, t-test, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction among Latter-day Saints (LDS) college students. The scales used were the religiosity scale by Chadwick and Top (1993), and the life satisfaction scale by Neugarten, Havighurst and Tobin (1961). The analysis was based on data obtained from 222 students (55.5%) who responded. A prediction model was used to develop a regression equation. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between religiosity and life satisfaction. The regression equation is as follows: life satisfaction = 1.436815592 + 0.045915152 (spiritual experiences) + 0.042888274 (integration in congregation). A significant correlation of 0.0230 (p<.05) was found for spiritual experiences, and 0.0215 (p<.05) for integration in congregation. But no significant correlation was found between life satisfaction and the other factors such as gender, age, religious beliefs, private religious behavior, attendance/public behavior, and family religious. Spiritual experiences and integration in congregation were the only factors correlated with higher life satisfaction scores.