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| The 3 men called as new apostles: Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund |
As you may have heard, the LDS church recently called 3 men to be apostles: Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson and Elder Dale G. Renlund (here is the announcement).
Like many people, I was expecting at least one non-white, non-Utahn, (maybe even under the age of 50). After all, since there were 3 vacancies at once (which I’m told hasn’t happened since 1906), the odds seemed pretty good.
It turns out they were all white Utahns (in their 60s).
This left me wondering: Why?
After all, there are many brethren among the quorums of the 70 (which are a big deal after the Quorum of the 12) who are from Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc. As President Gordon B. Hinckley said in April 2005, “I am convinced that there are literally hundreds of brethren worthy and capable to serve as general officers of the Church. We see them everywhere. Those sustained today have been chosen to fill particular responsibilities. In most cases, this will involve sacrifice, which will be willingly made.” (I will refer to this quotation later). I’ve even had the chance to meet one from Mexico and one from Guatemala.
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why men from other races or ethnicities weren’t chosen. But I’d like to offer my two and a half cents on some of the factors.
Did the brethren consider race or ethnicity when deciding who to call as new apostles? Possibly. Although I’m sure that, if they did take that into consideration, it would have been secondary, because if you focus primarily on a person’s skin color or country of origin, it would be easy to lose sight of the bigger question: Who does the Lord want us to call at this time?
Further, I’m convinced that each calling is a combination of spiritual means (i.e. revelation) and non-spiritual means. For example, I’m sure social networking was a factor.
Looking back through the history of the LDS Church, there’s no question that social networking was part of who was assigned to important leadership positions. Joseph Smith chose his father Joseph Smith Sr. to be patriarch and his brother Hyrum Smith to be an apostle. His close friends Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris were chosen to participate in translating the Book of Mormon, publishing it, and were called to be apostles. Church presidents Joseph F. Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith were Hyrum Smith’s son and grandson, respectively (making them Joseph Smith’s nephew and great nephew).
This reminds me of an amusing quotation by J. Golden Kimball (the seventy that was famous for cursing): “Some people say a person receives a position in this church through revelation, and others say they get it through inspiration, but I say they get it through relation. If I hadn't been related to Heber C. Kimball [his father] I wouldn't have been a damn thing in this church.”
Even with the social networking aspect, there’s still consideration of spiritual qualifications. For example, Smith’s close friends Cowdery and Harris were excommunicated for apostasy.
This statement from President Hinckley in April 2005, (from the same talk I referenced earlier), is fitting. This was when his son Richard G. Hinckley was sustained as a Seventy:
“Among those sustained, as you have noted, is my 63-year-old son. I make it clear that I did not advance his name. That was done by others whose right it was to do so. I feel extremely sensitive about the matter of nepotism. As the lawyers say, I recused myself from participating. However, I believe he is worthy and qualified in every respect. In the first place, he had a great and wonderful mother. I wish I could recommend his father.
“I mention this only because of my sensitivity concerning the matter of nepotism. Please do not hold it against him for his relationship to me. He’s powerless to help it.”
So it would seem that there was an aspect of social networking (i.e. people knew who Richard was because he was the son of the prophet), but his spiritual qualifications for the position were still considered.
Ever since the Mormons settled the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, it’s no wonder that most of the main leadership of the Church has been drawn from Utah. To this day, Utah is the place with the highest concentration of Mormons, so it’s no wonder that many of the leadership (including the 3 new apostles) continues to come from Utah. But things are changing, because nowadays most Mormons live outside the US and/or don’t speak English as their first language.
Having said that, it’s worth noting that even these new apostles from Utah have more to them than meets the eye.
For example, this article (written by a relative of Elder Renlund), pointed out that that even though Elder Renlund was born in Utah, “Dale was born to full Scandinavian immigrants who spoke no English when they first came to the U.S. in 1948/1950. All four children, including Dale, spoke Swedish as their first language…
“The entire family moved back to Scandinavia when Dale was about 10 to 13ish, where they spent time in Helsinki, Finland and Gothenbirg, Sweden. They were fully immersed in Swedish culture there and went to Swedish speaking public schools.”
This article criticized that post for saying that background counts as “diversity.” My opinion is that even though he may not technically qualify as racially or ethnically diverse, it’s important to remember that he didn’t have the typical “homegrown” experience of living in the “bubble” of Utah.
Which brings me to another observation: even among the currently all-white apostles, there are several who aren’t exactly “typical Utah Mormons”
- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. That goes without saying, but it’s worth remembering our favorite German apostle. He had an interesting upbringing living in post-World War II Germany. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_F._Uchtdorf
- President Henry B. Eyring was born in New Jersey and lived there until he was a teenager. (source)
- Elder David A. Bednar was born in Oakland, California. Note: his dad wasn’t baptized into the LDS church until David was an adult. (source)
- Elder Neil L. Anderson was born in Utah but raised in Idaho. Many might discount that because Idaho is geographically close, and culturally similar, to Utah. (source)
It’s also worth noting that other important leadership bodies are becoming increasingly diverse
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| Bishop Gerard Causse |
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| Elder Gerrit W. Gong |
- For example, the new presiding bishop, Gerard Causse, is from France (he took elder Stevenson’s place). (source)
- The new member of the presidency of the Seventy, Elder Gerrit W. Gong (he took Elder Ronald G. Rasband’s place), is ethnically Chinese, and was born and raised in California. (source)
In the future, will there be an apostle who is non-white and/or non-Utahn? I think it will happen eventually. For now, I am excited to get better acquainted with the new apostles and see what they contribute to the work of the Lord.
