What Does the Book of Mormon Say About Inequality? Series
The Book of Mormon contains some surprising insights concerning economic inequality. This series explores several topics addressed by the LDS scripture and its insights for today.This article will serve as an introduction to the historical narrative portions of the Book of Mormon which address the topic of inequality. This history also builds the stage for the following sub-series on the Book of Mormon.
As it turns out, the majority of the book's narrative speaks to inequality in some form or another.
Economic Elements of the Historical Narrative
As was stated in Understanding Inequality in the Book of Mormon - Pt I, the Book of Mormon rarely talks about economic inequality as we would today, and instead uses religious terminology and themes to address 'iniquity' - which is a type of wickedness usually involving social inequities.
Before we take a look at the economic elements of the narrative it would be useful to describe as best I can the general economics of the book.
From what I can tell, most people in the narrative appear to practice subsistence agriculture - this is to say small farms with the purpose of feeding one's family. At times the narrative specifically mentions the rise of specialists - lawyers, merchants, weavers, politicians, craftsmen, etc - but the abundance of these specialists appears to be the exception to the norm during certain periods of wealth.
In the narrative, there are no businesses, no corporations, or really anything similar to our complex modern economic system. The only "for profit" organizations are "secret combinations" - cults which seek to deceive and murder to become rich and powerful.
With such a simple subsistence economic system there are only three quick ways to become rich - to be a king and tax the people, to use religion in order to deceive people, or to rob the people by stealing from them directly, or otherwise ensuring that resources are not distributed to them. As all of these methods are considered 'iniquity', the Book of Mormon addresses the "rich", and those that "set their hearts upon riches" and commit iniquities, very harshly.
The narrative generally describes 'rich' and 'poor' in relative terms, with only a few clues as to the absolute wealth and poverty of the people. One clue that is offered is that the rich separate themselves from the poor by wearing "costly apparel", which to me signifies that the rich were simply wealthy enough to pay specialists for their needs, rather than to make clothing themselves. My guess is this means that the absolute inequality in the narrative was, for the most part, probably pretty minor, with the average rich likely only having a few times more the resources as the average poor.
Nothing like today where something like the richest 50 families own more than the poorest half of the planet.
But the absolute inequality is not what matters in the narrative - it's the relative inequality that causes problems.
What is Contained in this Sub-Series
With the above items in mind, let's look at some of the elements which we will address in this sub-topic series:
Iniquitous Kings - In the first half of the narrative, as well as the book of Ether, the people are ruled by kings. At times, these kings are terribly wicked, and exact harsh taxes on the people in order to live lavish lifestyles. These taxes are very hard on the people, and are the primary cause of inequality in the early half of the Book of Mormon.
Because of the economic inequality which iniquitous kings cause, kings are abolished, and the Nephites form a new church and a new government dedicated to correcting inequalities, and a renewed interested in justice, equity, democracy, and the Law of Moses.
The Pride Cycle - Throughout the narrative, the Nephites go through cycles, where economic inequality is introduced, leading the rich to become prideful and to begin persecuting the poor. In these cycles, 'pride' is a consequence of inequality, and is manifested through inaction on correcting iniquities, justification of the poor, and persecuting the poor by withholding resources.
Consequences of Inequality and Pride - This article takes a closer look at the consequences of economic inequality, including the creation of new inequities in education and justice, and serious social problems described as 'strifes', 'envyings', and 'malice'. In order to counteract the inequities and their consequences, the church of God and the government of the people act to counteract inequality.
A Note on Envy - The Book of Mormon frequently mentions 'envy' as a emotion coinciding
every instance of pride and inequality in the book, however it provides little details about what is
meant by the word. This article explores a possible explanation of the word using modern
examples.
Priestcraft - Priestcraft refers to anytime religion is used to make individuals rich and/or famous. It is manifested by people twisting religion in order to deceive people into giving them money directly, or to convince them that economic inequalities are not wrong, and therefore there is no moral obligation to correct it.
Priestcraft is a serious problem all throughout the narrative, but especially from the book of Alma on. Eventually, priestcrafts become the ideological underpinnings of all economic inequality in the Book of Mormon.
Secret Combinations Pt I - Secret combinations are cults of people who will do whatever they can to become rich - generally through deceit, robbing, and even murder. At times they work in the shadows and put their own members in powerful political positions and then become rich through robbing the poor; and at other times they use warfare and chaos to plunder the land. With every strategy they seek to destroy the government and laws of the land that put limits on their greed and punish their iniquities.
In Secret Combinations Pt II - Gadianton Robbers we look at the most dangerous secret combination, the "Gadianton Robbers", who sought to become rich by destroying the government which combated inequalities. Once that was accomplished, they enriched themselves and persecuted the poor.
Dissension and War - Throughout the narrative, laws and religious principles are put into place to limit kings, priestcrafts, persecutions, strife, and secret combinations - but the wicked who would do anything to become rich simply dissent from the church and from their own government in order to practice commit their iniquities more easily. When the Nephites act to limit or stop these dissensions, the dissenters join neighboring peoples to wage on God's people to destroy the government once and for all.
Most wars then in the Book of Mormon are fought over the whether the few should be free from laws and morality to commit iniquities, at the expense of the rights of the many, or whether a strong government and religion should exist to punish iniquities and to correct inequalities.
Racial Inequities - Most of this series will focus on economic inequality, following the predominant content of the Book of Mormon, but there are a few insights concerning racial equality which could be interesting to address here.
This article explores the possibility that racial tensions between those belonging to the tribes of Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh fueled the priestcrafts, secret combinations, dissensions, and war mentioned above.
Twilight of the Nephites and Conclusions - This concluding article to this chapter recaps the principles provided above through reading 4 Nephi and the concluding saga of the Nephites. The people finally obtain peace when economic inequality is completely done away with. Once inequality returns, and along with it pride, persecution, priestcrafts, and secret combinations, the people are eventually destroyed.
I hope you enjoy, and feel free to comment.
What Does the Book of Mormon Say About Inequality - Table of Contents
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