We need to see a lot more good work done on the role that LDS people and organizations have played in the emergence and evolution of Christo-fascism. Just today, I learned that Cleon Skousen was a close friend of the Moral Majority's Jerry Falwell. Check out these quotes:
Reverend Jerry Falwell and Dr. Skousen are close, personal friends. Brother Skousen invited him to speak at one of our big get-togethers on July 4th, 1980. Reverend Falwell uses a lot of our (Freemen Institute's) material. We are an education foundation. . . . We send our monthly materials to Reverend Falwell. He especially likes our basic course entitled, "Miracle of America," which is a history of our Constitution from the time of the Anglo-Saxons to the present in 13 hours of cassette tapes. He also likes anything Dr. Skousen may write (Interview with the Vice-President of the Freemen Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah, December 16, 1983).
"Every conservative group in the country relies on the Freemen Institute for the best quality research on Constitutional questions," Falwell said in a news conference prior to an "I Love America" rally at the Utah state capitol. "I have the highest respect for the work of the Institute, and feel we agree on everything."
Jerry Falwell wrote:"We have to do what Dr. Skousen says . . . teach the principles of the Founding Fathers"
Cal Thomas, secretary of the Moral Majority wrote:In 1981 I went out to Salt Lake City and had dinner with Dr. Skousen. We spent a great deal of time together discussing all the things we had in common. We reviewed a lot of their material, and he gave us a lot to take back with us. I found Dr. Skousen's brief on the social security system especially interesting. Reverend Falwell liked it, too. More material was sent to us later on. There may come a situation in the future where both of us . . . may have to be co-combatives together and pool our resources to defend those principles we believe in so much. It is very probable that this could happen under the right kind of situation.
These quotes are taken from "Mormonism and the New Christian Right: An Emerging Coalition," by Anson Shupe and John Heiner
Review of Religious Research 27.2 (1985) 146-157.
“The past no longer belongs only to those who once lived it; the past belongs to those who claim it, and are willing to explore it, and to infuse it with meaning for those alive today.”—Margaret Atwood