This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Mormonism is doomed if it continues to celebrate racial and ethnic diversity, to support refugees and immigrant families, and to debase Western, white culture.
At least that's the view of one Latter-day Saint, a blogger named Ayla, who tweets as Nordic Sunrise and "Wife With A Purpose" — despite the fact that her church disagrees with her on all those points.
Still — because the mother of six has nearly 22,000 Twitter followers, has been interviewed multiple times on radio and maintains a strong presence on social media — some see her as representing a "growing" alt-right LDS subculture.
For Exhibit A, Ayla singles out James the Mormon, a rapper who shares his faith via music.
"Just as inner-city Chicago used to be full of hardworking Christian[s], Poles, Germans and Irish but is now overrun with black, ghetto culture," she writes in a recent blog, "it seems Mormonism and Utah are the next target for cultural destruction, and what's worse, the Mormons themselves are welcoming it."
James, aka James Curran, who did not respond to a request for comment, may not "cuss or rap about sex (at least not yet)," the blogger argues, but his video was promoting "violent, inner-city thug culture and its lack of traditional values. It was also erasing our strong Mormon musical culture."
Ayla condemns James for being "pro-refugee" and regularly tweeting "in support of bringing more refugees into our country." She also critiques him for promoting powerful women, supporting National Public Radio and embracing Black Lives Matter, which she calls "a terrorist organization."
"Equality of cultures is a false God," the self-described "radical traditionalist" writes. "The culture and values promoted by James the Mormon do not reflect what is best for Mormon youth. He should not be given promotion within our homes or church."
Much of Ayla's content "fuses Mormon concepts with alt-right themes," writes Jim Dalrymple on BuzzFeed.
"On Twitter, she retweets David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, and uses the #whiteculture hashtag," he reports. "She cites Mormon scripture as evidence that races should be separate."
Ayla, who could not be reached for comment, tweeted with approval the statement from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that Americans "can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies" and issued her own "white baby challenge," saying "I've made six. Match or beat me!"
Top officials in the 15.6 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have already spoken out publicly in defense of refugees, even launching an initiative known as "I Was a Stranger." The Utah-based faith favors immigration reform, urging lawmakers to strive to keep families together. And its message promotes diversity.
"We believe all people are God's children and are equal in his eyes and in the church," reads the official statement posted on the faith's website. "We do not tolerate racism in any form. ... We condemn racism, including any and all past racism by individuals both inside and outside the church."
Said Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the governing First Presidency in a 2013 General Conference sermon, "The diversity of persons and peoples all around the globe is a strength of this church."
So how many Mormons are part of the alt-right movement, which combines racism, white nationalism and populism?
LDS- and GOP-dominated Utah went for Republican Donald Trump (though he captured only 46 percent of the vote), but not all his supporters share those alt-right beliefs.
Some far-right Mormons, like Ayla, do promote their views on Twitter and boast thousands of followers. And there is at least one private Facebook group with hundreds of LDS participants, some of whom insist that Jesus was white and that illegal immigrants — even those with Mormon temple recommends — should be booted out of the country.
No way to know, says Quin Monson, a political scientist at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University.
"Certainly these folks exist, but the size of the group has never been measured," Monson says. "To say it's large or growing [as BuzzFeed does] is absurd in the absence of any real evidence."
Massive donations to the church's refugee efforts by rank-and-file Mormons, he adds, "tells me, if anything, the [white nationalist LDS subculture] is shrinking, not growing."
Even without belonging to a particular political group, some Mormons continue to harbor racist attitudes. They build these views on now-rejected justifications for the church's former ban — ended in 1978 — on black men and boys from the priesthood and black women and girls from LDS temples.
Those racist notions "persist in the hearts and minds of some Mormons around the globe," says University of Utah historian Paul Reeve, author of "Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness."
These are "ongoing racial issues," he says, "especially for Mormons of color who experience it firsthand in LDS congregations."
Phylicia Rae Jimenez, a black Mormon in Philadelphia, echoes that sentiment.
Several LDS friends have played down the "severity and prevalence" of Ayla's comments, telling Jimenez the blogger is "just one voice."
"I have been a member nine years and have been told many times on many different occasions how I'll be white in heaven or how my skin is a sin/curse," the convert says. "Her comments aren't isolated. They're in abundance in our church, and we must address them directly if we ever want to begin healing from our church's racist history."
Members such as Ayla "are more dangerous to the church than other fringe groups," argues Devan Mitchell of Renton, Wash., "because they show how easily fringe conservatism can infiltrate the LDS community and displace actual doctrine."
He points to Gordon B. Hinckley's 2006 address in which the late LDS Church president said that no one "who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony" with the Mormon faith.
For his part, Mitchell hopes his church "deals with Ayla," rather than showing "leniency toward conservative peddlers of false doctrine."
In a small way, it already has — Ayla's profile on the "I'm a Mormon" page was quietly removed this week.
Twitter: @religiongal