Playing with the Sacred: LDS Children’s Games for Boredom and Entertainment

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Jared S. Rife

Abstract

On any Sunday throughout the United States Mormon (or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, referred to hereafter as LDS) children in formal church meetings usually associated with somber devotion play games not out of a spirit of rebellion
but with the social sanction, even encouragement, of the Church. Although game playing in church is not unique to LDS culture, Mormons associate the games with their distinctive worship settings. Often outside of their awareness, but possibly explaining the use of the play frame within the larger context of the church service, the containment of social paradoxes within the games sanctioned by the local group can serve to undermine the sacredness of faith and devotion in LDS youth. This paper will analyze the paradoxes of play enacted within the sacred setting of LDS Sacrament meetings, and use theories of “play framing” developed by Gregory Bateson and elaborated by Erving Goffman, Jay Mechling, and Simon Bronner to interpret the messages about Mormon cultural belief embedded within games performed in church.

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