Unpopular Opinion: “Praise to the Man” Needs to Go (There, I Said It)

Before you charge at me with your torch and pitchforks, please just take a moment, read this article, and try to understand where this opinion about the popular hymn, “Praise to the Man” is coming from, even if you still disagree with it by the end.

But before I get into my reasons, I want you to know that I love this hymn just as much as the next Latter-day Saint! It’s undeniably powerful. I oftentimes feel the Spirit when I sing it (and maybe that’s evidence enough that it’s OK!). It’s undoubtedly one of the more rousing hymns that are available to us during our Sunday worship. This is bound to be a polarizing opinion piece, but don’t misunderstand, I’m not out picketing against “Praise to the Man” on the corner of Temple Square. In fact, I’m totally open to having my mind changed on this. But as of right now, I think the cost/benefit analysis is not in favor of “Praise to the Man.” Seeing it go would truly be bittersweet, but here’s why I think it’d be a good thing:

Public perception

“Who cares what people think about us?” Well, I do. And I’m sure the Public Affairs Department of the Church cares. Of course we want to clear up misconceptions about the Church and show people who we really are. We want to bust the stereotypes. It’s why we purchased ad space in the playbill of The Book of Mormon musical. It’s why the Church spent millions of dollars on the “I’m a Mormon” campaign.

Here’s a HUGE stereotype: Many people outside of our faith believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a cult. Our cult leader: Joseph Smith. It’s an incredibly unfortunate misunderstanding, but it’s one that “Praise to the Man” definitely propagates.

While Joseph Smith certainly deserves our gratitude and respect for the enormous role he played in the Restoration, we need to be careful. We need to have tact. Take a look at some of these lyrics and try to put yourself in the shoes of a first-time visitor to one of our Sunday meetings. Imagine that all they’ve heard about “the Mormons” is that they’re a religiously radical cult. You sit down in sacrament meeting and we start singing a hymn about our prophetic mouthpiece of God, Joseph Smith:

• Kings shall extol (praise enthusiastically) him, and nations revere.
• Praise to his mem’ry, he died as a martyr; Honored and blest be his ever great name!
• Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins, Plead unto heav’n while the earth lauds his fame.
• Great is his glory and endless his priesthood. Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
• Faithful and true he will enter his kingdom (“his” refers to Joseph Smith, not deity),
• Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.
• Earth must atone for the blood of that man.
• Hail to the prophet, ascended to heaven!
• Mingling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
• Death cannot conquer the hero again.

If this doesn’t portray an attitude of worship, what does? “Praise to the Man” does little to dispel the idea that we’re a Joseph Smith-centered cult. Of course we shouldn’t be ashamed of our gratitude for Joseph Smith, but when people confuse our gratitude with worship, there’s a problem.

Additionally, we make a concerted effort in our faith to emphasize that even though the Father, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings, they’re one single united Godhead. The plural “s” attached to “Mingling with Gods” doesn’t exactly help on that front, but that’s another story. I can shrug that one off for now.

The purpose of sacrament meeting

Here’s another quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks (emphasis added):

The ordinance of the sacrament makes the sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the Church. It is the only Sabbath meeting the entire family can attend together. Its content in addition to the sacrament should always be planned and presented to focus our attention on the Atonement and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We belong to a church that doesn’t even place artwork in our chapels because we don’t want the images to distract from the focus of our meeting: Jesus Christ. Why is it that we’re so willing to sing (vigorously) literal praises to someone other than Christ in those same chapels?

Again, gratitude towards our prophets is fine, but when we put Joseph Smith on the same level as God (he’s mingling with Gods, right?), then we’ve taken things just a tad too far. We would do well to remember the words of the Book of Mormon prophet and king, Benjamin, to his people:

And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.

And I, even I, whom ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the dust.

“Praise to the man” is doctrinally suspect

I’m admitting right now that this is probably the weakest argument against “Praise to the Man” that you’ll see in this article, but it’s worth mentioning. Back in 1994, Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught,

The singing of hymns is one of the best ways to learn the doctrine of the restored gospel.

That’s certainly true, and song is a marvelous tool to help us learn. And what could be more important than learning doctrine? That said, is the doctrine expressed in “Praise to the Man” accurate? Each verse is generally fine, but I get hung up on the chorus we sing four times:

Maybe I’m just being nit-picky here, I fully admit that, but these underlined phrases raise doctrinal questions. First, the chorus claims that Joseph Smith has ascended to Heaven, but our doctrines clearly teach that after we die we go to the Spirit World.

I could easily give this line a Get Out of Jail Free card and say that “ascended to heaven” simply means, “ascended to Spirit Paradise.” But then the hymn hits us with the next underlined segment that makes this interpretation hard to reconcile:

“Mingling with Gods.”

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