In 1937, Richard R. Lyman, a native of Utah, USA, was living in London and serving as President of the Europe Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The sixty-six-year-old had been called as an Apostle in 1918 and in London he served alongside his wife, Amy Brown Lyman, who was a prominent figure in Utah who was an author, community leader, elected official, and a leader in the Relief Society organisation.
Richard, in his capacity as a prominent Latter-day Saint leader, was invited to participate in the World Fellowship by George Lansbury, a Member of Parliament and president of the British National Council of the World Fellowship of Faiths.1 The invitation read:
"We very heartily invite you to define your own subject for a 25 minute address under the general theme: "Helps and Hindrances to Peace and Progress Through World Fellowship.”
Richard accepted the invitation and soon received a letter from a friend, Charles Weller, who was also the general secretary of the fellowship:
Dear Friend and Colleague,
We are all of us delighted by your letter accepting Mr. Lansbury's invitation to you to address our convention.
Of the two subjects which you kindly suggest I should myself be inclined to prefer the second. I think that there will be a large general interest in your discussion of "The Missionary System of the Mormon Church as a Factor in the Peace of the World and International Understanding."
It seems to me that your Church's enlistment and development of young people is one of the finest things which I have seen anywhere, in religious organizations or elsewhere. Your effective development of responsibility and leadership in ordinary men and women, as distinguished from an employed Priesthood, is a nobly inspired, and very efficient force for righteousness and progress.
From my slight, but very highly valued acquaintance with your honoured father, and from my cherished acquaintance with you since we were classmates in the University of Michigan, from my deep appreciation of your own spirit and leadership, locally, nationally and internationally, I am especially glad that you are to take part in our London Convention.
Fraternally yours,
Charles F. Weller
The World Fellowship of Faith was a movement dedicated to increasing understanding of religions and building bridges between organisations through interfaith work. At the time it was described as an “international, inter-racial, non-political, spiritual movement for the realisation of peace and brotherhood through understanding.”2 In 1928 three separate organisations had merged to form the “Threefold Movement — Union of East and West, League of Neighbours, Fellowship of Faiths.” A year later it rebranded as the World Fellowship of Faiths and the first parliament of religions took place in Chicago in 1933. B. H. Roberts, then a President of the First Quorum of the Seventy, gave two talks. Franklin Harris, president of Brigham Young University, also addressed the conference. Subsequent interfaith conferences were held with Latter-day Saint leaders and scholars invited to participate, which included Joseph F. Merrill and J. Reuben Clark.3
These events offered Latter-day Saints the opportunity to listen as well as be listened to. In recent years there had been a significant reversal in publicity with more favourable views of the Church being represented in some media outlets. Crucially, the interfaith conferences invited not just different Christian denominations but different world faiths, including Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, and others.
Richard Lyman settled on the topic of the Church’s missionary system as a means of promoting peace in the world. In many ways it was a smart choice as it presented a view of missionaries that others were unlikely to be aware of, including the sacrifices being made for them to preach the gospel. The thrust of Richard’s presentation was that a mission taught a missionary to love the different cultures they are embedded into and to be friends and representatives to them as they moved into professional careers in their home countries. Richard makes some connections to the growing fear of a war in Europe and presents Germany as a misunderstood entity and he overstates, I believe, the influence that Latter-day Saint returned missionaries would have on a society at war.
The conference was not without controversy. One of the speakers, Bishop Alma White, the first American female bishop, left the conference before it began in protest to the fact that many of those due to present expressed pacifist views and a desire for disarmament. Alma was militant in her views and felt peace was better achieved through rearmament.4
President Lyman’s Remarks
Richard Lyman spoke in the final session of the ‘International Assembly of the World Fellowship of Faiths, which was held at the Whitefield’s Institute in London. Meetings began on the 7th of July 1937 and ran through to the 17th of July. Heber J. Grant had also been invited to speak but was unable to accept the invitation.5 Richard was one of more than 50 speakers to address the assembly which was organised around the theme of “peace and progress”. Here is his talk:
As a contribution to international understanding and as a factor in the promotion of the peace of the world I regard the missionary system of the Mormon Church as an outstandingly helpful influence.
The ambition and ideal of practically all the young men and many of the young women in the Mormon Church is to become qualified and worthy and finally to serve as missionaries for the Church. And the ambition of these young folks is perhaps only exceeded in intensity by that of the parents to have their sons or daughters participate in this unselfish service.
Before taking up our subject proper let us consider briefly two of the factors which contribute to the missionary system of the Mormon Church and its success. Time will not permit discussing here the . great spiritual urge for spreading the Gospel nor the co-operation and unselfishness of parents and Mormon Church members generally who are so willing to sacrifice and to co-operate in order to make this great movement successful.
First I name the training and activities provided in the Priesthood quorums for men and boys. And next the training provided by the auxiliary organizations of the Church for both boys and girls and men and women. This training aids tremendously in the development of personality and leadership.
It is the right of every boy at the age of twelve to be given the Priesthood. Rarely in the Mormon Church is a boy at that age found unworthy and therefore few indeed at that age do not receive it.
The Church thus holds out unusual opportunities for development and for self expression. Both little children and young people in Priesthood activities, Sunday Schools and other auxiliary work are taught not only to pray at home but to sing, speak, pray and otherwise exercise their natural abilities and inclinations in large as well as small public assemblies.
The Mormon missionary service takes young folks at their most critical age, say from nineteen to thirty years old, and starts them walking, as it were, hand in hand with Jesus the Son of God. They themselves or their parents or their friends furnish whatever money is necessary to bring them into the mission field and to maintain them while they are away-while they study the Gospel of Jesus Christ; while they struggle to live in accordance with His teachings and His examples. What richer experience, yea, what richer blessings could come into the lives of young folks during these their critical years than for them to study carefully such a life and to struggle to follow such an example!
As a result of this experience together with the opportunity of travel and of making world-wide contacts they are able to take on responsibilities and leadership unusual for average individuals of the same age and to play an important part in influencing public opinion. Two-thirds of these are college graduates or under-graduates and after completing this voluntary service they return to their studies, their professions or other occupations in many parts of America.
These missionaries are unselfish ambassadors of goodwill and understanding from and to the various countries and peoples where they labour. They carry with them to their fields of labour a spirit of goodwill and fairness, and carry back with them to their homes in America a true and friendly understanding of the peoples among whom they have served. For the people whom they have learned to know and love they have a deep and abiding affection. This is but an indication· of that glorious and greatly desirable bond of sympathy and affection which exists between the 30,000 Church members ·here in the fourteen nations included in the European Mission and the multitude of Church members who are living in America.
Every missionary seems to have within himself what might properly perhaps be called a prejudice in favour of the people with whom he labours. Spencer J. Klomp who had served in England as a missionary for two years recently wrote from his home in Ogden, Utah: "My first impression of the continent was that I wished that I was back in England. Never before was the peaceful condition and the feeling of security of England so apparent as it was after a few weeks travelling in other countries." This missionary makes observations about Paris, about France generally, about Italy and about Germany and then concludes: "To visit England again and meet the fine friends I left in Burnley is the height of my ambition."
Alden E. Coffin, a missionary from Idaho, U.S.A., who had just completed two and a half years in Germany and who was starting on a trip around the world said: "My heart was touched when as I left Germany many of our faithful and devoted Church members appealed to me to be sure to carry to other members of the Church in other lands and in other nations their very best wishes and kindest regards. For their fellow church members everywhere these good German people have only a feeling of genuine affection. They are hoping and praying constantly that mutual confidence will come among the nations and that war will be done away with forever.
My work took me into the homes of the German people every day. I am glad to express the high regard I have for those wonderful German people with whom I have lived and laboured for more than two and one-half years. I have been thoroughly acquainted and intimately associated with hundreds of those fine people in every walk of life. I have lived in their homes, I have eaten at their tables, I have slept in their beds, I have had great pleasure in enjoying their hospitality. I feel as if I am in a better position to render a fair judgment of the situation in Germany than is the average writer or journalist, the student or the tourist who, wilfully or otherwise, either sees these people through eyes of prejudice or else wilfully ignores facts.
I would be both unkind and unfair if I were otherwise than their steadfast friend. What they did or what they thought concerning political matters gave me little concern.
In Germany the morals are high, the people are inherently honest, physically they are clean, they are keen analytic thinkers, they live virtuous lives, and they are most friendly and hospitable. Germany certainly stands foremost in her effort to improve the standard of living for those who labour. It is a real desire of these people, peacefully if possible, to bear the burdens which have been so ruthlessiy and unkindly thrust upon them.
I have been astonished since leaving Germany at the falsehoods which are circulated about these good folks. And what makes it tragic is that honest thinking people appear to believe these falsehoods.''
This tells you something of the stirring experiences which these missionaries have and of their positive impressions. We must acknowledge that, living as these missionaries do in intimate contact with the inner lives of the people, their views concerning actual conditions deserve and are sure to secure attention. I have presented the views of but two young missionaries, one from England, the other from Germany. With from 250 to 400 such returning annually from the European Mission to various parts of the United States their influence is a powerful factor for helping to advance the peace of the world, their efforts an outstanding contribution to international understanding and goodwill!
The quotations I have given are from young men. Give consideration for a moment to the words and expressions of Charles R. Mabey, soldier, officer, and hero of two wars and Governor of the State of Utah from 1921 to 1925. His letter is dated March 30th, 1937: "Let me express my appreciation for the efforts that have been made and are being made in the interest of world peace and brotherhood by Mormon missionaries.
For upwards of fifty years I have seen these missionaries by the thousands leave their homes. They have served in every country of the eastern hemisphere; they have laboured in the lands of the two Americas and on the islands of the sea. They have learned to know the culture of the Old World capitals, they have walked along the green plains of Britain, Holland and Scandinavia, France and Germany. Wherever they have gone because of their lofty ideals they have very naturally picked up and taken back with them to their homes only the very best the world has to give. They have reached the dweller in the city and the peasant in the field and have thus lived· closer to them than as if they had lived a lifetime in the renowned universities of Europe. They know the real life of the real people in the countries where they labour and they have learned to respect and to · love them. I have never known a Mormon missionary that did not praise the people with whom he laboured.
This great Mormon missionary system wields a powerful influence for good. Almost immediately after their arrival at home these young men take the front rank in civic, educational and religious affairs. They become the mayors of our cities, the governors of our states, the judges on the bench and influential and powerful national congressmen and senators. They hold professorships in our seats of learning and became distinguished men of science.
To-day returned missionaries are scattered in every large city of America and in every state of the Union. Wherever they are they are ambassadors of goodwill from the nations where, in their youth, they become so intimately acquainted with the people."
The actions of the people of Utah show that the missionary influences have created impressions for good. Seldom has Utah's Legislature enacted hysterical legislation against foreigners, not even against the Germans and Austrians who happened to be living in Utah during the Great War. When, in some western states agitation against the Japanese people took the shape of laws against people already established in the United States; and against allowing the children of such persons to attend the public schools, Utah did not enact such legislation.
The seeds of friendship planted in the hearts of the people of Utah by Mormon missionaries from Japan thus bore fruit. Interest in the work of the Far East both in the University of Utah and the Brigham Young University may be partly credited to the zeal of returned Mormon missionaries.
The “Round the World Club” of Utah, composed largely of Mormon missionaries, is active in furthering better understanding throughout the State regarding the aims, ideals and purposes of peoples in the various parts of the world. If war comes it will be found that the spirit of the returned Mormon missionaries, wherever they are, will temper the attitude of the people as was the case during the late World Encounter. Whole-heartedly the Mormon missionaries are ready and willing to cooperate with the International Assembly of World Fellowship of Faiths in an effort to bring about everywhere peace, blessing and prosperity to all the world through world fellowship.
From his diary, it seems that Richard was pleased with the diverse audience at the conference.6 After the conference, Richard published his talk in The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, where he expanded on it for his Latter-day Saint audience.7 He added some of the following to his published paper:
I have just returned from Flanders Field. That part of Belgium is soaked with the blood of our relatives. Practically all the people of the Christian world participated in the great world conflict and all for nothing in the way of economic gain. Everybody lost. It brought upon us only new problems.
I shuddered, my tears flowed as I stood there and imagined the fierceness of that terrible fight and fire faced by our beloved dead now buried in that sacred soil. Into that conflict we put not only our gold and silver, but our fathers, brothers, sons. The body of my own younger brother lies there with those noble warriors. We paid this costly price because we had been persuaded that we were fighting a war to end war.
Are we so blinded to fundamental truth that we have forgotten that nearly 2,000 years ago "the angel of the Lord came and said, I bring you good tidings of great joy"? And have we forgotten that "suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men"? (Luke 2: 8-14)
The greatest heritage we can leave to posterity is a definite assurance that all future international differences will be adjusted without resort to force. What greater blessing could come to humanity than the assurance that armed conflicts, with all their attendant evils, will be done away with forever.
All will agree that if the common people of the various nations understand one another, if they actually know one another's hearts, feelings, ambitions, and desires, they will have no wish to fight; they will refuse to go to war.
The view has been held that if the young people of the various nations could visit their foreign friends and for a time live among them, they would naturally acquire a sympathetic international understanding of such importance that it would be a mighty step in the direction of permanent peace. Much has been accomplished in this direction by some universities. These institutions have not only arranged for an exchange of professors but for an exchange of students also. The international jamborees of the Boy Scouts of the world have accomplished much in this direction. At the one to be held in Holland next month, boys from all nations will meet and clasp hands in true and sympathetic brotherhood. They will understand one another.
The Mormon Church has for more than a hundred years sent many of its young men and women into practically all nations to preach the Gospel of peace. For this purpose the Church maintains a standing group, 2,000 strong, whose members move continuously among the common people of the world. These > missionaries do not merely visit schools, churches, camps; they actually live in the homes of the people. For a period of two or more years each missionary, in a way, becomes a citizen of another nation. The personnel of this army of peace is constantly changing.
Veterans return to their homes where they champion the cause of their newly-found and newlymade friends, while new recruits buckle on the armour of neighbourliness and become international guests on this great scale.
Imagine the blow that is thus struck at the gods of war. War is conceived in misunderstanding, it is born in hate, it is suckled by malice, by envy, and by greed and it takes as its costly toll millions of the manhood of the nations.
Richard was evidently at home with the other speakers who also sought world peace at a time of ratcheting tensions. The loss of his younger brother in the First World War appears to have been a factor in his pacifist tendencies.
While in London Richard gave other talks, including one to the Royal Society of Arts about the “Naming and numbering of London streets.”8 Presentations to Latter-day Saint leaders and members also took place in conferences and other gatherings. In January 1938 he spoke at an Orthodox Christian Christmas celebration which was sponsored by the World Fellowship of Faiths.9 In many of his talks Richard pointed to Jesus Christ as a source of world peace.10
During the Second World War, which materialised despite the conference’s ambition, Richard Lyman was excommunicated from the Church. In 1954 he was rebaptised and remained an active member of the Church until he died in 1963. Richard’s legacy is complicated by some of his actions, but he also did a remarkable amount of good for the Church through his service and in particular through building bridges with other faiths.
‘World Fellowship of Faiths,’ East London Observer, 3 July 1937, p. 3.
‘World Fellowship,’ Nottingham Journal, 12 July 1937, p. 7.
Parry D. Sorensen, ‘World Fellowship of Faiths Honours President Lyman,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 99, No. 25 (1937), pp. 388-389.
‘She Lost Heart,’ Sheffield Independent, 3 July 1937, p. 7.
‘At The World Fellowship of Faiths,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 99, No. 27 (1937), p. 423.
Richard R. Lyman, journal, 17 July 1937, MSS 1079 0, fd. 11, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Richard R. Lyman, ‘A Factor in World Peace,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, pp. 482-484, 492-493.
Richard R. Lyman, ‘Naming and numbering of London streets: address given before the London Society in the Hall of the Royal Society of Arts on 18th February, 1938,’ 711.4 L986n 1938, CHL.
‘News of the Church,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 109, No. 2 (1938), p. 30.
Richard R. Lyman, ‘What Jesus Means to Latter-day Saints,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 109, No. 6 (1938), pp. 82-83, 93.
Richard R Lyman is my great great uncle. Thank you for sharing some insights that I had not known. ❤️