Deutsche Welle

Fol­low­ing the recent death of the Mormon’s spir­i­tual leader, a Ger­man pilot has joined the high­est lead­er­ship of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by becom­ing one of two coun­selors to the new Mor­mon head.

Dieter Uchtdorf’s appear­ance doesn’t imme­di­ately hint at any­thing unusual. This 64-year old, who worked as chief pilot for Germany’s Lufthansa air­line dresses con­ser­v­a­tively but smartly. His coun­te­nance is one of open acceptance.

He could be any ex-professional retiree. But Ucht­dorf is some­thing a lit­tle out of the ordi­nary. He is Germany’s first mem­ber of the Mormon’s so-called First Pres­i­dency, which is made up of a pres­i­dent, of prophet and two counselors.

Accord­ing to the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) — the offi­cial title of the Mor­mons — God chooses “apos­tles” to lead the church in mod­ern times as he did in the time of the bible.

After the death of long-time leader Gor­don B. Hinck­ley on Jan. 27, Thomas S. Mon­son was cho­sen as his suc­ces­sor on Mon­day, Feb.4. He appointed Ucht­dorf as one of this advi­sors, lift­ing the Ger­man — already part of the Mor­mons’ inner cir­cle as one of the so-called 12 apos­tels — to the high­est author­ity of the church.

It was the late Hinck­ley and the 12th lead­er­ship com­mit­tee who decided that Ucht­dorf would be one of the 12 “apos­tles” who act under the pres­i­dency of the church. A new appoint­ment to this posi­tion comes after the death of a pre­vi­ous mem­ber and so it was with Uchtdorf’s appointment.

Refugee who rose through the Mor­mon ranks

Uchtdorf’s rise to the upper ech­e­lons of the LDS Church is one marked by great upheaval in his life. He was twice a refugee as a child; firstly as an expellee from the for­mer Czecho­slo­va­kia at the end of World War II and again in 1951 when his fam­ily had to flee East Ger­many because of his father’s polit­i­cal leanings.

Brought up in a Lutheran set­ting, Ucht­dorf was con­verted to the Mor­mons by a fam­ily friend. Dur­ing his youth, he expe­ri­enced the usual teas­ing and iso­la­tion although his beliefs helped him dur­ing his com­pul­sory mil­i­tary service.

“The army was just very glad to have dri­ver who didn’t drink alco­hol,” he told DPA news service.

In later life and dur­ing his pro­fes­sional career, Ucht­dorf said he expe­ri­enced mild curios­ity and respect from his peers.

A Mor­mon mis­sion­ary in Rus­si­a­Bil­dun­ter­schrift: Großan­sicht des Bildes mit der Bil­dun­ter­schrift: A Mor­mon mis­sion­ary in Rus­siaThere are just 40,000 mem­bers of the LDS Church in Ger­many and the church has found itself labeled a sect by many, a title that Ucht­dorf rejects.

“A sect would be some­thing which has split from the church,” Ucht­dorf said. “We want to reunite the church.”

The mod­ern day Mor­mons grew from the cre­ation of the LDS Church in 1830 when it was founded by the first “prophet” Joseph Smith, who trans­lated the Book of Mor­mon — an alter­na­tive account of the life of Jesus writ­ten by ancient prophets — and set-up the basis for the world­wide orga­ni­za­tion which now boasts 12 mil­lion members.

Mor­mons strictly adhere to the Ten Commandments.

“For us, these 10 orders are God’s real­ity,” Ucht­dorf said, adding that the fam­ily is sacred. Mor­mons also oppose gam­bling, abor­tions, sex before mar­riage and drugs of any kind, includ­ing alco­hol and cig­a­rettes and even cof­fee and tea.

Mor­mons under crit­i­cism from other churches

Cer­tain aspects of the LDS Church repeat­edly come under crit­i­cism mainly from the Protes­tant and Catholic churches, some­thing that Ucht­dorf said he finds hypocritical.

“If you want to know the truth about the SPD (Germany’s Social Democ­rats), you don’t ask the CDU (the con­ser­v­a­tive oppo­si­tion),” he said.

A fam­ily attend Sun­day mass at the 6th ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tay­lorsville, a sub­urb of Salt Lake City.Bildunterschrift: Großan­sicht des Bildes mit der Bil­dun­ter­schrift: A fam­ily attend Sun­day mass at the 6th ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tay­lorsville, a sub­urb of Salt Lake City.Uchtdorf added that he believes that it is much eas­ier to be a Mor­mon in the United States than it is in Ger­many and the rest of Europe. The free­dom to wor­ship is more accepted in the US due to Europe’s his­tory of the state abus­ing the power of reli­gion, accord­ing to Uchtdorf.

He also said he believes that Ger­many could learn a lot from the Mor­mons, in par­tic­u­lar the redis­cov­ery of the sanc­tity of mar­riage and the impor­tance of the fam­ily. But the United States, he added, could also learn how to be more sup­port­ive and how to reduce its egoism.