Life Before Law and Politics
Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson was born in Logan, Utah, one of three children of Roy and Grace Anderson. His parents both worked at Anderson Lumber Company, a local lumber yard founded by Rocky's great-grandfather, a Norwegian immigrant carpenter who had converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church).
Though Anderson is not a Mormon, he was raised as one, and was a practicing member of the LDS Church in Logan. However, he has described his disagreement with certain doctrines of the LDS Church, particularly the denial prior to 1978 of the priesthood and hence temple ceremonies to men of black African descent (see Black people and Mormonism). Anderson also expresses disagreement with what he describes as the LDS teaching of personal moral abdication through obedience to people in positions of authority. Anderson believes in the principle of personal conscience and individual accountability, and considers what he sees as a call for blind obedience as being incompatible with that principle.
Anderson studied ethics, political philosophy, and religious philosophy at the University of Utah. He also explored theological issues in depth and determined that the best course for him was to intensely consider ethical choices, then set certain moral guideposts for his life, and focus on trying to live accordingly, without regard to the doctrines of any organized religion.
Though Anderson has acknowledged the importance of some fundamental moral lessons he learned as a young member of the LDS Church, and has described the value he places on his Mormon heritage, Anderson has spoken out about the LDS Church's alleged discrimination against gays and lesbians. He has written about his views on this issue and appeared in the film, 8: A Mormon Proposition.
During high school, Anderson played lead guitar in a rock and roll band, the Viscounts, and worked at a cabinet and roof truss plant. He also shingled roofs during his high school years. After graduating from Ogden High School, Anderson attended the University of Utah, during which time he served as Treasurer for Sigma Chi Fraternity and worked at various jobs, including as a truck driver, a roofer, and a gas station manager.
Anderson received a bachelor's degree in philosophy, graduating magna cum laude. After reading existentialist literature and several works on ethics, religious philosophy, and political philosophy, he had a "powerful epiphany. We can't escape responsibility, there's no sitting out moral decisions, and whenever we refuse to stand up against wrongdoing we're actually supporting the status quo."
After graduating from the University of Utah, Anderson worked at several jobs. He built buck fences at a ranch in Wyoming, tended bar in Salt Lake City, drove a cab, waited tables at a restaurant, worked at a methadone clinic, typed trucking bills, and had a construction job. He started graduate school in Philosophy at the University of Utah, then travelled to Europe and lived and worked for a few months in Freiburg, Germany before returning to the United States to attend law school.
In 1978 Anderson graduated, with honors, from George Washington University Law School, attaining a J.D. degree.
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