[Today’s post came out in my local newspaper. The full article can be seen here, but I think you have to have a paid subscription to see it, so I’m archiving it here. Huge thanks to Christine Broussard and the Daily Sentinel for taking an interest in this story.]
By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD [cbroussard@dailysentinel.com]
A movement has begun among some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) that challenges decades-long traditions of gender roles in the church, and one Nacogdoches woman has raised her voice in solidarity.
Formed in March, Ordain Women is an international group of Mormon men and women who have peacefully banded around the call for gender equality within the church’s clergy and administrative roles.
Heather Olson Beal, assistant professor of education at Stephen F. Austin State University and Ordain Women member, recently joined 200 fellow Mormons from all over the world to gather on the steps of the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“The ultimate goal of the organization is for women to be ordained to the priesthood,” Olson Beal explained. “We are showing with our bodies and our physical presence ‘we are here and we want to be more involved in our church. We want these opportunities.’ It’s worth it because I want conversation to take place. We are kind of coming out of the shadows, because it’s not an idea that’s acceptable in Mormonism.”
The goal
On a local level, LDS churches are comprised of a lay clergy, simply meaning ordained ministers do not need to have attended seminary or have received any certification.
“All the positions in the Mormon Church are open to anyone but are divided according to gender,” said Olson Beal. “All the leadership positions are held by men because only men in the Mormon Church are allowed to have priesthood.”
Mormon men can be ordained to the priesthood starting at 12 years old – something Heather believes helps develop a sense of responsibility.
“You say ‘you need to stand a little bit taller because now you’re acting as an official representative of the church,'” she said. “I think that creates ownership and that sense of responsibility. It makes people feel like an important part of this community.”
As the mother of one young boy and two teenage girls, what is problematic to Olson Beal is the lack of comparable roles in the church for her two daughters.
“I want for my girls to be able to experience that, too,” she said. “So I am very uncomfortable with them butting up against that at age 12 or even before. For me, it brings up difficult issues and I would tell this to my kids: ‘God is not the author of inequality. If we see inequality based on gender, based on language, based on race, based on sexual orientation, that’s not God.'”
Olson Beal attended the bi-annual conference in Salt Lake City to voice her desire that her daughters may pursue their passions within the church without any reticence.
“I don’t want my kids, and my girls especially, to feel like their spiritual lives need to be mediated by men,” she explained. “Part of life to me is figuring out what your talents are, or deciding you want a talent and working on developing it. There are all kinds of different ways that I think we can serve in our churches and in our communities, and I just don’t think that should be dictated by gender.”
“I keep hearing ‘These people just want to be men,'” Olson Beal chuckled. “No. I don’t want to be a man. I’m a woman, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I am this big checklist of things that’s only confined to motherhood, because being a woman isn’t the same as being a mom.”
The conference
The annual LDS General Conference has been held since 1830 at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. A tabernacle built in the 1800s served as the conference’s headquarters for many years until sessions were moved across the street to the Conference Center, which seats visitors by the thousands.
The multi-day conference, held this year from Oct. 5-6, is made up of several sessions held over the course of a weekend. The priesthood session, held Saturday evening, is the male-only session in which Ordain Women attempted to take part.
Denied the tickets necessary to attend, the group drew together in a park across from Temple Square, which houses the tabernacle. The group then filed up the steps and waited in the session’s standby line.
“People came up and asked (for a ticket),” said Olson Beal. “Some people were more direct and were saying ‘I’ve been a Mormon my whole life. I went to (Brigham Young University), I did missionary work for two years, I pay 10 percent of my income to the church and I want to be able to get into this,’ and the guy at the door just said ‘you can’t. It’s only for men.'”
No one member of Ordain Women, including founder and international human rights lawyer Kate Kelly of Washington, D.C., was allowed into the priesthood session. Even so, Olson Beal and others felt the trip was a success.
“(What) makes it a success is that there were Mormon women there that … were unified around that one issue,” she said. “That’s a success to me because there are women who I think sacrificed a lot, and I don’t just mean money. There are risks in a tight-knit community to violating social norms, and this is a social norm. But it felt really good to say ‘we are still Mormon, we are here together, this is something we want and we are not hiding. So that feels like a success to me.”
She is not sure what is next for Ordain Women and their quest for equal roles within their church, but Olson Beal said she will continue to pursue female ordination.
“This is my spiritual home and my spiritual language,” Olson Beal said. “It’s only because I care about it so much that I am willing to do this.”
[To see my profile on Ordain Women, click here. For more general information about Ordain Women, see the website here.]
This is fantastic! Congratulations! And I commend your bravery!
Heather, This is what it feels like to “come out.” Your inside and outside self are congruent and you’re ready to march! Thank you,
Aunt Marilyn
A nicely-written article. I admire (and second!) your stance and think you did an absolutely wonderful job of saying your piece.
YEA!
“All the leadership positions are held by men”? My wife serves as our Young Women’s president and if there’s a better leader in our Ward I don’t know who it is. Our Bishop is great, our Relief Society president is great- and both of these callings are most definitely leadership positions. Admittedly, as a man, I’m incapable of having the perspective some women may have, but in considering the fundamental tenants of Christs church and the priesthood in general- these are not “decades long traditions” in the church- the priesthood and its purpose was established long before the creation of the world. I believe this isn’t a question of Men and Women but rather a question of God’s plan and purpose for his children. I cannot subscribe to the idea that priesthood connotes a form of equality as I do not believe in a God that favors one child over another. The priesthood has a purpose- which is to build, serve, and bless. It empowers the bearer absolutely nothing of himself- only the duty and opportunity to serve and carry out God’s work as he directs it. Womanhood carries powers, perceptions, and abilities that offer the duty and opportunity to serve and carry out God’s work in capacities where men aren’t nearly as effective. The possession of one or the other is less important than the choices and efforts one makes in searching for and helping with the needs of another.
I wallow in my attempts to understand the mind and will of God, but this much I know- the priesthood power, God’s power, is moot if attempted to be used in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of God. Church policy cannot change this- as it is God’s church, and God’s authority. We can certainly strive to gain a better understanding why God chooses to carry out his purposes this way through thoughtful consideration, study, obedience, and prayer. In His time, if we’re sincere and humble in our quest to understand Him, He will reveal his mind and his will to us- and more importantly He will help us change our mind and will to become closer to His.
Equality comes in power. While there some leadership positions for women within the church structure, all of the power of the organization is held by men. Women can make suggestions for the auxillary they are in charge of, but all of those suggestions need approval from Priesthood leaders. From filling callings, to scheduling the building, to curriculum… they all need approval from someone holding Priesthood, i.e.: men. We don’t like to talk about power structure within our beloved religion, but it does exist, and it is the definition of inequality when a men hold all of the practical power within an organization.
Laurie, when you say “men”, it comes across more as “any man”, and when you mention “the Priesthood”, it’s as if *any* man holding the priesthood can do the approval, but the actuality is that it’s only one man, and one with a very specific calling. The role of that leadership position (bishop or stake president, say) is more than just “a man”. It’s a delegation of authority from the Savior. No other man in the ward (if bishop) or the stake (if stake president) has that authority, and all other priesthood leaders in that unit require the same approval from the priesthood leader as the women leaders.
You make it sound like that this “approval” is opprobrium. By calling the process for callings “suggestions”, you yourself are diminishing the role those auxiliary leaders have. Their call is to receive revelation, and they should. Because the Lord asked one person to oversee and be responsible for that ward or unit, and when the new leaders and callings are set apart, it goes through one person that the Lord has designated. And practically speaking, most of the time the requests for callings go through. What happens when the person isn’t worthy, or when two auxiliaries, or an auxiliary and the stake want the same person? A decision has to be made, or a request turned down. This is nothing against the auxiliary leaders (male or female). By the same token, bishops making requests to the stake can get turned down, and stake presidents to SL get turned down, too. Join the club. Someone has to be in charge. Getting upset at and being offended by what you perceive to an injustice will bother you more than those whom you’re upset at. Why let this issue live rent-free in your head?
Mark explains it well. The following leadership positions at the local level can be held by women only: Relief Society Presidency, Young Women Presidency, Primary Presidency. So it goes both ways. I suppose men could be arguing for those positions, but they aren’t. The General Relief Society meeting was exclusive to women, as was the General Priesthood session to men; however, both were broadcast online & on TV for all to hear/view. As it is God’s church, it is his determination as to who holds the Priesthood. If the time comes that things change ( since we are a living, breathing church who follows the guidance of the prophet, who is directed by God), the prophet will make the announcement and things will move on from there.
Yes. And all those women in leadership positions serve “under the direction of” male leadership. There are no leadership positions for women in the Mormon church wherein the women act autonomously, or under the direction (solely) of female oversight. On the contrary.
I’m curious why “autonomy” is so important. Someone has to be in charge. That would be the prophet. That delegation comes from someone else.
If the person in charge is male, supported by all male Priesthood leaders as a support team, that is not equality. It seems reasonable to ask for equality within God’s religion.
Yes, and are you forgetting that to be in the position they’re in, they can’t be single. Did you catch President Eyring’s Sunday morning talk in conference, and what he spoke about his parents? Do you understand the pattern he was pointing at?
Are you upset that the Savior is a male?
What does it mean when the Savior asks us to be one, or we’re not his (if we’re not)?
hkobeal- Your clarification is more accurate than what the article presented.
It is not true that the General Relief Society meeting is exclusive to women. Priesthood holders (usually leaders) often attend, it is presided over by male leaders, and male leaders speak at the meeting. None of these three things is true of the General Priesthood session.
The problem is not the gender of the person who is exercising the priesthood. The problem is that the gender of the persons who are in virtually all the global leadership positions of the church is the same. This is like going through life with only one functional eye. Sure, you can get along just fine most of the time, but you will lack perspective.
While it’s easy to posit that since men are in the priesthood leadership, there’s a blindness (one-eyedness), but what this forgets is that ALL are married, and all have watched over leadership in various organizations, and have listened to and observed many women whom the Lord had appointed to give counsel, and this hasn’t stopped when these men became apostles. Complaining about who is steering, or who is holding the reins is a distraction, isn’t it?
This status quo argument is the same one used to justify racism–separate, but equal–and it doesn’t hold. If people are prevented from holding leadership positions solely on the basis of gender, citing “God’s will” as a reason, then it’s time for God to change his or her mind, just as he or she did on racial policies, and allow people to assume leadership roles on the basis of merit and talent. It’s high time!
MAZAL TOV Heather – Felicidades!
‘God is not the author of inequality. If we see inequality based on gender, based on language, based on race, based on sexual orientation, that’s not God.'”
I guess there is no God in your world then,
http://www.mid-day.com/opinion/2010/jul/060710-Serena-Williams-Wimbledon-Tennis.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRfCpQx_FDE
Men and women are much more different physically and mentally then you’re letting on.
To “CrackingUp”: Could you please clarify how tennis and boxing skills relate in any way to leadership responsibilities in a church?
In response to the young women program, I have to disagree. I have raised three girls in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I love what the church teaches my girls. There is a formal program called Personal Progress which helps teach them faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue. Why would anyone object to this? Read more here.
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/young-women
And even tonight we as parents are going to Young Women in Excellence which celebrates the achievements of these Young Women.
Hi, Karen Lake.
I know about the Personal Progress program. I grew up in the church and have served in YW presidencies. And I have two teenaged daughters.
Equality does not equal sameness.
I am deeply secure in my role as a woman. I have a master’s degree in Physical Therapy. I earned a scholarship to BYU. I was a teachers aid in the upper level pre-med classes. I know how intelligent and capable I am, and right now I use all of it everyday as I “stay home” and raise my four young children. I feel no need for everything to be “the same” between men and women because we are not the same. If we were- think how boring that would be!! I feel that God holds women in deep respect and reverence and that is why God blessed women with the ability and responsibility to bear children. There is NO greater responsibility and joy! In my opinion, the Priesthood is a way of giving men a different form of responsibility, one that can ONLY be used to bless other people. Different, but equal. We are meant to work together in both endeavors. Hence marriage between and man and a woman, because then you have all the pieces as you work together. It cannot be done separately, and with good reason! We NEED men in the church and giving women that priesthood power will cut men out of the circle completely. I am saddened that you feel you cannot teach your daughters that they are equal but different, because I have never felt inferior to men. We as women, have been blessed with amazing power!! This push for “equality” shows insecurity with who you are and what your God given role is. It makes me sad, because with this push comes a sense of ingratitude for what makes a woman so beautiful and powerful.
“This push for “equality” shows insecurity with who you are and what your God given role is. It makes me sad, because with this push comes a sense of ingratitude for what makes a woman so beautiful and powerful.”
Well, as long as we’re playing “diagnose your neighbor,” your willingness to put up with blatant inequality and claim to feel comfortable because women have uteruses betrays great fear of acknowledging the plain reality starting you in the face. You must have tremendous investment in the status quo to pretend this is anything God would author. I am deeply saddened to see this.
Heather, I think it’s wonderful that you did this!
JB, pardon me, but I’m still confused. What exactly makes women so beautiful and powerful? I don’t mean to be rude, but this verbiage is often used in concert to match Priesthood, and I don’t understand it.
The issue that the author, Sister Beal and a shocking number of the Ordain Women movement don’t account for in their arguments and advocacy is God — or at least God’s will and genuine belief that the LDS Church is God’s Church. A fundamental, necessary principle of the LDS Church is that God actually leads the Church through revelation. It is his will that directs doctrine and even policy. God reveals his will through prophets. Sometimes the fallibility of people confuse that will as it is understood in doctrine and more often in policy, but eventually these mistakes are cured through more specific revelation.
If the Ordain Women movement was simply advocating that the Prophet and Apostles seek specific revelation on whether women should be ordained, there would be no problem with what they are doing. They would simply be advocating the position that they either think God’s will has changed on the matter or been confused. However, more often than not they unconditionally demand they want women to have the priesthood. They give no thought to what God’s will actually is. Some have actually said that even if the Prophet and Apostles announced that they received revelation that God’s will was women were not to hold the priesthood, they would not accept that. Others, like this article, simply don’t even consider this ultimate issue in their arguments.
The crux of the issue for any genuine, believing member of the LDS Church must be that they will yield to God’s will and that God’s will is revealed through his Prophet. That means that if it is revealed women are to hold the priesthood, then those holding with the current practice that only men can hold the priesthood need to accept the revelation or they are rebelling against God, not just the Church. It also means that if it is revealed that women are not to hold the priesthood, then those in the Ordain Women movement need to accept the revelation or they are rebelling against God, not just the Church.
For anyone that wishes to respond to my post, keep in mind that any argument that is relevant to my post needs to be premised on the ideas that God exists, the LDS Church is God’s Church and God reveals his will for the Church through his prophet. Obviously, this is an argument that presupposes the LDS Church is true and is direct towards genuine believers. If you don’t believe that the LDS Church is true, then you don’t believe the Priesthood is real and your arguments are simply attempts to push your opinion on others, rather than a desire to see the LDS Church follow God’s revealed will. I am not personally interested in those arguments.
FYI, Doves and Serpents readers, this is not our commenting policy:
“For anyone that wishes to respond to my post, keep in mind that any argument that is relevant to my post needs to be premised on the ideas that God exists, the LDS Church is God’s Church and God reveals his will for the Church through his prophet. Obviously, this is an argument that presupposes the LDS Church is true and is direct towards genuine believers. If you don’t believe that the LDS Church is true, then you don’t believe the Priesthood is real and your arguments are simply attempts to push your opinion on others, rather than a desire to see the LDS Church follow God’s revealed will. I am not personally interested in those arguments.”
There are plenty of comments and arguments that could be made that are relevant to Jeremy’s post that are not premised on sharing his ideas.
Carry on.
Marilyn Mehr is an example of what I am talking about (forgive me Marilyn for singling you out. I am not trying to be unkind, but I think your post really demonstrates an argument that I don’t think works for believing members of the Church). If God’s will doesn’t match her will, God needs to change not her.
P.S. Positions (callings) in the LDS Church have never been based on merit and talent. They are based on revelation. Sometimes the revelation corresponds with talent and is even because of talent, but often it is not. Thomas S. Monson has a great quote where he says “Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle.” The point is that we don’t necessarily get called to positions because of our talents or merit, but for personal growth. That might even be relevant to the Ordain Women issue.
The other big problem I see are those who presuppose that the Prophet and past prophets and apostles and so on can all be wrong, but they cannot be wrong. Again, this is a position that simply cannot be harmonized with the gospel. I am not even saying it is necessarily true that women should not hold the priesthood, just that people need to be ready to submit to the revealed will of God through the prophet.
Jeremy, Uchtdorf just said–in the October conference–that the GAs have made mistakes. Did you miss that?
They may be relevant to the larger discussion, but they are not relevant to my post because my post is based on those premises.
That’s fine. I’m just saying that you can’t really dictate the terms of who’s allowed to comment here or what the conditions are of acceptable comments here . . .
You’re right, Jeremy. It all depends on your relationship to authority. If you believe that God is always right and can never be challenged or tested, then your argument holds. I don’t. I think that individuals must review and weigh all truth by using their own good minds to discern what’s right for them. In my case, the “God is right and he says that women should let men should bless women’s meetings before they themselves do what they’re capable of,” then I don’t believe in that God. Mind is a personal God who listens to reason and changes. Right now that’s what he or she should do.
And of course you are right on that point. I did not mean to convey that point.
Heather, I do recall him saying something similar to that. I don’t disagree either. In fact, I think I allude to that very point in my original post. However, I do think that is different than the specific issue I am talking about. Remember, I leave open the possibility that God may have changed his will to allow women to hold the priesthood or the possibility that we have simply misunderstood God’s will. I simply point out that God will reveal this through the Prophet and we all (you and me) need to be prepared to follow that revelation, whatever it is.
Fair enough, Marilyn. However, and this is purely an academic question (from my perspective at least) that I have often wondered myself, if God needs to change to conform to our will, my will, what good is God? If I come to the relationship and God simply has an opinion on matters that isn’t any better than mine, then God can’t really can’t give me the guidance I am seeking. In fact, it sounds like God needs my guidance. A God like that is severely limited in how he can transform me to be better, because he is no longer an ideal for me to pattern myself after. Now I’m getting off point, but I’ve wondered about that philosophy before.
The Lord is pleased with His church. Why not you?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established by the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. in the year of 1830 to which the Lord said in a revelation, that he, Joseph had, “power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased.” (D&C 1:30) Yet Mormon feminists (MFs) do not agree.
Mormon Feminists Literally “Aspire to the Honors of Men”
(MFs) do not seem to be in agreement with our Masters restored church because He, Jesus Christ, has set up a church government of Patriarchal leadership. The MFs have conjured up a God who has restored the Priesthood yet also a God who was unjustly partial, biased, prejudiced… A discriminatory God against the equal rights for all women to have the priesthood also. These MF’s are truly a people who “aspire to the honors of men” (D&C 121:35)
A Quote from the Prophet
However, this has never been the view of God the Father or Jesus Christ since the beginning inception of the Gospel that was set forth from Adam, even down to the present day. Not only does the Old and New Testaments reveal a system of patriarchal leadership in the church of God but it is also found in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearls of Great Price. These Standard Works of the Gospel of God and as also current revelations contains a patriarchal system as the universal order throughout all times. Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Women do not hold the priesthood because the Lord has put it that way. It is part of His program.” (http://mormon.org/faq/women-in-the-church)
Children Primary Basics
MFs need to have a little more faith in the hierarchal male and female leaders of the church. We teach our children this basic fundamental concept. “Follow the Prophet…He Knows the Way!” From what I have read lately on the bloggernacle, Mormon Feminists (MFs) would rather teach their children, “Follow the Prophet…He Knows the Way! Unless it Doesn’t Fit With Your Own Biased Views.”
Never at anytime has there been a woman to open up a new dispensation
Never at any time was a covenant given to a woman to circumcise themselves to claim discipleship to God’s chosen people.
It was the 12 SONS of Jacob who are established as the 12 tribes of Israel
It was a male who received the binding law for all humankind throughout all dispensations (The Ten Commandments)
The Lord never chose women to lead The Church. Never at any time has the Lord called a woman to the Apostleship in both the New Testament, Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants.
Never at any time has there been a recorded instance in Christian literature that gives evidence of a female Angel appearing unto mankind.
Never at any time in recorded Biblical history has a woman been offered the honors of the Priesthood after the order of the Son of God both in the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenants
Never at any time in recorded Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price history has a woman been honored to receive a revelation for humankind
Never at anytime has a woman been recorded as performing a miracle manipulating the elements of the earth.
Never at anytime has the hierarchical leadership in the Old world nor New World by which were labeled under the titles, “Prophets, Priests and Kings” been under the hands of a woman.
Women are not required to serve LDS missions
There are only Patriarchs in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and never Matriarchs. There are no Matriarchal blessings.
Line of descent have always been religiously traced through fathers
Rights of inheritance must be figured through the father
Wow! With such an awesome list for men and absolutely nothing for women, one starts to wonder why women are even needed in the Church outside of having the babies and cleaning up the messes…
I’m very curious, Mike, why you think the Lord is pleased with his church. From where I am standing, the Church worships mammon, not God. There may be a reason why the church is faltering. It has gone off course.
Michael, surely ye jest …
I love it when men like Hickman out their own chauvinism so thoroughly.
Michael, I think the common trope is “never say never”. You have a whole lot of nevers in that post of yours. It’s very negative.
… adds a little static to the discussion.
“It was the 12 SONS of Jacob who are established as the 12 tribes of Israel”
Actually, that would be, 10 sons and 2 grandsons. Get it straight.
“The Lord never chose women to lead The Church. Never at any time has the Lord called a woman to the Apostleship in both the New Testament, Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants.”
Well, that’s just wrong.
“Never at anytime has a woman been recorded as performing a miracle manipulating the elements of the earth.”
Also wrong.
“Women are not required to serve LDS missions.”
Which makes them identical to men in this aspect.
Brother Hick-man makes it clear why many women feel uncomfortable in the Mormon church. He does so with great flairs of self-certainty and self-righteousness. He has forgotten Ruth, Deborah, Mary at the tomb, Junia, Priscilla, possibly England’s Queen Elizabeth I. The virgin Mary appears everywhere in vision. As for the miracle of a woman manipulating the elements of the earth—a pregnant woman does that everyday for 9 months. Sad.
A dinosaur speaks. . . .or is it a troll?
There’s a little hysteria going on in River City. Could it be because the revolutionaries are winning the argument? Get over it. Ordain Women!
Who are these “faithful” LDS women who think they know more than the ordained Prophets and Apostles of God? Who are these “faithful” LDS women to interpret for the church what the temple ceremony means or should mean? Who are these “faithful” LDS women of the church who seem to have knowledge that I nor the prophets from Adam to Monson do not have? Who are these “faithful” LDS women who feel oppressed, and burdened by the six millennia inspired and doctrinally religious church patriarchy? Who are these “faithful” women of the LDS church who feel the misogynistic patriarchal hand of Thomas S. Monson upon themselves?
Michael, for all your well-intentioned effort, I don’t think you’re helping any. Those who were previously offended because of men will take your manner of speech as more reason.
True. Thanks for posting that. I respond very well to nice comments. As hard as I may sound, I truly just want to do what is right and follow the prophets.
You radical MFs have established a way of thinking that if you blog, book, video and letter their complaints then they will somehow change a six millennia doctrinal revelation by which they will then inherit what is rightfully theirs; the priesthood of God; literally changing the LDS doctrinal standard works, and theologies set forth by the ordained hierarchical male leaders of the Mormon church. Again, these goals seem to be fruitless as if to achieve the recognition of women to obtain the priesthood of God through the wrappings and slew of complaints. Incorporating the role of LDS women into the priesthood by complaining, protesting and murmuring against LDS hierarchical religious authorities is certainly a desperate and yet shallow attempt among the women of the Church.
There is something surreal about realizing you can’t tell if somebody is being serious or engaged in over-the-top lampooning. . . Example: Michael Hickman. What’s scary (and should give us all pause), whether or not Michael is a joke or is real (and as dumb and as much of a patriarchal dick as he has revealed himself to be), is the ease (and frequency) with which the church seems to produce people who actually believe this kind of horseshit. . . What is it about our theology and culture that produces and sustains this kind of worldview? And, more importantly, what should we do about it?
Brent, when you speak the way you just have, using the language you have just used, you demonstrate something you probably wish you hadn’t. What kind of culture and outlook produces and sustains a view that will express that kind of language?
So many great things about this article. My big takeaway is your line: God is not the author of inequality.
The problem with arguing about doctrinal changes is that LDS church members are taught that ultimate truth will be found through revelation given to a person holding the priesthood, that is a male person. How can you argue, then, with someone who says, “that’s true because God says so?” even if what God supposedly has said doesn’t square with observation or evidence? Of course, women should share in the exercise of authority, but “God says so” can’t be refuted. In other words, give it up and trust your own inner light.