When the Internet no longer |
A new Salt Lake Tribune article by Peggy Fletcher Stack bears the generous title, “New Mormon mission: How to teach members the messy part of LDS history, theology.” It is generous in that the Mormon Church had until recently dealt with its unsavory history with denials the likes of, “These are lies spread by anti-Mormons.” A reminder that good Mormons shouldn’t be reading that stuff often accompanied the denials. |
|
The church is trying to recover. Tactics range from pretending never to have officially denied anything; to claiming never to have hidden but merely not to have emphasized certain information; to pathetic arguments put forth by the likes of Terryl Givens, with the church’s support, arguing that so long as the church makes you feel warm, fuzzy, and closer to its purported god, it doesn’t matter that its material claims aren’t factual. For some reason, people like Givens seem to prefer more cumbersome phrases, like “its material claims aren’t factual,” to shorter ones, like “it lied.”
Another tactic has been to attempt to own the issues and spin them in the church’s favor by unofficially endorsing Richard Bushman’s supposed tell-all, embarrassingly apologetic biography, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, and by releasing essays dealing with issues from polygamy to racism. This the church touts as a new era of transparency. Never mind that “new era of transparency” implies a prior era of secrecy.
Moreover, it’s one thing to come clean of your own accord. Coming clean when you’re cornered isn’t integrity. It is damage control.
Asked if church leaders were aware that googling the church’s history was leading members to leave “in droves,” Marlin K. Jensen, emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and former Church Historian and Recorder said, “We are aware. … I often get this question, ‘Do the brethren really know?’ They do. … And they realize that, maybe, since Kirtland, we’ve never had a period of—I’ll call it apostasy—like we’re having right now, largely over these issues.” One wonders if his wrists were later slapped for letting that bit of candor slip.
Not coincidentally, church growth in countries with ready access to the Internet has slowed to a crawl.
Droves aside, the vast majority of Mormons remain. Many are wholly and happily unaware of the issues that have come to light, and not a few wouldn’t leave if they were aware. Many deny that there is any truth to damning events in the church’s history, including those the church has verified. Such is the power of cultism, tradition, and comfort.
Just $5 will help stop
ecclesiastical sex abuse
Yes, even in the Mormon Church Let’s hope that revelations of ecclesiastical sexual abuse and coverups never become so commonplace that we fail to react with horror, treat every case as new, and provide needed support to every new victim who comes forth. It would be naive to think that sexual abuse at the hands of ecclesiastical leaders occurs only in the Catholic Church. More and more Latter-day Saints are finding the courage to report sexual abuse at the hands of ordained leaders. • Take, for instance, a woman whose Mormon bishop dispensed church funds in her time of need—on condition she give him oral sex. Twice. • Or a teenage girl who was molested by a bishop’s son only to have the bishop tell her to be grateful she was chosen as one of the boy’s eternal companions. • Or the fact that a number of victims have agreed to keep quiet in exchange for payment—taken from tithing funds. (If you’re one of them, the agreement is not binding. Keep the money and come forth.) Two needs emerge. One is a place for victims to tell their stories in confidence, receive validation, and, if needed, receive professional counseling at no charge. The other is the action to expose these goings-on (while protecting those who wish to remain anonymous). No one is interested in painting all LDS leaders with a broad brush. But for victims—and to spare potential future victims—it is vital to expose and stop the guilty and all who protect them, and to hold them accountable. Even Mormon doctrine calls for as much for the sake of their own salvation. (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15-20) Restore Our Humanity has taken up the cause. No one there takes any pay, but their important work incurs expenses. They’re not asking for much. Even $5 will make a difference. Please help now by clicking here and on “donate.” FYI, we just did. | Restore Our Humanity: Sexual Abuse InitiativeRestore Our Humanity will be working on an ongoing project to address, expose and stop once and for all the rampant child abuse, abuse enablement and abuse cover up that has been taking place within the LDS Church and Boy Scouts of America. This project will consist of 3 parts: 1) A probable lawsuit to hold the organizations responsible for covering up crimes and not reporting these to the authorities, and thereby becoming accomplices to criminal actions. If successful this could lead to civil actions and further litigation. 2) Media and documentary projects to allow Survivors to tell their stories and let the truth be heard. 3) A resource pool of healing professionals to be made available to all survivors and family who come forward in order to put them in touch with the best care, treatment and support for the duration of the project and beyond. |
The Mormon preoccupation
with “setting a good example”
AS A MEANS of attracting converts, Mormons are big on “setting a good example.” The idea is that Mormons live such noticeably better, cleaner, happier lives that non-Mormons cannot help but be impressed. Besides promoting self-absorption and stressing appearances over substance, the teaching conveniently lets Mormons believe that keeping comfortably to themselves is a form of reaching out. Mormons back up the example-setting thing with 1 Thessalonians 5:22, where Paul advises abstaining from “all appearance of evil,” and with the Book of Mormon, Alma 39:11, where Alma says that his son’s behavior kept people from believing. Context and non-KJV translations suggest that what Paul really meant was to stay away from evil, period, which makes for better, less hypocrisy-inviting advice. As for Alma, one might have more regard for him had he not needed to blame his failure on his kid. | Useful advice for hypocrites: “Behave. After all, someone may be watching.” |
*-communicate
Leisha and Amanda LaCrone haven’t identified as Mormon nor attended services since childhood. For 15 years, the church left them alone. But now that they’re married and raising five children, local church representatives showed up at their door to tell them they must “repent” or “face discipline.” “Face discipline” is Mormonspeak for “attend a humiliating trial held in a church building before a roomful of men who will shame you while saying that they love you and have only your best interest at heart, after which they will most likely excommunicate you with self-righteous glee.” |
On a tour of the Mormon Church’s Temple Square, British comedian Stephen Fry wisecracked ... and was asked to leave
Long prayer helps
plyg escape
Blissfully unaware that the FBI was lying in wait to seize him, Bishop Lyle Jeffs, brother of notorious FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, was calmly presiding over a church service. Eyes surely rolled when he called upon one Jim Allred to offer the invocation. Allred had a reputation for interminable prayers, and this one was no exception. So it was that, when FBI agents stormed in, Allred was not yet even halfway through his drone. FLDS members beseeched the agents for time to finish their prayer. This befuddled and delayed the agents and gave Lyle just enough time to escape.
Lyle could have asked anyone to offer that prayer. If you think that his feeling inspired to call on Brother Allred wasn’t a miracle, then no other instance of serendipity, coincidence, or dumb luck is likely to convince you, either.
For details, see this story in The Salt Lake Tribune.
is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.”
—Mark Twain
Proof there are ways
other than polygamy to
be a Mormon nutcase
The memes are pouring in. Click images to enlarge. More on the Snacks for YallQuaeda Facebook page. | This true story, which continues unfolding as we write, smacks of a script from the “Family Guy” reject pile. On Saturday, January 2, brave-brave-brave armed nutcases from Nevada took over a quiet wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon. Their motivation? To make the United States Gubment back down from having convicted their buddies of arson on a mere technicality. Said buddies had willfully and illegally set fire to gubment property. The technicality was that arson is a crime defined as “willfully and illegally setting fire to property.” To the embarrassment of the Mormon Church, the nutcases made it known that they are fully believing, practicing Mormons. The ringleader even referred to himself as “Captain Moroni,” after a Book of Mormon commander who led a revolt to defend religion, freedom, peace, and families. Yesterday, January 4, the Mormon Church released this statement:
The statement falls short of the classic “woe unto you” rhetoric the Mormon god is famous for, but then, it’s not as if the armed nutcases are guilty of anything so heinous as having parents in a gay relationship. They are, however, guilty of poor planning. They have put out a call to supporters—assuming such exist—for snacks, toiletries, foil, towels, and laundry detergent. For the most part, the nation is relaxing and having a good chuckle over the brave-brave-brave armed nutcases. Rightly so. As for the gubment, it is wisely taking its time dealing with this mini powder keg. One wonders if the nutcases realize how fortunate they are to be white and Christian (setting aside that Born-Again Christians dispute the latter claim). Were they black and/or Muslim, they would already be dead. |
Utah is home to new | Race Problems As They Affect The Church From a 1954 speech by late Mormon Apostle Mark E. Peterson “The discussion on civil rights ... has blinded the thinking of some of our own people ... We who teach in the Church certainly must have our feet on the ground and not to be led astray by the philosophies of men on this subject. I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, "First we pity, then endure, then embrace ...” |
What you might |
Banning it all—tobacco, booze, wine, coffee, and tea—was a stroke of genius or serendipity. Both sides could claim they got what they wanted, while Smith’s introduction let them ignore the parts they didn’t want. Mormon life in Kirtland returned to normal.
Even so, there are practicing, temple-attending Mormons who allow themselves the occasional or even the frequent indulgence. Many cite in their defense the non-existent scriptural reference “all things in moderation.” Others refer to Smith’s original assurance that the Word of Wisdom is just that, a word of wisdom, not a commandment.
This New Year’s Eve you may see a few Mormons tip a glass of real champaign, provided no one from their ward*** happens to be watching. The vast majority, however, will tip Sprite with cranberry juice, sparkling apple or grape juice, “mocktails,” or nothing at all. Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby describes 13 Mormon mocktails in this delightful column.
* Knowing that “hot drinks” officially means coffee and tea does not stop some from arguing that the likes of herb teas and hot chocolate are forbidden, and others from arguing that coffee and tea are permissible when served cold.
** The introduction now appears as the first three verses of Section 89 of Doctrine and Covenants, aka the Word of Wisdom.
*** Local congregation
Amazon reader reviews
Audible listener reviews
iBooks reader reviews
B&N/Nook reader reviews
Archives
December 2017
October 2017
September 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012