Wear Pants to Church Day

[MarkGrace]

When will they hold a day for people who want less of a role in the church?

[marsupial]

When will they hold a day for people who want less of a role in the church?

I celebrate that day every Sunday.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I'm still trying to figure out what I said that was so funny.

Calling people out as wimps for wearing a purple tie without the shirt right before stating that you are too chicken to make any waves whatsoever.

That wasn't meant as a joke?

[jay santos]

Calling people out as wimps for wearing a purple tie without the shirt right before stating that you are too chicken to make any waves whatsoever.

That wasn't meant as a joke?

No.

[Clark Addison]

We had an unexpected experience with this event.

My wife is not on Facebook, so she didn't know about this. I meant to tell her about it in my nightly CUF recap, but I never got around to it, so she went to church unaware of this great conflict in our culture.

After church, we were hanging out in the chapel, with my daughter who was practicing a piece for next week's Christmas program. The ward after us had just finished Sacrament Meeting, so many of them were still mingling. One of them, a friend of my wife, came up to her in a state of some excitement and said "You are wearing pants!!". As it turned out, my wife was wearing leggings underneath a short dress, so she was kind of wearing pants.

For a little background, this other woman is one of the more liberal members of the stake (though also very non-confrontational, and very much a true-believer. She is not on the outskirts at all). She is also just a really good person.

My wife was a little confused by the statement, so basically replied, "Yes, I am!". The other woman told her that she had been thinking and praying about this all week, and decided to wear pants. However, after she got dressed, her husband "gave her a look" that she took as not happy with her decision, so, in a desire to be non-confrontational, she changed into a dress. She was very happy to see that my wife was supporting the event. My wife, from her remarks, got a vague sense of what was going on, so she decided not to tell her that her attire was purely coincidental. Also, by that time she was too busy getting after the friend for giving in to her husband's non-verbal direction.

So, yes, we were publicly recognized for our participation. I did not see anyone else in our ward participate, though I was only there for Priesthood due to my communing with the Methodists for part of the day. So I didn't see all the women in the ward.

[Pheidippides]

We had a mixed bag yesterday. Church was fine - the SP went out of his way to notice my purple shirt and say hello to my wife. This alone jumped him up several notches in my book - I have criticized him before but it was clear he knew what we were doing and wanted us to feel welcome. An uncoached response from somebody who deserves more credit than I have given him.

It got ugly at night. I was in bed and heard some sniffling down the hall. I found my wife sniffling at some very unkind things that were said to her on various social media platforms. She's better this morning but was quite disturbed - not so much at the comments themselves but that people would make them.

[kccougar]

Probably already posted on CUF at some point:

http://mormonscholarstestify.org/171...hudson-cassler

[Uncle Ted]

If they do this again, they should just do a "wear purple" day. I think it would get wider support and participation.

Yea, I agree.

Both my wife and I had on purple. She had on a purple blouse with a skirt and I had a purple tie (yep, wimpy by Jay's standards but purple is not my color). I did see a couple of women that had on pants. One was an investigator and she was wearing blue jeans so I don't think that counts. I think the only person in our ward that noticed me and my wife were wearing purple was one of our gay members. He complimented both my wife and I on how we looked (with extra comments given to my non-christmas tie) and gave us a big smile.

[Indy Coug]

Probably already posted on CUF at some point:

http://mormonscholarstestify.org/171...hudson-cassler

I think the True Blue Feminists would respond by saying she's not a real feminist.

[byu71]

Probably already posted on CUF at some point:

http://mormonscholarstestify.org/171...hudson-cassler

Excellent and again why I fully support the churches stand on the Priesthood and yet have plenty of room to condemn the "cultural" and "ritual" aspects of our culture. Does anyone really think Jesus cares if you show up in a dress or white shirt?

Seriously, those who have chastised people for their dress need really take stock of themselves and as President GBH said, quit taking yourself so seriously.

[DrumNFeather]

We had a mixed bag yesterday. Church was fine - the SP went out of his way to notice my purple shirt and say hello to my wife. This alone jumped him up several notches in my book - I have criticized him before but it was clear he knew what we were doing and wanted us to feel welcome. An uncoached response from somebody who deserves more credit than I have given him.

It got ugly at night. I was in bed and heard some sniffling down the hall. I found my wife sniffling at some very unkind things that were said to her on various social media platforms. She's better this morning but was quite disturbed - not so much at the comments themselves but that people would make them.

That's really unfortunate.

I'll be honest here, the events of this weekend (not the wear pants thing) have really shaken me to my core...and to the point where, I don't care who you are, we've all got to stop being nasty to and about those people with whom we have disagreements.

If people want to articulate their reasoning for why they believe it was a good thing or why they did not participate (as I've seen here and on other platforms) that's fine. If they want to lower the general IQ of the conversation by name calling and explaining away, there just isn't a place for that among any Christian group, let alone within the confines of a ward "family."

I've just got so very little patience for the catty and petty behavior I've seen displayed in this debate on both sides, and it has left me pretty disheartened overall.

https://www.lds.org/general-conferen...l+obtain+mercy

[kccougar]

Excellent and again why I fully support the churches stand on the Priesthood and yet have plenty of room to condemn the "cultural" and "ritual" aspects of our culture. Does anyone really think Jesus cares if you show up in a dress or white shirt?

Seriously, those who have chastised people for their dress need really take stock of themselves and as President GBH said, quit taking yourself so seriously.

I don't think any (most?) of the anti-pants crowd are chastising anyone over the actual wearing of pants, are they?

[Sullyute]

i'm the only purple bearer in our ward, it appears. And I covered most of it with a sweater.

I did the same thing yesterday, but made sure that my knot was sufficently large enough to compensate for the partial coverup. I wore it to my 7:00 am stake leadership training and to church. There were no pants on any sisters and I only spied one other purple tie which I am certain was a coincidence based on the individual.

[jay santos]

We had a mixed bag yesterday. Church was fine - the SP went out of his way to notice my purple shirt and say hello to my wife. This alone jumped him up several notches in my book - I have criticized him before but it was clear he knew what we were doing and wanted us to feel welcome. An uncoached response from somebody who deserves more credit than I have given him.

It got ugly at night. I was in bed and heard some sniffling down the hall. I found my wife sniffling at some very unkind things that were said to her on various social media platforms. She's better this morning but was quite disturbed - not so much at the comments themselves but that people would make them.

This is why I would have been scared to wear a purple shirt and purple tie. If affecting change is important to you, then go for it, but you will get roughed up in the process. For me, the social cost of getting roughed up is not worth it. I'd like to see change in the LDS church, but generally I see it happening. So for me, it's a question of pace.

Oh, and yes JL, I freely admit I'm a wimp. And accuse you of being no less braver than I am by wearing a purple tie. :bringit: OK, maybe 3% more brave.

[clackamascoug]

I'd like to see the pant wearers take their cause to the temple. If they have the guts. Or, even a recommend.