The June 1

[thesaint258]

I couldn't help thinking of CS when I saw this:

[Northwestcoug]

I couldn't help thinking of CS when I saw this:

That hits a little too close to home...

[Jeff Lebowski]

Q/A about recent events with LDS prof at Harvard Divinity School:

http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2014/06/...E2%80%99s-plan

Seems to be a fair and insightful overview of both the gay marriage and OW cases. An excerpt:

Holland: It is important to note that concerns about gender—whether heterosexual, homosexual, or non-binary—are radically intensified by LDS theology. As opposed to many Christian belief systems in which sexual identity often seems epiphenomenal to the larger divine plan, LDS doctrine suggests that the very purpose of human existence is wrapped up with procreation, family formation, and gendered complementarity.

A central tenet of Mormonism is that this earth is a training ground for souls learning to become like a divine Mother and Father. It holds that the creation, the loving, and the raising of new life are among the most essential human experiences to that end. All questions that seem to impinge on gendered roles, family dynamics, and sexuality therefore carry almost unbelievable weight. The Mormon elevation of motherhood is thus much more than a vestige of separate-spheres sentimentality—though there has been plenty of that. And Mormon resistance to changing social norms that seem to challenge traditional gender identities is more than mere patriarchal anxiety—though Latter-day Saints have had their share of that as well.

The fact of the matter is that, for very vital theological reasons, issues like gay marriage and female ordination look fundamentally different through Mormon eyes than they do to a Unitarian or an Episcopalian or even a Southern Baptist. Have these theological ideas provided cover for basic human prejudice, episodes of brutality, and consolidations of gendered power? They undoubtedly have. Is that all that’s at stake here? I don’t think so. Many Mormons see the essence of their cosmology at the root of this debate.

[Pheidippides]

Q/A about recent events with LDS prof at Harvard Divinity School:

http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2014/06/...E2%80%99s-plan

Seems to be a fair and insightful overview of both the gay marriage and OW cases. An excerpt:

I only read the excerpt but I agree. I was just thinking through all the changes you'd have to make to the temple for full female equality. And that's a pretty big deal for the believer.

[Topper]

A good summary. Thanks for posting.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Paperback Writer]

Q/A about recent events with LDS prof at Harvard Divinity School:

http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2014/06/...E2%80%99s-plan

Seems to be a fair and insightful overview of both the gay marriage and OW cases. An excerpt:

An excellent article, thanks for posting. I recommend reading the entire article, it's not very long. I think the author, David F. Holland, may be off on lack of pressure from "central church leadership" since I'm convinced area authorities are exerting pressure through training and follow-up, etc. But Holland does well with framing the arguments from both sides. In my view, the seperate and traditional roles between men and women in LDS theology and that conflict with evolving roles secular life will continue to be problematic. For example, female CEOs who don't have similar opportunities to lead in local congragations or the central church, faithfu, single LDS mothers without access to priesthood in their home, etc.

[SeattleUte]

Q/A about recent events with LDS prof at Harvard Divinity School:

http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2014/06/...E2%80%99s-plan

Seems to be a fair and insightful overview of both the gay marriage and OW cases. An excerpt:

A fair summary that doesn't make me more sympathetic toward Mormonism. Is he Jeffrey Holland's son?

I think it is important to recognize that Mormonism isn't always visibly on the wrong side of social progress only because of historical accident or because it's led by old white men. The racist and the sexist norms and teachings are at the heart of LDS cosmology.

[smokymountainrain]

A fair summary that doesn't make me more sympathetic toward Mormonism. Is he Holland's son?

I think it is important to recognize that Mormonism isn't always visibly on the wrong side of social progress because historical accident or because it's led by old white men. The racist and the sexist norms and teachings are at the heart of LDS cosmology.

Wait. What? You're not more sympathetic to mormonism after reading that?

[Bruiserstone]

Wait. What? You're not more sympathetic to mormonism after reading that?

Yes, he is Jeffrey Holland's son.

[SeattleUte]

Because LDS priesthood is available to every "worthy LDS male over age 12" the LDS sexism with respect to priesthood is more insidious than other Christian relgions'. From a young age women are told that their world is intended by god to be limited and less vital than men's. For example, Catholic priests are insular and a small minority of the Church, they are a profession, wear clothes that set them apart, etc. To say nothing of the fact that the awful statements in manuals such as comparing a woman who is allegedly not sexually chaste is like a licked cupcake or suggesting that women who wear revealing clothes are responsible if they are harrassed etc. I'm reminded of this passage from mind this passage from Brown v. Board of Education:

"Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other 'tangible' factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does... Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system..."

[ERCougar]

Yet another blog post. I like this one though: http://www.hillaryhunt.com/blog/from-one-who-left

[ERCougar]

Gay marriage is tricky theologically. Female ordination is not at all, IMO.

[Harry Tic]

Q/A about recent events with LDS prof at Harvard Divinity School:

http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2014/06/...E2%80%99s-plan

Seems to be a fair and insightful overview of both the gay marriage and OW cases. An excerpt:

I can see how SSM could be seen to strike at the heart of LDS cosmology. But I've always been puzzled by the notion that our theology requires us to believe that all sexual relationships in this life are ultimately intended to mirror those of exalted beings. The D&C makes it pretty clear that only certain relationships--i.e., those sanctified in a temple--will be in force after this life and will give (some of) us the potential to divinely mirror the lives of our Heavenly Parents. One could argue on the basis of scriptural evidence that it is perhaps an ideal to be aspired to and not necessarily a social norm to be enforced (that's not to say that there couldn't be other good reasons to enforce such norms--that topic has been revisited ad nauseum on this board and elsewhere else).

So, I guess I can see how our highly sexualized theology sets us off from other Christian denominations in some respects. But when you recall that only those in the highest kingdom within the highest kingdom will enjoy the full gender-specific fruits of exaltation, doesn't that suggest that many--perhaps a majority--of other social and sexual relationships will not necessarily be invested with eternal significance?

[SeattleUte]

Gay marriage is tricky theologically. Female ordination is not at all, IMO.

I think for LDS theology they're both tricky.

[Uncle Ted]

I wonder how it would go over if I suggested to the YWP that in light of everything they should start showing this very instructional video to the Young Women of the ward...

I would hate for our young women to end up like Kate Kelly.