By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

Last night I was watching PrimeTime Live’s report on a woman from Colorado City who had escaped a polygamous marriage with her five children and returned to confront her abusive father and husband.  It was uncomfortable for me to watch–the kind of story that makes me wonder about my polygamous ancestors, and what kind of ownership I have over the current cult problem because of distantly shared religious ideas. 

One idea that won’t leave me is the focus the reporter put on the phrase "Keep Sweet."  Apparently it is something of a mantra repeated to young girls to remind them of their place–their submissive role in marriage.  Disturbingly, this notion of submissiveness is somehow fixed to a notion of femininity–a package presented to these girls, tied up with religious guilt and obligation, that they must accept, whether willingly, guiltily, or painfully.  Why femininity?  Is it simply an effective weapon used against these girls, or is there some spiritual merit to femininity that we can either responsibly harness or warp in an effort to gain unrighteous dominion?

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Along with many of you, I’ve been thinking a great deal about John Hatch’s post on what Church members really think.  Like John, I thought about the kinds of daydreams and ideas we’d hear in the minds of the brothers and sisters around us in Sacrament.  It would be fun, and perhaps frightening, to peek into the minds of those around us, even if we assume that everyone thinks the same way we do.  Mostly, though, I wonder what makes John (and the rest of us) want to be mind readers.

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I haven’t blogged that much this week.  Instead of sopping up my free time with the perusal of obscure 19th century texts or picking at the 3,000 pages of my currently reading list, I indulged in the escapist splendor of another J. Stapley electronic persona.  My nephew left his KOTOR disks at my house and en lieu of sharpening my skills as a Mormon Thinker, I squeezed more time than I thought possible (even as a resolute blogger) to sharpen my skills as a Jedi.

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Those who have not yet been through the temple still know that once you receive your temple endowment, you are expected to wear temple garments the rest of your life as a reminder of the covenants made in the temple.  I’ve posted previously about some of the thoughts these garments brought to mind.

There’s a side effect to temple garments: you don’t throw them away like regular underwear.

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I have the wonderful opportunity of attending Church each Sunday.  And while Sunday is still five days away as of this writing, I’m already dreading the inevitable…  I’ll have the opportunity to walk into Sacrament meeting just after 10:00 am, have the opportunity to sit down, and then have the opportunity to listen to the opening prayer, in which the prayer-giver will surely thank the Lord for the opportunity we all have to come to Church, the opportunity we have to live in this wonderful country, and the opportunity we are all about to have to listen to the wonderful talks.  After I’ve had the opportunity to take the Sacrament, I will then listen to at least two speakers, both of which are likely to talk about various opportunities they’ve had during the week, or at least publicly thank the Lord for the opportunities He has provided them.  It’s also likely they’ll thank the Bishop for the opportunity he’s given them to speak in Church, even if they actually secretly loathe the opportunity.  (Perhaps I’ll get lucky and have the opportunity to sing a hymn between the talks too, though I doubt it will be a Churched-up version of the Pet Shop Boys’ "Opportunities.")  Finally, someone will give the closing prayer, thanking God for the opportunity we all had to come to Church, and asking that God allow other Church members who weren’t with us the opportunity to attend next week.

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Once upon a time, I asked all of our faithful readers to write my talk for me.  Many of you dutifully obliged, but I regret to inform you that all your efforts were in vain.  That’s right — a few days before my wife and I were to speak, the first counselor in the Bishopric called and informed us of a scheduling error.  Our talks were thus postponed until July 24th, and our topics were changed.  Care to guess what we’re speaking on now?  (Hint:  We’re speaking on July 24th…)

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So, not to be out done by some other blog, we would like to
announce a party as well–except that you have less forewarning.  There will be a get together tomorrow, July 19th
at my house (just across the lake in Bellevue).
Festivities will start around 7:00 pm. Email me at jonathan at splendidsun dot com for directions.

Sorry, this has been a long time in coming, but I was holding out hope that Rosalynde would send in her answer. This third round of our historicity table is a quick and fun one, and I just wanted to thank all the participants for their insights and for the highly enjoyable conversation.

On to the final round!

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Has religious militantism ever accomplished anything good? I suppose one could turn back to the Old Testament and find the children of Israel destroying cities, especially as they entered Israel. One could certainly argue that that militantism was good–at least as a base line, good in the sense that God was clearly at the head. But outside of the OT, has religious militantism ever accomplished anything good. Mormonism, of course, went through its stage of militantism, though it was muted as compared to some other religious, militant phases through history.

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Dave is guest-posting over with the wackos at Banner of Heaven.  All BCC fans, unite and stone him for this betrayal!

The NY Times Magazine had this past weekend a short piece detailing the rise of medical infanticide in the Netherlands.  This brand of infanticide might more accurately be referred to as child euthanasia, I guess, since we are dealing with extremely ill children.

At first blush, I can think of few things more repulsive.

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The Sunday after 9/11 my English Ward sang the American national anthem in a show of solidarity with our American friends. This was an entirely appropriate gesture; after all, the Queen had ordered the same at Buckingham Palace that week.

It may surprise you to hear that I have never heard the British national anthem sung at an LDS church in England. Once we sang God Save The King: I protested that it was a bit silly singing “King” when we had a “Queen” but was told that the last song in the Hymnbook referred not to the British monarch, but to Jesus. Total rubbish.

I have, however, heard America the Beautiful sung, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a favourite in England. (The “Republic” referred to is, of course, um, well, the French republic?)

One might have expected some kind of patriotic show here in England this Sunday. After all, the rest of the nation is mourning the London bomb victims and a sensible (i.e. not nationalistic) show of patriotism would be both comforting and entirely appropriate. Sunday was also a day of commemoration for the end of World War II, so the time was ripe, I think, for a small display of Britishness at church.

Well, no. It didn’t happen. No national anthem. Not even any prayers, or minutes of silence for Thursday. One would have thought that nothing had happened this week.

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19th century Mormonism is foreign to our modern conceptions of the Church. Praxis and culture have evolved such that it is improper to discus the frank realities of our history in worship services. No aspect of this transformation is more acute than the dynamic role of women. And no woman is more iconoclastic than Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young. Read the rest of this entry »

Summertime is upon us, and with it comes the dog days of heat and humidity, and a deep, profound feeling of laziness.  The bloggernacle is slow as of late; real slow.  There are still moments of schadenfreude and unintentional hilarity, but we’re getting up later and taking afternoon naps.  Even BCC is not immune – though not lacking in their depth and interest, we post more languidly, out of slow reflection and slower motivation.  You might spot a bourbon-free julep sitting on our desks.

That said, it’s still fun to lob a fireball of controversy out there once in a while.

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I just returned from a rather lengthy trip to Utah.  Not under the time constraints that usually keep my visits with my family short, I was able to spend a lot of time with family and friends, and have come up with a few conclusions, and of course a few questions. 

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