Doctrine & Policy – By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

My Valentine to the Church

February 14, 2019 by Carolyn

It’s Valentine’s Day, and I’ve felt inspired to take a moment and write some reflections on my gratitude and love for the Church.

My last few weeks have sparked a renewed joy in the gospel. Two years ago I left my cluster of friends in the one and only true ward (thanks California!). Ever since, I’ve felt a little aloof from the heart of Mormonism. Yet recently, my Sabbath experience has been refreshed as a delight.

The new two-hour block and Come Follow Me curriculum seems to have galvanized my ward — gospel doctrine discussions have increased in thoughtfulness; Relief Society lessons have increased in vulnerability. I’ve heard raw and inspiring commentary from the pulpit during Sacrament Meeting; slightly shorter talks have focused the content on Christ. My family created a listserv to discuss the Book of Mormon; my friend circle Mormon Studies book clubs are going strong. An intimate discussion on the temple overflowed with wisdom and hope. I love the emphasis on ministering and the ways I’ve begun connecting with every individual in my ministering circle. Then last Sunday, I had a conversation with my Bishop that embodied the best of pastoral care.

When the body of Christ is healthy, it is truly divine. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Children, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Holiday, Marriage, Mormon, Religion, Sunday School, Young Men, Young Women Tagged With: body of Christ, community, love, Mormon, support, valentine's day

A Faithful Shift Toward Evolution

February 2, 2019 by Guest

Robert Lawrence was once a free-range kid in Utah. He spent a couple years learning from wonderful people in Guatemala and later moved to Arizona where he spent a lot of time in the lab with viruses. He is now a science writer and research developer living in Binghamton, New York, with his wife and toddler. You can connect with him and find more of his work at: www.robertlawrencephd.com

BYU students are more accepting of Darwin’s ideas than they used to be, according to a new study. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Doctrine & Policy, Education, Mormon, Religion, Science, Society & Culture, Theology Tagged With: biology, darwin, evolution, natural selection, peck

“Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” #BCCSundaySchool2019 (Part 2)

January 29, 2019 by Carolyn

Come Follow Me Manual Recommended Readings: Matthew 3 (quoting Isaiah 40); Mark 1; Luke 3; John 1.

Upfront Note: In preparing my BCC Sunday School lesson this week, I realized my content was divided into two major chunks — one whimsical about Godspell, and one academic about the history of baptism. For ease of use and commentary, I’m publishing them as two separate back-to-back posts.

“Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” #BCCSundaySchool2019 (Part 1)

January 29, 2019 by Carolyn

Come Follow Me Manual Recommended Readings: Matthew 3 (quoting Isaiah 40); Mark 1; Luke 3; John 1.

The God Who Stoops

January 28, 2019 by Carolyn

In discussing the advance of women’s rights, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has often remarked that when we set women on a pedestal, we actually lock them in a cage.

I’ve been wondering lately whether the same could be said about God. (And even more so, Heavenly Mother.) When we consign our Heavenly Parents to a throne of glory in the distant heavens, we’re actually locking them behind human constructs of divinity. We’re building a wall of checkpoints and purity standards, then barring all we deem unholy or unclean from approaching their mercy.

Our all-to-common vision of God on a celestial pedestal gets it all backwards. To borrow a phrase from Rachel Held Evans’s latest book Inspired: our God stoops. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Mormon Tagged With: God, Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Parents, inspired, lost sheep, love, rachel held evans, stoop, worthiness

John 1: “We Have Found the Messiah”#BCCSundaySchool2019

January 22, 2019 by Guest

High Christology and Discipleship in the Gospel according to John

This week’s BCC Gospel Doctrine lesson was written by Eric Huntsman, Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. Eric has written multiple books on the New Testament, including Good Tidings of Great Joy, God So Loved the World, and The Miracles of Jesus. Last month, he published a book-length study of discipleship in the Gospel of John, Becoming the Beloved Disciple (see our review here). We are beyond thrilled (and a little bit verklempt) that Eric has agreed to share his expertise with us and our readers as we study the opening chapter of John’s gospel this week. Footnotes for this post are located on a separate page and can be accessed through the provided links or by clicking here.

The assignment for this week’s lesson is the first reading that we have had from the Fourth Gospel, the account of Jesus’ ministry and mission traditionally attributed to John the Son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve and one of Jesus’ closest disciples. Before discussing chapter 1, which comprises the Prologue of this Gospel, we will first consider a few points concerning the Gospel’s authorship, composition, audience, stated purpose, and structure. Hopefully this background will be useful in future lessons that include passages from the Gospel of John.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Doctrine & Policy, Guest Post, Mormon Tagged With: christology, disciple, john

Luke 1: Women, Wombs, and the Feminine Divine

January 7, 2019 by Guest

Karen D. Austin teaches composition courses at University of Evansville and gerontology courses at Southern Indiana University. She’s on staff at Segullah as a writer and social media maven. She also maintains a blog The Generation Above Me about healthy aging and supporting older adults. She sometimes slings food at the other sentient beings in her home, but mainly she keeps house by moving towers of books and papers from one room to another.

Let me preface my post with a little context. Michael spent some time preparing commentary for the BCC Gospel Doctrine Lesson and discovered that, after introducing Matthew, he didn’t have any time or word count for the assigned reading from Luke. I was astonished. I told him, “Well, then I’ll just have to write something because you cannot leave out the women who are most central to the birth of Christ.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Advent, Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Gender & Sexuality, Guest Post, Holiday, Liturgy, Mormon, Sunday School, Women, Young Women Tagged With: elizabeth, mary, segullah, temple, womb, women, zacharias

Our Spiritual Relationship with Language

January 6, 2019 by Guest

Natalie Brown is a former By Common Consent blogger. She is currently writing a memoir on the stories we tell about houses. You can follow her on Twitter @BtwnHouseHome.

Someone once asked how I could have prepared better for the temple. My response was bluntly honest: Nothing anyone said or taught me could have altered my initial experience, because the words I found inside the temple felt wrong.

Those words have now changed. Whether something more than words has changed is debatable. Over the past twenty-four hours, I have heard people say that nothing has changed and others that everything has changed. I’m with those who think everything has changed, because for me it has. That’s because I am a woman who learns primarily through words.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Doctrine & Policy, Guest Post, Liturgy, Mormon, Mormon Studies, Scriptures, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: Liturgy, temple, text criticism

Rethinking Worthiness

January 4, 2019 by Carolyn

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. (D&C 18:10)

I learned an important truth this year: the worth of souls bears no relationship to a soul’s “worthiness.”

A year ago I left the corporate world to pursue my civil rights lawyer dream. One aspect of my new work is fighting for Muslims’ right to follow the pillars of Islam in prison. My first visit to prison will forever stand as one of the most spiritual days of my life. I met with humble men who frankly admitted their mistakes, implored God to grant them the mercy to improve, and asked for an opportunity to practice their faith in peace. They sought to better the religious experience not just for themselves, but for all of their brothers and sisters. Sitting with them, I glimpsed the depth of God’s abundant love.

I may have been physically sitting with convicted criminals behind seven layers of lockdown security, but spiritually I stood with angels on hallowed ground. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:38). Prisons that day became my temples. For I was in prison, and ye visited me. (Matthew 25:36). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Comparative/Ecumenical, Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Marriage, Mormon, Religion, Scriptures, Theology, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: Catholicism, chastity, souls, temple, temple recommend interview, worth, worthiness

New Church Videos Explain the Temple to the General Public

December 13, 2018 by Carolyn

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just published a glossy series of 90-second explanations of our core temple practices.

I’m amazed at how much demystifying content these videos succeed in outlining in less than seven minutes of total video time.

Here are the highlights.

Mormon-splaining the Word of Wisdom

December 11, 2018 by Carolyn

It’s holiday party season! Which means your friends and coworkers, in joyful and relaxed environments, may foist upon you cocktails, wines, and dessert bar coffee.

You’re all experts now at saying “no thank you.” You’ve read my summer guide for professional Mormons navigating “coffee breaks” and “happy hours.” There I explained that in the vast majority of circumstances, no one will notice or care that you’re not imbibing coffee or alcohol.

Sometimes, though — especially with amiable colleagues and jokester friends who know you’re a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — the religious dimensions of your teetotaler ways might surface. You can sidestep the topic if you want. But you don’t have to!

Let’s take a common scenario. Over brunch, a colleague might make an offhand remark while stirring her latte. “Mormons aren’t allowed to have caffeine, right? I don’t know how you survive.”

You could say “that’s essentially correct.” Or you could dangle a half-answer as bait.

“Technically, the Mormon prohibition is not on caffeine.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: BCC Funbag, Doctrine & Policy, Mormon Tagged With: alcohol, coca-cola, coffee, coke, D&C, Emma Smith, humor, Joseph Smith, pepsi, tobacco, word of wisdom

LDS Identity’s Effect on Mental Health

December 9, 2018 by Guest

Rebekah Perkins Crawford is a visiting professor in Social and Public Health at Ohio University. She has a PhD in Health Communication.

The recent tragic suicide of a BYU student has prompted conversations about the relationship between religiosity and mental health, about whether Latter-day Saints have a problem with suicide, and, if we do, what our response should be.

Experts (especially at BYU) have consistently claimed that LDS religious practice is positively associated with mental health. Such claims are based on studies that average difference, homogenize experience, and oversimplify a complex issue. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Guest Post, Health & Medicine, Mormon Tagged With: abuse, bishops, byu, depression, lgbt, LGBTq, mental health, suicide, support, therapy, utah, violence

And in His name all oppression shall cease

December 6, 2018 by Carolyn

This post started as a reaction to President Dallin H. Oaks’s commentary on religious freedom published Tuesday in the Deseret News. It morphed into a Christmastime commentary on social justice. It still dissects Oaks’s words, but that’s relegated to the very end.

Born into humble circumstances. Trained as a carpenter. Rejected as a prophet. Crucified as a rabble-rouser because he dared speak truth to both secular and religious oppressive power. Jesus Christ is my model of an activist. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Comparative/Ecumenical, Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Modernly Revealed, Mormon, Rants, Religion, Scriptures, Society & Culture, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: Christ, Christianity, Christmas, lgbt, LGBTq, oppression, priesthood ban, racism, social justice, temple ban

Repent Ye, for Climate Change is at Hand?

November 28, 2018 by Carolyn

I’ve always accepted the scientific consensus surrounding carbon emissions, greenhouse gasses, the ozone layer, and climate change. But for a long time I elected to not care.

Why? Because I bought into the folk doctrines that God created the Earth’s resources to be used, that a global temperature rise of 1-2 degrees over 100 years isn’t material, and in any event, Christ’s imminent Second Coming would renew the Earth and fix everything before disaster struck.

As a religious studies student in college, I once wrote a paper on Isaac Newton’s eschatological prediction that the Second Coming would happen in 2060. Thereafter in casual conversation, I used the 2060 date to support my religious opinion that climate change would never matter. (“The worst predictions don’t even start until 2100 — Jesus will have come back well before then!”) One afternoon at the Indiana University LDS Institute, I tried that line on a Ph.D. student studying ecology. Our resulting discussion did not end well for me. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Economics, Mormon, Science Tagged With: climate change, environment, global warming, repentance

Why I’m Marrying in a Catholic Basilica

October 31, 2018 by Carolyn

With the Vatican’s approval, I’m marrying my Catholic fiancé in St. Mary’s Basilica in Old Town Alexandria this Saturday. Yay! I’m so excited to celebrate true love, surrounded by my family and friends.

Some of those family and friends are a little befuddled. As a former hyper-devoted Mormon, I can see the confusion in their eyes, the unstated curiosity about why I’m not marrying in the temple. Only a few have ventured to ask the question directly.

I believe it is important to give an honest answer. This is my story. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, Comparative/Ecumenical, Doctrine & Policy, Gender & Sexuality, Marriage, Mormon, Religion, Theology, Theology, Doctrine & Policy, Women, Young Women Tagged With: catholic, Catholicism, Divorce, endowment, engagement, Marriage, sealing, temple

Where Can I Turn for Support? abuse.lds.org

October 26, 2018 by Guest

Laura Brignone Bhagwat is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley where she studies technology and domestic violence. Her dissertation tracks a public health intervention in hospital emergency rooms meant to prevent intimate partner homicide.

Abuse is the neglect or mistreatment of others (such as a child or spouse, the elderly, the disabled, or anyone else) in such a way that causes physical, emotional, or sexual harm. It goes against the teachings of the Savior. The Lord condemns abusive behavior in any form.

‘The Church’s position is that abuse cannot be tolerated in any form’ (Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops [2010], 17.3.2). Abuse violates the laws of God and may also be a violation of the laws of society. The Lord expects us to do all we can to prevent abuse and to protect and help those who have been victims of abuse. No one is expected to endure abusive behavior.

At 12:05 yesterday, I was driving to lunch when a message from a friend popped up on my phone. It consisted of six exclamation points (“!!!!!!”) and the text “abuse.lds.org.” Within 15 seconds I’d pulled over and clicked on the link. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Children, Church Programs, Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Featured Posts, General Conference, Guest Post, Health & Medicine, Marriage, Mormon, Theology, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: #metoo, abuse, abuse.lds.org, bishops, curriculum, healing, hotline, peace, priesthood, resources, support, unrighteous dominion

Women Don’t Cast Sustaining Votes?

October 25, 2018 by Carolyn

My sister Cheryl called me this morning, annoyed at a procedure her Indiana stake just used to call a new counselor in her Stake Presidency. An old counselor had moved and been released between Stake Conferences, so the new one was called and sustained during an interim Stake Priesthood meeting.

“This isn’t like an Elders Quorum President,” Cheryl mused. “A Stake Counselor doesn’t just serve men in his quorum, he has stewardship over the entire stake. But he can be set apart without a single woman knowing about the calling or sustaining him?” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, Gender & Sexuality, Modernly Revealed, Mormon, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: leadership, priesthood, stake, stake conference, sustaining vote, women

President Nelson and the Problem of Prophetic Infallibility

October 18, 2018 by Guest

T. L. Peterson is an editor who lives in Utah. He is also known as Loursat.

Peterson would like to express his upfront gratitude to Sistas in Zion, whose insightful tweets on the day of President Nelson’s sermon suggested the key idea for this post.

Treating our leaders as though they are infallible is a problem for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With his energy and bold language, President Nelson might be showing us a way through that problem. But his solution comes with some nervous questions and a new conundrum.

A popular saying among Latter-day Saints purports to tell the difference between Catholics and Mormons: Catholics say the pope is infallible, but they don’t really believe it*; Mormons say the prophet is fallible, but we don’t really believe it. This saying started as a joke, but I think it has become a truism. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Doctrine & Policy, Gender & Sexuality, General Conference, Guest Post, Modern Era, Mormon, TCoJCoLDS, Theology, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: Christ, error, infallibility, mistake, Mormon, names, prophets, racism, Religion, repentance, revelations

Informal Gospel Study Groups

October 16, 2018 by Carolyn

“Do you have Priesthood approval for that gathering?”

It’s a question I’ve heard numerous times, and it’s always bothered me.

Over the years, across the country and even the world, I’ve participated in many informal gospel study groups. They’ve often sat at the core of my social circles and been the site of some of my powerful spiritual insights. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, EQ/HP, General Conference, Mormon, Relief Society, Scriptures, Sunday School, Theology, Theology, Doctrine & Policy Tagged With: bible, Book of Mormon, come follow me, firesides, general conference, study groups

The Nurturing By My Son’s Many Fathers

October 9, 2018 by Guest

Dave K. has been ‘gathered to the Ohio’ for nearly fifteen years, where he lives with his wife and five children. A data privacy attorney by trade, his goal is to take the children to every MLB ballpark before they leave home; twenty-nine down and Seattle to go.

My two oldest sons returned home unusually late Saturday evening. They were performing at a regional high-school band competition and rain delayed the start. One is a senior who plays trombone; the other a sophomore who plays trumpet. Meanwhile, my wife and two daughters also returned late from the General Women’s Session (we live in the Midwest and they drove an hour to watch the session with family). It used to be the first Saturday evening in October was reserved for the General Priesthood Session. I understand the Church’s need to streamline things, but I miss the fellowship and brotherhood tradition of holding that session each conference.

This all resulted in an unusual evening of just me and son-number-three. My third son is thirteen, so not yet in the high school band. I let him choose the special ‘guy’s night’ activity. No surprise there – he picked the latest Jurassic Park movie. I defended the choice by noting the rental was only $1.50 at Redbox. Ten minutes into it I realized $1.50 was still grossly overpriced. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Children, Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Mormon, Scouting, Theology, Doctrine & Policy, Young Men Tagged With: fathers, LGBTq, nurture, nurturing, Proclamation on the Family, Young Men

A Sister-Nurturer Reacts to General Conference

October 9, 2018 by Guest

Bobbie Smith is a returned missionary, BYU graduate, and mother of a large family in the northeastern United States with a literal and metaphorical oversized heart. Said heart greatly affects the nature of her religious worship, community service, and housework.

Ten men (if I counted right) attended the General Women’s Session this past weekend and three men spoke. As I watched them take up more than half of our meeting, I thought of how few women are invited to speak in General Conference. I thought of the women denied permission to even attend priesthood session. Yet the men invite themselves not only to attend our women’s session, they also dominate the dais and they dominate the speaking roster. Was it even a women’s meeting, really? It was more of a combined “sister and priesthood meeting” this year, really, when you consider the gender breakdown of talks and the gender count of who was on the stand. These were sobering thoughts.

I crave women’s voices. In my lifetime in the Midwest, we’ve never had a sister church authority visit us, ever. Our only options for help with callings, family life, and personal growth have been “Time Out For Women,” which is expensive and kind of smacks of priestcraft. I’ve never understood why the brethren get flown out on the church’s dime, yet I need to buy tickets to an expensive program if I want to hear guidance from female church leaders. I hoped the Women’s Session would provide a chance for some empathetic instruction, and instead the time was consumed by men.

Thanks, Elder Holland

October 8, 2018 by Carolyn

Dear Elder Holland,

A week ago I expressed concern with your Facebook post that included some marriage advice. I was most concerned about how victims of abuse would hear rhetoric that “you can make the marriage you want” and “your priesthood leaders will know” when “there is a legitimate exception” justifying divorce.

Yesterday, I was grateful for your talk on peace. Christ is the Prince of Peace, the source of healing for all pain and for all contention. We should live together in love, and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with our imperfect brothers and sisters. This is a core gospel truth.

Amidst this message on peace, I appreciated that you acknowledged what healing and forgiveness is, and what it isn’t. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, General Conference, Marriage, Mormon

Worthiness vs. Confession

October 3, 2018 by Angela C

We’ve all seen Catholic confession in movies and TV shows. It’s a situation that we might liken to our own worthiness interviews, and yet there are some significant differences in purpose, theological implications, and in how the act is understood by believers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Children, Comparative/Ecumenical, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Gender & Sexuality, General Conference, Marriage, Men, Mormon, Religion, Theology, Women

Required Training

September 20, 2018 by Sam Brunson

On Monday, I got an email from HR reminding me that, as part of the school’s Harassment Prevention & Business Skills initiative, I needed to complete an online Sexual Harassment for Employees course.

I did it that same day, largely because if I don’t get to a work email almost immediately, it can slip out of my mind. And I prefer not to forget to do things that are required for my employment.

The training was basically a series of videos essentially aimed at letting us know what constitutes sexual harassment, with the dual purpose of ensuring that (1) if we’re harassed, we understand our rights and what we can and should do about it, and (2) we don’t do things that constitute sexual harassment. After watching the videos, I had to take a short multiple choice quiz to pass the course. All in all, it took something less than half an hour to complete. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Children, Current Events, Doctrine & Policy, Mormon, Primary, Relief Society, Society & Culture, Young Men, Young Women Tagged With: ayso, Bishop, Boy Scouts, child abuse, girl scouts, mandated reporter, primary, sexual harassment, training

Omit the Sexual Details

September 19, 2018 by Carolyn

The first time I heard the word “masturbation,” I was 12 years old and sitting in my bishop’s office.

I believe we were discussing a limited use recommend for an upcoming temple trip. I remember the bishop walking through the 1990 version of For the Strength of Youth, which used a lot of large, sexual words I did not know — like “petting” and “perversion” and “pornography.”

My bishop defined them for me. When he realized I had no idea what he was talking about, he apologized. He explained how due to the evils of the world, children were getting exposed to sex and having their innocence corrupted by Satan younger and younger. As much as he hated the topic, he felt like it was his pastoral duty to make sure the youth knew what constituted sin.

A Proverbs Acrostic For My Daughter

September 18, 2018 by Guest

Kaylee McElroy only wears sensible shoes (if she has to wear shoes at all) and is passionate about pants with functional pockets (even her Sunday slacks). She has degrees in physics and electrical engineering, but has spent the last few years as a rather alarmingly domesticated mostly-stay-at-home mom.

Proverbs 31 holds a special place in my heart. I found it using the “open the scriptures to a random page” method, and marveled at the wonderful and rare picture of a strong, capable woman. You see, I had been praying to know if I should get engaged to the man I now call my husband, and I felt a strong impression that a marriage with him would allow me to become a capable and praiseworthy wife like the woman depicted in the text. (We’re over a decade in, and I’d still call it a good choice.)

The Proverbs 31 woman is empowered and not oppressed. A while ago, I read a book that challenged my thinking of women’s place in ancient societies. Women’s Work – the First 20,000 Years discusses textile manufacture in a variety of ancient cultures. The Bronze Age in the Near East was a time and place of relatively great freedom for women, and I was delighted to learn that the woman of Proverbs 31, while certainly idealized, was also based on historical norms. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Children, Doctrine & Policy, Mormon, Relief Society, Religion, Young Women Tagged With: acrostic, children, daughter, poetry, proverbs, women

Go and Do Likewise?

September 17, 2018 by Guest

Rusty Clifton is a longtime friend of BCC.

A couple months ago I came home from work to my wife in the front yard chatting with a lady who, by all visible measures, appeared to be homeless. I had never seen this woman before, but my wife later assured me that she was known by many people in our upper-middle-class Salt Lake City neighborhood. While my natural inclination is to avoid situations that have the potential to unnecessarily add complications to my life, my wife overflows with compassion for the oppressed and downtrodden. So that evening, after determining she was clean from drugs and not dangerous, we agreed to let her stay in our basement (it’s a mother-in-law apartment we use for guests or the occasional AirBNB) until we could help her secure more permanent housing and employment. Over the course of the next week or so we did what we could to accommodate her: secure privacy, food, shower, soft bed with fresh linens, rides to housing offices/employment interviews, and a friendly home base while she worked to get herself back on her feet. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anciently Revealed, Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, Economics, Guest Post, Mormon, Religion, Scriptures, Theology Tagged With: airbnb, Good Samaritan

The black hole, part 3: Have we heard the last word on pornography?

September 4, 2018 by John C.

Prior to the advent of the internet, free pornography was relatively difficult to come by. You had to know someone who could provide access or hope for the proverbial nudie mag in a ditch. But the world wide web brought with it both cheap and relatively anonymous mass access to pornography and headaches for the church. It turns out it was only easy to avoid the temptation of pornography when it was hard to find.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Doctrine & Policy, Gender & Sexuality, Health & Medicine, Mormon

Mormon and/or Gay?

August 20, 2018 by Guest

Rebekah Perkins Crawford has a PhD in Communication Studies from Ohio University. Her research centers on the ways religious communities communicate about mental health, sexuality, and sexual violence. Her favorite calling at church is the primary chorister and she loves reading, gardening, and exercising in her spare time.

My friend who sings with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir recently told me about his experience performing with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus on their recent tour in June. A considerate, thoughtful man, he said, “It was great to share the stage with them, to build bridges between our two communities and to show the world that there doesn’t have to be animosity between the Latter-day Saints and LGTBQ folks.”

It wasn’t until later that evening, after our conversation, that I figured out what it was about his statement that had unsettled me. It bothered me that his words assumed that the Latter-day Saint and LGBTQ communities were two separate entities, that “they” were gay while “we” were Mormon. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church Programs, Doctrine & Policy, Family, Gender & Sexuality, Guest Post, Mormon Tagged With: Family Acceptance Project, gay, LGBTq

When Worthiness is Weaponized: The Problem with Ecclesiastical Endorsements

August 6, 2018 by Guest

Richelle Wilson is a PhD student in Scandinavian studies and comparative literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she works as a Swedish language instructor. She is also a talk producer at the community radio station WORT 89.9 FM and a member of Dialogue’s editorial staff.

The universities owned and operated by the LDS Church have recently come under scrutiny for the ways in which the schools’ honor code can compromise Title IX investigations into allegations of sexual assault on campus. In 2016, the Salt Lake Tribune broke the story wide open with a Pulitzer Prize–winning series of articles revealing the punitive measures taken against sexual assault victims at Brigham Young University in Provo. The issue was that students—most of them women—coming forward to report sexual assaults were often probed and then disciplined for additional information pertaining to their assault that could be deemed honor code violations. This might include dress and grooming standards, alcohol or drug use, curfew violations, etc. It was a Church-school version of “What was she wearing?” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Doctrine & Policy, Guest Post, Mormon, Religion, Society & Culture Tagged With: byu, ecclesiastical endorsement, Honor Code, rexburg, sex, sexual assault, title ix