By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog
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-A Satire-
[Part 5 in an ongoing series about LDS Missions and Missionary Work]
“And what are you training [missionaries] to do? To go home; to be a husband or wife…”
–President Bonnie H. Cordon, General Young Women President, in an interview announcing the new role of sister training leaders (STLs).1
“Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be APs.”
-a country song I heard one time, I think.
[Read more…][This article is Part 4 in an ongoing series about LDS missions and missionary work]
author as a missionary in Germany
You asked what I thought about the podcasts that you’ve found during all of your downtime. I’ve listened to these podcasts in the past because, as you said, it is nice to hear people bringing stuff out in the open that you don’t get a chance to talk about at church. I was intrigued, and I understand why you would be as well.
[Read more…]
Part 2 in an ongoing series about LDS missions and missionaries.
Dear Missionaries,
It takes skill and courage to insert yourself into other people’s lives in a respectful way, a helpful way. When you come from a different culture and a different generation, it’s easy to misstep.
I live in a secular, Westernized country: New Zealand. Most of my friends know very little about religion. They have rarely stepped inside a church or mosque or opened a book of scripture.
My secular friends perceive religion the way it shows up in the news and TV scripts, as fundamentalist and radical. They are wary of people who take religion too seriously. But they know me, and so they are cautiously willing to meet you.
Although your good-heartedness will carry the day without any help from me, I’m offering you a few tips for making the most of our time together.
When you teach my friends, refer to me in the same way that I introduce myself to you. Call me the same thing that my friends call me.
A doctor named Stella1 came to my house a couple of days ago to meet with you (sisters). You called me “Sister Jones” and referred to my partner as “President Jones.”
Using Stella’s first name – but my last name – felt out of balance. Also, my church title would have appeared formal and unfamiliar to my houseguest and friend.
[Read more…]
Churches & Parsonage, Antrim, N.H. From the New York Public Library. Public domain.
This week is my week to blog over at the Nonprofit Law Prof Blog. And for today’s post, I did some absolutely blatant self-promotion.
And you know what? That self-promotion may be of some interest to BCC readers, too, so I thought I’d mention it here. I recently posted God Is My Roommate? Tax Exemptions for Parsonages Yesterday, Today, and (if Constitutional) Tomorrow to SSRN. I’ve posted a number of times about Gaylor v. Mnuchin, the case challenging the constitutionality of providing an income tax exclusion for housing allowances paid to clergy. And this paper derives from that decision.
Broadly speaking, I look at the current and historical property tax treatment of parsonages and other clergy housing in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. And that history is absolutely fascinating! And also, that history resonates with Mormonism in two places: Utah and Idaho. [Read more…]
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