Wow. Glad to see some Christian leaders in this country have their heads on their necks and not up their asses. And kudos to that first woman who accepted the explanation about the date for trans awareness day being on the same day every year and just happened to fall on Easter this year. Unfortunately she is in the minority among those who are willing or able to accept that kind of response.
I sense a growing schism within American Christianity. It’s small but it’s growing, of spirit of the law folks vs letter of the law “orthodox” folks. I sense it the most when I compare Elder Uchtdorf speaking vs President Oaks. The former often speaks of the church screwing up and of love for one’s fellow man while the latter defends the church, reminds members that the church isn’t a democracy, and often will declare sexual minorities as sinners. Obviously, I have my personal beliefs and I hope they’re in accordance with god’s. But regardless of whether they are, I think traditional “orthodox” beliefs are leading to more hostility towards American democracy and society and emptying pews.
If Christian sects hope to remain relevant in this 21st century, I think they’re going to need to adjust. The typical, “obedience, don’t question authority, leaders are infallible or else god would’ve removed them, war on LGBTs, and women in the kitchen” mantra that might’ve worked in previous centuries, just isn’t flying in this age of empowerment for minorities and the internet. What could’ve easily been swept under the rug by the catholic church or Mormon church or (enter whatever church you want) doesn’t work as effectively when everyone has a smartphone and within minutes the world can know a story. Churches can no longer get away with gaslighting people (which in my experience, is very common). It wasn’t until I was a missionary before I learned the the church’s first president was a polygamist. And then it wasn’t until later that I learned that some of the women he married were underage, married to someone else, and engaged in sexual relationships with him. The list goes on and on, blacks in the priesthood, women and the priesthood, pro nazism feelings of the presidency in the 1930s and 1940s, LGBT community, etc. imho, transparency is best. I think a lot of people can deal with church leadership screwing up. It’s the gaslighting and then finally admitting the ****up once all other avenues have been exhausted.
Obviously, I don’t know what god’s true thoughts are on nationalism, feminism, LGBTs, priesthood, etc but I do hope for and believe that god is a helluva lot smarter than we are and far more tolerant. I’ll give you a story. My friend is a counselor in Utah and his family has basically adopted a young woman who grew up in a hellish environment. She was sexually abused from an early age by members of her biological family. She’s doing better now and is in counseling. She still makes poor choices, choices that orthodoxy requires she be punished for (she’s lds). She slipped up and slept with a guy on their first encounter while living in Provo. My belief is that god will take her hellish background, her tainted beliefs on what love is, and consider how she struggles to see herself as a human being (not merely a pleasure object) into account. She’s trying to be better! Likewise, I hope that a lot of people with problems and challenges will have the context of their lives taken into consideration rather than a spreadsheet total of bad marks that will condemn them.
This larger thinking I hope is the correct one and is one that Christian leaders adopt more in this century. And I hope that churches focus less on being right all the time and squashing the critiquing of leaders’ infallibility and do more on just trying to service ALL members of their community. God is smart enough to figure out the awards and punishments of people. Our job is to welcome them into our communities and show them a great time.
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www.hsph.harvard.edu
www.pewresearch.org
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
