LDS General Conference, Apr 2016

[JazzGal]

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

That's the perfect explanation for what happens.

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[jimmy eat jazz]

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

One of the problems facing Mormon (Utah) families today is the popularity of right wingers (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity) and progressive talks like the one given in women's conference and Sunday afternoon.

For 6 months all many of these families do is watch/listen far right wingers and their hate.

Then, for one weekend every 6 months, they hear a few talks that reminds them that:

Muslim refugees aren't the anti-Christ
The poor aren't all lazy

It must be confusing to many of these families.

That's certainly true of my siblings, who spend most days immersed in right wing talk radio and Fox News. I guarantee, a few talks from the pulpit isn't a strong enough antidote for the large quantities poison they ingest every day.

Add to that decades of anti-gay messages from LDS pulpits, it will take much more than a few conference talks to even begin to turn the homophobic culture that has been nurtured for so long. I do, however, give LDS Leaders credit for moderating their messages and appealing for greater tolerance and understanding towards 'out' groups. I am glad they are doing it. I would ask them, however, "what took you so long?" That said, they continue to send mixed messages, as I've noted above, appeals for greater tolerance towards gays, for example, are wholly inconsistent with the Church's recent policy done behind the scenes. My stated hypothesis is that a primary motivating factor for these greater appeals to tolerance is alarm at that rates at which millennials are leaving the Church. But I'm only speculating.

Far be it for me to generalize from a sample size of 1, but at least a couple of my children have left the Church citing the Church's stance toward women and gays as a primary reason. I'm aware that I'm surrounded by an extended family replete with missionaries and temple weddings, so I don't draw any conclusions from my own experience other than awareness that my children are illustrative of their generation, which is much more progressive on social issues than previous generations. A Church that denies women the same opportunities to minister as men and which implements punitive policies toward children of same-sex parents, among other things, is going to alienate a large number of millennials to whom such things matter.