Posts Tagged ‘ priesthood ’

I enjoyed my experiment with Mormonism and sexism so much that I decided to do the same with Mormonism and racism. The results were remarkably similar. One thing making this video got me thinking about was the light of Christ. In LDS scripture, the light of Christ is characterized not only as the force that [...]

The week from 17 March saw the inauguration of both the new Pope, Pope Francis, and the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. To mark that historic occasion the BBC broadcast a debate entitled Christianity at the Crossroads. The panellists were: Matthew Parris (MP) – former Conservative MP; Dr Anna Rowlands (AR) – Catholic theologian; [...]

The ordain women movement is focused on asking why females should not be ordained.  Let’s flip that around and ask why males are ordained. Discuss.

I decided to do an experiment: if you ran through all the explanations for why the structure of Mormonism isn’t sexist back to back, how long would it take before you completely contradicted yourself? Turns out about 30 seconds. For all we try and magnify the positive and downplay the negative, the fact of the [...]

In January 2012, I did a blog post about topics women in the church were discussing.  I identified 10 practices that some women saw as unnecessarily discriminate or that were in other ways causing women to question their value in the church.  This was in response to a request Pres. Beck made of Mormon Mommy [...]

Recently one of my online friends requested that I write about healing stories within the Mormon faith. My first thought was to share the traditional stories those of us who have been around the Mormon Church for awhile have all heard.  I’m sure there are many bloggers out there who are well more versed on [...]

There has been a  lot of buzz in the bloggernacle lately.  A Facebook group was created in February called Let Women Pray in General Conference.  To the surprise of many, Salt Lake Tribune’s Peggy Fletcher Stack is reporting that women are scheduled to pray in General Conference for the first time next month.  Is this [...]

I recently read an article in The Nation called “I’m Not Mother First.”  I also just finished reading Betty Friedan’s well-known tome, The Feminine Mystique, a book that turns 50 years old this year.  As I read the Feminine Mystique, there were several times when the cultural observations seemed anachronistic to me.  I have sometimes [...]

I’d like to start a new series on the Bible Dictionary.  Of course you could look up the answer, but I want to see how many get it right without looking.  See how well you do on the quiz before I give you the answer.

The past General Conference marks the 34th anniversary of the ratification of Official Declaration 2, removing any restrictions on priesthood with regards to race.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been reading the Lengthen Your Stride: Working Draft.  Chapter 22 provides more information than is available in Lengthen Your Stride by Edward Kimball. [...]

There has been a lot of bloggernacle discussion over the years about how to make women feel more equal in the male-dominated General Conference. What other ideas do you have? Discuss.

Understanding the priesthood administrative structure and the balance of authority between stakes and the presiding quorums is one of the keys to understanding gender issues in the church today. Yep. It’s another post about women and the priesthood.

Any woman can receive the power of the priesthood, and with it the ministering of angels and the presence of God. So says Sheri Dew, Virginia Pearce, and Joseph Smith. An interesting new book releases tomorrow.

A friend of mine serves in a Stake Relief Society Presidency and recently shared with me her concerns about an upcoming leadership training. One suggestion is a lavish, pampering evening in one of the nicer homes in the stake to nourish the souls of the women who nourish other women’s souls. It’s a suggestion borne [...]

The Community of Christ has begun “crossing the Rubicon” on LGBT issues, and there can be no reversing the action taken. CofChrist is committed to the theological precedent that priesthood can be compatible with participation in a legally recognized same-sex sexual relationship. On June 2nd, the Australian National Conference approved the following recommendation to the [...]

A warm welcome to Bonnie, posting with us the first time. Three years ago, at 6AM on a soon-to-be-scorching July day, I received a phone call from my oldest son’s priesthood leader. They were on a float trip, in Moab that morning, and my 15-year-old had been throwing up all night. It was the height [...]

The church does not have a solid reputation of treating all people equally. Some unequal treatment is based on behavior (e.g. the heathen drinkers of alcohol), other distinctions are made for tribal reasons (e.g. other religions or unfamiliar backgrounds), and there are distinctions made for who people are inherently (e.g. one’s sex or sexual orientation). [...]

Community of Christ does not follow its LDS cousins in having secret temple rituals. So I read last week’s post by Bored in Vernal, on the “Sacred Embrace As Five Points of Fellowship” with the curiosity of one who has never even been inside an LDS Temple. Much of the terminology was unfamiliar to me [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some aspects of the new Mormonism 101: FAQ that were confusing.  These seemed confusing in the sense that they seemed to change things that I thought were taught as doctrine in the church as I was growing up.  While I pointed out some things I didn’t like [...]

Given the increased media interest in the Church over the past year, the Mormon Newsroom recently published a document entitled “Mormonism 101: FAQ” .   Overall, the document does a good job of clearing up some misconceptions about the Church, and it is very well written, but I do have an issue with some of the [...]