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Gospel topics

Anger Without A Cause? – President Oaks and a False Narrative

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The debate surrounding LGBT issues is one high in emotion and passion, with all sides having strongly held beliefs and entrenched views. Often, the flash point of these debates revolves around the religious beliefs of those who question the morality of LGBT behavior. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is no exception to this rule, being one of the more conservative religions when it comes to this topic. One church leader in particular has himself become a lightning rod on the subject.

“Harmful rhetoric” and “discrimination” were alleged to have been a part of President Dallin H. Oaks’ recent General Conference talk entitled Truth and the Plan. These claims were made by Lori Davis, a Board Member of a group called Mama Dragons, a group whose stated purpose is to provide support for Mormon and former Mormon mothers of LGBT children. A brief review of social media and other contemporary news articles will quickly demonstrate that the Mama Dragons were not alone in their feelings that some wrong was committed by Elder Oaks. Others actually implied that people may have to call a crisis line following the talk. Such drastic condemnation would certainly lead the reasonable reader to ask what horrible thing President Oaks said to possibly elicit such a strong response.

Unfortunately, despite the strong rhetoric, many who made the condemning statements on social media and elsewhere failed to cite what words were actually offensive. General indignation seemed to be sufficient for those people. Some, fortunately, were more specific. I’d like to look at several of them, and analyze what they might tell us about this issue, how those from different viewpoints are approaching it, and what we can learn from it. [Read more…] about Anger Without A Cause? – President Oaks and a False Narrative

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland Addresses Religious Persecution Conference in the UK

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Elder Jeffrey R. Holland addresses humanitarians, scholars, faith and government leaders at a conference sponsored by the AMAR Foundation at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom titled “Religious Persecution: The Driver for Forced Migration.”

Details about the address can be found on the Mormon Newsroom website.

 

Putting Together an Awful Story

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picard-facepalm2An anonymous author* writing at the MorningStar Post blog “had an awful time putting [a] story together” on “the number of Latter Day Saints [sic] that are actually considered active,” and that Mormons are, per the title of the post, allegedly “leaving their religion in record numbers around the world.” (Link) What is the cause of this dire situation for the Church, and why was it so awful for the author to write on it? According to the article, which quotes an unnamed “high-ranking leader in Salt Lake City,” it is because “of unprecedented scrutiny of our doctrines and beliefs and stemming from the white washing of our own history, and the rise of social media sites where members and potential converts can learn of our hidden problems.”

This claim has been made before on many websites critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a common trope for critics to say that the Church is nearing extinction because of the supposedly damning real history of Mormonism it has been hiding from its unsuspecting members. Instead of revisiting these claims in general, I want to focus specifically on the content of the blog post published by the MorningStar Post. To put it bluntly, and very charitably, the article is highly problematic. The author’s use of anonymous sources is extremely questionable, and both factual errors and blatant plagiarism also plague the article. In short, the article makes totally dubious and unsubstantiated claims about both LDS Church hierarchy and Mormon history. [Read more…] about Putting Together an Awful Story

“Keeping the Faith” and “True or False?”

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Two recent articles published in BYU Magazine and the New Era (the Church’s official magazine for youth) are noteworthy in their discussion of how to help others going through a faith crisis.

The first is “Keeping the Faith,” written by M. Sue Bergin. This article gives some wise advice on how to help a child handle doctrinal doubts or a faith crisis. Although the article is specifically aimed at equipping parents to help children, the principles can be applied to helping a friend or loved one (like a spouse or a sibling). In addition to describing ways to helpfully address the doubts raised by those with questions (such as destigmatizing doubt, embracing the questioner, and educating oneself on the issues being raised), the article also provides a “Dos” and “Don’ts” list that includes:

• Do create an atmosphere of warmth and openness in your home that invites conversations on difficult topics of all kinds.

• Do react matter-of-factly and kindly to questions, no matter how distressing they might be to you personally.

• Do acknowledge what you don’t know. Ask if you can join your child in his or her search for answers.

• Do encourage your children to trust their spiritual instincts, their ability to get answers, and their ability to make a meaningful connection with God and with scripture.

• Do encourage mutual respect. Just as you expect yourself to listen respectfully to your loved one’s thoughts and feelings, it’s reasonable to expect him or her to speak respectfully about what is sacred to you.

• Don’t shut down a child who has a difficult question. Even remarks that might seem innocuous, such as “Where did you hear that?” can be interpreted as disapproval of the question itself.

• Don’t communicate that it’s wrong or unfaithful to have questions or doubts.

• Don’t express disappointment in your loved one or convey fear about his or her spiritual standing.

The second article, “True or False?” by David A. Edwards, begins by observing, “[I]n the big questions of faith, belief, and everyday living, while it is extremely important to be able to tell the difference between what’s true and what isn’t, it’s not always easy.” To help his young readers who sometimes grapple with faith-shaking issues, the author of the article recommends the recent Gospel Topics essay on the translation of the Book of Mormon in his refutation of the claim that “the accounts of how [the Book of Mormon] was translated are inconsistent.” This recommendation is significant for two reasons:

1. It indicates a positive effort by the Church to ensure that Church members are aware of the Gospel Topics essays addressing sensitive issues like the translation method of the Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon and DNA studies, polygamy, the Mormon doctrine of deification, and the former priesthood ban on African American members of the Church.

2. It undermines what I’ve come to call the “Anti-Mormonism of the Gaps” theory frequently espoused by critics of the Church. As I’ve explained elsewhere, “[C]ritics immediately assume that any perceived neglect to mention the Gospel Topics essays or the subjects addressed therein to as wide an audience as possible must be proof of Church leaders’ dishonesty or duplicity, and not merely, say, the result of the sort of bureaucratic inertia one would reasonably expect in an entity as large as the Church. Problem is, as the subjects addressed by the Gospel Topics essays gain more prominence in Church publications, the critics are quickly running out of space in their gaps to assume sinister motives by Church leaders.”

For those who wish to help friends or family members who may be experiencing a faith crisis, these two essays may prove helpful.

LDS Church Essays Tackle Controversial Issues

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[This article first appeared in the Student Review. It has been reposted here with slight alteration.]

In a fireside devotional given at Utah State University in November 2011, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, an emeritus Seventy and former Church Historian and Recorder for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, included a question and answer segment in his remarks. During this Q&A, one member of the audience asked about the concerning trend of Church members, particularly younger members, leaving the Church over controversial historical issues they encounter online and elsewhere. “Is the Church aware of that problem?” the questioner asked. “What about people who are already leaving in droves?” Jensen’s response to this question has gone viral, having been reported in the press and discussed on a number of blogs and other sites. “The fifteen men that are above me in the hierarchy of the Church . . . really do know. And they really care. And they realize that, maybe, since Kirtland we’ve never had a period of—I’ll call it apostasy—like we’re having right now, largely over these issues.” Jensen then explained that the Church was then in the process of creating resources to address these concerns. “So we are trying to create an offering that will address these issues and be available for the public at large and to people who are losing their faith or have lost it.” [Read more…] about LDS Church Essays Tackle Controversial Issues