I recently came across this story on the BBC Website and felt that I had to return to Mormon Matters to write a few comments about it.

High Cost of Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

Over the years I have noticed many similarities between Mormons and other religions, but I never thought I would see a similarity in this context with Judaism. This article addresses some of the main issues that people at Mormon Matters find challenging. Perhaps we, as doubting Mormons are not as alone as we feel.

28 year old, Chani Ovadya, is interviewed about her experience. She does not give an explicit disgruntlement with the community but she does make mention of the fact that she felt more feminine then the community let her be. She says that:

“It was the hardest year of my life, and I didn’t have my parents and family who I love with me, so it was even worse…As a religious woman, the most you can be is a teacher, now I am following my dreams.”

She makes a point that she wants to make the transition easy for her family because she still cared so much for them, but all they could say to her in return is “Why have you killed us?” Jeff Spector told me:

“Children who have left the faith or married outside the faith would be considered dead to the family. The families would rend their clothes and sit Shiva, which is the Jewish mourning period of one week.”

One thing I notice from the accounts is that most people that have left do not openly belittle or degrade the people they have left behind, they still have love for them, they still feel a part of their community though they are caught in this impossible dilemma.

An anthropologist named Sarit Barzilai, who has studied orthodox Jewish communities said:

“In one case she knows of, a father who told his daughter he would rather kill her than see her become secular. She eventually committed suicide.”

This story seems quite harrowing given the fundamentalist strains that can also be found within Mormonism and its affect on our own brothers and sisters in the faith who are caught between worlds.

An example of a young gay Mormon who felt that he was caught between worlds was that of Stuart Matis. Before committing Suicide he wrote to The Daily Universe:

“I implore the students at BYU to re-assess their homophobic feelings…Seek to understand first before you make comments. We have the same needs as you. We desire to love and be loved. We desire to live our lives with happiness. We are not a threat to you or your families.”

The article ends with a very understanding and warm rabbi named Ido Lev. He says:

Generally speaking, a person leaves because we failed in some way in our responsibilities to him. And he hasn’t had a satisfactory life and he is looking for greener pastures elsewhere because it is not good for him here. We take responsibility for this because it should be good for him here…it breaks peoples hearts. I don’t see any reason not to speak to your children. I don’t see any reason not to be there for your children if they need you.”

I urge that we, like Rabbi Lev, seek understanding, compassion and love before judgment. I suplicate that we do not fail in our responsibilities to our brothers and sisters who are caught between worlds. It really is heartbreaking for all who don’t feel they belong. To partly paraphrase Rabbi Lev, “It should be good for everyone in our church” as well, no matter what they believe. They should all feel welcome in our community. Let’s help those who are a part of our communities and who have doubts feel that they DO belong.

For the 146 Americans who died [in the 1991 Gulf War] it wasn’t a cheap war…but the question for the President is how many additional Americans is Saddam worth and our judgement was not very many.

Well…14 years later it seems that Cheney has changed his judgement and Saddam is now worth 4,106 American soldiers lives and about 30,000 wounded American soldiers. (We do have to mention the 600,000 to 1.23 million Iraqi deaths according to the non-partisan estimates and 5 million Iraqi Refugees) Is this how much Saddam was worth?

In my opinion, and I think obvious to anyone who really researches it, the Iraq War was not about removing a dictator established by the CIA, weapons of mass destruction or democracy promotion. (I would even argue that the UK and USA give fantastic examples in the present and over the last 50 years showing that they do not primarily care about democracy or removing dictators).

When asked why the US didn’t attack North Korea in 2003 instead of Iraq because North Korea was more of a threat, Paul Wolfowitz’s reasoning for the Iraq War is demonstrated when in 2003 he said:

“Let’s look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil.”

Using the reasoning of Cheney and Wolfowitz of trying to quantify the value of human life, I was wondering how many barrels of oil is a human life worth to myself.

Here are some topical guide references for the worth of souls to God:
Isaiah 13:12- I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the bgolden wedge of Ophir.
Psalms 49:8-(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
D&C 109:43-O Lord, we delight not in the destruction of our fellow men; their souls are precious before thee.
D&C 18:10- Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God

My question to you is…

A barrel of oil is about $140. How many barrels of oil is a human life worth?

Since Mormon Stories, Mormon Matters, For those who wonder.com and a plethora of others that have come into my view it has significantly changed my insights of what I thought was black and white dramatically.

Cognitive Dissonance: A condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one’s beliefs and one’s actions, such as opposing the slaughter of animals and eating meat. I personally love cognitive dissonance! It is in fact how real life is and I think the Internet Chapel provides the real life church where thoughts are free and open and you don’t have to hold your opinions back.
Virtual Church: “Don’t act like you haven’t thought about it already.” I have never met any of you personally except for Stephen Wellington and John Dehlin. But I do have daydreams of a Cognitive Dissonance virtual chapel with you guys.

1. I can imagine a well-balanced Bishopric with Stephen Marsh as Bishop
2. Jamie Twyth as first Councillor and no second councillor because were in the church’s small units program.
3. Andrew Ainsworth would screen our talks as the correlation committee and protect us from liable.
4. Bruce Nielson would be the church’s first male primary president.
5. Chris W lobbying the brethren for feminine rights for Mormon women.
6. Christopher Bigelow editor of ward newspaper” Double talk.”
7. Clay Whipkey and Lisa Ray Turner would introduce us to Indie Punk Mormon Hymns.
8. Shawn Larsen Ward employment for disaffected Mormons.
9. John Hamer of course would be ward historian,
10. Hawk Girl Unisex priesthood instructor,
11. Adam F ward psychologist using Buddhist modus operandi.
12. Heather B ward lobbyist Mormons / A New Earth.
13. Jeff Spector Jewish relations / Mormons and co writer with Shawn Larsen famous Mormons with beards.
14. Nick Literski magazine and Clean Flicks rep.
15. Peter Brown boy scout troop leader – but we don’t have any scouts yet.
16. Wade Nelson sabbatical writing Mormon Doctrine 2.
17. Terry Foraker Road show director based on the novel “Leaving the Saints”.
18. KC Kearn ward internet specialist “specializing in monitoring for Strengthen the Church Committee”.
19. John Nilson crisis of faith councillor helping guys like James and Ray when they crash and burn.
20. Stephen Wellington High priest group leader emphasizing service.
21. John Dehlin Gospel Doctrine.

If I left anyone out don’t feel bad you simply weren’t in my daydream!

• Is this an accurate view of us?
• What could have been added?
• Is there a growing trend in our community of Internet Mormons?
• Is your ward or branch as stimulating as the Internet Chapel?

From dumping waste out windows and working to the bone in colorless and anti social contexts, in church, one entered into a bit of heaven on earth. In church people were friendly and socialized. In church it was clean. In church the windows were incredibly colorful, the seats better than bearable. In church there was music from the organs, an incredible experience beyond anything available anywhere else, and there was even an element of intellectual engagement, also absent elsewhere.

In church there was relative safety…color….sound….life. It was what people lived for, around, and in. The church wasn’t just rhetoric, it was literally heaven manifested today. The church was hope and inspiration, color and cleanliness, activity and more activity. And so, of course, given that the church was what made life worth living, and given the church what promised better in the future, people coughed up their first and last pennies for the church. Even more than in modern times. Way more. And they weren’t tricked. Given the constrained settings they inhabited, their perceptions were accurate, and their choices sensible – that is, short of completely transforming the history. Think about the growth of the fundamentalist church in recent years in the U.S. and, say, in Pakistan. People aren’t giving as much – true – but the logic is the same and what you might say is people are part of the church and supporting it more or less in proportion as the church is contributing to their material, spiritual, emotional, ideological, and inspirational, existence in return.

And what is the lesson in all this? I don’t see how it could be clearer – from the angle the tour guide illuminated, and many other angles as well. If the campaign to create a better world – which is the left – wants to have support from huge numbers of otherwise jammed up and restricted folk, then that campaign has to incorporate the seeds of the future in the present. The left has to aid to people’s lives now, adding color, compassion, creativity, and especially a sense of belonging and social joy, and it has to at the same time promise even more, much more, in the future. People must come to see and feel the left as being at the core of who they are, what they can enjoy today, and what inspires them to seek more tomorrow. Short of attaining that degree of centrality in people’s lives, the left will not have sufficient membership that is sufficiently committed to win even major reforms, much less fundamentally new social relations. Okay, is that claim true or false? If it is false – fine, dispense with it and move on. But if the claim is true, then doesn’t it follow that a left which isn’t addressing this agenda is a left that isn’t even trying to achieve its destiny? No wonder we aren’t winning yet. On the other hand, if the claim is true, then since the implication is so evident, isn’t it time to get on with recreating our efforts in a far more uplifting and humane and socially engaging and intellectually stimulating and artistic and creative shape and substance?

NOW….hold up your credit card to the screen

and lets exercise those demons out of your credit card amen brother….hold it up…come on dont be shy.

Let’s make it a “changelujah”!!!!

Now….it is time for us to confess our shopping sins….I will start…..

I am ashamed….please forgive me Lord….

I bought two Diet Cokes today because I was so tired even though I know In Colombia, workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants have had their safety threatened and even been murdered by Colombian paramilitaries for trying to unionize. I am a sinner…I am going to have a MacDonalds tonight and I am justifying it again because I am tired. And while I write this my car is in the University Car Park clocking up $2 an hour when I could have parked it 15 minutes walk away for free…..Please forgive me my shopping sins. Let me have the courage to change and break my addiction to chocolate, WalMart, computer and my cell-phone. Give me courage to come to you and let go Lord.

NOW YOUR TURN EVERYONE!

PRESS PLAY AND THEN READ.

Creating Zion requires 2 things:
1) A Vision of what it is like
2) Faith we can achieve it.

We all have the vision of the society we want to live in and this society is one that, I believe, is similar to the type of society we see in the Book of Mormon after Jesus visitied the Nephites…a society where there was harmony, Christ-like love, and peace amongst its citizens.

We have many people in and outside the church who have great ideas of attaining this “Zion society”. We just need to prepare ourselves to be ready to live in it.

So we have the vision…..Now we need the faith….Here are two quotes from Reinhold Neibuhr

The naive faith of the proletarian[working class] is the faith of the man of action. Rationality belongs to the cool observers. There is of course an element of illusion in the faith of the proletarian, as there is in all faith. But it is a necessary illusion, without which some truth is obscured. The inertia of society is so stubborn that no one will move against it, if he cannot believe that it can be more easily overcome than is acutally the case. And no one will suffer the perils and pains involved in the process of radical social change, if he cannot believe in the possibility of a purer and fairer society than will ever be established.

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

As much as I appreciate Neibuhr, I find the first quote by Neibuhr to be somewhat defeatist. AND…I find it somewhat sanctimonious to say that having faith in grass roots societal change that produces something more equitable and pure as irrational. With Neibuhr being O’bama’s favourite theologian, it gives us incite into Obama’s own posturing about “wanting change” whilst accepting funding from the very same power structures that benefit from the current disparity in wealth and society. Now, dont get me wrong…If I was American I would be inclined to vote for Nader or Obama. I think Neibuhr’s prayer of serenity is brilliant…but we should not not use it as an excuse for not standing a little taller then we are now and changing our lifestyles to be more sustainable, more caring, more loving, and closer to the nature of those who saw Christ come and chose to live with love in their hearts for their fellowmen.

The greatest people are those who stood for peace, love and eternal truth in the face of MASSIVE opposition and even death. Ghandi is one of these too me. Another is Bishop Juan Gerardi, Ex-Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, Jane Manning, Omar Torrijos, Joseph Smith, Smedley Butler, William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King Jr. etc. Their flames may have died out but their fire still burns.

Thomas S. Monson has said:

We tend to become like those whom we admire.

Oh how similar Christian “Realism” and “Real Politik” appear to me at times…and lets not forget Real Politik was invented by man who is responsible for the death of thousands upon thousands of innocent Cambodians…Henry Kissinger.

As Mormons we NEED more realism…learn how the world works and I think you will find that our current state is indeed just as terrorizing and oppresive to our fellowmen as men sitting in caves that have bombs strapped to them. It is this increased realism which will, contrary to Neibuhr’s statement, increase our already high ideals and optimism. Lets all stand a little taller….lets get more conscious and love our brothers and sisters whatever country, race and religion or background they come from. Lets love them enough to EXERCISE our faith and bring about a revolution of love and be patriots of spirituality.

If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits. – Bernays

This post begins with the nephew of Freud, a psychoanalyst named Edward Bernays. He is a man that should be known amongst every citizen of the corporate world we live in. Bernays is credited as being the father of modern propaganda. However, since the Germans used the term propaganda Bernays decided that the term “public relations” should be used instead to describe the “engineering of consent” that he and other very powerful people in the establishment would use to control the minds of the masses. In his book Propaganda it reads,

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”

One of Bernays’ early clients was the tobacco industry where in 1929 he orchestrated a legendary publicity stunt aimed at persuading women to take up ciagrette smoking, because at the time it was unfashionable for women to smoke and was considered unfeminine. The tobacco industry wanted to open up a whole new market. Bernays organized a “women’s rights” march in the New York City Parade where young debutants would light up their “torches of freedom” (in reference to Lady Liberty)

His psychoanalyst colleague A.A. Brill gave him advice about this stunt:

Some women regard cigarettes as symbols of freedom…It is perfectly normal for women to want to smoke cigarettes. Further the first women who smoked probably had an excess of male components and adopted the habit as a masculine act. But today the emancipation of women has suppressed many feminine desires. More women now do the same work as men do…. Cigarettes, which are equated with men, become torches of freedom.

He was successful and it was this very campaign that broke the taboo of women smoking in society and Bernays was paid very well for his services. Not only did it introduce a new gender to the health hazards of smoking, a practice that was in opposition to God’s will and what God was advicing against according to the Doctrine and Covenants many years prior, but Bernays emblazoned into our psyche that a woman that smoked is more emancipated than one who doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, women’s rights are essential…but by smoking, the women at the time were not emancipating themselves at all. In fact they were no longer subordinating themselves to their husbands and families but were on an imprisoning pathway to addiction and rampant consumerism.

Bernays is also coined as being the propagandist who developed the theory of “mass consumer persuasion”. He has linked our psyche with the idea of “shopping therapy”, that gaining material possessions not only makes us feel good about ourselves but make us feel more “free”. He even had a part in the development of the ladies magazine Cosmopolitan as a way of developing a consumerist culture amongst women in the United States which would entice these women to consume with careful advertising and celebrity endorsements. He helped to develop a consumerist culture that would reinforce the false democracy that he believed in, a democracy where people would be satiated with material wealth and thus take a subordinate role to those who gave them those goods… “their masters.”

Paul Mazer of Lehman Brothers,a man who employed Bernays said:

“We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire. People must want new things before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.”

Our liberties and democracy have been warped into an iatrogenic palliative, a remedy that has ultimately made us sick.

Gordon B. Hinckley has said, “”It is the love of money and the love of those things which money can buy which destroys us. The love of [money] . . . warps our values . . . and fosters selfishness and greed.”

When looking at the logos of companies above I think it is fitting to ask yourself, “Where have their products come from and what are the conditions in which the people have worked to make the products I consume? What extrenalities are the corporations putting upon us and the environment?”

I think you will find, as I have, that I feel guilty every time I buy something I don’t need, but want, that comes from a corporation that I know has been involved with human rights abuses, sweatshop labour, destruction of the environment etc.

If Gordon B. Hinckley is right, then buying products from companies that abuse human rights shows that we love money and the things that money can buy more then we love our fellowmen.

Thomas S. Monson has adviced us… “We must learn to separate need from greed.”

We very rarely get sunshine in the UK which made it even that much more glorious. It was my first Jewish service and I was slightly nervous. Sam and I both arrived slightly late. I drove but he had to walk 40 minutes to the synagoge because he is not allowed to drive during the passover. I was welcomed by smiling faces and ushered to where I needed to be. It felt like I was in one of our LDS services with how cordial and close everyone seemed to be. The service, mostly in Hebrew, was very interesting. I tried to soak in the spirit of the meeting and the love and dedication people were expressing through their worship. I was touched. I felt like I was in the temple with the symbolism, set up of the room and the number of elderly people sitting next to me. It was an enriching experience and one I hope to experience again in the near future. I am privilged that Sam let me celebrate the Passover (Pesach) with him.

In the foyer I was greeted by a pair of Messianic Jews. They spoke to me in whispers saying that they had to be very careful about what they told people. They said that they were reading rabbinical texts a few years ago and realized that Christians had it completely wrong and that….yes here is the familiar story all Latter Day Saints know….no church was correct…but they decided that they still accepted Jesus as the Messiah whilst feeling the need to worship as Jews. I was slightly throne back and though to myself, “right…so you are a Christian worshipping in a synagogue then right?”

Sam, being rather orthodox, told me that we had gone to a more liberal synagogue and it was more anglicized then the ones he usually attends in North London. He said that the Messianic worshippers I had met in the hallway would probably not be consistently allowed in the more orthodox worship services. I personally felt they were a bit forceful in a covert and non-verbal manner…as though they were trying to proselytize.

Sam and I both have many things in common:
1) We are both studying medicine to pick up chicks. just kiddin
2) Like a pair of old men we talk about the good ol’ days when people were concerned with morality.
3) We both enjoy chatting about the middle east and religion. Our favourite questions is “If you were the leader of Israel or Palestine for a day…what would you do to make peace?”

As anyone of you who have tried this knows, you end up going round and round in circles.

This week is the Jewish Passover and tomorrow I will be going around to Sam’s for a meal. I am not allowed to bring Jello Salad as he said that:
1) It isnt Kosher.
2) I am not allowed to eat a dessert whilst eating my main meal.

Sam, like most of us on Mormon Matters & Mormon Stories, loves his faith but faces doubts. We both have doubts about what we believe but decide that we are going to stick with it because it makes us better men and enriches our lives. I guess this is why they call it faith. He says that he has always felt the title “peculiar people” really describes the hardships he has felt with trying to fit into a secular society whilst practising his faith. I think we as Mormons are not alone in having to deal with difficult history, traditions and challenges to our faith.

Perhaps as Latter Day Saints we could remember this Passover how God does not forget his children whatever faith they may be and that he listens to our prayers, our hopes and our fears no matter how lost or alone we may feel as individuals or as a people.

Shabbat Shalom everyone.

The Judge, Mr Justice Leveson, told Taylor and Barton the attack was “a racist attack of a type poisonous to any civilised society”.

The reactionary part of me thinks “Put these murderers to sleep with some sodium thiopental!”

But Anthony’s mother, a devout Evangelical Christian, has shown me an example that I feel shows the discipleship of a true Christian. Gee Walker saw Anthony in hospital with the axe sticking out of her sons head. The images will probably resonate forever. She is the mother of 6 and has lost a son who she said would not harm a fly and had great ambitions to be a lawyer when he grew up.

Gee Walker said in answer to the question “Do you hate Barton and Taylor?

Gee: I can’t hate. I brought up my children in this church to love. I teach them to love, to respect themselves, and respect others. We’re a huggy family and they go out and portray that same image. We’re a forgiving family and it extended to outside, so it wasn’t hard to forgive because we don’t just preach it, we practise it. It is a life sentence. What does bitterness do? It eats you up inside, it’s like a cancer. We don’t want to serve a life sentence with those people.

Has your faith been tested by Anthony’s death?

Gee: (Laughs) Has my faith been tested? Lord, yes. My name’s Gee, not Jesus! It’s been hard, so hard, but I have to follow what the Lord teaches. It is easy to say those things, but when it is you who must do them, it is hard.

I hope we can all learn from people like Gee Walker and be peacemakers. I hope that Anthony’s murders also learn from her example.

After looking at your website I think it is inappropriate to give you an interview.

I felt like asking the person…”Which website?? , was it my particular posts about my mission and THE BIG M, my disenchantment with church and state, my pregnant man post or was it Mormon Stories/Mormon Matters in general?” I felt frustrated and somewhat offended because it made me feel less moral for asking questions and coming up with answers that satisfy me. Yet there was nothing I could really say in reply so I wished the person well and left it at that.

It was about an hour after this reply that I thought to myself….”I wonder if John ever had to put up with this.” And I know for a fact he has…and with more challenging situations.

Dave Grohl said that his song “My Hero” was written to celebrate regular men and women who do day to day things that make them stand out. The chorus goes “There goes my hero…he’s ordinary.” The humanity that John has brought through Mormon Stories and Mormon Matters has paradoxically emphasised the ordinary people in Mormonism who do extraordinary things. His screencast about unsung Mormon heroes and his podcast with Darius Gray and Margaret Young about Jane Manning and Elijah Able comes to mind.

I also found this definition which I thought was fitting for my feelings about how John has helped me to stay in the church through his efforts with Mormon Stories:

a hero is a champion: someone who fights for a cause

Combining this definition with the Foo Fighters song I think John Dehlin has brought something more honest, more open and more human to the Mormon experience. He has done it in a way that makes everyone that interacts with him feel as though they are valued and that they have something worthwhile saying. I also like the way he has been so open about his feelings about church doctrine and history and yet is completely dedicated to the church. He helped to guide me down a path that, whilst difficult to tread, was the only option left for me rather then leaving the church altogether. I still go to the temple, I still have a testimony of the church and of Jesus Christ, but I have managed now to live in a world where I have learned to transcend the Mormon polemic.

I think John’s decision to focus on his family and his work is a wise one when the cognitive dissonance that comes from taking the “middle path” through mormonism can be all consuming.

John is not even dead and I am already writing a blog that sounds more like an obituary. God Bless you John Dehlin…thank you again for being a friend and helping me to keep an eternal perspective.

Banks have historically been in a great position. Countries compete for their services by promising them deregulation and tax cuts…or should I say “business welfare.” This push towards the far end of the neoliberal spectrum is taking its toll on the tax payer and it will eventually end in higher taxes and the selling of our countries as the banks need to be bailed out. In the UK we have socialized Northern Rock…a massive bank at a cost of £1800 ($3600) for every person in the UK. The UK is one of the most exposed countries to this crisis because of our record levels of debt.

We would never run our households this way…then why do our politicians allow it!!?? They know they have to have bankers on their side because they provide them with campaign funds…According to Carrol Quigley, bankers hold the power and have done since the days of Andrew Jackson. Jackson’s epitaph reads, “I killed the banks!” Ironic, isn’t it!

You can see my vitriol and anger! The rich will not be as affected by the financial mess as those who they have preyed upon. And it will be the responsible members of society who will have to bail out both the banks who are taking huge losses and the individuals who declare banckruptcy.

No other industry privatises the profits and socialises the losses as much as the banking industry

What we are seeing at the moment is socialism/fascism for the rich and free markets and coercion for the rest. Recent examples of this socio-fascism being; a centralised meeting last week between the G7 and world bankers, Gordon Brown having breakfast with Bankers, and Bernanke promising bankers that the US tax payer will take the bad loans off of their books. No other industry is socialized in such a way except maybe the “Defense industry”.

Greed and corruption are rampant in a sector that doesnt even produce anything except fiat currency!

Inspired men and Holy Books of the world might have some guidance on this subject.

Both Aristotle and Plato condemed Usury. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 reads:

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Why is it then that the rich who fall into temptation by their greed and prey on the poor and needy are bailed out by others which negates the natural consequences that should come according to this scripture?

In a world where our temporal and spiritual lives are interlinked and our ultimate goal is to have a society such as Christ instituted in the New Testament and Book of Mormon, a society where all things were in common and there were no poor among them…why are we so far off and what should we do to move in this direction?

Wikipedia defines Moral Hazard as:

the prospect that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk.

The behaviour of banks over the last few years, which I am sure would change if they knew the government wouldnt bail them out everytime their greed got the better of them, has been “morally hazardous”. The government and the “private” banking industry are so tightly interconnected that I do not see our “democractically elected” (please sense my extreme sarcasm) politicans ever changing this relationship of convenience.

I wonder if the City of Enoch had similar challenges?

What are your views?

I have not had a chance to review the original paper, but this news headline from the 11th of March caught my attention and I thought it deserved a blog entry here at Mormon Matters. Though the sample size is medium, the findings show how rife STD’s are in US society. The sample was nationally respresentative so I presume the authors removed any bias for location. Amongst 14 to 19 year olds, 50% of African American-Girls that were surveyed had an STD whilst 1 in 5 Caucasian and Hispanic girls had at least one STD.

Perhaps I am showing my naivety, but I was rather schocked at how high the figures are. Something needs to be done to bring these figures down as it does not seem that current methods of containing sexual disease are working. I would be in favour of sociological, educational and medical advancements.

As a medical student, and in terms of sexual behaviour, patient discernment is of utmost importance. However, for teenagers the tempting glorification of sex through cultural mediums such as music, movies and tv does not give the harsh reality of the prevelance of sexually transmitted diseases that teenagers face.

And for pragmatisms sake, I hope this new study will provide some evidence in favour of sexual discretion within society though I think it will just go by overlooked as headlines of Britney Spears going into psychological meltdown after flashing her “ladies bits” upon getting out of another expensive car are projected into the headlines.

1. “Bioethical” violations such as genetic modification.
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research.
3. Drug Abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to the widening divide between the rich and poor.
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty.
He cited violations of the basic rights of human nature through genetic manipulation, drugs and the imbalance between the rich and poor as some of the biggest sins of our time.

John Paul, also dedicated much of his long papacy to condemning the gap between have and have-nots in speeches in his travels throughout the world as well as in writings.

“The poor are always becoming poorer and the rich ever more rich, feeding unsustainable social injustice,” Girotti said in the interview published Sunday.

Anyone feeling guilty?

How do you feel about these “new sins”?

Perhaps I should blame Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman or John Pilger for my enlightenment. Or perhaps I should thank the neocons, George Bush and Tony Blair for waging an illegal war, as judged by the UN, in Iraq and destroying my naive ideal of the United States & UK. I am only 25 and had never experienced the fears of recession or seen, first hand, the duplicity of my own government before. As time went on, I began to read, download, and read more. Why was the world I knew as a student and a young man at secondary school not the world I was seeing and learning of?

I learned of the injustices of; the Palestine-Israeli conflict, of my governments dealings in Diego Garcia, Guantanamo Bay, the Iran-Contra scandal, the funding of Al Qaeda by MI6 and the CIA, the 1933 white house coup by fascist bankers, the Gulf of Tonkin mistake, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, Globalisation, the death of Aldo Moro by the CIA, Operation Northwoods, Operation Gladio, the Rex-84 program, the criminal bungling on 9/11 on the part of the US government, support for Pinochet, support for Saddam, support for Suharto of Indonesia, Operation Ajax, the Gaza Bombshell and most importantly the IMF and World banks’ dealings in creating a world of subordination.

These are just a few of the Anglo-American government atrocities of the last century. The British government is responsible for much over the last 300 years. Corporate crimes and foreign government atrocities are also enormous.

I searched for answers and felt that anarchism…anarchosyndicalism in particular was the answer that satisfied me. Where free-markets are truly free and society is fairer and more equitable. Where society is ordered horizontally NOT vertically. Where the possibility of power abuse is limited. Where coercion must be justified. A world where people are free to cooperate without state compulsion or interference. I think that politicians and big businessmen stand in the way of this. As idealistic as this ideology is, I think it is the dream that was partially captured by Apostle Peter, Joseph Smith….and…ummm…John Lennon? And many other idealists.

In terms of relating my disenchantment with church and state together, C.S. Lewis has said:

“I am a democrat because I believe that no man or group of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolled power over others. And the higher the pretensions of such power, the more dangerous I think it both to the rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor…And since Theocracy is the worst, the nearer any government approaches to Theocracy the worse it will be. A metaphysic, held by the rulers with the force of a religion, is a bad sign. It forbids them, like the inquisitor, to admit any grain of truth or good in their opponents, it abrogates the ordinary rules of morality, and it gives a seemingly high, super-personal sanction to all the very ordinary human passions by which, like other men, the rulers will frequently be actuated.“

I agree with C.S. Lewis and see it as important that authority is always tempered by appropriate countermeasures. Perhaps I am being cantankerous but I think our society, as it currently stands, lacks those countermeasures, considering the rampant abuse of power by corporate, banking and political elites and the looming recession ahead.

I am a Mormon/Christian anarchist, in the fashion of Leo Tolstoy. I believe that government sovereignty shoud flow from the people, not from God, not from corporations, and definitely not from politicians.

“Aren’t anarchist’s those people that want to destroy everything and kill people” I hear you say? This is a common misconception similar to believing that all muslims are involved with terrorism.(But this is a whole different topic of discussion all together.)

Anarchism is democratic and egalitarian. It is a political and moral philosophy but yet it is not a patent solution for all human problems and no utopia of perfect social order as it rejects absolutes and definite final goals. It is a beginning of a journey we will never attain. Yet we know we want freedom to cooperate without coercion.

States are violent in direct correlation to their power. I concur with Frederick Douglass that power concedes nothing without a demand. In our case, the demand has come from the common working man and middle class.

Anarchism is historically more non-violent and peaceful then violent. It abhors coercion and, as an ideology, it considers the life of a human being of more value then corporatism or capitalism does.

And we know that Christ said, “The worth of a soul is great”…I think Christ values it more than Nike, McDonalds, England, China, Walmart, and America.

As long as I can remember, I was always rebellious against what I felt was unjust coercion, but I feel it was not until my mission that I started to come into conflict with authority.

At points I felt that missionary managers did not care about me or the other missionaries. At one point, crying on the mission president’s shoulder, I said, “All I want is to know that someone cares.” This was my own personal gethsemane that helped me feel the atonement working in my life and to feel Jesus’s love when I felt no one else cared for me. My mission president often described a mission as “a wonderfully awful but an awfully wonderful experience”. It definitely was for me. I had firsthand experience of the pain of mission politics and the abuses of power within a vertically structured organization.

When I heard John Dehlin’s podcast about his mission in Guatemala, about baseball baptisms I realized that there were similar stories, by others, of problems where people felt that ecclesiastical power was being abused and regular missionaries were being ostracized or punished for “objecting to unjust authority.” We have all heard Lord Acton’s maxim,

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I firmly believe this and have witnessed it in myself and in others.

Coming home from my mission I set myself goals to learn more about church history as a matter of faith mixed with curiosity and enjoy my mission for what it was. However, and I humbly admit, that I had the opportunity to visit with various bishops and councillors quite frequently over the next few years to resolve issues that had cropped up. I noticed that some were very humble and kind whilst others were more dictatorial and autocratic. The autocratic leaders made me realize that I was being too naive in trusting my spiritual wellbeing with these types of men, that I was perhaps too honest, and that I was going to repent so I would be able to get out of there as soon as I could.

During this time I read MANY church books that an orthodox mormon would call “anti-” but I found them historically accurate and fairly honest. I spent all my spare time, in a 2 year period, reading through church history books by anyone I could get my hands on and realized that the faith promoting Mormon history I was used too was biased, propagandized and most importantly didn’t tell the whole story. During this crisis of faith and sense of betrayal I also lost a faithful Mormon girlfriend who was worried about the information I was reading and I made my family worry. In my books and attempts at resolving my dissonance I read Michael Quinn’s “Mormon Hierarchy” series and was flummoxed about ecclesiastical power abuses in the history of the church from Joseph Smith to Ezra Taft Benson. My heart went out to those who suffered abuse by men in power as I empathized with them.

D&C 121 reads:

39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.

It seems Lord Jesus Christ agrees with Lord Acton…or should it be vice versa.

For the time, I am unable to stay in Eden after eating of the bittersweet fruit of Mormon History. I choose to stay in the church and consider myself Mormon though I have unresolved doubts that plague me daily and I stay as committed as I can. My journey seems to be leading me to help those who are suffering and oppressed. I wonder whether this is the right journey but I find meaning and hope in it. I still choose to face Eden and my heart aches to return and meet others there when people, like myself, who have eaten this bittersweet fruit, learn how to illuminate the pathway back to religious certainty.

1) The Catholic Church (67.5 million)

2) The Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million)

3) The United Methodist Church (7.9 million)

4) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (5.7 million)

5) The Church of God in Christ (5.5 million)

6) National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (5 million)

7) Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (4.7 million)

8 ) National Baptist Convention of America (3.5 million)

9) Presbyterian Church (USA) (3 million)

10) Assemblies of God (2.8 million)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses are the fastest growing church with an increase of 2.25% whilst the LDS church had an increase of 1.56%. The Catholic Church had an increase of 0.87% whilst the episcopal church had a decrease of 4.15%.

What are your views on our growth? How does the LDS church compare with other churches over the last year in terms of growth/decline rates? Could our church seek more growth by mirroring JW member missionary involvement? Would this be a good thing? Are Baptists focusing such efforts on Mormons because of our increasing numbers and fairly large US population? Is our growth sustainable or will it plateau do to limited family sizes? Please compare, discuss and give your views.

Where do we go from here?

John Reaney took the Hereford diocesan board of finance to an employment tribunal after his appointment as a youth worker was blocked.

Bishop of Hereford Anthony Priddis has apologised and gay rights group Stonewall said the “substantial compensation” sent a clear message. Mr Reaney, from Colwyn Bay, Conwy, said he was delighted the case was over. “Lesbian and gay Christians working within the Church of England are entitled to be treated with humanity,” said Mr Reaney, 42.

Mr Reaney applied for the vacant post of youth officer within the Hereford diocese in May 2006. During the tribunal in April 2007 Mr Reaney said the members of the eight-strong interview panel had recommended him for the job and the appointment just needed the approval of the bishop. During a two-hour meeting in July, Mr Reaney claimed the bishop questioned him about a gay relationship.

Sexual orientation

Three days later the bishop phoned him to say he had been unsuccessful. In his evidence to the original tribunal, Bishop Priddis said anyone in a sexual relationship outside marriage would have been rejected. However the tribunal last month ruled Mr Reaney, who now lives in Cardiff, had been discriminated against “on the grounds of sexual orientation”.

Bishop of Hereford Anthony Priddis has apologised.  Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “We’re delighted that the tribunal has sent such a robust signal, both to the bishop and other employers. “The substantial level of compensation sends out a very clear message. Not even a bishop is above this law.”

The award is made up of £7,000 damages for psychiatric injury, £6,000 for injury to feelings, £25 for costs incurred in seeking work, £1,320 cost of counselling, £25,000 for future loss of wages and £8,000 for future pension loss. Anni Holden, spokeswoman for the diocese of Hereford, said the legal costs of the case to the diocese were being met by an anonymous donation. “We are glad we can draw a line under this unhappy situation. It has been a difficult time for all of us involved in the tribunal,” she said. “It has been a long drawn-out process and we are pleased that it is finally complete. “We are now aware that when making such an appointment we must make it clear if it is a genuine occupational requirement that the post-holder should believe in and uphold the Christian belief and ideal of marriage, and that sexual relationships are confined to marriage. This is the crux of the matter, not sexual orientation.”

What sort of impact could this have on homosexual Mormons in the UK who are seeking jobs within the Mormon community such as temple workers, CES etc.?    Could the requirement for a temple recommend as part of a job be discrimination?

This brings to mind a fear expressed by Jefferson:

I fear that this change would encroach on Human Rights issues, Civil Rights issues, and Gay Rights issues.(Including other problems.) I fear that, as history has shown, governments that move towards theocratic rule can issue casuistic laws to quash liberties. But on the other hand, are civil unions the first step to the dismantling of the Mormon perspective of families and their eternal nature? What happens if children are to be adopted and brought up in civil unions…how does this fit into God’s Plan?

It’s difficult.

Another problem I see from this zealousness is that if you are going to change the constitution, then to whose version of “God endorsed” marriage do you apply it too? Would Father Abraham be arrested in America?We all know that one can argue anything with the Bible…or the Quran…

But yet…the church establishment sent out the petition for all its members to quash the civil union movement in America back in 2001/2002. Something I understand, but do not empathise with.

Is theoconservativism extremism or do I just need to be rebuked and told to get back into line?

I have decided to postpone my intended critique on theoconservativism in order to post a tribute video of Gordon B. Hinckley. I did not expect it too, but it brought tears to my eyes. Sometimes in life you are brought to the kind of simple and innocent faith that brings out the forgotten child in you…the kind of child that would sing “Armies of Helaman” in church and get the shivers, the child that instinctively knows that Christ’s teachings are the way we should live or lives, and the kind of child that (in my case) got shivers and had unexpected joyous tears when I prayed about the Book of Mormon. The kind of feelings that ‘decomplicate’ life and bring you back to the central tenants of your faith. This video was one of those unexpected but salvific moments for me. Hinckley lived as a disciple of Christ. God Bless you all. I hope you enjoy it.

Amy Goodman from Democracy Now Interviewing Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of the National Labor Committee

I propose that we, as concious & intelligent members of Mormondom and the world, should have high ethical standards of citizenship. Of all the words of warning given by prophets that should stand in our eschatological mindset is that we should not live beyond our means.

Christianity can be summed up in the Golden Rule.

If the opposite of the Golden Rule is Satan’s rule…then Satan’s rule would be “Do unto others what you would not want them to do unto you.” If keeping “Satan’s Rule” is a sin…then why do we so blindly keep it as consumers?

Why do we buy clothes and commodities from sweatshops and cheap slave labor in foreign countries where we know that people are working 6 day weeks for 14 to 16 hour shifts at a time and getting paid a tuppence for it? Where even last year it was found that children were producing clothes for GAP…a company that was meant to have the highest of ethical standards. Disney, Walmart, Gap, Nike, Adidas, Tescos etc. all these corporate brands use cheap labour in China and other 3rd world countries where the workers are exploited. They even produce dangerous and toxic toys that are hazardous to the health of our children. When will we put our foot down?

As Mormons, we have a socialist heritage in the early church whereby we only took what we needed and gave the rest for others. In my mind, we should still care for our fellow men in our productive and consumptive lives, viewing the United Order as the way God would like us to commune with eachother.

What can we do to be ethical consumers and show love for our fellowmen in an ultra-capitalist world?

My 5 simple goals that I suggest to others:
1) Have as your values…Human Rights, Sustainability, Fair Trade, Workers Rights, Animal Rights NOT status, luxury, influence and greed. Think “Need..not greed.” (Thomas S. Monson) God does not love you more because you are wealthy.

5) Get involved in a Union and only buy products where the workers have Union Rights…many Chinese companies deny workers the right to Unionize.

It starts with us…and in the spirit of Martin Luther King. Jr…

One man or woman can make a difference!

In the 1st video (sorry about the music in the background) the actor, Ben Kingsley, representing Gandhi answers the entitled question in the negative. Both Sartre and Shakespeare’s Henry V answer it in the affirmative.

Excuse me if I cause offense, but from a LDS British perspective it appears that, generally, American Mormons are supportive of a Republican party that has a haphazard and to me, a violent, foreign policy.

Here are some questions that I was hoping we could discuss as a Mormon community that may be for the benefit of all:

1) If we are to literally move to Nauvoo for The New Jerusalem, then there is bound to be some resistance from the community. If we were to be persecuted again as a Mormon community similar to the Mormons of Joseph’s day…what would you advocate…violent self defense or non-violence?

2) 2 quotes from Noam Chomsky come to mind:“Non-violent resistance activities cannot succeed against an enemy that is able freely to use violence. That’s pretty obvious. You can’t have non-violent resistance against the Nazis in a concentration camp, to take an extreme case…” Source: Chronicles of Dissent, December 13, 1989

“States are violent institutions. The government of any country, including ours, represents some sort of domestic power structure, and it’s usually violent. States are violent to the extent that they’re powerful, that’s roughly accurate.”
Source: In Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, 1992

i)Do you advocate non-violence or violence against powerful (and thus violent) States whether it be in the form of another country or your own country that are opressive? (e.g. if you lived in Germany during Nazi rule or were a Japanese American being detained during WW2)
ii) And in what conditions would you, as Mormons, become violent against your own state?

3)Generally…is there a cause for which you are prepared to become violent? Please detail and explain.