OK, Bishop Bill here again with a really difficult situation. Continue reading…
Tag Archive for 'tolerance'
There are those among the disaffected who would like to reap the benefits of the church as a community although they may no longer share the belief system that is the foundation of the church. For some, this works very well; for others, it’s an endless source of frustration. I recently read a great book called Connected: The Power of Social Networks that described how social networks work. As a result, I have drawn up 7 Rules (tips, really) for making church work as a social network. Continue reading…
Bishop Bill back with more. We’ve had fictionalized situations in the last two installments with a YW and a YM. Now, let’s have a situation with an adult. Continue reading…
Bishop Bill back with your next installment of “You’re the Bishop.” Just to be clear, the examples I am using have been changed enough that not even my wife or former counselors in the bishopric would recognize who I am talking about. Continue reading…
Mormons dig abstinence. Like many other highly committed Christians, we abstain from premarital sex. But, that’s not all; we also abstain from tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea, profanity, R-rated movies, dating before age 16, fooling around prior to marriage, and shopping on Sundays. And some even like to add more abstinence on top of that! I had one college roommate who was determined to share her first ever kiss across the altar with her husband. Continue reading…
Some time ago, as a guest I wrote a post entitled ‘Academic freedom in the Church‘ which tried to explore some of liberalizing tendencies seen in LDS culture since the September Six, but particularly over the last decade. Having recently read an excellent (as usual) article by D. Michael Quinn on the development of the ‘Sacral Power Structure‘ of Mormonism, I wanted to re-visit this issue as a result of some of the reasons he gives for the increasing authoritarianism and conservatism in the Church. Quinn argues that the expansive growth of the Church during the 1950-1970’s led the hierarchy to emphasize an ‘unquestioning rank-and-file obedience to Church directives’ which is rooted in the ‘inherent fear of centrifugal tendencies of enormous Church growth’[1]. Continue reading…
While there are moral truths that all religions tend to share (don’t kill, don’t steal, be nice to people, etc.), religions also include “bizarre” differentiators to distinguish each religious community (often in food prohibitions, clothing choices, or supernatural beliefs). These “bizarre” elements hedge up the community and create borders between the religious group and those not in the religion. Without these “fences,” a church would cease to be a community. But a negative byproduct of these “bizarre” elements is that they are indefensible on grounds of logic or “truth.” So, what elements of Mormonism are “true” and which ones are merely “bizarre”? Continue reading…
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.” Continue reading…
Welcome to “You’re the Bishop,” a new installment at Mormon Matters. My name is Bishop Bill. Once every few weeks I’ll post a situation that I had while I was bishop, and let you decide how to handle it. Everybody gets to play, even the ladies out there. After a week, I’ll add a comment with what I did in the situation, and how it turned out. Let’s play! Continue reading…
Exit stories are the tales told when someone leaves the church. The internet is full of these stories, and in many, there is drama in the family as a result of the person’s decision to leave. Often the person attributes at least some of that family drama to the church itself as an organization. Yet, it is also true that there have been people who have left the church without family drama or disagreeable behaviors. So, is the church environment complicit in fostering “bad” behaviors or is it the families themselves who are prone to these behaviors? Or both? Continue reading…
In the church, we learn how to be good followers. There are many things we are told to follow: the prophet, good examples, our parents’ instructions, the gospel, the brethren, the Spirit, and the dictates of our own conscience. We are told, on the one hand, NOT to follow the world or the crowd. But we are told to surround ourselves with good people and follow their good examples. So, what do you follow when you sense a conflict between two of these? Continue reading…
Hello Mormon Matters community!
I was invited to contribute a blogpost now and then, and hope I’ll be able to throw some meaningful questions into the hopper.
I write under the name Ecumenigal because of my eclectic background and multi-faith points of view. I’m sort of a religious mutt. I’m Mormon by heritage, birth, and culture, an atheist by upbringing, and now a sort of New Age Jesus Hindu with a great appreciation for Mormon theology as encompassing much of eastern and western thought. In future posts, I hope to talk more about my vedic appreciation of Mormonism.
For this post, I want to talk about ecumenism and respect. Continue reading…
Where do you see the Church in 20 years? Today’s guest post is by David Heap. Continue reading…
What should be acceptable for a blog to be considered a “Mormon” blog? All Mormon content? Only that which is respectful to the church (not anti)? Is hate speech allowed, and if so, how is it defined? How would you decide something should not be considered a “Mormon” blog? Continue reading…
Is morality a social construct or is it universal, transcending time and culture? Or is it a little bit of both? Read on to find out more about what we call “morality.” Continue reading…
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