Exploring “A Middle Way” Within Mormonism
I promised to pass along any LDS efforts to counter church support for Prop 8. The purpose of the site is to educate people about marriage equality and about LDS people who are lesbian or gay and to provide support to LDS people who oppose the proposition. More videos and blog posts will be added until the California election.
http://mormonsformarriage.com/
Comments are welcome, particularly if you have a related story to tell.
I promised earlier that I’d pass on any information about groups organizing to protest LDS church involvement in supporting Prop 8 (that’s the official name for the ballot measure for the amendment to the California constitution banning gay marriage.) This is the first effort I know of that’s gotten off the ground:
http://signingforsomething.org/blog/
It’s a guide to writing letters in protest, and the folks running the site will even help print the letters and get them delivered if you don’t want to do it yourself.
I’d be interested in hearing of any other efforts.
In support of the amendment, I think that church members are being directed to www.protectmarriage.com .
I’m sure by now our readers know about the First Presidency letter to be read in church this coming Sunday. I don’t want to get into any debates on this post about the letter itself, or gay marriage. My question is– what do you plan to do when the letter is read this Sunday? Do you plan to be in church? If you support the stance of the letter, I’m guessing that you won’t do much in the meeting itself, but will you actually take action based on it? And if you don’t support the letter, will you walk out? Wear a rainbow ribbon pin to church? Any other ideas? And if you’re in a ward where there is any protest or discussion on Sunday, could you report back here? As for me, I’m still undecided whether to attend, and if so, whether to walk out or not.
Guest post by Natasha:
I have wanted to post on this a long time. I think sometimes I spend too much time thinking about how Mormonism limits me, without thinking about how it has helped me. But as a mostly non-believer, I stay in Mormonism because my life has been so enriched by it.
Aspects of Mormonism that I love/like:
–the belief that we each have a divine worth and should therefore make decisions accordingly. I don’t know if I believe this anymore, but when I did, it helped me to make MUCH better decisions than I would have otherwise, especially as a young person.
– the “it takes a village [ward] to raise a child” mentality. Hillary was right! Our children do so much better if there is a community of mostly good people looking after them, and not just the nuclear family. My husband spends a lot of time helping other peoples’ teenage boys [in scouts] learn responsibility and decency and I look forward to someone else reinforcing these same values to my sons when they are older. I love that my ward growing up gave me several families as alternative examples so that I know that my dysfunctional nuclear family was not the only way to go.
Rocky Mountain Retreat for LDS Women (Links to earlier post about the retreat)
This year’s featured speaker is Claudia Bushman.
Registration is open now. For more details, and registration forms, visit the retreat’s website.
Save the Date
2008 Rocky Mountain Retreat for LDS Women,
May 30th - June 1, 2008
Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of the Rockies
Featured speaker: Claudia Bushman
More details and registration info coming mid-February
An announcement for Mormon “women of good will” who’d like to spend a weekend in the Colorado Rockies, eating, talking and meeting others. Continue reading ‘Rocky Mountain Retreat’
Brothers and Sisters, I would indeed be remiss if I did not stand before you today and tell you that I know 72 hour emergency kits are true. Cell phones are also true, as well as the internet and my local PBS Station, KPBS. And wise use of sufficient tax dollars is also a true principle.
Sunday, in the late afternoon, the wind was hot, and blowing hard at my house in San Diego County, Continue reading ‘Emergency Preparedness’
If you haven’t seen it already, check out this interview with Ken Jennings, about being a Mormon.
A few days ago, the permabloggers here decided that it was time to change our look. Actually, I probably forced the issue, since I’ve never thought the old look had anything to do with our name, and I thought the old look was ugly. We uploaded some photos taken in LDS cultural halls, and the reaction in comments here, and among the perma-bloggers was varied, and interesting.
First a little history lesson about the LDS cultural hall. The first LDS cultural hall was probably the Nauvoo Cultural Hall. Its varied uses reflected the early saints’ broad interest in the world around them. It was used for church and business meetings, plays, funerals, dances, and Masonic meetings. (Yes, all that dancing that Terryl Givens speaks of probably started here.) The tradition of strong support for a public building dedicated to enjoyment of “culture” continued when the Saints moved west to Utah, first in the Social Hall in Salt Lake City, and then in cultural halls built in many, many small towns in the mountain west, such as Chesterfield, Idaho, where the cultural hall was called the amusement hall.
I thought others might be interested in checking out local support for Mitt Romney in your own area. You just enter the zipcode, choose his name, and you’ll see a list of everyone in that zipcode who’s donated more than $200 to him (or any other presidential candidate for that matter.) I can’t come up a with a good way to tie this into the middle way, except to say that the political conservatism is one of the things that make it hard for me to feel a real part of my own ward. (We’ve had several campaigns that spilled over into church meetings in the last few years.) My ward covers my entire zipcode and all his contributors are members of my ward. (This leads me to another question– if his only supporters are LDS, how long can he keep tapping them for money?)
“Who are these children coming down, coming down.
Like gentle rain though darkened skies.
With glory trailing from their feet as they go.
And endless promise in their eyes!
Who are these young ones growing tall, growing tall.
Like silver trees against the storm.
Who will not bend with the wind or the change,
But stand to fight the world alone!
These are the few, the warriors
Saved for Saturday, to come
The last day of the world
These are they, on Saturday…”
As many of you probably know, this is part of the Lex de Azevedo musical, Saturday’s Warrior. (Lyrics by Doug Stewart) I was in late high school when it came out, and was already something of a curmudgeon, so didn’t go to see it– but if you were in Utah in the mid-late 70’s, you heard the music everywhere, and it seemed as if everyone had seen it, loved it and accepted it as doctrine. Since I’ve never seen it, it would probably be wise for me to refrain from posting my own synopsis, but I do know that much of the plot revolved around people who knew eath other in the pre-existence, being reunited on earth. And there was some fairly heavy-handed anti-birth control propaganda– the sarcastic song Zero Population.
Somehow Saturday’s Warrior came up in conversation the other day, in a mixed-age group of Mormon women, which included perhaps ten women who are about 60 now. To my great surprise, three of the ten or so women of that age group admitted to having decided to have one more baby after seeing Saturday’s Warrior. One of those women had twins. And a younger woman in the group said that her parents had not been planning on having more children, but after they saw Saturday’s Warrior, they decided on just one more– and that was her. So, I’m just curious– any of you 30ish people know if you were a Saturday’s Warrior baby? (This could make for an interesting Father’s Day conversation.) Or did any of you older folks have “one more” because of the play?
And other than the family planning inspiration, are there other impacts on LDS culture that you see from Saturday’s Warrior? I do think it’s the direct forefather of the LDS movie and music market, but can’t think of anything else.
Actual one other question– how well-known is Saturday’s Warrior today? Anyone here not know about it already?
This is from yesterday’s Salt Lake Tribune:
Cheney to address BYU grads
The heartland of Utah’s conservatism likely will welcome the vice president
By Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON - With the Bush administration under fire from seemingly all sides, where can a vice president find a loving crowd?
In the conservative heart of the most conservative state.
Vice President Dick Cheney will speak at Brigham Young University’s commencement in late April, The Salt Lake Tribune has learned.
The vice president is looking forward to returning to Utah to participate in the commencement at Brigham Young University, said Cheney spokesman Jamie Hennigan.
The vice president is tentatively scheduled to speak on April 26 at the Provo university’s graduation ceremony. Cheney last visited the state in 2003 to raise money for his and President Bush’s 2004 election bid.
BYU has about 30,000 students and is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I think he’ll find the audience to be very accommodating and very receptive and very hospitable,” says Kelly Patterson, director of BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, when told of the vice president’s scheduled visit. “It’s an honor when a vice president or the president comes to speak at a university. There are only a limited number of these engagements they can do.”
Cheney’s popularity has hovered in the lower 30s of late with a Gallup Poll on March 14 showing Americans’ job approval rating of Cheney at 34 percent, just a point under Bush’s.
But his approval in Utah, the reddest state in the nation, and especially in Utah County, one of the most conservative areas in the state, is undoubtedly higher.
A Tribune poll in January still showed Bush with a 56 percent job approval rating among Utahns.
BYU plans a universitywide commencement ceremony at the Marriott Center on April 26 and the next day will hold individual college events to award degrees.
Cheney, who is from Wyoming, has ties to Mormons, including a longtime staffer, David Gribben, who converted to the LDS Church and was Cheney’s chief of staff during his time in Congress, as Defense secretary and at his former company, Halliburton. Lynne Cheney, his wife, also has said she has ancestors who were Mormon and migrated from Wales to Utah.
Bush has made two stops in Utah during the past two years, at conventions for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. He came once during his first term to open the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
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An announcement for Mormon “women of good will” who’d like to spend a weekend in the Colorado Rockies, eating, talking and meeting others.
15 years ago, a group of LDS women in the Denver area started a group that came to be called the DAM Women. The name has nothing to do with the current DAMU community. It stands for Denver Area Mormon Women. It is a group of friends, who, in those pre-internet days, used to get together to discuss various church issues. ( Yeah, I know the internet existed 14 years ago, but most of us weren’t cool enough to have modems.) We also decided that we needed to have our own retreat, like unto the Exponent II retreat, and the Midwestern Pilgrimage. So, we started one. This year will be our fourteenth year. And, if you’re a mormon female, you’re invited:
Rocky Mountain Retreat
Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of the Rockies
Granby, Colorado (near Winter Park, on US 40)
June 1-3 2007 (afternoon on Friday to morning on Sunday)
Cost, about $120, but I’m not sure it’s set in stone yet
Featured guest, fMhLisa of feministmormonhousewives.org
A little background about the retreat– While it’s similar to the Exponent II retreat, Continue reading ‘Rocky Mountain High’
Christmas time is upon us. It’s a time when we have to get together with folks who we might otherwise not spend time with: our relatives. I’m wondering how the holidays go for others with religious differences at home. At our house, I’m in the odd situation of being the “religious” one. (Odd, since at church, I’m sure I’m considered inactive, even though I attend at least one meeting almost every week– funny how that works in Mormonism, isn’t it?) I used to be kind of a Christmas freak and go all out decorating, baking, partying,etc, and even though I’m over that mostly, I still do want to have a big tree, with my ornament collection and my nativity sets out etc.
Continue reading ‘Christmas Tips’
A scene from Galaxy Quest– the crew of the spaceship, who are really the cast of an old science fiction show, pressed into service as a real spaceship crew, is watching a group of cute little blue aliens come out from a tunnel….
Gwen: Oh, they’re so cute.
Guy: Of course they’re cute NOW. But in a second they’re going to turn MEAN and UGLY somehow and then there are going to be a million MORE of them!
Continue reading ‘But words can break my heart…’
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