Exponent II's Blog, page 166

Guest Post: “For the Weak and Weakest of All Saints”–The Word of Wisdom in the Time of COVID-19

[image error]by Aimee Hickman

While most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints practice the Word of Wisdom as a law of health which offers “temporal and spiritual blessings” to the body, it was also delivered as revelation for the collective well-being of the body of the Saints. Recorded in Doctrine & Covenants Section 89, it declares itself in service to the “temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints.” 

As health benefits associated with following many aspects of the Word of Wisdom have been scientifically verified in the 187 years since it was written, it seems we have focused more on individual blessings of those who adhere to its guidance and less on how our collective actions bless the “weak and weakest of all saints.” Yet the Word of Wisdom tells us  from the outset that it  is written as a communal “greeting—not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days.” This is not a document designed to simply prove individual worthiness or protect one’s health, but to strengthen the entire body of Christ, and protect its most vulnerable members. As a global pandemic encircles our planet, remembering that the Word of Wisdom was delivered not simply for individual salvation but for the collective “temporal salvation of all the saints in the last days” seems especially prescient—and urgent.

With this understanding, the demonstration in my hometown of Provo, Utah this week of a maskless crowd cramming into  a Utah County Commission Meeting and demanding their right to breathe potentially COVID-19-infected air in schools and other public buildings by not wearing a mask, is an affront to the most foundational principles of the Word of Wisdom. When Utah County Commissioner, Bill Lee (a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints according to his bio on the Utah County government website), threw red meat to the crowd by declaring, “I don’t like government mandates” as he removed the mask he was wearing, he chose partisan jargon over community commitment among a group of many avowed Saints. For all the times I have heard Church members cite modern scientific findings as evidence of the Word of Wisdom’s inspired teachings, it is disappointing and appalling to see so many of them now disregard scientific research that proves wearing a mask is currently the most effective thing we can do to stop the spread of a virus which is especially lethal to the most vulnerable members of our society. How, when we read the Word of Wisdom’s promise to benefit “the weakest of all saints” do we not also hear, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me?” (Matthew 25:40)

Refusing to wear a mask and flaunting an unwillingness to protect oneself or others from a virus which has taken the lives of over half a million people world-wide and continues to ravage the most vulnerable, is not only a betrayal of the Word of Wisdom, but makes a mockery of it. “For the weak and weakest of all the saints,” wear the darn mask!

Guest Post: Still

[image error]by N. Christensen

We still love you, they said.

Even though your countenance is dark

We’re so sad for you.

Was it pride or sin or did you choose offense?

But we can still be friends.

You’ve turned your back on your covenants

You’ve turned your back on God

You’ve turned your back on this family

You’ve betrayed your ancestors

But we can coexist.

We’ll respect you if you respect our beliefs

Just sit there in silence

Don’t speak up

Your experiences don’t belong to you

It’s our church, you can’t talk about it.

Don’t be bitter

Don’t talk about why

You’re trying to destroy faith

You’ve left the church, now why can’t you leave it alone?

But we can agree to disagree.

Here, this talk made us think of you

Let us bear our testimony

Don’t you dare testify in turn.

We know better than you

You unruly, rebellious child.

You used to be so strong

We used to admire you

We used to trust you

You were never really one of us

What happened to you?

We won’t listen to your lies.

Cover your wounds, the blood makes us uncomfortable.

We’re as secure in our salvation as we are in your unworthiness

But we still love you.

N. Christensen is a teacher of some things, a student of others, and a master of little.

Educated, Activist Women Who Opened College Doors for the Rest of Us

Shortly after publishing my book, Ask a Suffragist: Stories and Wisdom from America’s First Feminists, I was surprised when emails from middle and high school students started coming in. In retrospect it makes sense, but at the time, I didn’t know that an author is also a volunteer mentor for young students. Speaking to America’s young citizens about who came before them and how they will carry on that legacy is a privilege. I love to hear from male students, who understand that just as women’s rights are human rights, women’s history is human history, rich with information to benefit both women and men. I love to hear from female students, the beneficiaries of the work of generations of women and men who opened doors to make their education possible.

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Lucy Stone

The first college in America to admit women alongside men was Oberlin College in Ohio. Since it was literally the only option for an ambitious American woman seeking a college education, several of the nation’s future suffrage leaders attended Oberlin, such as Lucy Stone and Antoinette Brown, who met at Oberlin and later founded the American Woman Suffrage Association.

At Oberlin, they enrolled in the same public speaking course. Both wanted public speaking careers—Lucy wanted to be an abolitionist and Antoinette wanted to be a minister—but they were dismayed to find that women were expected to learn public speaking by silently listening to their male classmates. They protested the rule and subverted it by forming their own debate society for women.

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Antoinette Brown

After graduation, Antoinette applied for postgraduate theology studies, flummoxing Oberlin officials, who supported co-education but not women in ministry. In the end, they agreed to let Antoinette take the courses but only as a “resident graduate” ineligible for a divinity degree. Even without the degree, Antoinette went on to become the first ordained Protestant woman in the United States.

The friends became sisters-in-law when each married brothers from a progressive Ohio family, Sam and Henry Blackwell. Both brothers became women’s rights activists after witnessing the struggle of their sister, Elizabeth Blackwell, who was rejected from over a dozen medical schools because she was a woman. Eventually, the student body of Geneva Medical College (now Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in New York voted to let her in as a joke. Elizabeth became America’s first female medical student, thanks in part to a bunch of young men who wouldn’t take her seriously.

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Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth performed well at Geneva, but when her younger sister, Emily Blackwell, tried to follow in her footsteps, she found that the door that had opened for her sister had since slammed shut. Geneva administrators weren’t willing to repeat the experiment of educating a woman. Emily was accepted at Rush Medical College in Illinois, but her admission was revoked during her first year when the school faced retaliation from the local medical society for having a female student. Emily eventually returned to Ohio and finished her studies at Western Reserve College (now Case Western University).

Shortly after Emily graduated, Elizabeth helped another woman, Marie Zakrzewska, start medical studies at Western Reserve College. In her home country, Marie had battled against a sexist rule prohibiting young single women from attending the school of midwifery in Berlin. (Single ladies would be too distracting to the young men!) She eventually prevailed with the help of a forward-thinking male professor, Dr. Joseph Hermann Schmidt. After graduation, she heard about the women’s rights movement in America and decided to immigrate, but encountered equal doses of sexism here, compounded by anti-immigrant prejudice.

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Marie Zakrzewska

Elizabeth introduced Marie to activists Harriot Hunt and Caroline Severance. Harriot was a self-trained doctor who had tried and failed to gain admission to medical school at the same time Elizabeth had been applying. She had since turned her efforts to helping younger women attain medical educations. While touring Ohio, she collaborated with Caroline, a local women’s club leader, to start a scholarship fund for female medical students. Marie became one of its first beneficiaries. Marie went on to help Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell open the first American hospital administered by women, the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, before moving to Massachusetts to teach at the first women’s medical school, New England Female Medical College (now Boston University School of Medicine).

Oberlin was the first college in America to admit black women—but that didn’t happen until about two decades after white women and black men began attending the school.

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Mary Church Terrell

“For,” as Oberlin graduate Mary Church Terrell explained, “not only are colored women with ambition and aspiration handicapped on account of their sex, but they are everywhere baffled and mocked on account of their race.”

Mary became the first president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, a united force to uplift the people of their race by advocating for reforms such as women’s suffrage and universal education. Mary coined their motto: “Lifting as we climb.”

[image error]I like to think that when I donate a bit of time to a teenager, I am lifting that young person as I climb, just as Mary would have me do. The young students who look to me for help with their history projects can be flaky. They send nonsense emails, well-decorated with emojis. They seem to struggle with setting appointments and instead of using their time with me more productively, they often waste the opportunity by peppering me with basic questions they could have answered by googling, or better yet, by reading my book. They are young, and it shows.

But it won’t be long before they are the nation’s workers, activists and leaders. I’m happy to do a small part to contribute to the education of America’s next generation, remembering that education was once a rare gift for a woman. I am grateful that many of the few women who got in to college back when so many barriers stood in their way became human rights activists who made the opportunity available to the rest of us.

This blog post is cross-posted at the Ohio History Connection.

Obey your leaders and wear a mask?

[image error]Photo courtesy of engin akyurt on Unsplash

On Friday, July 10, 2020 the Utah Area Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged members to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 through the wearing of masks, both indoors and outdoors, and social distancing whenever possible. Elder Craig C. Christensen, and his counselors, Elder Randy D. Funk and Elder Walter F. González, issued this email for members in Utah:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We are in the midst of a global pandemic unlike any the world has experienced in more than a century. The effects of this escalating health crisis are being felt everywhere, with incidents of COVID-19 infection rising dramatically especially in the United States, including in Utah. Latter-day Saints are not immune. Just today, more than 800 new infections were reported in our state.

A growing chorus of medical authorities has confirmed that the simple wearing of a face covering when in public and when social distancing is not possible will significantly reduce the spread of COVID-19. This is true both indoors and outdoors.

We note with appreciation the care exhibited by our members in returning to sacrament meetings wearing face masks. Now we ask all Latter-day Saints in the Utah Area to be good citizens by wearing face coverings when in public. Doing so will help promote the health and general welfare of all.

We are most grateful for all you do to minister to one another and to your neighbors. Please join with us now in common purpose for the blessing and benefit of all.

Sincerely yours,

Elder Craig C. Christensen

Elder Randy D. Funk

Elder Walter F. González

As a resident of Utah, I am personally grateful for this counsel from these men. However, I have seen quite a scuttlebutt over social media. I’ve seen comments from those who identify themselves as faithful members saying that these church leaders are in apostasy, that because it wasn’t from the First Presidency they could disregard it, that leaders have been deceived, they have their free agency, and a plethora of out-of-context President Benson quotes to justify not wearing a mask or hearkening to the counsel of their leaders. I don’t know how these members will reconcile answering “yes” in their next temple recommend interviews about sustaining their leaders. I know I’ve been there before.

I was chastised and told to obey my leaders. When I advocated for the constitutional right in my country for those of the same sex to marry, I was told to repent and obey my leaders. When I asked for more ecclesiastical authority as a woman, I was told to know my place and obey my leaders. When I questioned financial transparency, I was told to have faith and obey my leaders. When I was outraged over sexual abuse cover-ups, I was told to shut up and obey my leaders.

When I think of the issues facing church members, being asked to wear masks during a global pandemic is a small ask. Thankfully most of my friends who are still faithful members have expressed that they believe wearing a mask is Christ-like and is showing that they love their neighbors.

Groupthink

[image error]Picture this: You are newly called as the Primary President in your ward, (and an adult convert of 5 years).  You attend your first Ward Council Meeting where the Bishop (25 years your senior) presents a plan for the ward called, The Ten Year Plan.  He describes this vision for the Young Men starting at age 12 where they become Deacons, progressing to Teachers, Priests and Elders.  They serve missions at age 19, return, begin college and get married by age 22. This is the ideal version of the success in the Bishop’s mind.  He solicits feedback from the Ward Council about the plan.  Other council members agree that the plan is a good one.  He asks you, the new Primary President and your response is, “I don’t agree with this plan.  I think 22 is too young to get married and I certainly hope my children do not get married or feel the pressure to get married by the age of 22.  I wasn’t ready at that age and I do not want my children to feel this is the expectation.”  Others snicker, muffling laughs.  I can’t remember anything else about that meeting, except that I was clearly in a minority in that council meeting, (or was I?).   That was about 25 years ago.

Groupthink as defined by Psychology Today “is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform to or the belief that dissent is impossible. The problematic or premature consensus that is characteristic of groupthink may be fueled by a particular agenda—or it may be due to group members valuing harmony and coherence above critical thought.”

Jack Naneek’s podcast in May explored groupthink, (Mormon Awakenings 5/12/20).  He posited that the pandemic and subsequent social distancing is freeing us from the dynamics of groupthink.  He anticipates things will be different when we reassemble because we have had time and opportunity to think our own thoughts and draw our own conclusions. 

Yet even Naneek cited a groupthink example during a recent Zoom F&T meeting in his ward. One person after another bore testimony that the pandemic was a result of the wicked world in which we live. He noted the presence of fear in the testimonies and how subsequent testifiers reinforced this theme.  Although he disagreed with the reasoning and the fear, he was not able to share his testimony because he had not signed up in advance.  He wondered, (if he could have), would he have taken the opportunity to voice an opinion counter to the prevailing testimonies given that day.  He noted the repercussions that follow when one overturns the apple cart. 

I’d like to explore aspects of the groupthink definition above. 

What is it about the urge to conform that leads groups to make non-optimal decisions?  Is it the need to belong to a group that allows us to suspend our better judgement in order to fit in?  Is it that we do not trust our own judgement?  Do we put too much trust/faith in leaders, believing they know better than we do?  Is it because we have been taught to follow, to obey, to trust?  

Try to think of a group, in which you might disagree with the agenda.  What do you do with the angst within you?  I suppose it depends on the group and how wedded you are to it. If you are not particularly invested, then you may not care enough to try to adjust the rudder.  Or, if you are not invested, you might be the perfect person to speak out because you can take it or leave it.  What if you are invested, if you love your group and do not agree with the direction it is going? 

Do you believe that dissent is impossible?  Or is it that you believe that dissent will not accomplish anything other than making you stand outside the norm? What does group disapproval look like in your groups, in your family, in your ward? 

Symptoms of Groupthink

Irving L. Janis has written extensively on groupthink. These are symptoms of groupthink mentality:

Illusion of Invulnerability: everything will work out because we are special
Belief in inherent morality of the group: members assume righteousness of the cause
Collective rationalization: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
Out-group stereotypes: discounting the opinions of those outside the group
Self-Censorship: not clearly stating what you think
Illusion of Unanimity: interpreting silence as agreement
Direct Pressure on Dissenters: pressure to make decisions
Self-Appointed Mindguards: protect a leader from troublesome ideas

What do we do about it?

How do you avoid groupthink? In Forbes (April 2016) Lisa Quast suggests:

Increase awareness of what groupthink is
Engage in open discussions, critically analyze situations
Don’t shoot the messenger, avoid criticizing people who speak out
Assign a “devil’s advocate” so all sides of a topic are explored
Bring in a subject matter expert, when necessary
Document the decision and the process

Familiarize yourself with examples of groupthink that you can use to explain the concept.  

The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.  Read here  for a systematic review.
Nazi Germany read here
Jim Jones and the mass suicide in Guyana Read here
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in Black Men read here
Movies: Mean Girls (2004),  Dead Poets Society (1989)

Chief Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative judge in the US Supreme Court, specifically hired liberal law clerks to his team so he could hear different opinions and foster robust debate.  For a first person account from one of his former law clerks, read here.  

Frances O, Kelsey, MD is a woman who stood up to corporate pressure involving the drug thalidomide. In 1960 the drug manufacturer, Richardson-Merrell, submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, (FDA), in order to have the sedative (also used for morning sickness) approved in the United States. Dr. Kelsey was the FDA officer charged with reviewing the NDA.  She found the application lacking evidence of safety.  She effectively delayed and then rejected the NDA until the drug company  withdrew the application in 1962.  By then, serious toxicities were found, including fetal death, babies born with limb deformities or absence of limbs. Because of her efforts countless lives were spared the toxic effects of exposure to thalidomide, and significant regulatory changes were made involving clinical trial requirements in the U.S. For more information about Frances Kelsey read here and here.

Challenging groupthink doesn’t often result in a Congressional Medal of Honor, as it did for Dr. Kelsey.  There is a price to pay for challenging the system,  sometimes a heavy personal price. It’s important to recognize when someone is going out on a limb to challenge groupthink.  If we are in that group, we can support that person’s courage while we explore the content of the information presented. We may not agree with each other, but as Justice Scalia did, we can promote robust discussion of various opinions. 

How’s it going for you?  

Can you cite examples of groupthink in your organizations? 

How do you see social distancing influencing groupthink, if at all?  

How do you expect our church experience to be different, once we are back together in person?

An Open Letter to the LDS Church: Addressing Our History of Structural and Cultural Violence

#Blacklivesmattertochrist organized a letter-writing campaign to the LDS church calling for anti-racism training to be included in the church’s curriculum and manuals. You can find out more about them here.

What are the two great commandments? To love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. And who is my neighbor?

I grew up in a loving LDS family. Our home was open to all and each year we hosted an exchange student (or two or three) from all over the globe. We believed that God loved all their children: “all are alike unto God.”

We are created in God’s image. And every image I saw was a white-bearded male. That reality just wasn’t part of our conversation.

My grandma would tell stories about moving from Logan, Utah to Fort Benning in Georgia and her shock at not being able to use the same drinking fountains as Black citizens or the overt racism she saw in her wards there. But there was no similar outrage for the exclusion of Black members from the priesthood and temple for generations. Only rejoicing after “God” had lifted the ban.

In order to truly love our neighbor we must take the time and make the effort to get to know our neighbors.

Right now Black communities are in pain. They are shouting out their grief in word and action. Are we listening? What are we doing as a church to listen, love, and mourn with those that mourn?

I am a white woman. I have never experienced the sting of racism or struggled under its oppressive rule. But I hope to embrace my role as a white person in the individual and collective work I can do in dismantling white supremacy all around me as a way to do less harm to my Black siblings in the church and wider community.

President Russell M. Nelson recently coauthored a letter with the NAACP to “call on government, business and educational leaders at every level to review processes, laws and organizational attitudes regarding racism and root them out once and for all.” I likewise call on the leaders of the church and members at every level to examine how racism has in the past and continues now to have a foothold within this organization.

I believe understanding and addressing our history is a vital first step. In The Book of Forgiving by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, they lay out a path for forgiveness grounded in their experiences leading the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa after apartheid. Because we are all human, they say, we are all inherently good and inherently flawed. And we are all in need of forgiveness.

“Forgiveness does not mean forgetting the pain they have suffered, pretending it didn’t happen, or that it wasn’t really as bad as it was. The cycle of forgiveness can be activated and completed only in absolute truth and honesty… Begin by first letting the truth be heard in all its rawness, ugliness and messiness.”

The history of racism in the church is raw and messy. Historian W. Paul Reeve describes the LDS racial story in three phases: 1) open to all races 2) segregated priesthood and temples, 3) open to all races.

He is careful to place the LDS narrative within the racial context of the time. He highlights the concept of whiteness and the Mormons’ desire to claim whiteness. He details Black men who were ordained to the priesthood in the early church and some of the forces that brought about the reversal of that practice. Importantly, he describes how leaders after Brigham Young reconstituted history and instituted a new narrative suggesting racial restrictions were always in place and sanctioned by God.

Priesthood and temple restrictions are good examples of structural and cultural violence in the LDS church. Johan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist often described as the Father of Peace Studies, defines violence as “avoidable insults to basic human needs, and more generally to life.”

This broadens the understanding of violence from a physical assault to a wider definition of deprivation of fundamental needs including survival, well-being, identity/meaning, and freedom needs. The way society is arranged and the systems that constrain and reduce the opportunities and hopes of a group of a people constitute structural violence. The temple and priesthood ban was especially pernicious because this discrimination not only classified Black people as second-class on earth, but also denied them access to eternal ordinances. Brigham Young wrongly posited that people of African descent were cursed because of Cain’s transgression. This contradicted a theology of responsibility for one’s own sins and a new theory of premortal infirmity took hold. These ideas are examples of cultural violence, defined as “any aspect of culture that can be used to legitimize violence in its direct or structural form.”

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“Violence can start in any corner of the triangle and is easily transmitted to the other corners. With the violent structure institutionalized and the violent culture internalized, direct violence also tends to become institutionalized.” Cultural Violence p.302      Image source irenees.net

Galtung goes on to describe how, “Cultural violence makes direct and structural violence look, even feel, right – or at least not wrong.”  Besides structural violence within the church (priesthood/temple ban, no opportunity for leadership, discouragement of interracial marriage, etc) the cultural violence became justification for upholding structural violence within the wider community. Joanna Brooks lists some examples, such as supporting segregation, opposing the civil rights movement, and organizing to prevent integration of neighborhoods. Brooks points out, “Systems as pervasive as white supremacy do not just transform quietly: they must be recognized, investigated, understood, and intentionally abandoned or dismantled.”

Publishing the gospel topic essay on Race and the Priesthood was a good step, but many Black voices believe this is not enough. “When the Church refuses to give an apology, it leaves its millions of members left to question whether this was really God’s will rather than human racist actions,” said Professor Darron T. Smith, a scholar of race in LDS life. “A [2012] survey revealed that the majority of Mormons no longer believe that Blacks were cursed, but most of them still continued to hear these teachings in their church. Black Mormon members in the survey overwhelmingly asked for a public, unambiguous apology.”

Black members speak of the pain of facing racism in a place where all belong to Christ.

Cheryl Neufville Etiang shares,

“Most of my experiences of racism have been from members of the church. When I have expressed my pain and concerns, I am often gaslighted by members of my faith. Though the gospel supports inclusivity, the culture of the church and often members do not act in unison with these teachings… I do not believe anyone should have to endure racism within the walls where they worship. It is often hard to grow spiritually in such environments. I hope that the church develops action plans to support their stance on anti-racism.”

Alixa Brobbey captures her experience in the poem Bittersweet, which in part reads:

They say that heaven is a pure white fruit,

And I must pass through darkness to get there.

Some days what they mean is that I must pass

through life in this dark body before inheriting one of theirs.

I think I tasted heaven once, but it wasn’t entirely sweet.

First, I walked a lonely path, on my head a crown of curly thorns.

Someone handed me a map to guide me there,

But the iron burned me and called me cursed.

Many Black members share how disavowed theories are still perpetuated. In a meeting with an Institute teacher Mariah Bowers describes,

“Then he proceeds to use the Bible,the Book of Mormon, and any other sources he could find to prove that we were indeed relatives of Cain and how our darker skin is the mark and how if we see, because of the lift of the curse, we are actually over years getting lighter… I never thought I would see a man, my age, with such power granted to him from a calling be able to miscue scriptures and taint young peoples minds in 2020.”

In order to truly keep our covenants to bear one another’s burdens, we must find ways to help people be truly seen, heard and known.

Ebony shares, “Now 14 years a member and far away from the safety of my small predominantly black branch, I feel like I am still begging the church to see me.”

Cultural violence in the church isn’t just a relic from the past. Culturally violent constructs continue today. Last year, the Come Follow Me manual on the Book of Mormon included this quote, “…The dark skin was a sign of the curse…” The online manual removed the quote, but the print version had already gone out. Furthermore, Reverend Dr. Fatimah Sellah, co-author of The Book of Mormon for the Least of These, explains how the new statement in the manual is also problematic.

“I kindly ask the leaders of the Church to closely examine the extensive and continuation of prejudice and discrimination that now accompanies the new corrected statement. The harm comes from stating that a whole group of people, in its entirety, is cut off from the Lord. God is not to be bound, tamed and restricted… A doctrine becomes quite dangerous when we, as God’s children, start condemning one another in gross generalizations, when we start saying that God is taking sides.”

This year, the church published a list of approved artworks for building foyers. Esther Candari, an LDS artist of color, commented,

“I personally do not believe that depicting Christ as white is wrong, what I do believe is wrong, and so subtly powerful, is depicting him, and anyone in a position of power in conjunction with him, as PRIMARILY or ONLY Caucasian.”

Another artist of color, Michelle Franzoni Thorley, explains,

“Why is it important to have a diversity of skin color, gender, ethnicity, and backgrounds in LDS art? First, let me ask you this, What is possible for the future of our church? What is divinely designed for the future of our church? It is diversity. But how can we create diversity? We can create diversity by building the possibility for it through art. By anticipating and planning for it. This is Christ’s church; we all need to be represented here because we all belong here. We are starting to see more representations of people of color painted by white LDS artists. While this movement is wonderful it is only the beginning of inclusion. We have come to a place in history where people of color don’t just want their stories told, we want to tell our own stories, dreams, and perspectives using our own voices.”

Galtung includes art as one of the categories of cultural violence . It seems strange to describe art in terms of violence, but returning to Galtung’s definition of violence as the deprivation of needs, this includes the need for identity and meaning. The negation of this is alienation and is often manifest as, “second-class citizenship where the subjected group is forced to express dominant culture.” I see this not only in restrictions of artwork but also in musical instruments and musical selections approved for Sacrament meeting, and other expressions of dominant culture equated with righteousness.

Why should it matter what we say (or don’t say) about race? Can’t we just move forward loving everyone?

I like how Reeves explains the importance of our stories:

The stories that we tell matter because skin color is not a curse, nor was it ever a curse, and to suggest otherwise is to perpetuate white supremacy. To suggest otherwise is to suggest that white is normal and other skin tones are a deterioration away from normal.

The stories that we tell matter because when we perpetuate a false racial history we perpetuate racism.

The stories that we tell matter because evidence matters, and to suggest that the racial and temple restrictions were in place from the beginning is to argue against undeniable evidence to the contrary.

The stories that we tell matter because to argue that the racial priesthood and temple restrictions began with a revelation is simply false.

The stories that we tell matter when they lead us to perpetuate a subtle form of racism.

The stories that we tell matter because sometimes Latter-day Saints are still more invested in protecting Brigham Young and other leaders from their statements on race than they are in defending our Black Latter-day Saint brothers and sisters against racism.

The stories that we tell matter because the lives of Black people matter to Christ. As believers in Christ, it is our obligation to see the diversity of God’s family, celebrate its cultural, ethnic, and racial differences, and ensure that our brothers and sisters in Christ are treated “all . . . alike.”

At the Be One celebration, Elder Dallin H. Oaks called for the abandonment of all prejudice – both personal and institutional. He also claimed that justifications for the priesthood ban preached by past leaders were “promptly and publicly disavowed.” Yet even today, the justifications persist.

“However, most in the Church, including its senior leadership,” Oaks said, “have concentrated on the opportunities of the future rather than the disappointments of the past… To concern ourselves with what has not been revealed or with past explanations by those who were operating with limited understanding can only result in speculation and frustration.”

For many members, the frustration is that despite historical evidence on the origin of the priesthood/temple ban, falsehoods and speculation continue to be perpetuated. And these will continue until we work as a community to completely dismantle the cultural and structural violence in our church. We are all responsible for doing this work because we are all part of this body of Christ. Each member matters. Each cry of pain must be heard. Because of the way the church is organized I believe it is especially imperative for our highest leaders to directly address this issue at General Conference and to address it again and again until every form of cultural and structural racism is rooted out of every part of the church.

Shortly after the church and NAACP published its call to root out racism, Wil Colom, special counsel to the NAACP president, expressed his desire for the church’s deeds to match their words. The NAACP is “looking forward to the church doing more to undo the 150 years of damage they did by how they treated African Americans in the church and by their endorsement of how African Americans were treated throughout the country, including segregation and Jim Crow laws.”

Change does not happen overnight. There is much work ahead, and as Colom said, “It’s time now for more than sweet talk.”

Although not the focus of this letter, I feel it’s also important to name the violence experienced by American Indians. This happens in the way church members speak of America as the promised land and its “discovery” and formation as divinely inspired and a necessary part of the restoration. Through the early history of the church this cultural violence was closely tied to the direct, physical violence against tribes in Utah. And structural violence that prohibited American Indians from fully actualizing their culture and religious practices persisted late into the 20th century. While we no longer state that Lamanites are the primary ancestors of American Indians, we have not apologized for the years of violence nor committed to telling a more complete history.

I believe leaders of the past and present deserve mercy. We are all human. We are all learning. I hope that leaders can model repentance and restitution and help move the church forward to a place of healing, health, and love. As Tutu and Tutu point out, “Forgiveness does not erase accountability or relieve responsibility.” It’s only in absolute truth of where we have been that we can begin to set things right. I echo psychologist Tara Brach: “Until we tell the truth, we deny ourselves the beauty of redemption, the beauty of restoration.”

The following is a list of suggestions from black members of steps the church can take (from Joanna Brooks The Possessive Investment in Rightness: White Supremacy and the Mormon Movement)

Cast a Black Adam and Eve (or an interracial couple) in the film shown to faithful members in LDS temples.
Use more African American faces in Church art and manuals and display more artwork depicting Christ as he would appear: as a Middle Eastern Jewish man.
Pick more Blacks for highly visible leadership positions—if not an apostle, at least in the First Quorum of the Seventy (members of which are General Authorities) or in the general auxiliary presidencies.
Repudiate and apologize for the faith’s past priesthood and temple ban on Blacks, which the Church lifted in 1978.
Show the documentary film Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons to every all-male priesthood quorum, women’s Relief Society class, and Young Men and Young Women groups.
Quote from the Church’s Gospel Topics essay “Race and the Priesthood” regularly at LDS general conference and translate it into all the languages that the Church uses to communicate with its global membership.
Direct that the essay be read from the pulpit in every Mormon congregation and mission in the world.
Have the Book of Mormon scripture found in 2 Nephi 26:33—“all are alike unto God”—be a yearlong Young Women or Primary theme and make it part of the curriculum to talk about the sin of racism.
Bring more Blacks to LDS Church–owned Brigham Young University as students and faculty, while providing sensitivity training for all students about racial issues and interactions with people of color.
Teach children about heroic Black Mormon lives, such as LDS pioneers Jane Manning James and Elijah Abel.
Expand the LDS hymnbook to include more diverse songs and styles.
Enlist more people of color in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Invite the choir from the Genesis Group—a longtime Utah-based support organization for Black Mormons and their families—to sing at general conference.
Use the Genesis Group to assist in improving relationships with the African American community.
Give the Genesis Group greater authority to exist in all states and to visit wards and assist lay bishoprics in how to avoid and overcome racism in their congregations.
Create a Church-sponsored Mormon and Black website akin to the one found at mormonandgay.org.
Treat the members of the Genesis Group’s presidency as an auxiliary, seating them on the stand with other high-ranking authorities during general conference—and invite at least one of them to speak during the sessions.
Provide training on racial issues for newly-called mission presidents.
Include a mandatory class at missionary training centers that teach the “Race and the Priesthood” essay so missionaries are better prepared when they go out to preach.

Footnotes:

Locking Arms for Racial Harmony in America

The Book of Forgiving p37

Making Sense of the Church’s Racial History

Galtung, Johan. Cultural Violence, Journal of Peach Research, p292

Galtung p291

Galtung p291

The Possessive Investment in Rightness: White Supremacy and the Mormon Movement p76

The Mormon Church: Issue an Official Apology for Racist Teachings That Declared Blacks Cursed

Cheryl Neufville Etiang

Alixa Brobbey Bittersweet

Mariah Bowers

Ebony

In Regards to the Come Follow Me Correction

Conversations and Questions About Art at Church
Diversity in LDS Art

Galtung p293

Making Sense of the Church’s Racial History

President Oaks remarks from Be One Celebration

Despite joining President Nelson in call to end racism, NAACP would like to see the LDS Church do more

Here is a fuller perspective from a Native American voice.

The Book of Forgiving p58

A Courageous Presence with Racism

This Amicus Brief is No Friend of Mine

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By Christina Taber-Kewene

Paying tithing has always been important to me. As Jesus teaches us, 

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. 

 What better reminder to put my money where my heart is than to religiously donate a set portion of my income as a share to the needy? How important it is to recall that all that I have is not earned but mostly unearned, that privilege factors more into wealth than effort, and that we have an enduring obligation to share of our wealth and surplus. Jesus underscores his point clearly on a different occasion to a young seeker:

If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

But I’m starting to feel like what should be a donation to the poor has in fact become a tithing to the church’s outside counsel, Kirton McConkie. I think that if Jesus witnessed this, he would be throwing the money changers out of the temple. 

Although Kirton McConkie is independent of the corporation of the LDS church, it has acted as its outside counsel for decades. It also may be part of a plan to prevent reporting of sexual abuse claims made against the church under the shroud of legal privilege. VICE reported last year, based on information disclosed in legal proceedings against the church arising from alleged sexual abuse of minors, that calls to the LDS church’s hotline for sexual abuse surivors are routed through LDS family services and back to Kirton McConkie. Why aren’t such calls instead reported directly to legal authorities? Counsel for the claimants argues that the hotline is not a helpline to aid abuse survivors but instead a way to manage allegations before they reach legal authorities. Just the fact that my tithing dollars are going to fund Kirton McConkie as it defends the church against liability for sexual abuse claims is enough to turn my love for Jesus into disgust for lack of corporate accountability. Didn’t Jesus teach us to leave the ninety and nine and find the one? This appears to be the opposite approach, protecting the brethren at the expense of the victim.

The church has a separate but equally long history of using its counsel to push its agenda in the anti-gay marriage fights of the 1990s and 2000s. The battles were many and hard fought, with the church filing brief after brief in judicial cases and putting money behind legislative initiatives to fight gay marriage around the US in these decades.  Ultimately, the church lost those legal battles, but not without great harm to individuals with differing beliefs and LGBTQ members and allies, not to mention tremendous resources spent (wasted). And most recently, Kirton McConkie filed the amicus brief arguing against extending the equal rights protections of the 14th amendment to LGBTQ employees. The Supreme Court ruled just days ago against this argument and upheld reading the amendment as extending to cover the rights of our LGBTQ siblings against discrmination. 

Now the LDS church is once again using Kirton McConkie to work against our human rights, arguing in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court that it is constitutionally sound to allow organizations that present a moral or religious exemption to be free from providing birth control to covered employees. In a 7-2 ruling today, the justices found in favor of the Catholic church and against those who see this exemption as unconstitutional. I find it telling that although the LDS church filed the amicus brief in concert with several other organizations, it was submitted by Kirton McConkie. Those are the church’s fingerprints all over the deal. The brief is disturbing in multiple ways, including that it relies on faulty science to classify Plan B as an abortifacient (it is not), and, secondly, that it is arguing for a position not supported by LDS theology: we do not share the Catholic belief of life created at conception, nor do we officially legislate on birth control within the religion. Given that, I can’t imagine why our church (Is it our church, ladies?) is arguing against providing health coverage for the most fundamental of women’s health concerns. 

I have my own answer: Not with my money, not anymore. Not with your anti-sexual abuse survivor agenda, not with your anti-LGBTQ agenda, not with your anti-woman agenda.  I will always tithe to the poor, but I will not tithe to Kirton McConkie.

 

Christina Taber-Kewene is a writer, lawyer, and human with a womb who is cares about her reproductive rights. 

 

“I’ll Stay Where You Want Me to Stay” and other hymns for quarantine

It’s going to take a while to get a new hymn book, so let’s just get creative with the one we have.

We’re doing home church these days, because a) our area got hit hard when Covid-19 first hit the U.S. and b) our area authorities aren’t idiots. So we tumble out of bed whenever we feel like it, and get mostly dressed up (church clothes and barefoot, some of us with brushed hair) and assemble in the living room for hymns and sacrament and Come Follow Me study. It’s been surprisingly fun and congenial. The hymns are the best, because kid #1 plays piano and we all like to sing.

It was in the middle of singing “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go” (no. 270) a few weeks ago that I giggled, and then snorted, and then completely lost it. (Reverent, huh?)

“We’re not going anywhere,” I explained when the family looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “Maybe the kitchen. The front porch, if we’re lucky.”

“Maybe God just wants us to stay home right now,” one of the kids offered.

Since I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what She wants, here’s a list of other hymns for quarantine:

Master, Pandemic Is Raging (no. 105): Featuring the chorus “The selfish and heathen shall want to roam / Please, stay home! / Please, stay home!”
Stay, Ye Children of the Lord (no. 58)
Lead Me Into Life Post-Covid (no. 45): “Lead me into life post-Covid / Keep me from the ICU / With my face in mask enrobed / I will bless both me and you.”
A Poor Infected Man of Grief (no. 29)
Stay, Stay, Ye Saints (no. 30)
They, the Heroes of the Nation (no. 36): An ode to the heroes among us, ending with the lines “Dear and valiant generation / Blessed healthcare workers all!”
Praise to the Woman (no. 27): “Praise to the woman sewing masks for the Covid / She and her serger will ever be near / Using the fabric that for crafts was devoted / Kings shall extoll her, and nations revere.”
We’re Not Ashamed to Wear Our Masks (no. 57): Seriously, there are parts of the U.S. that need to sing this.
Rejoice, Our Deaths Are Down (no. 56): A hymn for the Millennium, perhaps.
I Need Thee Every Hour (no. 98): Self-explanatory
A Mighty Fortress Is Our Home (no. 68): No, elders, you can’t come in and share a lesson with us.
Stay, Ye Stupid People (no. 94)
Be Still, My Sole (no. 124)
Where Can I Turn for Peas? (no. 129): Emma Lou Thayne’s beloved hymn about trying to get an Instacart delivery slot
Did You Think to Stay? (no. 140): “Ere you left your house this morning / Did you think to stay?”
God Be with You Till We Meet Again (no. 152): For families saying goodbye at the ER
Secret Prayer (no. 144): A hymn for everyone doing online shopping, featuring the chorus “May my cart / By God be blessed / May my order / Ship express / Free from charges / And delays / So the gifts come for birthdays.”
Go Forth with Masks (no. 263): Because faith without works is dead.

What would you add to the list?

Guest Post: Embracing a Broken History

[image error]by  Kajsa Berlin-Kaufusi

As we look at our recent history (and by recent I mean within the last 25 years or so), we see the words of President Nelson well illustrated when he said, “We are witnesses to a process of restoration—if you think the Church has been fully restored, you are just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come.” The reality that the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed a process rather than event that originated and concluded with Joseph Smith is something we would all do well to keep in mind. Careful study of church history reflects the often difficult reality that things are rarely revealed in their entirety, but rather, line upon line, as both the leadership and members of the church petition God for further light and truth.

When policies are reversed, relaxed, or expanded to reflect inclusivity and continuing revelation, church members sometimes feel frustrated, confused, unstable, etc. When we find ourselves in these scenarios, the words of Kenton Sparks in regards to scripture seem particularly helpful and can also be applied to religious traditions, sacred texts, and clergy—“Scripture’s natural meaning sometimes runs contrary to the Gospel and, where it does, begs for a hermeneutical explanation…I attribute these theological tensions to the fact that the Bible is both sacred and broken, human voices of Scripture as his divine word.” Sparks goes on the clarify that by saying scripture is “broken,” he is not claiming that it cannot serve its purpose, but rather, “scripture, like everything created by God but touched by the Fall, is at the same time beautiful and in need of repair.”

While many within the LDS faith may find the idea of the “restored church” being “broken” a difficult concept to reconcile, I suggest that this paradigm is both correct and functional. If we take scripture at its word and believe that we as fallible individuals make up the body of Christ, how can it be anything but broken? Our theology is full of history and analogy of God using imperfect things to bring about his purposes. The very nature of scripture is in itself a story of redemption, both literal and figurative. As we accept the reality that aspects of our church structure are perhaps broken, we engage the virtue of humility which acts as a catalyst for change and betterment—indeed, perhaps this is how we best approach Zion.

I have heard it said that we would do well to“leave the beehive and return to the grove”—the truths that came out of Joseph’s sacred grove experience are rooted in sincere and heartfelt pleading and asking of questions, followed by intimate interaction and revelation from God on high. In understanding that the restoration is ongoing, as President Nelson well said, as well as embracing that our church history is broken and in need of redemption, we prepare ourselves as individuals and as a church to do exactly that—return to the grove to seek further truth and knowledge on pressing matters that affect the contemporary church.

Kajsa Berlin-Kaufusi  is an educator and academic whose research includes Biblical studies, mystic philosophy and traditions, orthodoxy vs. lived experience (particularly women’s’ lived experience), liberation theology, post colonial studies, and global religious history. Previously, she worked as faculty in Ancient Scripture for Brigham Young University for a period of five years. She holds an MA in Biblical Studies and is currently working on a PhD in Humanities with a focus on religious philosophy. She and her husband have 3 lively children and one very stinky dog. Her blog can be found here. 

Be Kind to Your Web-footed Friends

I woke up on Saturday morning with Stars and Stripes Forever stuck in my head. That immediately reminded me of a record full of silly songs I had as a kid. One of them was set to the same tune, and it was called Be Kind to Your Web-footed Friends. So I started singing it, much to the consternation of my cats. I got this far: “Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebody’s mother.”

I stopped. That’s not the reason to be kind to a duck. The reason to be kind to a duck is because it’s a living being and is independently deserving of dignity. If the duck had no progeny, she would still be worthy of our kindness.

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At church, so often people say things along the lines of “Of course women are important! They’re our wives and mothers. They raise the next generation.” The subtext of that is that because I am no one’s wife and no one’s mother, I must not be important. Be kind; a duck may be somebody’s mother.

I matter and am deserving of kindness because I’m created by God in His image. I will not become more important if I have children. The worth of every soul is already infinite.

When Jesus preached a sermon, a woman in the crowd responded: “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.”
Jesus replied: “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”[1]

Mary wasn’t praiseworthy because she gave birth to Jesus. She was praiseworthy because she kept the word of God.

While our relationships with other people are important, they are not the only thing about us that matters. Even someone alone on a desert island without another human soul in sight is still precious to God.

I would re-write the song like this: “Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck is a living being.”

[1] Luke 11:27-28