Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: December 28, 2021 08:20PM
Done & Done says: “What the hell is this guy doing being Mormon?”
With the greatest respect to James C. Jones, author of the linked article, I wonder the same thing. I can’t see myself belonging to a group that fundamentally sees me as less than. Oh wait. I did join one like that. For a New York Minute. A little group calling itself The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But they soon made it obvious that a convert is less than. And especially a female convert who is single. One of the missionaries told me while I was still wringing wet from my misguided dunk: “Now it’s your job to get married.” Job? Of course, they didn’t happen to mention that before they got me in the tank. And Job #2 would be: Spit out babies. Soon as. Then your life will be complete, as God intended. Or Joseph Smith. Or somebody.
Back to J. C. Jones and his article: ‘Deseret Book Attempts to Serve God and Bigotry’ (Dec 2021). (NB: I note that it’s Deseret Books that hired him, not the church, if there’s a significant difference).
The following statements in the article really caught my attention. (I took care to preserve context; I hope I succeeded):
“…they [Des Books] invited me to teach a class on abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice…
“I took the task very seriously because I knew that this would be the first time explicitly anti-racist content was produced and distributed by Deseret Book or by the church.
“This would likely be the first anti-racist education many members of the church received, let alone theologically based anti-racist education. I felt that weight. Yet, content that the church needs desperately — like yesterday — content that’s going to provide tools for white folks to fight prejudice, content that’s going to make existence in this church easier for me and people that look like me so that we ain’t gotta feel so alone in this church, content that I know is going to shift us more into alignment with the church that we are supposed to be — the fully integrated and diversified church of the new testament — that content is not going to be published by Deseret Book because I did the very thing they hired me to teach other people how to do.
“Perhaps they do have some sort of secret menu mission statement that condemns criticism of the brethren, but what I believe to be the more honest grievance is distilled in this sentence they wrote to me when they finally got specific about what their problem was: “…Referring to leaders as ‘homophobic overwhelmingly white ecclesiastical leaders born in the Jim Crow era’ feels offensive to our audience…”. I actually laughed when I came across that line because 1. homophobia is far more offensive than being called a homophobe 2. none of the words I used were pejoratives, but descriptors 2.5. where was the lie and 3. making this about their predominantly straight white audience’s feelings misses the whole point of what they hired me to teach. …
“…The marginalized know their experiences better than the privileged ever could and, therefore, they should be listened to, especially the experts in that community. But, the mic and the space still belong to the privileged and, therefore, their comforts and sensibilities are centered. So, if Deseret Book invites me into their predominantly straight white space to tell their straight white audience how to fight prejudice and I say anything that upsets their straight white comfort or offends their straight white sensibilities, they can talk over me, derail the conversation, cut the mic, or kick me out. And that’s what they did.
“Deseret Book missed an opportunity because they value the feelings of their audience and performative ecclesiastical fealty more than the humanity of Black and queer people. That’s not just bad allyship, but it’s bad theology. Putting people’s comforts or really anything over people’s humanity is idolatry and not the church nor Deseret Book will ever succeed in fulfilling their mission until they destroy the golden calf of heteronormative white supremacy.
“Deseret Book is trying to serve two masters. They say they’re committed to fighting prejudice while they refuse to fight the brethren’s.”
This statement struck me, after all of the above (and I ask why Jones feels this way – out of a desire to understand, not to condemn):
“To be clear, I still sustain [the] brethren.”
Jones states re the leaders “…refusing to challenge and interrogate definitionally homophobic policies, acts, and words done in the name of …Christ…"
“I sustain the brethren by holding them accountable to the Christ that leads this church and the Christ I see in our sacred texts, especially when any of the brethren present a Christ nowhere to be found in them, like Elder Holland did.”
Wow. Are there repercussions for making such statements against church leaders (especially if one were to publish them)?
Jones calls people out to object when they see these wrongs occurring in the church. He says “make your disagreement known”.
“There’s no virtue in silent sympathy. Even some slaveowners had that. … You could lose a calling, a friend, or … a job opportunity..." [but speak out anyway].
He’s got a big hill to climb. I predict he will wear himself out and no-one in church leadership will care.
I can see that his straightforward remarks on the issue of colour would be offensive to some people and perhaps especially church leaders. It can be tough, sure enough, to hear/read such statements.
But. Truth to Power. And all that.
Jones said that now that his job with Des Books didn't work out he still wants to publish his essay, when he has the means. I hope somebody funds him. He's got some good stuff to say. And maybe at some point the church and its various arms won't be able to stifle him.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2021 08:28PM by Nightingale.