what is considered politically and socially mainstream, but always moving in the same direction, ever since the federal government outlawed polygamy...and in the process demonstrated that (i) the U.S. government is more powerful than the Mormon god; and (ii) the Mormon church will be allowed to be out of sync with the mainstream of society, but only up to a point. Plus, the leaders of Mormonism have big egos and crave praise and acceptance from their "peers". They see their "peers" as being the leaders of big corporations, religious organizations and NGOs and stuff.
Translation: For the past 100 years or more, organized Mormonry has always lagged about 2 or 3 decades behind the prevailing mores and opinions of the polite and "respectable" mainstream managerial/chamber-of-commerce class of society. As a rule of thumb, when the upper level management of business corporations generally move in a particular direction, the upper level management of the LSD church follows right along. They just have a lag time of a couple of decades for major stuff.
This applies to dress and grooming standards as well.
Mormondumb is, in effect, still taking its cues from the IBM corporation and analogous institutions. The Mormon god is, in reality, no more relevant than the tooth-fairy with regard to the actual policy decisions of the church's leaders.
When the decision ("revelation" har-dee-har-har) to "grant" the priesthood to black people was made, S. W. Kimball described it in a way that made it clear that there was nothing mystical or miraculous about it at all. He talked about the problem with other leaders, weighed pros and cons and eventually reached the obvious conclusion. It was no more inspired than the decision-making process of a diner owner in rural Tennessee deciding to delete "red squirrel stew" from the menu, pursuant to realizing that although it had been on the menu since his grandpappy founded the diner it was no longer selling and keeping it on the menu was more trouble than it was worth.
Exactly. Mormon God is a follower and not even good at following. His strong suit seems to be lagging behind. And, I do so like your point that the U.S. government is more powerful and than Mormon God. Made me smile.
Mormon Church. Falling all over itself? Check Political? Check. Correct? Don't make me laugh.
The LDS church seems to be stuck in the Eighties and reacting to the charges of Ed Decker, Ex-Mormons For Jesus, Walter Martin, and the like, that Mormons aren't "real" Christians. 30+ years later, they're so busy rebranding that they haven't noticed that Evangelical Christianity is also becoming increasingly irrelevant and is dying a slow death.
Even the most conservative Christian denominations are losing 70-80% of their youth in the high school and early-college years, and they haven't been returning when they marry and have kids. Churches across America are steadily closing and enrollment is noticeably down in almost all Christian colleges and universities.
Even if LDS, Inc. manages to successfully rebrand itself as The Church of Jesus Christ, it won't make any difference since they've hooked their wagon to a fading star.
They are doing everything they can to make it so that the medical marijuana that was voted for by the people of Utah can't be put into practice. They'll fight it until they lose, but they'll keep fighting, just like with gay marriage. I laughed when gay marriage came here before many other places. Of course, they fought it, but it came back. All the money they spend fighting these things.
Rusty is one of the worst I've seen, but that's just me. I don't know for sure. He really bothers me, as does his keep-sweet wife.
Jacko Mo Mo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's getting so watered down it will soon be a > meaningless nothingness.
It was diluted after their manifesto. It never got reconstituted. Heber J. Grant made their WoW a commandment and killed their beer and wine. That's when it really got "watered down."
They aren't do much different than they were in the 20th Century except being more totalitarian. Actually they have gone more traditional and created more and more useless temples.
I have no idea other than pretending to be okay with gay that they have actually tried to be more PC.
They are certainly as sexist as ever, though they do now identify Primary, YW and RS presidencies with middle initials, just like General Authorities (i.e. important people [sarcasm intended]).
And only slightly less homophobic. And still tea-phobic.
I have never thought of the church as trying to fit in. They only change after some entity threatens them with serious legal action. They always seem to "do what is wrong."
The way Mormons make policy changes and reveal them little by little reminds me of this old joke which illustrates their process perfectly.
Woman goes on vacation and leaves her beloved cat with her brother to take care of. She is so nervous she calls the first day to check on Tabby and the brother breaks the bad news that the cat is dead.
The woman freaks out. "That is no way to deliver bad news. You have made it all so much worse, so much more traumatic. I didn't have a chance to get ready."
Confused, the brother asks what he should have done.
"Well," she says, "First day you tell me the cat is up on the roof and can't get down. Then the second day you tell me and you have borrowed a ladder to get the cat down. Third day you tell me that the cat wouldn't let you get near him so you have called the Fire Department because he jumped into the oak tree. Then the fifth day you say before the Fire Department could get there the cat fell out of the tree and died."
"Okay. Got it," said the brother.
Sister asks, "By the way, how is Mom?"
"Well, she's up on the roof and we can't get her down."
And the worst part is that even though they still hold all the same prejudiced views and have apologized for nothing, they get up at the pulpit and say racism is really bad, diversity is great, stop being offended, we luv everyone! Everyone is great in gods eyes... And they are the ones being racists, sexists, prejudiced, judgmental. But of course they can't see that. It's our fault somehow?
I’ve come to the conclusion that the LDS church is really just a super repressed bunch of Anglicans. They quote CS Lewis as if he were a GA. Even though the church is still officially anal retentive I believe there is a progressive butterfly trying to get out.