Posted by:
summer
(
)
Date: October 12, 2019 11:56AM
I think the goal of parenting is to raise children who can make good decisions on their own, and good decisions in novel situations. Mormonism never rises to this level. Church authorities want to make decisions on the members' behalf always.
Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of the stages of moral development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_of_moral_developmentI think that Mormonism is stuck at best at Kohlberg's middle Conventional stage 3 or stage 4 of moral development. To quote the above Wiki article, at the Conventional level, "adherence to rules and conventions is somewhat rigid, however, and a rule's appropriateness or fairness is seldom questioned."
In the advanced, or Post Conventional stages, people are able to better appreciate those who are different from them, and are able to develop an internal system of ethics that makes sense to them. IMO Mormonism does not rise to this level, nor does it aspire to.
To me, a church is worthless if it simply encourages obedience at the cost of helping to develop an internalized morality and system of ethics in its members.