https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/05/02/it-just-hurts-my-heart/

‘It just hurts my heart’ — How COVID dissent pushed some Latter-day Saints away from their church
When the fellowship they yearned for turned to bickering, doubts arose and faith crises ensued.

That, Davis said, was the peak of his faith crisis — a crisis other Latter-day Saints have run into after they became turned off when they saw how fellow believers turned on one another over pandemic responses, ranging from mask-wearing to physical distancing to vaccinations.

When he began to struggle to come to terms with his church’s legacy of discrimination — Black members weren’t permitted to hold the faith’s lay priesthood or enter its temples for more than a century — he still wanted to be a part of the religion because he felt that while the church couldn’t escape its past, members were trying to make amends.

When he faced another faith crisis over a now-discarded policy that barred the children of gay couples from receiving certain blessings in the church, he stayed to be an ally from the inside and hoped other members would follow his example.

In March 2020, though, soon after the pandemic began, the way Davis’ church community behaved changed his perception.

“It was just people reacting to the pandemic and not actually trying to do the right thing for each other,” he said. “People didn’t care if they got COVID and didn’t seem to understand they could spread it to someone more vulnerable to the disease. People were fighting mask orders.”

It's not a crisis of faith. It's a crisis of reason.

Ah, white space in the text. Very good, grasshopper. Gracias. :)

This article is too long to quote very much of it. It outlines at least 5 profiles of members who had had it with the scorn heaped on them and others for trying to take covid seriously.

Sounds like the jerk to Christian ratio in Mormonism is not doing so well. Trouble is, if they drive out the jerks, there is no guarantee that the Christians will come back, and then they would be left with nothing.

Seems to me there were worse things in Mormonism in the past - the lies when dealing with Mark Hofmann affair, the punishing of the September Six, the general sexism and past racism and all-around homophobia. Seems odd that covid would be the final straw for some people, but I guess that is why they call it the final straw. The final deal breaker is not necessarily a Big Thing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2021 02:35PM by Brother Of Jerry.

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
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> Ah, white space in the text.
> Very good,grasshopper. Gracias.

That came with the cut & paste...

The theft of someone else’s courtesy.

Ten threads today if you were wondering, Mr Curried Lambda.

Shhh. I'm trying to encourage good postership.

Some members are upset that the church has endorsed masks and vaccines. But IMO a bigger issue is the way those types have/will dominate the conversation to the point that more accepting members will feel even more alienated and pushed out. The painted-in corner just gets smaller and smaller.

I can't complain about where the text came from. It was very readable.