A Talk Last Night With My Daughter
Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:02 pm
My 23-year old daughter is home for the holidays from another state where she has graduated college with two majors (psychology and sociology) and a minor (history).
Several years ago, she pretty much stopped going to church, though raised LDS and very studious, active and believing until then.
The reasons for her inactivity have been kept from me for some reason, perhaps having something to do with the fact I am her step-father.
Anyway, I thought I would try to broach the subject with her last night and, inasmuch as I have reason to believe her inactivity is largely due to the second-class status of women in the Mormon Church, I brought up the tangentially related subject of the priesthood ban on blacks.
I told her it was instituted by Brigham Young and went back over a bit of the history, asking her the old chestnut about when blacks first received the priesthood, and surprising her with the answer of 1836.
As I had hoped, she made the segue herself into the inferior role of Mormon women, and we talked for some time about it.
Her main question is, "Where is God in all of this?"
If God is in charge of the LDS Church, and has apostles and prophets at its head for the primary purpose of communicating his will, how come he didn't set them straight about the blacks, and how come he doesn't set them straight about women?
I think she was expecting some "Sunday school" answer from me, but I only said that it is a very difficult question. (She kept looking at me as if she expected me to answer it.)
I told her I don't know the answer, but I can sure understand her concerns, and that I share them, as well.
As to the priesthood ban on blacks, I told her I could prove it was about race and not about the priesthood. "How?" she asked. "Because black women couldn't go to the temple."
As to putting women beneath men, I told her the Church has done this with Heavenly Mother, as well. We virtually never hear about her in church, and certainly never in General Conference, even though we should talk about her at least as much as Heavenly Father. (And at least on Mother's Day.) She seems to have been relegated to the Celestial Kingdom's equivalent of the kitchen or the bedroom.
I think my daughter was surprised to hear me be so supportive of her plight. I suggested she might take a look at the Feminist Mormon Housewives
As she was leaving to go out with a friend for the evening, I whispered to her at the front door not to tell anybody about what I had said to her. "We're everywhere," I said. "We're working from within."
She laughed as she left.
So, now to the point. Any advice?
All the Best!
--Consiglieri
Several years ago, she pretty much stopped going to church, though raised LDS and very studious, active and believing until then.
The reasons for her inactivity have been kept from me for some reason, perhaps having something to do with the fact I am her step-father.
Anyway, I thought I would try to broach the subject with her last night and, inasmuch as I have reason to believe her inactivity is largely due to the second-class status of women in the Mormon Church, I brought up the tangentially related subject of the priesthood ban on blacks.
I told her it was instituted by Brigham Young and went back over a bit of the history, asking her the old chestnut about when blacks first received the priesthood, and surprising her with the answer of 1836.
As I had hoped, she made the segue herself into the inferior role of Mormon women, and we talked for some time about it.
Her main question is, "Where is God in all of this?"
If God is in charge of the LDS Church, and has apostles and prophets at its head for the primary purpose of communicating his will, how come he didn't set them straight about the blacks, and how come he doesn't set them straight about women?
I think she was expecting some "Sunday school" answer from me, but I only said that it is a very difficult question. (She kept looking at me as if she expected me to answer it.)
I told her I don't know the answer, but I can sure understand her concerns, and that I share them, as well.
As to the priesthood ban on blacks, I told her I could prove it was about race and not about the priesthood. "How?" she asked. "Because black women couldn't go to the temple."
As to putting women beneath men, I told her the Church has done this with Heavenly Mother, as well. We virtually never hear about her in church, and certainly never in General Conference, even though we should talk about her at least as much as Heavenly Father. (And at least on Mother's Day.) She seems to have been relegated to the Celestial Kingdom's equivalent of the kitchen or the bedroom.
I think my daughter was surprised to hear me be so supportive of her plight. I suggested she might take a look at the Feminist Mormon Housewives
As she was leaving to go out with a friend for the evening, I whispered to her at the front door not to tell anybody about what I had said to her. "We're everywhere," I said. "We're working from within."
She laughed as she left.
So, now to the point. Any advice?
All the Best!
--Consiglieri