There comes a time when long-held and culturally biased beliefs of man are shown to be flawed and incomplete. When new information based on scientific research shows prior beliefs to be incongruent, a new, informed choice can be made.
The purpose of science is to make observations with the goal to arrive at consistent conclusions based on these observations. Religious claims may become inconsistent with new scientific explanations. Copernicus and Galileo introduced us to the new scientific fact that we do not live in a geocentric universe. Our Earth does not rest on the back of a turtle and lightning bolts were never thrown by Zeus.
Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who claim exclusive power and revelation directly from God, are increasingly attempting to redefine scientific principals. Principals which have been researched, tested, re-tested, cross-correlated, peer-reviewed, and refined over decades by qualified scientists and researchers.
Today’s challenge is that these men, who claim to be speaking for God, are now defining principals of biology and the physical and emotional human experience that lie outside of their scope of practice.
More importantly, many of these men are indeed trained in science and medicine. Governing and licensing bodies that they have belonged to and relied upon for their professional credentials line up with prevailing scientific theory. Claims that these men make in the name of God, are simply not compatible with scientific scrutiny. They are historically, culturally, anecdotally and scientifically not compatible with the observational reality of the world we live in.
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commenta ... erson-lds/
The Church and its Leaders don’t practice what is preached.A recent update of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Handbook of Instructions has a new section regarding transgender people and what the church considers permissible behavior. It is clear that the church has taken all scientific and anecdotal messages regarding transgender people and tossed them aside.
The church is actively promoting anti-suicide messaging, yet at the same time it is denying transgender people, particularly youth, the most life-saving treatment that there is, that of social and medical transition.
Disgusting untrained uninspired simply wrong advice. The priority was not whether or not ward and stake members would be confused.My former bishop and stake president told me not to openly transition. They said that it would cause the ward and stake members “confusion” and told me to keep quiet about my private life. I ignored their counsel and proceeded in the way that ultimately shattered my family, but saved my life.
President Dallin H. Oaks said in the LDS General Conference of October 2018, “We need to be cautious as we seek truth and choose sources for that search. Expertise in one field should not be taken as expertise on truth in other subjects. We should also be cautious about the motivation of the one who provides information. Our personal decisions should be based on information from sources that are qualified on the subject and free from selfish motivations.”
I could not agree more with Oaks in the above statement. None of the leaders of the LDS Church are experts in transgender or gender non-binary medical or mental health care. None of those who are authors of this recent change in the handbook are qualified to be making health care decisions for any individuals who are not under their professional care.