I have tried to acknowledge [here] the sincere beliefs and fears of those who oppose same-sex marriage. However, an ‘Appeal to Sincerity’ is legitimate only when attempting to understand the personal motivation for various behaviors. Sincerity cannot logically be invoked to assess the legitimacy or ethical value of those behaviors.
The past and present are filled with actions which most of us condemn, despite the fact that their perpetrators claimed they acted out of their sincere beliefs in a religion, or race, or social class, or country. If we regard slavery as wrong, the sincerity of slave-owners is irrelevant to the issue, even when the slave-owners were our revered national leaders, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. If denial of rights and protections for African-Americans was wrong, the sincerity of the oppressors is irrelevant to the issue, even if we otherwise admire the oppressors as religious leaders. Likewise, the sincerity of the heterosexual majority’s anxieties and fears is not an ethical justification for denying rights and protections to the homosexual minority ... The climate of homophobic antagonism in Mormon-dominated Utah creates constant anxiety for many gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons. It is historically similar to being a Christian in pagan Rome, a Protestant Huguenot in Catholic-dominated France, a Quaker in Puritan Massachusetts, a black in Klan-dominated Mississippi, a Jew in Nazi Germany, a Catholic in Protestant-dominated Belfast, a Muslim in Hindu-dominated Kashmir, or a Hindu in Muslim-dominated Islamabad. Its familiarity makes this pattern even more tragic in cultures which claim divine approval for exerting social oppression against their minorities.
Just as Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons once claimed righteousness and God’s blessing in denying basic rights to African-Americans and Asian-Americans, they are now claiming righteousness and God’s blessing for denying basic rights to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons. It takes a peculiar kind of blindness to currently affirm that the majority’s historical discrimination against despised racial minorities was ethically and civilly wrong, yet argue that it is now ethically and civilly right to discriminate against the despised minority of homosexuals and transgender persons. ibid.
I got my Patriarchal Blessing when I was 16. My entire Laurel class went to the Stake Patriarch’s house. After we all got our blessings, we were talking about them and everything the girls said sounded the same. So when we got our Patriarchal Blessings in the mail, we compared them (shame on us!!) and they were all identical. So much for inspired revelation, huh!! I talked to my TBM parents about it, and they said that since we all went on the same day, it was a joint blessing. That didn’t sound right to me, but I ended up buying it. After all, brainwashing is a power thing. Oh, and then somehow the Bishop found out that we had compared our Patriarchal Blessings and called me in to tell me to never discuss this with anyone again. You know, the whole ‘sacred’ thing and all.
I really wish I had questioned it more then, but I pushed it down and continued on the Mormon path. When I finally started figuring things out many years later (after going to BYU, getting married in the temple and all) and realized that it’s all a pile of crap, I remembered what I went through then and have added that to my very long list of ways in which the Mormon Church deceived me. Morgbot Not, board post 10th June 2009, ‘Patriarchal Blessings – Another Piece of the Deception Puzzle’
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints widely known as the Mormon church, is repealing a controversial policy that treated LGBTQ members as apostates and barred their kids from being baptized.
The church’s First Presidency, its top governing body, announced Thursday that while it still considers same-sex marriage to be a ‘serious transgression’, queer church members in these relationships will not automatically be treated as apostates or individuals who in the church’s eyes have turned away from the principles of the gospel.
‘Instead, the immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way,’ the First Presidency said in its statement.
In addition, the children of parents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender can be blessed and baptized in the church as long as their parents understand that the kids will be taught to follow the church’s doctrines.
The changes were announced by church leader Dallin H Oaks as the denomination gathered for its general conference this weekend. The church said the reversal came after an ‘extended period of counseling’ with top leaders and ‘fervent, united prayer’ to understand God’s will. Effective immediately, the new policy will soon appear in the church’s official handbook, a manual for church leaders. HuffPost online article 4 April 2019, ‘Mormon Church Drops Anti-LGBTQ Rule, But It Feels Like Gaslighting to Some’
A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post.
The confidential document, received by the IRS on November 21, accuses church leaders of misleading members – and possibly breaching federal tax rules – by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works. It also accuses church leaders of using the tax-exempt donations to prop up a pair of businesses.
The church did not respond to detailed questions from The Post about the complaint and said in a statement Monday that it does not discuss specific financial transactions. On Tuesday, after the first version of this story was published, the church said it takes seriously its responsibility to care for members’ donations. Washington Post online article 17th December 2019, ‘Mormon Church Has Misled Members on $100 Billion Tax-Exempt Investment Fund, Whistleblower Alleges’