Dave Banack : June 2009 Archives

At Mormon Matters, a post reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of serving a two-year LDS proselyting mission. Young men who follow the standards of the LDS Church are very strongly encouraged to serve. Young women are, at present, neither encouraged nor discouraged from serving; many do in fact volunteer. Young men are eligible to serve starting at age 19, young women at age 21.

At the Salt Lake Tribune, "Petition urges LDS Church to soften stance on gays," reporting efforts of a collection of LDS and ex-LDS to lobby the LDS Church by delivering a petition reproving its stand on Prop 8. According to the article, "The committee plans to deliver the petition to top LDS leaders Nov. 4, the first anniversary of Prop 8's passage." The headline is somewhat misleading -- the LDS Church has already softened its stance on gays within the Church. What the petitioners want is for the Church to change its opposition to gay marriage in particular.

That question has been getting more consideration recently, with the general consensus being, "No, at least not yet." By Common Consent is posting an academic piece by scholar Walter E. A. van Beek that helps understand the question. He uses the examples of Islam and Roman Catholicism to highlight diversity within the religion as a key indicator of world status.

The diversity mentioned in Islam and Catholicism allows for identification processes of the individual with that religion, that vary widely. People may define themselves as Catholic or Muslim on widely diverging grounds, ranging from full and total commitment (the literal meaning of "Islam") to identification of a very low intensity.

I've enjoyed every book I've read by Bart Ehrman, including his latest, Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them). I only had time to read the first couple of chapters carefully (the publisher didn't send a review copy), so I'll only make a few remarks.

In 1911, when "heresy" wasn't such a dated term, as related at Mormon Organon. The whole episode (in which several BYU profs of that era came under suspicion for teaching the sort of things that are supposed to be taught at universities) sort of shows how heresy got such a bad name. Five out of six BYU students signed a petition opposing the action against the faculty members. The language of the petition is quite persuasive (although it obviously didn't persuade anyone in the LDS educational bureaucracy at the time). A couple of excerpts from the student petition: