Dear Sister Larson, This is Why I Stand with the LDS Women who Spoke Out on Instagram
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
2d ago
DEAR SISTER LARSON, I want to respond to your recent, public post that pertains to the aftermath of last week’s Relief Society Worldwide Devotion, as well as those who agree with its content. I consider myself an LDS feminist, something I haven’t come to easily or without decades of study and reflection, both of Church doctrine and history. I’m disheartened because I think your words alienate LDS women from one another. There’s been too much of that lately, from both views. Because of the many hats you wear (therapist, chaplain, RS leader), your words bear a unique sway that, I think, deserves ..read more
Visit website
LDS Men, Power, and Gender Equality: A Continuing Discussion
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
2M ago
IN MY PREVIOUS POST, I make the controversial assertion that LDS men who recognize LDS women don’t have fair, much less equal, footing in the Church should resist edicts of up-level priesthood leaders when those edicts diminish the visibility and influence of women. The essay was a reaction to Bay Area leaders removing Relief Society (RS) presidents from the stand during Sunday meetings after being instructed to by an area authority. In general, LDS will acquiesce to higher authorities, even if they object on ethical grounds, to keep their callings. Giving in on this, they reason, will let the ..read more
Visit website
LDS Men, No More Passes for Your Wrong-headed Obedience
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
4M ago
TODAY I DIRECT MY THOUGHTS primarily towards the men who hold the LDS priesthood because two recent events have garnered my attention, in part for the way each involves decisions made by LDS men. The first is the child sex abuse civil lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was just dismissed by an Arizona judge, and the second is the sudden ending of a San Francisco Bay Area tradition that had Relief Society (RS) presidents sitting beside bishoprics during Sacrament meetings. The decisions I’d like to focus on are not those made by the men considered to have hig ..read more
Visit website
Allyship is a Love Unworthy of Rebuke
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
6M ago
LAST SUNDAY, I CAUGHT another glimpse of what it might be like to sit as an LGBTQIA congregant in a chapel surrounded by people you love, while they are comforted by a sermon that depicts your greatest hope as evil. If you’re LDS, you’ve likely had a high councilor deliver a classic sermon like the one mine did last Sunday, one that used thinly veiled language to praise those who resist “the pressures of the world” which “call good, evil and evil, good” by “fully sustaining the prophet.” While this language may be used to encourage avoidance of various sins, in this instance, it was also clear ..read more
Visit website
Dear Amy, Here’s Why This LDS Supports LGBTQIA People
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
10M ago
TW: death by suicide At the March 2023 Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Dallin Oaks, read aloud an excerpt taken from a letter written by Amy, an LDS teenager. For your ease, I offer the excerpt, followed by my own, brief response to her:  “I feel like I sometimes get inconsistent and confusing messages from the Church. In my day-to-day life, I see members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on social media act as if they aren’t part of this gospel. … I feel like I am the only ..read more
Visit website
LDS Sr. Leadership, the SEC, and my Sustaining Vote
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
1y ago
PUBLIC CHATTER HAS largely abated regarding the February 21 SEC order and its incumbent fines of $1 million against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and $4 million against church-owned Ensign Peak Advisors. You can read the specifics in the order by clicking the colored link above (its surprisingly easy to understand), but the tldr; version is that, between 1998 and May, 2018, the First Presidencies and Presiding Bishoprics (identified as “senior leadership” in the order) created 13 shell (or unfunded) companies into which they pretended to transfer portions of the Church’s bill ..read more
Visit website
Advocating for the LDS Advocates Within
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
1y ago
ASPECTS OF THE LDS TEMPLE experience have, once again, been modified. The endowment ceremony now features prominent images of Jesus and the witness couple is reportedly eliminated. Most interesting to me, however, is the addition of an introductory film that identifies the covenants that supplicants will be asked to make, seemingly to address the lack of informed consent that LDS and former LDS have been advocating for. I’m not sure that learning of these covenants just before the ceremony reduces peer pressure or clarifies much about them, but this shift tells me the men in charge are recogni ..read more
Visit website
To LDS Mothers on Children Leaving the Fold
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
1y ago
I’D LIKE TO SPEAK TO THE LDS MOTHERS who are watching young adults leave the LDS Church and are wondering if your own children will leave or if you’re doing enough to keep them in. Maybe you’re wondering what those other parents did wrong that caused their family schism. Maybe your child has already left, as all three of mine have. Maybe you’re blaming yourself. Please know you shouldn’t.  My oldest removed his name from the records of the Church a decade ago and my other two stopped participating before the age of 20. I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my motherly performance, to weig ..read more
Visit website
LDS Church Should Throw Its Resources into Making Mandated Reporting Universal in US
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
1y ago
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has officially lost its temper. Yesterday, the Church’s Newsroom released a strongly worded rebuff of the Aug. 2nd AP article titled “Seven years of sex abuse: How the Mormon officials let it happen,” written by Michael Rezendes. Its initial statement (offered last week) asserted the article misrepresented the Helpline which bishops and stake presidents are required to call upon learning of abuse, hoping to recast it as a tool to end abuse without addressing why the helpline is staffed through its legal-centric risk management office. Many, mysel ..read more
Visit website
The Strength of Serious Doubt, Difficult Questions, and Disagreement with the LDS Church
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt
by lisatorcassodowning
1y ago
LAST WEEK, I LISTENED to a previously recorded broadcast of LDS apologist and nuanced thinker, Patrick Mason, who asked something like: How can we minister to members with serious doubts and difficult questions about LDS doctrine and practice? It’s something I’ve thought a great deal about. But this time, the question hit me differently, and I understood the disempowerment inherent in categorizing people in faith (or trust) crisis as doubters and questioners of gospel rather than as those in disagreement with the LDS Church. I felt down to my bones how condescending the question is, how it sup ..read more
Visit website

Follow Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR