fannyalger:

all the male mormon teenagers i know got the priesthood and all i got was this lousy box of chocolates.jpg

when a deacon insisted on giving me a mother’s day gift at the end of sacrament meeting today, being “recognized” for being a mother (which i absolutely do not consider myself to be) felt like a consolation prize for not being able to have the priesthood. i don’t want a fucking box of chocolates, i want to be respected as much as my male peers are

“Does this mean that I am in favour of woman’s ordination.  Of course it does.  But I’m inclined to believe that female ordination is merely a means to an end – the end being a religious organization whose offering to humanity heals rather than divides, elevates rather than subjugates, privileges scriptural exegesis over cultural conservatism,  restores the sex balance to its rightful and divine place, and more importantly is not deathly afraid of the extraordinary, glorious and frightening power of its women.”

I heard from several people that Dieter Uchtdorf’s talk in priesthood session was really good, and after I read it, I really liked it! I just had one problem with it: it didn’t apply to the whole population of the church. So I’ve gone through the talk and made it gender neutral (including adding Heavenly Mother references). Maybe if women had the priesthood, this is what things could be like… (the original can be found here)

i was in the conference center when women prayed in general conference for the first time. i was there. and as exciting as that was, that excitement was dampened by some of the absolutely awful speeches that preceded it.

i was there for packer’s talk. i was there when he talked about the “tolerance trap” and i bit my tongue so hard it bled and one of my best friends was sitting next to me and he went bright red and had to hide his face. i was there when dalton spoke about how a woman’s most important value is her virtue. i was there when ballard gave that awkward confusing analogy that basically said motherhood=priesthood. i was there and it was painful and awful and i am sure i’m not the only one who teared up because those talks were so horribly offensive.

i am happy that women prayed and it was great to be there to witness that for the first time, but the rest was painful and awful and the church is still so backward and i’m tired of talking about it. i’m tired of experiencing it. it hurts too much.

“Should we include the Mother in Heaven in our worship? My answer is an unequivocal yes. As a child of God, I claim my Mother without apology. She is in my heart and my mind and I need her in my worship. I wish that our daughters and sons might raise their hands and say, “I request that we acknowledge this doctrine and allow it to nourish us.””

my religious beliefs have come up a lot lately, and i’ve been put in a weird place with them?

my friends who are atheists think that i’m just saying that i’m a deist because i haven’t fully “deprogrammed” myself from religion yet. i’ve been told that i need to look at the hard science and that if/when i do, i’ll become an atheist like they have.

i’ve also had a few friends who have left mormonism tell me that they miss it and are going back. they’ve told me that they miss god, and they want to go back.

i’m not saying that people from either of these groups are wrong—i’m sure that they’re making good decisions based on their own experiences. and i agree with parts of both sides. but i don’t think i’ll ever go back to the mormon church, and here’s why:

tw: dieting, self-harm, abuse

A few nights ago, my roommates and I stayed up really late having really deep and emotional discussions about…everything, really.

We differed in a lot of ways on the issues we talked about: one roommate, for example, adamantly declared that she is not a feminist and doesn’t even really support women who use day care; one of my other roommates was on the verge of tears when she told us how she struggles to respect Joseph Smith and the other men who participated in polygamy because they hurt women so much.

But when we started talking about women getting the priesthood (like what is being discussed on this website here or on their facebook page), my most conservative roommate cried as she told us that she doesn’t want the priesthood for any leadership/power reasons, but she wants it more than anything to be able to bless her family and help the people she knows.

I don’t think women getting the priesthood is revolutionary, and I think that more Mormons than we realize would support it. But if the only time that we’re willing to admit it is during private discussions at 2 in the morning, then we won’t make any headway.

please go read this because it’s my favorite and it’s funny