Originally Posted By ecdc >>I don't believe that is true.<< You are welcome to not believe it, which is incredibly convenient for you, but it is, in fact, true. Eight year old children scheduled to be baptized tomorrow had their baptism's canceled. For outsiders, you cannot fathom how devastating this is. One child I heard about today has a countdown calendar that he wakes up and crosses off a day until he gets baptized. >>FLDS church. Polygamist families.<< Same thing. This is also not a great policy but at least it's a remnant of Mormonism's paranoia over being perceived as polygamist. It also applies to children who are likely already adults and have *left* polygamy, so it makes sense to confirm that they are serious about not being fundamentalist anymore. >>Families in Muslim countries.<< That's because they can be executed if they're baptized! Josh, you are a better person than this. Seriously. This is beyond indefensible. It is mean. It is cruel. Eight year old children are sobbing today because their baptisms got canceled.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>To allow a minor to join a church where that will be taught that his "parents" are living in sin? That's putting a child in very difficult situation.<< Pretty much every Christian church teaches that all of us are "sinners" of one type or another. And that sin is sin. It's odd (and convenient) to make this specific distinction. Would the church turn away a minor whose parents are alcoholics? Or where dad is having an affair? Or where mom and dad had to steal to get food for the table? Who would Jesus turn away?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan If the LDS church had a blanket policy that no one under the age of 18 can join without parental consent, the argument that they're doing this to avoid "difficult situations" like you mentioned would hold more water. But they don't.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan It's really on LDS members to push back against this sort of thing if they want the church policy to change. But I suspect, like many churches, followers are told to remain in their place, not speak out of turn, not question the wisdom of church leaders. That initial gut reaction was correct, this is a rather unfair thing. But I truly believe the motive is not so pure: It allows the church to keep talking about how the kids of gay couples will be harmed and damaged, without a lot of counter evidence walking around the facility.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Out of all organized religion, it's hard to find a worse one than the Mormons. Now they victimize children. Terrorists, the lot of them.
Originally Posted By ecdc It's worth noting that Josh's response perfectly mirrors those of other Mormons. First, they didn't believe it. Then, they were confused by it. Then, they read or heard something about how it's actually to protect children, and then they steadfastly refused to believe any of the dozens of stories going around about how this hurts people. PROTIP: If you find it easier to believe that dozens of broken-hearted people are inventing stories out of whole cloth just to persecute you rather than believing a large institution could make a callous decision, kindly stop and think about how ridiculous that sounds.
Originally Posted By ecdc A screenshot of the LDS Church Handbook of Instructions for local church leaders. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://imgur.com/EsIrFZC">http://imgur.com/EsIrFZC</a>
Originally Posted By utahjosh "If the LDS church had a blanket policy that no one under the age of 18 can join without parental consent, the argument that they're doing this to avoid "difficult situations" like you mentioned would hold more water. But they don't." We do have this policy.
Originally Posted By utahjosh <A screenshot of the LDS Church Handbook of Instructions for local church leaders. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://imgur.com/EsIrFZC>">http://imgur.com/EsIrFZC></a> As most memes, that is disingenuous. Semantics. That "screenshot" (which doesn't look real to me) is broken down into groups of "serious sins" and "apostasy." They are different groups.
Originally Posted By utahjosh Official response: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/handbook-changes-same-sex-marriages-elder-christofferson">http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/...offerson</a>
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Any Mormon with an independent conscience would have left the organization years ago and then been ashamed to have been affiliated with such garbage. But they just keep finding new ways to humiliate themselves, big and small.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder So what does a Mormon do now when inevitably one of the has a kid who comes home one day and tells them he or she is gay? Do they toss them to the curb? Hide them like a fugitive?
Originally Posted By utahjosh <So what does a Mormon do now when inevitably one of the has a kid who comes home one day and tells them he or she is gay? Do they toss them to the curb? Hide them like a fugitive?> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://mormonsandgays.org/">http://mormonsandgays.org/</a> With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."> "Reaches out to," and supposedly "loves," but doesn't consider them equals. Which is the very essence of condescension. (Which to be fair, is hardly limited to the LDS.)
Originally Posted By ecdc >>We do have this policy.<< This is disingenuous. For years the LDS Church has celebrated people, including and especially children, who attend church and participate in spite of objections from their family. "The Friend," an LDS publication for children, has published articles about children who were baptized and became Mormons over their families' objections. The LDS Church *loves* the people who are Mormon when their families don't like it because it fits snugly with years of the Mormon persecution complex. >>That "screenshot" (which doesn't look real to me)<< Lotta Mormons conveniently saying they don't think something is real, then defending it as if it were real. It's a mobile version of the Handbook that is made available to Bishops and Stake Presidents. >>They are different groups.<< Yes they are, but that doesn't change the thrust of the church's policy at all: people who are guilty of serious crimes are not required to have a church court or be excommunicated; people who enter a same-sex marriage are required to have the court. So the point remains: Mormon priorities are woefully off-base.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters." What crap. "We reach out to them, but we don't let them in the doors of our church nor do we want the little deviants anywhere near our houses. Even if the children aren't gay, we still hold it against them for the sins of their parents."
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Lest anyone think here goes another Mormon bashing extravaganza, if they'd stop with the stupid it wouldn't be an issue.
