My favorite thing about when churches change their minds, even slightly, on the subject of church teachings or sin or whatever else, they always move immediately into this “We have always been at war with Eastasia” stance, where the new definition of sin is, of course, timeless and eternal and revealed by the almighty Wizard God, and certainly not subject to the whims of the man behind the curtain, etc. It’s all so arbitrary.
So anyway, apparently the Mormon church now probably feels that their old guidelines on gayness were hurting their bottom line financially, so they’re tinkering a bit with the Revealed Eternal Truths to try to appear a little bit nicer. Don’t be shocked or anything, though — it’s not like they’re recognizing gay peoples’ dignity or anything:
Changes to LDS Church policy on homosexuality will be presented to LDS lay clerical leaders worldwide this Saturday, November 13.
The changes are being introduced through a global leadership training satellite broadcast for the release of the newly revised Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI), a 400-page lay priesthood manual reserved for use by LDS Church members in local and regional lay leadership positions.
Multiple advance copies of the CHI leaked on the internet reveal significant changes to Church policy on homosexuality.
Basically, here’s what’s changed: You’re no longer a hellbound sinner just for thinking gay thoughts, and they’ve decreed that if you are one of those homosexual thought-havers, but you promise to live under the authoritarian thumb of the church and never seek personal fulfillment, they will let you have all the perks of being a Mormon, which, from what I’ve heard, is quite a goodie bag!
Anyway, I don’t see that the fundamental message has changed. If you’re a gay person of integrity and love, you’re still unwelcome in the LDS church.
Well to be hones it’s not that you are not welcomed at the LDS church. They just call it Same Sex Attraction and they don’t want you to act on it. Much like the Catholic doctrine from the Pope.
That’s not “welcome” in any sense of the word.
If they said something like “Ok, you can marry whom you want but you can’t have sex outside of marriage”, would that be fine for you?
With the Mormon Organization (aka Morg), it is ultimately always about the tithe. I am sure that they want their 10% cut from gay Mormons, but I don’t think that is driving the concern.
Non-gay family members of the gay Mormon who is mistreated by the Morg are probably expressing their disgust with the Morg more openly and stopping their contributions (or at least the Morg fears this). Therefore, the Morg has tried to make some changes, not for the benefit of the gay Mormon, but to paint themselves as less mean and more deserving of continuing to recieve tithes.
It might be temporarily successful is slowing the loss of tithes over this issue, but in the long run, it won’t make much difference, as gay Mormons and their families become more alienated from the Morg.
honestly, do you guys really think the mormon church shapes its policies in order to get more tithes from members? no offense, but that just seems like a silly accusation against a nonprofit church with a nonpaid clergy. plus, doesn’t the mormon church spend millions on charitable causes? doesn’t quite fit the mold for a money-hungry organization.
I think you meant to put quotation marks around “nonprofit.”
Actually, mac, the Morg spends almost nothing on charity compared to the billions that they bring in from tithes. They are spending more on their shopping mall/ condo complex in Salt Lake City than they have ever spent on charity. All of their missionary work is in order to convert people to the Morg, not to provide medical or other services as many other religious groups do.
One will not get a temple recommend or be considered a good Mormon if their tithe isn’t paid up. I am not aware of any other major religion that puts such an enormous emphasis on tithes. You say that it is silly to describe the Morg as money grubbing. However, their actions would make it seem silly to describe them as anything other than money grubbing. And money issues go all the way back to the founder of the Morg.
Nonpaid clergy, huh. It isn’t at all clear that high ranking members of the Morg and their families aren’t compensated richly in ways that might legally (or at least appear to legally) qualify as nonpaid.
Oh, and where are those financial statements that the Morg puts out detailing their income and expenses… oh, that’s right, they don’t exist. The Canadian ones indicate very tiny amounts of money going to charity.
For a real eye opening about money and the Morg (as well as any other issue you can imagine related to the Morg), I suggest checking out exmormon.org
[...] Mormon Church Tinkering With What Is And Is Not a Sin, Re: Gayness. Read more [...]
“honestly, do you guys really think the mormon church shapes its policies in order to get more tithes from members?”
Ummmm YEAH…money and more money is what churches and religions are all about. They are big businesses that push fantasies and fairy tales and Bronze Age myths. So what if they contribute to charitable causes? Their underlying hate and obvious authoritarianism negate any good they do. It is easy for them to hide behind how wonderful they are with their “charitable work” while striving to destroy millions of LGBT Americans…it’s a smokescreen.
The mormon church contributes to charities for the same reason Mcdonalds does, so it can put up a facade of being “good”. Just like Mcdonalds they pay a tiny fraction of their income to charities and do it solely as a form of advertising to promote their business and rake in far more income in return then they put out for the charity/advertising.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they are spending more on their “I’m a Mormon” TV campaign, than they are contributing to legitimately charitable causes.
You’re allowed to be hungry without getting openly condemned by LDSinc, but you still can’t eat. Wow, what progress.
Mac, besides their fancy “temples”, they spend money on propositions like Prop H8 and geting the rights of GLBT Americans voted away as they were in Maine. THAT is what these people spend money on.