‘A slap in the face’: LDS Relief Society leaders ordered off the stand

[Gadianton]

I'll admit I have a hard time feeling bad for anybody here. The kind of institution that orders a class of people off the stand is the kind of institution that has stands in the first place. Will it be a huge advancement for women if women are also allowed to be general authorities and help cover up abuse? The whole point of advancing in an organization like the Church is to look down on other people, and people who have been marginalized also have the capability to look down on others if given the chance.

Sure, at any kind of event where people are presenting, there is a stage or a stand where presenters are put in the limelight. But in the Church, the stand is filled with authority figures who have nothing to do with the presentations that day, and are there to be respected for no reason other than they have been appointed by an even higher authority.

If I want to join an EV church I can shop around, and maybe I join a church with a female pastor because I like the way she expounds on the word of God. So she's presenting all the time and running the show, and maybe she's arrogant, who knows, but I'm there because I think she's doing a good job.

As a Mormon, it's against the rules to go to a ward outside my boundaries. If the first counselor thinks he's big stuff sitting up there, he can smirk and hold his head up high and we have no choice in the pews but to respect his authority. It's not our place to speak ill of the Lord's anointed.

The best argument I can think of against what I'm saying here is that by pushing the boundaries, a fifth column element may be able to reform the church into something more respectable, and including women in leadership may be a bug hurdle to jump to get there. And if that's the case, I'm wrong. But like the Republican Party, I just don't see women rising up the ranks unless they distinguish themselves within the party's culture of extremism.

[malkie]

Am I the only person wishing that Peggy had written about the Relief Society sisters being ordered off the Rameumptom?

(and how pathetic am I that after 20 years of inactivity I still remember the name of the "high stand"?)

[Kishkumen]

You’re not fit? But, you looked great in those Potter films?

[malkie]

And who could forget:

[Flemming]

I'll admit I have a hard time feeling bad for anybody here. The kind of institution that orders a class of people off the stand is the kind of institution that has stands in the first place. Will it be a huge advancement for women if women are also allowed to be general authorities and help cover up abuse? The whole point of advancing in an organization like the Church is to look down on other people, and people who have been marginalized also have the capability to look down on others if given the chance.

Sure, at any kind of event where people are presenting, there is a stage or a stand where presenters are put in the limelight. But in the Church, the stand is filled with authority figures who have nothing to do with the presentations that day, and are there to be respected for no reason other than they have been appointed by an even higher authority.

If I want to join an EV church I can shop around, and maybe I join a church with a female pastor because I like the way she expounds on the word of God. So she's presenting all the time and running the show, and maybe she's arrogant, who knows, but I'm there because I think she's doing a good job.

As a Mormon, it's against the rules to go to a ward outside my boundaries. If the first counselor thinks he's big stuff sitting up there, he can smirk and hold his head up high and we have no choice in the pews but to respect his authority. It's not our place to speak ill of the Lord's anointed.

The best argument I can think of against what I'm saying here is that by pushing the boundaries, a fifth column element may be able to reform the church into something more respectable, and including women in leadership may be a bug hurdle to jump to get there. And if that's the case, I'm wrong. But like the Republican Party, I just don't see women rising up the ranks unless they distinguish themselves within the party's culture of extremism.

It starts at the top. As new leaders rise up the ranks, change—slow change—will emerge.

[MetaProf]

I'll admit I have a hard time feeling bad for anybody here. The kind of institution that orders a class of people off the stand is the kind of institution that has stands in the first place. Will it be a huge advancement for women if women are also allowed to be general authorities and help cover up abuse? The whole point of advancing in an organization like the Church is to look down on other people, and people who have been marginalized also have the capability to look down on others if given the chance.

Sure, at any kind of event where people are presenting, there is a stage or a stand where presenters are put in the limelight. But in the Church, the stand is filled with authority figures who have nothing to do with the presentations that day, and are there to be respected for no reason other than they have been appointed by an even higher authority.

If I want to join an EV church I can shop around, and maybe I join a church with a female pastor because I like the way she expounds on the word of God. So she's presenting all the time and running the show, and maybe she's arrogant, who knows, but I'm there because I think she's doing a good job.

As a Mormon, it's against the rules to go to a ward outside my boundaries. If the first counselor thinks he's big stuff sitting up there, he can smirk and hold his head up high and we have no choice in the pews but to respect his authority. It's not our place to speak ill of the Lord's anointed.

The best argument I can think of against what I'm saying here is that by pushing the boundaries, a fifth column element may be able to reform the church into something more respectable, and including women in leadership may be a bug hurdle to jump to get there. And if that's the case, I'm wrong. But like the Republican Party, I just don't see women rising up the ranks unless they distinguish themselves within the party's culture of extremism.

It starts at the top. As new leaders rise up the ranks, change—slow change—will emerge.

[Dr. Sunstoned]

This is the latest in a long line of behaviors that convinces me that TSCC is the modern incarnation of the Pharisees.

[Kishkumen]

And who could forget:

I love that! Never seen it before!

[I Have Questions]

Of course, the problem here is not that the Church enforced its rules, procedures and protocols by insisting female leaders don’t sit on the stand unless they are scheduled to deliver a talk. It’s that local leaders disobeyed the protocols in the first place. It’s more a slap down of local leaders, and the Church is making them put right their error of judgement (in the Church’s eyes).

If the local leaders who took the decision to ask local female leaders to sit on the stand believe in their decision, they should stand down from their calling rather than reverse their decision.

[huckelberry]

This is the latest in a long line of behaviors that convinces me that TSCC is the modern incarnation of the Pharisees.

I find myself unable to find a meaning for the letters TSCC.