Sunday in Outer Blogness: Mormon integrity edition!

It’s starting to look more and more like Hillary Clinton has a shot at winning Utah in the upcoming US election!!

I’m really proud of the Mormons for having rejected Donald Trump months ago — as a matter of integrity — rather than supporting him out of expedience or making excuses for his despicable behavior because he’s on the Republican team. This past week there’s been a particularly awesome new development as the CoJCoL-dS has just signaled to its members that it’s OK to vote for Hillary Clinton by running positive pieces about her character and values in the church newspaper, the Deseret News!

She spoke out often about the persecution of religious minorities, even when doing so was politically unpopular. I saw her bring together faith leaders in places ranging from Abuja to Tatarstan and advocate for the principle that people should be able to worship how, where, and what they may.

She is also very familiar with the church. Once, over boiled meat in a Mongolian yurt, we spent an entire evening discussing the gospel, the church’s welfare system, and her visits to church historical sites. Long before that, as a young mother, she adopted the practice of family home evening and credited the church with the idea in her memoirs.

Steve Evans of BCC made some really excellent points about why it’s a good idea to vote for Hillary Clinton:

I view Donald Trump as threatening the rule of law and the peaceful transition of power from administration to administration. He has specifically called upon “the Second Amendment people” to do something about his rival, Hillary Clinton. He has repeatedly suggested that the polls are rigged. He has also repeatedly said that if he loses the election, it would be the result of fraud and rigged voting machines. Trump has hinted that armed insurrection in the face of such a rigged election would be appropriate. That’s such an awful threat to make in America.

Under normal circumstances, it would be sufficient to have Trump lose and disappear back into his reality TV netherworld. But here, the specter of his vote fraud allegations is so problematic that he must not just be defeated, but defeated beyond all margin of possible tainted vote. As a Canadian I like a multi-party system (Sorry, Hugh B. Brown!). But when you’re facing a threatening demagogue you don’t splinter the opposition. Trump must be defeated by a completely undisputable margin. Hence McMullin is not an option despite him being a decent person (if underqualified). Gary Johnson is not an option for many other reasons as well.

Of course it’s not like the Mormon political leaders have become perfect or something:

I am a daughter. A sister. An aunt. Someday, I might be a wife or a mother. But I’m here, on the internet today, to tell you that I am a human being first.

Now, I don’t necessarily blame you for your misconceptions on this point. Not only are your misogynistic notions of my humanity reinforced by the patriarchal structure of US society, but you also belong to a church that teaches that a woman’s power comes from being a wife and mother. It’s easy to see how you might be confused.

Many Mormons who hate both Clinton and Trump will be voting for the Mormon candidate McMullin, but some of the faithful don’t like him either. Then there’s a particularly scary facet of the Mormons’ dilemma: the Mormons who openly welcome armageddon:

While the collapse will be sad, I look forward to it. The signs of the times are screaming at us from all sides, and yet we seem to ignore them (or are afraid to look). It will be the collapse that opens the door for us to start over and build Zion on Constitutional principles.

The fact that someone like Trump would be running as the candidate of the religious seems absurd (until you read the Bible a little).

Naturally, the discussion of the last General Conference continues! If you were wondering why people go to General Conference and vote “opposed”, you can read all about it — straight from the horse’s mouth. One of the interesting theological points raised in conference is the claim that God’s love is conditional.

There were some great discussions of Mormonism this past week! You can’t blame all the bad stuff in Mormonism on “the culture” since Mormon culture is the result of Mormon doctrine. Plus there was rape culture at church, the economics of “baseball baptisms,” challenging the addiction paradigm with regard to pornography, and a defense of the Nauvoo Expositor.

Thinker of Thoughts shared a discussion that he had with a believer about why the talk “Behold Thy Mother” was troubling. And it seems like fewer people are converting to Mormonism.

In life journeys, we have a memory of Mormon boundary problems. Also, delving too far into the church is as likely to lead you out as not being in deeply enough. In personal stories, we have a first-hand account of living in an “eternal polygamy” family.

Sorry for the lateness of this week’s episode. My cousin was visiting, and yesterday was her only full day in Zürich, so naturally I wanted to spend the day with her. But she left this morning, so now I’ve had the fun of reviewing all that’s happened in Mormon news of the past week! Enjoy!