Today I read an article from CNN about a feminist Mormon who disagrees with the Latter Day Saints' (LDS) stance on women practicing what they refer to as the "priesthood," essentially a volunteer position leading various ceremonies. The LDS, like the other abrahamic religions was extremely patriarchal in its founding, e.g. multiple wives but not multiple husbands, but has softened its stance towards women throughout the years. This feminist, Kate Kelly, has devoted her a year plus to a movement, Ordain Women, to reform her church's most mysoginistic policy, which she considers the church's refusal to grant women the priesthood.
My reaction when I first heard this was to laugh, but then I considered it's greater implications. Generally I scoff at religion as tedious nonsense. It gives people the excuse to act cruel and stupid, all while pretending to be honorable, moral beacons of light. Here though, we have a woman who is truly trying to do the right thing, and the response of her church is (for what they allege to believe) to banish her to an eternity without her family -- Mormons believe that family members of believers go to heaven together, the rest, I suppose, to hell.
So if they truly believe in their message, excommunication is punishment for an eternity, all for making a blog about her beliefs. Well, congrats to the LDS. They just made gave her story national coverage. I hope the whole Mormon world goes to read her site, and consider reforming their church's stance towards women just as they did with polygamy and blacks.
Mormon feminist excommunicated for apostasy
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