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I am working with a Washington Post reporter, named Michelle Boorstein, who is likely doing an article on what it is like to be a questioning Mormon in 2012. She wants to talk to other people who may work with the site, or have been influenced by it (in a positive way is good). You would probably have to use your real name though. Most reporters require that.
Any takers? If so, text me at 678-260-7931. I will check back here to tomorrow morning. I think she is looking at putting something together ASAP (by end of the week at the latest).
I’ve got too much going on right now. I’ll pass this time around. Sounds interesting though. I’d be happy to talk with her, if I’m the type of member with whom she wants to talk. I’ll text you. I sent her your contact info Ray. Hehe, I think she is going to go to church with me on Sunday. That will be interesting… The missionaries will be all over that. LOL.
I would be willing – if we could work it out time zone wise! Depending on when it would be, the best number to call differs. Ideally, if I were at my office, that would be best: +65.6880.1538 (work)
+65.9168.0942 (cell)
+65.6633.5874 (home)
Let me know.
Cool. I’ll pass along your info Hawk. I’ll tell her to coordinate via your cell number if she wants to contact you. Then you guys can decide what’s best. I’m giving the reporter a half dozen contacts or so. Not sure if or how many people she will contact.
Did you give her Wayfarer? He’s pretty articulate. He is, but I don’t think he is willing to use his real name in a newspaper article. He seems very sensitive to name Google-abilty due to his career. FWIW, I’ve met him a couple times in the real world when he has been in the DC area. He is, like you said, very articulate and has thought deeply about all these issues of how to stay in the Church. He’s a good guy. I’ve worried about my google-ability from time to time, but there are 2 very popular Angela Clayton’s out there who are very google-able ahead of me: one who is a champion for transgender rights in NZ and one who is a psychic. Apparently, I’m not that exciting! I’ve been out of the country, so I didn’t see this message until now. It may be too late, but I sent you a text. We talked this morning for about 45 minutes. I don’t know how much she will quote me, but I think the conversation helped her understand Mormonism a bit better – and to see that nothing we discussed is unique to the LDS Church. She knew that, in general, but I hope the discussion opened up a few thoughts that she hadn’t considered previously. 45 mins – that probably about covered it all then! What’s her angle in the article? Honestly, I’m still not sure. 😳 I think her initial focus was going to be on Mormons who struggle to be able to express their concerns in the LDS Church – how their questioning affects their membership and why. She mentioned the number of members who wouldn’t give their names if they were going to be quoted and how she was struck by that. She also talked about attending church with Brian and observing the general lack of dissenting voices.
I was crystal clear with her about my situation and why I don’t struggle even though I question pretty much everything. (having to accept the fact early in life that I see things differently than everyone else around me and my social capital from not being a threat in any way) She asked about my background, so I gave her a thumbnail sketch. We talked a lot about placing Mormonism into historical perspective. (She mentioned how diverse and tolerant Judaism is, for example, and I pointed out that it wasn’t nearly as diverse and tolerant back in the biblical days when it was being oppressed by various empires – and that Mormonism still is close enough to its times of intense persecution that it’s unrealistic to expect it to be completely out of the woods in that regard.) I mentioned Pres. Uchtdorf and Elder Wirthlin and how there are top leaders who appear to be trying to move the Church toward a more accepting and less fundamentalist orientation, and I stressed the difference between that and what individual members encounter when they have local leadership that has a protect-the-flock mentality and sees danger everywhere. (I used myself and cwald as a prime example of the wide differences in local experiences.) I explained my settler vs. explorer analogy.
I also taught her a new word – “orthoprax” – and talked about how the mainstream actions of members generally can overcome non-aggressive heterodoxy.
We talked for a long time, but I’m not sure how much of what we discussed will make it into the article. We’ll see.
Met with Michelle again this morning before work. She mentioned the new word “orthoprax” Ray 
I think Ray summarized the whole thing pretty good so far. She will be writing the story the next couple of days. It will be about what we do here to help people. It will deal with how it is difficult for Mormons with dissenting ideas to find a comfortable place. She has been really decent in all our conversations, and I think she will do a good job with whatever she writes. She comes across as trying to be sensitive, but also trying to tell a compelling story to the larger world (outside of Mormonism who might not understand all this).
I think she is wrapping up her research and interviewing. She called Cwald, but not sure how much she will use of that either. I pointed her to a couple good threads on the boards and explained the site. I showed her some of the conversations with Candlelight25, who I thought made a good sample story — how we helped him process all his concerns and trials. She really liked some quote from him about feeling alone. It was this
Quote:There are so many struggling members out there drowning in the depths of depression and despair because they don’t know how to navigate this storm. As one voice among the countless others, I know that they need the love and support that we all can offer. I’m doing my best to let my voice be heard, but I can’t do it alone.
She is interested in how this is a grassroots effort by all us volunteers outside of the main channels of the church. She also thought it was interesting when I described the broad world of internet Mormonism as a virtual congregation. She was VERY surprised that nobody in my ward or in the church knows what I do, or that we fill this role.
Quote:She was VERY surprised that nobody in my ward or in the church knows what I do, or that we fill this role.
It’s surprising in a way and not surprising in a way, since the LDS church is all lay clergy, and we also serve missions. We’re quite comfortable volunteering and doing things with little to no oversight, even when not asked! The whole church is pretty much grassroots, despite our hierarchical mindset.
I think Ray’s point about why there aren’t many dissenting voices is interesting. Honestly, I don’t think there are many dissenting voices in other faiths either, but that’s mostly because church is a passive thing in many cases with a guy delivering a sermon or reading something, and people just sitting there listening. I think there’s a lack of dissenting voices for a few reasons:
1 – Converts want to fit in, so they are constantly trying to say and do and wear what the long timers say, do, and wear.
2 – Mormonism teaches that contention is of the devil, so we’re very subtle about disagreement. There are acceptable and unacceptable ways to express it.
3 – People conflate everything hierarchically above them (the bishop, Pres. Monson, the church, the brethren, the scriptures) with God, as if he’s the source of it all. Which is of course ridiculous. That might happen in other churches, too, but it’s just being intellectually lazy, IMO.
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