Patrick Mason lays it all out on the table

[Anonymous]

Ann wrote:

I wouldn’t describe the Gospel Topics essays as “excellent.” I wouldn’t expect someone like Mason to say that ordination for women is “off the table.” I think he continues, even now, to blame the doubter a bit more that doubters and leavers deserve. But, my goodness, if we could get some of his thoughts past correlation and into print in some official church settings. It needs to happen.

I totally agree with you on this point, Ann. There could be sources that take things more seriously and have discussions and thoughts about it, not dismiss everything that is not white as “it therefore must be black and dismissed/ignored”.

Let’s talk about stuff with people. It needs to happen.

[Anonymous]

I liked the transcript. I would say this was one of my favorite quotes in it:

Quote:

It is our responsibility, in our church callings but also as parents and siblings and friends, to create the conditions in which people can feel comfortable working through their questions and doubts in the midst of the body of Christ rather than feeling excluded from it. I believe that a more embracing Mormonism may be the most important factor in helping people more fully embrace Mormonism. I recently read about certain members of a ward who refused to take the sacrament from a young man who had come out as gay but who was declared worthy by his bishop. That is not an embracing Mormonism.

This speaks to me. I’m not on a mission to change the church. I’m not on a mission to change my ward. I consider myself a member of my ward and therefore feel a need to voice these sentiments. Part of my journey is to stay and be who I am. I want to make it a place I can be embraced, and embrace others.

So far, I find this can be done in my current ward and situation.

Mormons can have different stripes. Especially as I focus on loving others as God loves them. For my soul, and maybe for others, I have more overlap with members of my ward in belief than I have no overlap. So much of it is semantics and language and internal peace.

I have hope for church.

[Anonymous]

DarkJedi wrote:

tblue wrote:

Ann wrote:

I wonder if his FAIR talk included sentiments that Deseret Book wouldn’t tolerate for “Planted.” That’s their prerogative, but the book doesn’t resonant quite strongly enough with people struggling and leaving. This could be a real turning point.

Deseret Books does carry “Planted’, but I could be misunderstanding your post.

https://deseretbook.com/p/planted-belief-and-belonging-in-an-age-of-doubt?variant_id=126475-paperback” class=”bbcode_url”>https://deseretbook.com/p/planted-belief-and-belonging-in-an-age-of-doubt?variant_id=126475-paperback

I think what Ann is trying to say is that Deseret Book is the publisher of Planted and as such has editorial oversight. Therefore, Mason may not have been able to say the things he said at FAIR in the book because his DB editor wouldn’t allow it.

Thanks, DarkJedi, for correcting my misread of Ann’s post – and for the info in how Deseret ‘oversight’ may affect publications.

[Author]

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