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This is a shared values statement that has been recently drafted by a committee of people with the goal of enabling the diverse ecosystem of Mormon-related communities and projects to say affirmatively that in a sense we are all on the same team. It’s a good faith attempt to erase lines and draw a big circle around all of us as Mormons. Just like every other particular community or project that shares these values, StayLDS has its own special mission to fulfill, namely finding ways to stay positively LDS. And yet we all share the desire to call each other sisters and brothers. It seems perhaps that we at StayLDS could support “these shared Mormon values”, maybe even saying out loud in in our introductory materials. And if we have concerns about any of the wording, I feel certain that the good faith desire of other Mormons in our big tent would be to hear our thoughts. Here are the values:
1) We choose to self-identify as Mormons. We claim this identity based on our genealogies, upbringings, beliefs, relationships, and other life experiences.
2) We believe that one can be Mormon or claim a Mormon identity without adhering to the teachings or doctrines of any religious organization.
3) We celebrate the richness of Mormon heritage, teachings, and community in all of its diversity.
4) We seek spaces where we as Mormons can live lives of intellectual and spiritual integrity, individual conscience, and personal dignity.
5) We acknowledge and honor different spiritual paths and modes of religious or non-religious truth-seeking. We respect the convictions of those who subscribe to ideas and beliefs that differ from our own.
6) We recognize the confusion, distress, emotional trauma, and social ostracism that often accompany personal faith crises. We seek constructive ways of helping and supporting those experiencing such crises, regardless of their ultimate decisions regarding church affiliation or activity.
7) We affirm the inherent and equal worth of all human beings. We seek spaces where Mormons (and all people) can interact as equals regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. In this spirit of egalitarianism, we prefer non-authoritarian and non-hierarchical means of organization and affiliation.
This is what Tom posted in response to my request for more info. He posted it publicly, instead of in a PM to me. I’ll chalk that up to a misunderstanding of my request, for now – but I moved it here also, so we can talk about it. My own personal thoughts aside, I am concerned about the wording of #2 and #7 being published here at StayLDS as part of what is a real “recruitment” message for another forum. They simply are too confrontational for me and appear to disparage the LDS Church, although they are carefully worded.
This relates to local social groups for “misfit” Mormons (see below), largely being organized through FaceBook groups for each region, and currently related to being a fan of the Mormon Stories Podcast. To be blunt, some people like written manifestos and written “rules.” It helps them point to a form of social contract and say “see! this is why you have to be nice to other people who show up to these groups.” It’s in the rules
John Dehlin is working on organizing other organizers who will make local social support communities. He is pushing for a REALLY broad tent — basically anyone that has a desire to be Mormon in some way, shape or form. Statement #2 is a response someone formulated to the question of having to belong to the LDS Church specifically. I think the idea is to include really anyone — from inactive LDS, to exmo’s, to even people from other Mormon sects like the Community of Christ, if they wanted to participate.
This will transition to being under the larger banner of the Open Stories Foundation, the non-profit corp. that John uses to hold his projects, which BTW holds the rights to the StayLDS.com domain name, and the copyright to the “How to Stay in the Church …” article so important to our site. Currently these social groups are associated with the Mormon Stories Podcast fans, but it needs to move away from that.
A new label has been selected: “Open Mormon.” Again, like written rules, some people really need labels. The original “open mormon” super-dooper secret forum people agreed to let John’s new folks use this label openly. A week or two ago, there was the first “Open Mormon Conference” in SLC. It was sort of like a Sunstone Symposium of sorts. A big Island of Misfit Toys group hug experience. I did not go, but a lot of people reported positive experiences, and it got some press. Lots of big names were there (John D., Jared Anderson, Carol Lynn Pearson, Joanna Brooks, Dan Wotherspoon, Margaret Toscano, etc. etc. etc. too many names to list).
BIG NEWS: I have recently been voted in on the official corporate Board of Directors for the Open Stories Foundation, along with a few other additional people. This role is not clearly defined in my mind, but I see myself acting in a business advisory role (which I do in real life to earn a living) and as someone who helps run projects (which I already do, like the podcast with Jared and other things).
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IMPORTANT:
I know people here do not want to be associated with an activist movement. I agree with keeping that separate from StayLDS too. I don’t think this community can be as effective it is associated with some reform movement, or anything like that. StayLDS should not be a part of an activist movement.
This site can remain separate from the whole Open Mormon thing!
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But there is really no escaping some of the cross concepts. People who enjoy StayLDS may also very well be attracted to the Open Mormon ideas (attracted to the branding? in marketing terms). StayLDS is explicitly pro-Church though, and does not allow the negativity or tearing down of faith. Open Mormon will tend to allow more negative expression, and caters to a wide range on the faith spectrum. I am very committed to keeping StayLDS the way it is. It is very important to me NOT to lose that focus.
Open Mormon has no forums yet, except in an indirect way through all the MANY Mormon Stories FaceBook fan chat groups, and the regional FaceBook groups.
To be honest, I have not even read that “Shared Values Statement” yet. It has been floating around. I think they read it outloud at the Open Mormon SLC conference. I wasn’t there though. I had not paid much attention to it, until now. I didn’t perceive it as a big deal — just something a few people wanted to have because they like written rules.
Will try to comment more fully when I have more time, but in short, this is coming from Tom’s work with others to define the mission statement of the 2nd Ward of Open Mormons Community. They polled me, and I gave them feedback that in my experience, their forum takes more negative approach to the church, and most discussions are around how to make it comfortable for people to find a group to discuss their problems and dislikes with the church.
My feedback was that it was not a place that was truly “Open” that a faithful member of the church would feel comfortable participating in.
I was also not in favor of their playful way to organize the community as Bishops and counselors to run the site, with threads about “Meet our Bishopric”. I know it was just done in jest and fun, but it didn’t float my boat.
I think we can accommodate natural cross-overs in participation (people and ideas), but not promote alignment in such a way we would become part of any movement.
OK. I stand correct by Heber13. I finally got off my butt and went to go read the Open Mormon Shared Values Statement. It parallels a lot of what Tom posted, but is clearly NOT the same exact document. They have similar ideas, which is what confused me. I wasn’t wrong. That is the “Mormon Stories Shared Values Statement,” exactly word for word. It was just distributed through the regional admins comm network today on FaceBook (a private for people who organize local groups). They read this out loud as part of the Open Mormon Conference in SLC a couple weeks ago.
Well, I was wrong in that I was looking at an earlier permutation of it. I didn’t have the final copy. I guess you could say it was leaked before official release to the leadership, like the recent CHI.
😆 Doubt not Brian
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