Why Lack of Discussion Leads to Disaffection

[Anonymous]

Quote:

What does this have to do with disagreements at church? A lot. We can’t avoid catastrophic events. We can only increase our ability to weather them by reducing their impacts should they happen. And the starting point is determining that a system or organization is fragile. Peaceful systems that appear to be free of conflict are the most fragile there are. Human beings should have conflicting viewpoints; ideological clashes are normal. Lack of disagreement is most often a sign of repression or disengagement. The most tightly controlled, predictable environments are the most fragile. And I don’t know about you, but the Gospel Doctrine classes I’ve been attending are pretty doggone predictable, and thanks to correlation–very controlled. Since the inception of the bloggernacle I’ve heard (and experienced firsthand) that teachers who use non-correlated materials or ask too many off-script questions are often removed from teaching assignments. We prefer to ask the same questions and get the same answers, over and over, every 4 years, lather, rinse, repeat. It’s not always like that; some wards are better than others at bringing questions to the surface, but the correlated curriculum is particularly designed to ask the questions it wants answered, not the questions people might ask in a more direct engagement with the text. And when we suppress that engagement, we are creating fragility.

This quote above makes sense to me. If I can draw an analogy to business. One theory of international competitiveness asserts that government should encourage stiff competition at home. This competition, and admittedly chaotic situation, produces lean, mean, companies capable of whipping competitors abroad. Countries that invoke protectionist policies — blocking out foreign competition, tarriffs, subsidies, create lazy, fat companies who go out of business when stiff competition finally makes it across the border.

Same is true with conflict at church. If we are open about the warts of our leaders, the imperfection of the church, the inconsistencies in doctrine, then yes, there will be some fall out, but those who remain will be resilient. I am not sure what is best. The black and white, anesthesia of correlation seems to retain a lot of people, but there are so many that can’t speak out, and seek answers elsewhere. I know that my own disaffection was a result of bad church leaders. Terrible church leaders who did not live up to the Godlike status we give them at church. It makes for a pretty big pedestal to fall off when it becomes clear they are not much different than business managers.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this thread and discussion. I can’t stand going to Sunday School and ditch out at every opportunity. After all, I’ve heard it all at least twice. I’m afraid I’m starting to cut up a bit more in HPG as well. I think back and forth pushing is essential to life and consciousness. Thanks again for the thread.

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