Hello again, everyone! As some of you may know, an LDS man by the name of Sam Young recently reportedly launched a "hunger strike" that was effective today to protest the ongoing problems he sees in the way the Church approaches interviews with the youth. KUTV published this story about that hunger strike.
In response to the concerns raised by Sam Young, and having been given a request for comment, Church leadership issued this statement which directly responds to the reason behind the hunger strike, and outlines how local and general Church leadership have responded to the concerns raised by Sam Young.
If I may offer a comment here, while I appreciate Brother Young's expressed concerns, and while I feel the Church's response was appropriate, I disagree that a hunger strike is the best way to go about getting ones' concerns properly resolved. The Church has taken action in recent months to tweak the procedures by which youth and children are interviewed. But this kind of protest, in my opinion, which seems to be attempting to force the Church to take it more seriously, is just as much of an inappropriate response to such concerns as was the vocal protest of the woman during the April 2018 Sustaining of Church Officers who was quoted as yelling repeatedly: "Stop protecting sexual predators."
In the midst of the increasing official statements and policy changes the Church has undertaken to deal with such concerns in the 6.5 months of President Nelson's prophetic administration thus far, it is mind-boggling to me that individuals such as Brother Young and the woman who yelled during General Conference are choosing that approach rather than giving a more careful reading to the material the Church has released on that subject.
If they had bothered to do so, then they would know that Church leaders have been increasingly more concerned about such matters, and have issued statements and materials which are meant to stop such issues before they become a problem. Among those statements that have been issued is a reiteration of the Church's zero-tolerance policy for abuse of any kind from those in a position of trust, who are promptly removed from their positions and are subject to Church disciplinary measures as soon as their conduct is discovered and proven beyond reasonable doubt.
That said, it is important to note that, if such issues are truly concerning to members of the Church anywhere in the world, there is a proper and appropriate way, including going through the correct channels, to get such concerns resolved. And in my opinion, that has not happened in this case. I am grateful to the leaders of the Church for their prompt and measured response, but getting these issues resolved in the way the Lord has prescribed is a lot more effective than taking such drastic measures as a hunger strike or as shouting about the issue in the middle of General Conference.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of new content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Church Issues Statement on Youth Interviews
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.