by Lindsay Hinmon
Recently there’s been a change in church policy, specifically the hiring practices of the Church Education System (CES). I’ll break it down for you. In the old policy if a CES employee got pregnant, she got fired--even if married in the temple. If a CES employee went through a divorce, he/she couldn’t be hired. If the person was hired already, he/she was fired, regardless of the reason or how long ago the marriage ended. However, if one were to volunteer her time, the church had no direct mandate for her love life or procreative choices. The new policy states that women can make their own decisions about work/life balance and divorce is not a disqualifier. I’m just going to say it:
The new policy is fair. The old policy was blatant sexism and discrimination.
From time to time, this happens. The church goes through changes like this one. A policy is created or a practice develops that seems only natural, but time marches on, shedding light on what becomes increasingly recognizable as injustice. Polygamy was once a commandment and is now prohibited. The 1978 revelation extending priesthood to all worthy males was whiplash enough for some to leave the church altogether. For whatever reason it took until 2013 for a woman to offer a prayer in General Conference. Truth is eternal. How that truth gets applied to mortal existence, on the other hand, is another story.
Recently there’s been a change in church policy, specifically the hiring practices of the Church Education System (CES). I’ll break it down for you. In the old policy if a CES employee got pregnant, she got fired--even if married in the temple. If a CES employee went through a divorce, he/she couldn’t be hired. If the person was hired already, he/she was fired, regardless of the reason or how long ago the marriage ended. However, if one were to volunteer her time, the church had no direct mandate for her love life or procreative choices. The new policy states that women can make their own decisions about work/life balance and divorce is not a disqualifier. I’m just going to say it:
The new policy is fair. The old policy was blatant sexism and discrimination.
From time to time, this happens. The church goes through changes like this one. A policy is created or a practice develops that seems only natural, but time marches on, shedding light on what becomes increasingly recognizable as injustice. Polygamy was once a commandment and is now prohibited. The 1978 revelation extending priesthood to all worthy males was whiplash enough for some to leave the church altogether. For whatever reason it took until 2013 for a woman to offer a prayer in General Conference. Truth is eternal. How that truth gets applied to mortal existence, on the other hand, is another story.
Previous to the change in CES hiring practices I would occasionally vocalize my opinions and concerns on this policy that I could not reconcile with my personal experience of a just and loving God. When I would talk about the injustice of firing a woman for following the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, and refusing to hire someone solely based upon marital status I would get mixed responses from my LDS friends. Some would say, “Yeah, you’ve really got a point,” but others would get uncomfortable and say, “I’m sure there is some kind of reason,” ending the conversation before it had begun.
Are you really sure there is a reason? And do you mean, “there is a reason”, or “God wanted it to be that way.”
I’m sure that God loves His children. I’m sure that all things can be learning experiences. I’m sure that this church and the doctrines in it is where I’ll spend my life’s work, but I’m not sure that this policy was what God had in mind, and I’m not sure He wanted us to sit back and accept it--or anything similar--if there was something deep within us saying, “No”.
Generally speaking it has been my observation that we as an LDS people are most comfortable when all the lines are drawn out for us to color within, and I think I know why. I believe God starts us out thinking this way to get us on the right foot. When I was a child I too colored within the lines and painted by number. Now that I am a senior majoring in Art, however, there is a lot more asked of me. I observe the object. I study it, make sense of it visually, work off the experiences I’ve had previously in drawing hundreds of things, and I make my own honest attempt at capturing the essence of an object in charcoal, paint or clay.
My drawings are not black and white. You can’t create form with two tones on a grey scale--especially not the two most extreme tones. It’s through nuance of shadow that we bring an object to life. My world is full of subtlety and the gentle hand of a benevolent God guiding my decisions, helping me know what’s best for me. To me, with His help it’s a no brainer that we shouldn’t discriminate against women for having children, and that divorce is punishment enough in and of itself. I know no one personally that would have created such a policy, but I know many who would, did, and do support this and similar injustices in Mormon culture.
Why?
We fear individuation in the LDS faith. We are afraid to stand out and speak up. We like our coloring book lessons and the ease that comes by going with the flow. The question I have, the question I think we should all have if we are to be truly engaged with the “Stand For Truth and Righteousness” faith we are a part of is this: what do we do when practices and policy of the LDS faith seem off to us? In other words, when did it become appropriate for me to disagree with this policy--internally? Vocally? Vehemently?
Some may say, “Oh, this is all in the past now. Let’s look forward, not back,” but to me it is still relevant because this is not an isolated case. There are other things I feel wrong about in LDS practices and I’ve been taught all my life that God gave me a conscience. He gave me His Spirit with the express purpose of helping me discern right and wrong, and from time to time, I do feel wrong--about policy, about circumstance, about culture. The question is, what do we do about it? How do we find our way to resolution?
I don’t have all the answers to questions like these, but I know they are still worth asking. I know that they make a lot of people uncomfortable, and I’m ok with that. I know they are important to face, and I know they can be reconciled with the help of God. He’s not asking us to stuff it. He’s not telling us to walk it off. He doesn’t want us to pretend we don’t see it and He expects us to act on what we know to be true.
Are you really sure there is a reason? And do you mean, “there is a reason”, or “God wanted it to be that way.”
I’m sure that God loves His children. I’m sure that all things can be learning experiences. I’m sure that this church and the doctrines in it is where I’ll spend my life’s work, but I’m not sure that this policy was what God had in mind, and I’m not sure He wanted us to sit back and accept it--or anything similar--if there was something deep within us saying, “No”.
Generally speaking it has been my observation that we as an LDS people are most comfortable when all the lines are drawn out for us to color within, and I think I know why. I believe God starts us out thinking this way to get us on the right foot. When I was a child I too colored within the lines and painted by number. Now that I am a senior majoring in Art, however, there is a lot more asked of me. I observe the object. I study it, make sense of it visually, work off the experiences I’ve had previously in drawing hundreds of things, and I make my own honest attempt at capturing the essence of an object in charcoal, paint or clay.
My drawings are not black and white. You can’t create form with two tones on a grey scale--especially not the two most extreme tones. It’s through nuance of shadow that we bring an object to life. My world is full of subtlety and the gentle hand of a benevolent God guiding my decisions, helping me know what’s best for me. To me, with His help it’s a no brainer that we shouldn’t discriminate against women for having children, and that divorce is punishment enough in and of itself. I know no one personally that would have created such a policy, but I know many who would, did, and do support this and similar injustices in Mormon culture.
Why?
We fear individuation in the LDS faith. We are afraid to stand out and speak up. We like our coloring book lessons and the ease that comes by going with the flow. The question I have, the question I think we should all have if we are to be truly engaged with the “Stand For Truth and Righteousness” faith we are a part of is this: what do we do when practices and policy of the LDS faith seem off to us? In other words, when did it become appropriate for me to disagree with this policy--internally? Vocally? Vehemently?
Some may say, “Oh, this is all in the past now. Let’s look forward, not back,” but to me it is still relevant because this is not an isolated case. There are other things I feel wrong about in LDS practices and I’ve been taught all my life that God gave me a conscience. He gave me His Spirit with the express purpose of helping me discern right and wrong, and from time to time, I do feel wrong--about policy, about circumstance, about culture. The question is, what do we do about it? How do we find our way to resolution?
I don’t have all the answers to questions like these, but I know they are still worth asking. I know that they make a lot of people uncomfortable, and I’m ok with that. I know they are important to face, and I know they can be reconciled with the help of God. He’s not asking us to stuff it. He’s not telling us to walk it off. He doesn’t want us to pretend we don’t see it and He expects us to act on what we know to be true.