August 21, 2012 J. Max Wilson

Echo Chambers, Propaganda, and Agitation for Change in the LDS Church

[I realize that because I am a white Mormon man who holds the priesthood many women may feel that I can’t successfully understand or empathize with their experiences as women.  This article is not intended to invalidate their personal experiences and feelings. It is meant to illustrate a dynamic employed by agitators to promote their causes in the media.]

One side-effect of having LDS church member Mitt Romney as a major contender for the presidency of the United States and the resulting media and public attention it brings is that it emboldens LDS dissidents and agitators to attempt to push for changes in the church. They know that the church is under the microscope right now and they take advantage of the extra attention because they believe that the church’s public relations sensitivities make disciplinary action or push-back less likely. So it is no surprise that we see increased agitation on issues like women’s roles in the church, homosexuality, and financial transparency.

It’s important that people become careful consumers of information and the techniques these groups are using to artificially give their causes the appearance of widespread support, when in reality they often represent a small, interconnected agenda-driven group using blogs and media coordination to build disproportionate buzz and influence to manipulate perceptions. Continue reading →

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June 18, 2012 J. Max Wilson

Declining Sunstone: An Argument Against Bloggernacle Participation By The Faithful

Many of you know that back in 2008 I created  a portal for Mormon Blogs at NothingWavering.org to promote mainstream and orthodox LDS blogs as an alternative to the often questionable, fringe views of the LDS bloggers collectively known as the “Bloggernacle.”

A couple of months ago I was contacted by the organizers of the 2012 Sunstone Symposium and invited to participate in the symposium as part of a panel discussion on the different communities of LDS Bloggers as a representative of the more conservative, orthodox blogging community. Sunstone magazine and the Sunstone symposium, of course, have a well-established reputation for cultivating fringe LDS views long before the advent of blogging.

After considering it, I decided to decline the invitation with an explanation of why I cannot support or participate in either the “bloggernacle” or “Sunstone.” Continue reading →

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April 18, 2012 J. Max Wilson

The Long Promised Day: Why the LDS Church Priesthood Ban is NOT a Hammer for Your Liberal Wedge Issue

Those who disagree with the the LDS Church on certain policies and positions, especially its stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, but also on various other policies that clash with current liberal cultural trends, often cite the Church’s former Priesthood Restriction as a precedent for the church to make further changes to accommodate their views.

In fact, for many of them the Priesthood Ban has become a useful hammer that they employ to drive their agenda. It has become a kind of folklore for heretical members of the church that is used to prop up and justify their agitation for change and rejection of prophetic authority. Continue reading →

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April 9, 2012 J. Max Wilson

Gay and Mormon in the LDS Church and at BYU

Mormon social media over the last week has been buzzing about a forum on the topic of same-gender attraction sponsored by the Sociology department at Brigham Young University and a group called USGA (Understanding Same-Gender Attraction) as well as a series of videos released by the USGA called “It Gets Better… at BYU“.

The USGA is not an officially approved university organization and the words “It Gets Better” are taken from a national, non-LDS organization, the goals of which are not all compatible with the teachings of the church.

I have many friends who have linked approvingly to reports of the forum and the videos on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Like them, I support efforts to help members of the LDS church understand the heavy burdens and loneliness experienced by those members of the church who have same-gender attraction, and to extend their love and support to them. They need to know that God loves them.  They have so much to contribute to their families, their communities, their schools, and the church. They need our love and support.

The “It Gets Better … at BYU” videos are generally positive and the participants are courageous. I have watched most of them. My quibble is that when they say that it is okay to be “gay” they are ambiguous about whether they mean that it is okay to have same-sex attraction or whether they mean that it is okay to act on the attraction and give in to the temptation. Continue reading →

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February 20, 2012 J. Max Wilson

Why Privatizing Marriage is Not the Solution

As the political battles over the definition of marriage have continued over the last few years, I have seen an increasing number of Latter-day Saints who seem to think that Marriage Privatization, often described as “Getting the Government out of the Marriage Business”, is both a good solution and consistent with the LDS Church’s Proclamation on the Family and its desire to preserve traditional marriage.

Privatizing marriage is the idea that the government should only recognize civil unions for both heterosexual and same-sex couples and that marriage would refer only to private religious ceremonies.

But they are wrong. Marriage privatization is not a solution, it is surrender. Continue reading →

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