This weekend I went to an amazing YSA conference. On Friday night we had a barn dance including square dancing. Then Saturday morning we did service projects. That was the one place where they could have organized better. I was in a group that went and helped out at a temporary shelter. I got to sort some stuff and clean and organize the laundry room. I also worked on weeding, especially in the sidewalk cracks.
Our initial plan was to rake leaves, but we thought they had rakes and they thought we would bring some. Among many things I learned is that to do a good service project you have to put in lots of prep time. It is all the harder with YSA conferences where people often decide to come at the last moment. Then conference was not even publicized until the middle of October.
Although we could have probably done more if we had come with better resources, there were multiple service projects, one involved distributing coats, and one involved going to a nursing home and visiting the residents, and there were a few others. We definantly avoided one of the most common problems I have seen with service projects, having too many people to do what needs to be done. You can get an aura of a good service project, because if you focus you can appear to be doing more, however the way they did this, with less focus involved us actually doing more good. I have never been as fully impressed as I was on Saturday morning that even small acts of service are good, and that it often takes a lot of background work to get things done.
Another thing I realized is you may have to start with a small project, but if you do it well, the people will trust you more in the future.
In the afternoon we went on a cruise in the boat, The Michigan Princess. We held a dance. Some of the girls wore very formal dresses and it was quite impressive. We also had wonderful food. The Grand River has too many low bridges to make it very far, but it is quite a beautiful river.
In the evening we listened to President Brian Ritchie speak. He gave a talk about following the Lord and also explained how the Lord's system of Zion is that we care about others more than ourselves and we make no poor by networking everybody to success.
It is a far cry from those I have known who saw networking as the alternative of developing friendships.
On Sunday morning we had sacrament meeting. We went extra long, had lots of speakers including Brother Robison, the father of the Bishop of the Lansing University Ward. The Elder Brother Robison was president of the Lansing Stake, an area authority seventy and President of the Spain Malaga Mission.
I met lots of new people and it was a truly wonderful conference.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Glory Days in Russia
It has been a while since I posted on here. I probably should have done it more often.
In contrast to that, I will make at least two if not three posts today.
I was reading about the recent tour of the Moscow and Samarra Missions in Russia by Russell M. Nelson. This is a touching story for many reasons.
Elder Nelson worked closely on getting the Church into Russia as well as other countries in Eastern Europe. When President Monson was called to the First Presidency in 1985 Elder Nelson picked up where he had left off in opening up East Germany, Hungary and other countries.
Elder Nelson and Elder Ringger met with the leaders of most of these countries. Then in 1991 Russell M. Nelson, Jr. was called to serve a mission in Russia. The connection would not be so strong if he was not Elder Nelson's only son, and as yhe youngest of ten children, and a good bit younger than his next older sister, and being very close to the first called and being among the first missionaries in Nizny Novgorod and Voronezh, both cities Elder Nelson visited on his tour, it seems that this was part of the Lord's plan in the matter.
I was especially touched by this in reading about how in Nizny Novgorod Elder Nelson told the people he wished he could take a picture to show to his son so he could see how things had moved so far forward.
In contrast to that, I will make at least two if not three posts today.
I was reading about the recent tour of the Moscow and Samarra Missions in Russia by Russell M. Nelson. This is a touching story for many reasons.
Elder Nelson worked closely on getting the Church into Russia as well as other countries in Eastern Europe. When President Monson was called to the First Presidency in 1985 Elder Nelson picked up where he had left off in opening up East Germany, Hungary and other countries.
Elder Nelson and Elder Ringger met with the leaders of most of these countries. Then in 1991 Russell M. Nelson, Jr. was called to serve a mission in Russia. The connection would not be so strong if he was not Elder Nelson's only son, and as yhe youngest of ten children, and a good bit younger than his next older sister, and being very close to the first called and being among the first missionaries in Nizny Novgorod and Voronezh, both cities Elder Nelson visited on his tour, it seems that this was part of the Lord's plan in the matter.
I was especially touched by this in reading about how in Nizny Novgorod Elder Nelson told the people he wished he could take a picture to show to his son so he could see how things had moved so far forward.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Driving Religion out of Public
Elder Oaks spoke of the threat of attempts to remove religion from the public sphere. In reaction some have claimed this does not happen. They clearly do not look broadly enough.
Every year since 1945 there has been a display of the nativity scene on the median in Mound Road close to St. Anne's Church just north of Chicago Road in the north end of Warren, Michigan.
Last year the Macomb County Raod Commission told them to take it down arguing that religios displays are not allowed on public land. The very fact that they are trying to exclude the display on the grounds of it being religios is a clear violation of the 1st Admendment. The Thomas Moore Law Center has now filed a suit on behalf of Mr. Sabawa, the man who puts up the display (it was his father who built it back in 1945) to force the County Road Commission to allow it. There is clearly a war to exclude religion from the public sphere.
Every year since 1945 there has been a display of the nativity scene on the median in Mound Road close to St. Anne's Church just north of Chicago Road in the north end of Warren, Michigan.
Last year the Macomb County Raod Commission told them to take it down arguing that religios displays are not allowed on public land. The very fact that they are trying to exclude the display on the grounds of it being religios is a clear violation of the 1st Admendment. The Thomas Moore Law Center has now filed a suit on behalf of Mr. Sabawa, the man who puts up the display (it was his father who built it back in 1945) to force the County Road Commission to allow it. There is clearly a war to exclude religion from the public sphere.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Racism and stupidity
For those who did not see my brothers link, here is an article about a racist judge in Louisiana. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/16/louisiana-bardwell-interracial-marriage-licence .
It is people like this who justify us in calling people like Maxine Waters who has attacked Ward Connely for being married to a white woman as racist.
What other logic could this guy use. Let us see, since Mormons are a smaller minority in Louisiana than children with one black and one white parent, and they at least in northern Louisiana are hated by most people, should this guy exclude Mormons from marrying at all?
Beyond this, if he thinks refusing people a marriage license will keep them from having kids, he is truly out of touch.
I might also cite a great group of black men with white wives, from Clarence Thomas to Jesse Thomas and from Thurl Bailey to Alex Boye. Then there is Larry Caulford, the well praised hometeacher of one of our speakers at my ward yesterday. Brother Caulfor was originally the wife's hometeacher, the man who was our speaker was not a member, but due to Brother Caulford's dilligence and boldness, the man who spoke to us met with the missionaries and got baptized. Brother Caulford is of European descent, but his wife is an African-American.
Of course, some of the most self-assured liberals I have known, such as Adrienne Allard, my high school quiz bowl coach who despised Rush Limbaugh, have also been ardent opponants of inter-racial marriage. She may have seen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but her thought processes were still those of the girls parents at the start of the movie.
The fact that this man was fired for his actions is encoraging. The fact that this was his apparently his fourth denial of marriage is disturbing, and the fact that he was doing it in Louisiana, a state with a long history of inter-racial mingling, even if they often made such unions illegal, the state that produced Mr. Plessy who had to turn himself in for violating the railroad segregation laws because he only had 1/8th African-Ancestry and looked to be a man of European descent so well, that if his goal had been to benefit from the better services in the "white" cars, he could have done it.
It is people like this who justify us in calling people like Maxine Waters who has attacked Ward Connely for being married to a white woman as racist.
What other logic could this guy use. Let us see, since Mormons are a smaller minority in Louisiana than children with one black and one white parent, and they at least in northern Louisiana are hated by most people, should this guy exclude Mormons from marrying at all?
Beyond this, if he thinks refusing people a marriage license will keep them from having kids, he is truly out of touch.
I might also cite a great group of black men with white wives, from Clarence Thomas to Jesse Thomas and from Thurl Bailey to Alex Boye. Then there is Larry Caulford, the well praised hometeacher of one of our speakers at my ward yesterday. Brother Caulfor was originally the wife's hometeacher, the man who was our speaker was not a member, but due to Brother Caulford's dilligence and boldness, the man who spoke to us met with the missionaries and got baptized. Brother Caulford is of European descent, but his wife is an African-American.
Of course, some of the most self-assured liberals I have known, such as Adrienne Allard, my high school quiz bowl coach who despised Rush Limbaugh, have also been ardent opponants of inter-racial marriage. She may have seen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but her thought processes were still those of the girls parents at the start of the movie.
The fact that this man was fired for his actions is encoraging. The fact that this was his apparently his fourth denial of marriage is disturbing, and the fact that he was doing it in Louisiana, a state with a long history of inter-racial mingling, even if they often made such unions illegal, the state that produced Mr. Plessy who had to turn himself in for violating the railroad segregation laws because he only had 1/8th African-Ancestry and looked to be a man of European descent so well, that if his goal had been to benefit from the better services in the "white" cars, he could have done it.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Elder Oaks defending Reigious Freedom
Elder Oaks gave a wonderful talk on religious freedom at BYU-Idaho today. For those who know about Employment Division v Smith, he implied that was a false decision. This is not at all surprising, although he never said that outright, but he presented a view of religious freedom at variance with that decision.
He brought up the attack on the Church after Prop-8 was passed and said some things that are so like what I have been thinking, but so much better put, I decided to provide a quote.
"It is important to note that while this aggressive intimidation in connection with the Proposition 8 election was primarily directed at religious persons and symbols, it was not anti-religious as such. These incidents were expressions of outrage against those who disagreed with the gay-rights position and had prevailed in a public contest. As such, these incidents of “violence and intimidation” are not so much anti-religious as anti-democratic. In their effect they are like the well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation."
What else could be used to describe things like launching a boycott on a business to force them to fire an employee, especially when the actions that caused the hate towards the employee were the result of that person following the counsel of their religious leaders.
Religious leaders have a full right to speak on any political issue. This was upheld by a court in New York which defended the right of Rabbis to urge Jews to vote a certain way (although, if I remember corretly the Rabbis in question were actually just urging Jews to vote, they did not say how they should vote).
You can find the full text of Elder Oaks talk at the Church website. I really liked his long mention to Mongolia, but I was unable to find with a quick search any more information on the issues.
He brought up the attack on the Church after Prop-8 was passed and said some things that are so like what I have been thinking, but so much better put, I decided to provide a quote.
"It is important to note that while this aggressive intimidation in connection with the Proposition 8 election was primarily directed at religious persons and symbols, it was not anti-religious as such. These incidents were expressions of outrage against those who disagreed with the gay-rights position and had prevailed in a public contest. As such, these incidents of “violence and intimidation” are not so much anti-religious as anti-democratic. In their effect they are like the well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation."
What else could be used to describe things like launching a boycott on a business to force them to fire an employee, especially when the actions that caused the hate towards the employee were the result of that person following the counsel of their religious leaders.
Religious leaders have a full right to speak on any political issue. This was upheld by a court in New York which defended the right of Rabbis to urge Jews to vote a certain way (although, if I remember corretly the Rabbis in question were actually just urging Jews to vote, they did not say how they should vote).
You can find the full text of Elder Oaks talk at the Church website. I really liked his long mention to Mongolia, but I was unable to find with a quick search any more information on the issues.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Mr. Mitchell revisited
Some people try to claim that Brian David Mitchell and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping is a case that brings up issues unique to Utah.
However, these people never bother to wiegh in on whether he should have been excommunicated by the Church. Since these people tend to be those who shout things like "Excommuncation is a violent act" and to claim it somehow denies peoples "free agency", to be consistent they should louadly protest the Church for having excommunicated him and gripe that the Church ferreted out the secret fundementalists networks in the Salt Lake stake he was in to what extent they did.
However, ferreting out fundamentalists networks is one thing that at times requires aid to stake presidents from those higher up, and such things are constantly denounced by the Libertine Mormons. That even is not a good name, but these people believe in liberty from the priesthood, liberty from direction by Jesus Christ through his prophets, and liberty from any limits to doctrinal orthodoxy.
So the actual result of my assessment of Brian David Mitchell is that the only possible fault by the Church was not excommunicating him sooner, not making his bizarre views, including his desire to have multiple wives more public and letting him be anonymous. Of course, doing more against him would have been uncalled for, and you can not punish people for crimes they have not done, so I really do not think different actions towards Mitchell would be called for.
If we had open lists of excommunicated people it would probably contribute more to feelings of animosity in Utah. Yet, it is the Church's failure to openly urge its members to shun in everyway polygamists, the Church's failure to set up autos-de-fe and burn polygamists at the stake or at least throw them in dungeons, that leads to our enemies being able to claim we are too lenient on polygamists.
Some how the fact that Utah is the only state that has managed to convict Warren Jeffs of any crime does not prevent it from being accused of being too lenient on polygamists by residents of New York where there has never been any attempt at all to prosecute men for marrying second wives who are 15 when they are 35.
However, these people never bother to wiegh in on whether he should have been excommunicated by the Church. Since these people tend to be those who shout things like "Excommuncation is a violent act" and to claim it somehow denies peoples "free agency", to be consistent they should louadly protest the Church for having excommunicated him and gripe that the Church ferreted out the secret fundementalists networks in the Salt Lake stake he was in to what extent they did.
However, ferreting out fundamentalists networks is one thing that at times requires aid to stake presidents from those higher up, and such things are constantly denounced by the Libertine Mormons. That even is not a good name, but these people believe in liberty from the priesthood, liberty from direction by Jesus Christ through his prophets, and liberty from any limits to doctrinal orthodoxy.
So the actual result of my assessment of Brian David Mitchell is that the only possible fault by the Church was not excommunicating him sooner, not making his bizarre views, including his desire to have multiple wives more public and letting him be anonymous. Of course, doing more against him would have been uncalled for, and you can not punish people for crimes they have not done, so I really do not think different actions towards Mitchell would be called for.
If we had open lists of excommunicated people it would probably contribute more to feelings of animosity in Utah. Yet, it is the Church's failure to openly urge its members to shun in everyway polygamists, the Church's failure to set up autos-de-fe and burn polygamists at the stake or at least throw them in dungeons, that leads to our enemies being able to claim we are too lenient on polygamists.
Some how the fact that Utah is the only state that has managed to convict Warren Jeffs of any crime does not prevent it from being accused of being too lenient on polygamists by residents of New York where there has never been any attempt at all to prosecute men for marrying second wives who are 15 when they are 35.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Defending Judge Kimball
This is a post in reaction to unsound gripes against Judge Dale A. Kimball of the Utah Federal District Court.
To Robert S,
In some ways I fear this will not get posted because it is too late, however I will post it on my blog then.
You are being highly unfair to Judge Kimball. There was not a federal indictment until March 5, 2008. That was because of federal prosecutorial decisions on convening grand juries. In fact, as far as I can tell the first interaction of Judge Kimball with this case was reported by the Deseret News on September 1, 2009. Before that other people were involved with it.
To Robert S,
In some ways I fear this will not get posted because it is too late, however I will post it on my blog then.
You are being highly unfair to Judge Kimball. There was not a federal indictment until March 5, 2008. That was because of federal prosecutorial decisions on convening grand juries. In fact, as far as I can tell the first interaction of Judge Kimball with this case was reported by the Deseret News on September 1, 2009. Before that other people were involved with it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
