Misperception in Labeling

[silverslider]

I had a fabulous lunch meeting today with a guy from another agency who cold-called me after reading the article that featured me on the front page of the Washington Post on Aug 7. He's a Lean/Six Sigma Master Black Belt and we chatted about process improvement and our respective work (his is doing process improvement and training people on how to

Comments

[the_jackalope]

Yes. You've articulated it beautifully. Because it really does bother me that thanks to Church leaders and many LDS members people assume the default is Mormon=homophobic.

And it bothers me so much more the the assumption that Mormon=conservative, because one is just my political beliefs but the other says something about me as a human being.

[silverslider]

And it bothers me so much more than the assumption that Mormon=conservative, because one is just my political beliefs but the other says something about me as a human being.

This is also very well said. People of good character and even similar values may yet disagree on policy, each with good reasons. As such, policy is a poor definition of who we are.

Character itself, however, is the very essence of who we are.

[adamcaudle]

What exactly do you think that moral leaders, such as the Church leaders, as supposed to do about homosexuality? They believe (as do I), that homosexuality and other sexual sins are the most serious sins, apart from murder, that a person can commit. And from the anecdotal evidence that I've seen, it is now a greater problem among Church members than adultery and other sexual sins. What exactly do you recommend that they do to stand up and fight against these incredibly destructive behaviors in a world that wants to tolerate, accommodate and promote these sins? Isn't it their duty and obligation as apostles and prophets to proclaim very loudly that these behaviors are wrong and should not be accommodated? We shouldn't discriminate against homosexuals for employment and other areas where it doesn't matter so much. But on moral issues that have a profound effect on the eternal destiny of God's children, such as what we believe a family is and ought to be, how can we sit idly by, or worse, promote such behavior, and not speak out

[adamcaudle]

And, incidentally, I've had this "gay marriage" conversation with numerous gay friends of mine. When it came up, I explain that it is my sincere religious and moral belief that homosexuality is wrong and that I do not support gay marriage for those reasons. I usually admit that they have strong legal arguments, but that my moral beliefs must trump my legal analysis. And so far, no one has ever seemed offended or unwilling to continue our friendship because of this. So I'm not sure what you mean by the "800 pound gorilla" b/c I've never felt like it was an issue that I couldn't discuss respectfully and freely. I don't go around issue moral condemnations gratuitously, but when it comes up I've never felt like I couldn't express my moral beliefs in a respectful way that made it perfectly clear what I believe.

dogma and politics

[adamcaudle]

As always Spencer, you write a post that raises a lot of interesting issues. And if you don't mind answering, I'd love to hear what your opinion on a few of them are. And please don't take them as an attack of any sort b/c you know that I respect you and your opinion, which is why I'm asking in the first place. Thanks for your thoughts

Re: dogma and politics

[silverslider]

Hi Adam