I responded with a comment to an article that was posted on facebook about the Ordain Women Movement. Since the comment turned out to be quite lengthy, and since I haven't ever taken the time to write down my thoughts on this issue prior to now, I wanted to post my comment here as well so I can easily find and reflect on what I've written and thought in the future. I am sure my thoughts will evolve on the issue. I reserve the right to change my mind!
Here is the article from The Style of Being:
And here's my thoughts about it:
I thought she had some great points. I also thought she seemed
to have a tendency to diminish or dismiss the thoughts and feelings of other
women. Men too, for that matter. I understand snark is the name of her game,
but I think it’s an insulting way to approach an issue that means so much to
many people. I believe her post failed to bring the requisite level of
compassion that is necessary for this topic. Some examples of things I had
problems with:
She accuses some feminists of "telling us what to
think," slyly marginalizing anyone who doesn't think similar to her, then
proceeds with the rest of her post to tell women what to think about the priesthood. “I also believe we need to be true to ourselves…” that’s a
loaded statement just begging to come across as insulting. She says “It’s the
other women who are scrutinizing and patronizing…” and then rants about feminists
seeking a brass nameplate and comparing this issue which is genuinely important
to these women as a mosquito bite, using her personal incredulity as evidence
that it’s not really an issue worth fighting for. She uses her status as part
of the in group to generalize and make sweeping claims about women, that the “priesthood
responsibilities teach men to develop and use skills that women are already
darn good at”, when in fact many women do not feel that is the case. She says “And
God's plan for our progression would be thwarted, because if this was something
we needed to be doing right now, we'd already be doing it…” which seems to go
entirely contrary to the idea of being anxiously engaged and not gliding along
saying all is well in Zion, with a fatal appeal to nature saying that just
because things are the way they are it’s the way they should be. Then she says “Only
God knows how to become like God. So perhaps we should all pay closer attention….”
What does this even mean? It’s a straw man combined with an unfinished appeal
to authority. “The world knows how it feels to have God tell them no and ask
them to follow a better way…” I’m not sure I could think of a better way to
blatantly call those feminists sinners and persuade my audience to dismiss
anything they have to say. And then, after an entire post of accusations and
mockery, she tries to come across empathetic with a few lines about sorely
missing anyone who leaves. I’m not convinced.
I’m not sure whether or not I personally feel that women
should be ordained. I’ve heard many arguments from many different directions,
and I still feel like I don’t know enough facts to really make an opinion. I’m
sure there would be many wonderful consequences if woman had the priesthood,
and there would of course be trade-offs. But I can say I am not comfortable
with some of the inequalities in the church between men and women, and it bugs
me when I hear women use their own anecdotal experience of not feeling unequal
to dismiss others who do.
I do believe that there has been a change in rhetoric about
woman in the priesthood. In October general conference last year, Elder
Anderson admitted that we don’t know why women don’t have the priesthood. Elder
Oaks recently gave a confusing talk about how women have priesthood authority,
but not the priesthood. This seems to be a shift in how the general authorities
approach this issue, which seems to imply to me that there really hasn’t been a
final revelation on the topic. I am certainly glad for all the agitation that people
in and out of the church did to end both racial discrimination and the
priesthood ban for blacks, and I can’t help but think that the agitation back
then helped nudge the apostles and prophets to get a revelation – a revelation
which put the church more on par with the civil rights movement that it had
lagged behind. How am I to not consider the similarities between now and then,
to not consider that our canon is not closed, and to not wonder if maybe the
time is now right for women to have the priesthood? So I’m personally glad that
people like Kate Kelly are doing what they are doing. We need more
conversations like this.
People sometimes say to the OW movement “what if the prophet
met with you and told you no?” I think it’s telling that this hasn’t happened.
I believe they have requested to meet with church leadership 4-5 times and
never got an answer. Part of me wonders if this might be intentional, because
church leadership isn’t entirely convinced that the answer should be no, but
they sure as heck aren’t ready to say yes.
