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I'm getting some good messages in my inbox, & enough of them that I want to answer some things here. In light of Fiona, was I afraid to speak about Heavenly Mother in a church setting, when that was the setting that got her in trouble? Or did it make me want to do it more? Both.
Absolutely both. It's the 1st time I've felt afraid to talk about Heavenly Mother in YEARS. I usually don't feel afraid about it. I think was also nervous that the person I love who asked me to do it could get in trouble too, since the person who asked Fiona also had fallout.
I do still worry, but hope she'll be ok.
For myself, I don't want to be afraid. There is also less the church can do to me. They could discipline me if they wanted to, & maybe one day they will, but they do not give me my paycheck. So now I do want to be even louder.
For myself, I don't want to be afraid. There is also less the church can do to me. They could discipline me if they wanted to, & maybe one day they will, but they do not give me my paycheck. So now I do want to be even louder.
To say things more explicitly that Fiona felt she couldn't. For one: I ALSO THINK HEAVENLY MOTHER IS THE HOLY GHOST. (This @TheExponent magazine article starting at pg 25 convinced me many years ago: http://exponentii.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Fall-2010.pdf.)
And on the question of prayer? Eliza literally named her poem "Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother." SHE SAW IT AS A PRAYER. She directly addresses both of them! "Father, Mother, may I meet thee?" etc.
More on Fiona's particular situation. I knew she had gotten huge pushback from a fireside she gave & learned that it was given to a single's ward, but I did not know until @religiongal's article that it the HARLEM single's ward. I know that ward. I know the bishop, Walter Rane.
& chances are you at least know his work. He painted this famous painting of Joseph & so, so many other ones you would recognize. That's who was released as bishop almost immediately after hosting Fiona on this important topic.
That info also told me something else. I probably knew the Stake President that released him, too. & confirmed that I do. I had been asked to speak on Mormon feminism for a regional Singles Conference in his stake, mostly attended by Ivy league students.
The Stake President insisted on coming to my apartment in New Jersey & interviewing me in my home for FOUR HOURS before he would agree to let me speak at the conference.
This was after Elder Gong (*the* Elder Gong) had personally approved the topic of Mormon feminism.
This was after Elder Gong (*the* Elder Gong) had personally approved the topic of Mormon feminism.
He wasn't an apostle yet, but was the regional GA over the area & had to pass off on everything.
Ultimately was given the stamp of approval by the Stake President to let me speak. It was w/ @EmmaTueller & is still one of the most memorable speaking experiences I've ever had.
Ultimately was given the stamp of approval by the Stake President to let me speak. It was w/ @EmmaTueller & is still one of the most memorable speaking experiences I've ever had.
So it all made sense that it would be THIS guy, who would take so seriously the handbook's call that he personally gets to give authority to allow outside speakers from the Stake & that he'd be so mad if he didn't stamp it.
But as one of the attendees of the special zoom fireside told me, it had been announced every Sunday for 6 weeks. He could have intervened beforehand & didn't. So just SO many feelings on every level.
I love Fiona & am so sad & sick for her, that she was treated so poorly.
I'm so sad for the Harlem ward that they lost their remarkable bishop for hosting a topic that people in his congregation were starving to hear.
I'm so sad for the Harlem ward that they lost their remarkable bishop for hosting a topic that people in his congregation were starving to hear.
I'm sad for the whole church that this carryover fear by a few men in authority had the power to do this.
But this topic of Heavenly Mother is not something that can go back to being quiet. It won't, because I & others won't let it.
But this topic of Heavenly Mother is not something that can go back to being quiet. It won't, because I & others won't let it.
One of the things I ended w/ last night was that there are close to a dozen Instagram pages dedicated to sharing & learning more about HM. They range from sharing GA quotes, to their own poems, to research on the Divine Feminine in scripture & other cultures.
They have 1000s & 1000s of followers, w/ the biggest pages having more than 10,000. More than 10,000 Latter-Day Saints see something in their Instagram every day reminding them to think about their Heavenly Mother, bc they wanted to. Bc they followed. This will not be stopped.
I also knew about Fiona's situation when the terrible Hank Smith days were happening on Twitter, so it made me even more enraged to see the way he treated other religions & his own co-religionists (including his former student) so cruelly & w/o correct knowledge.
I knew she was getting in trouble for GOOD research & that he was not getting trouble for his LACK of research or his lack of kindness.
This is 100% not about me, but knowing it was happening when few others did was very lonely. But I didn't feel like I could talk about it, bc I didn't get the sense that she wanted to blast it out in the way that some others do when they're disciplined. I wanted to respect that.
But I am So glad the info is out now, even though it's sad & bad, bc if Schoolhouse Rock taught me anything as a child, it's that "Knowledge is Power."
p.s. I just got a good correction to my thread from one of the Single's conference organizers. I thought Elder Gong approved my topic of Mormon feminism & Mica Griggs & others' topics of race just BEFORE he became an apostle, but I was wrong. He already was one!
