Here are brief first impressions of talks from the first day of General Conference, to be updated throughout the day. (more…)

[Originally posted 2 October 2005. Please go to the original to remind yourself what transpired the second day of Conference a year ago.]

Below are one- or two-sentence first impressions of talks from the second day of General Conference, to be which were updated after each session. (more)

[Originally posted 1 October 2005. Please go to the original to remind yourself what transpired the first day of Conference a year ago.]

Below are one- or two-sentence first impressions of talks from the first day of General Conference. (more)

The statement in The Family: A Proclamation to the World that fathers are to “preside” over their families has led to considerable consternation over just what ‘presiding’ means in a marriage of “equal partners”; but thanks to the presence of female office-holders in the Church, it would seem that confusion over the meaning of this term extends into the ecclesiastical sphere as well. Only a Church so heavily rooted in (and therefore so touchy about) top-down prophetic priesthood authority could spawn discussions as to whether Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary presidencies actually preside. This is just one example of the Orwellian contortions that tincture Church discourse and practice from time to time; and while it may be tempting to lament, mock, revile, or resist these as merely serving the interests of the Ministry of Truth, perhaps they should be regarded instead as an acceptable price to pay to retain the unity, stability, security, and historical continuity that only a top-down community can provide in a changing world that demands change. The existence of some path to change can be the silver lining, even if at first glance some things seem to get worse—as some may consider to be the case with the evolving relationships between the female-led auxiliaries and the priesthood hierarchy—before they get better. (more…)

A recent post, born of yet another discussion of women and the priesthood, articulates well a distinction between power and authority. For instance, I for one am not inclined to argue against the proposition that “smokin’ hot sex appeal=power.” However, the I think the following claim requires further examination:

The patriarchalists and the feminists are working for precisely the same goal: both want men to invest more in their children. This, in fact, must be one of the foremost objectives of any society that aims to reproduce itself: men do not instinctively invest very much in their offspring, and somehow they must be persuaded or forced to do so because women are, by and large, unable to provision themselves and their children alone. Patriarchalists propose to do this by giving men more authority; feminists propose to do this by giving women more power. (more…)