A PR Stunt Done Right

[Mormorrisey]

The last couple of days, the newsroom has come out with a couple of statements that I can totally get behind.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/c ... e-virginia

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8656 ... event.html

Now, lookit. I can see the hypocrisy of all this, from the bigoted crap coming out of Brother Brigham's mouth, the racist priesthood ban, and the "support" of a LGBTQ event with a horrible November policy. I get it; they've hornswaggled me before, and they're not going to get me again.

But to remove any wiggle room from the Bensonite constitutionalists/white culture loonies, the Bundys and purposeful wives that they have the sanction of the church, well, that's pretty big. And if JUST ONE gay kid can go to their parents and say, "see? The church supports this concert, can I go?" And as a result, they feel so much better about their situation that they won't commit suicide and/or might prevent others from doing so, then I say, good for them. About dam time.

Now that I don't judge the church based on its "truthfulness," I just want it to do good, decent things. As much as I can't stand the corporate church and will call it out when it masquerades as a real estate conglomerate, which I've done several times, I will say "good on yer" when it does good things. As it has done here. Hopefully this trend will continue; not entirely confident, but at least it's a start.

[Corsair]

This is an interesting pair of announcements. The statement on the situation in Charlottesville, Virginia seems like an easy win while somewhat ignoring the known, but disavowed statements of certain past prophets.

On the other hand, support for the LGBTQ concert event is a bit of a surprise. I would note that the concert is simply telling people to be nice to each other whether or not they support any heteronormative expectation. If they supported same sex marriage or were explicitly against LDS leaders then I would expect less appreciation from the LDS church.

[Red Ryder]

Church members who promote or pursue a “white culture” or white supremacy agenda are not in harmony with the teachings of the Church.

Says 15 white guys who lead the church and promote a righteous white and delightsome culture.

[Korihor]

Rather surprising and welcomed statements. I pray it's a step in the right direction and not a fluke.

With the immediate clarification statement based on that crazy lady on twitter, we know they are watching Social Media.

I'm sure they'll see the positive attention garnered from the support of the LGBTQ concert. I imagine they;ll try to keep that ball rolling.

[Korihor]

Church members who promote or pursue a “white culture” or white supremacy agenda are not in harmony with the teachings of the Church.

Says 15 white guys who lead the church and promote a righteous white and delightsome culture.

That picture is only 12 guys. Checkmate, you're wrong and the church is true.

[BriansThoughtMirror]

Yeah, I was surprised and pleased by both of these! It seems like they honestly just want to do the right thing here. Very impressive. Granted, the white supremacist stuff is a no brainer. I really think most LDS leadership tries to be moral, and not racist, despite what Brigham and others have done or said in the past. They saw horrific acts, and used their authority to call them out. Well done.

With the concert, I was really expecting some kind of "love the sinner, hate the sin" kind of angle, but instead they basically said, "We love our kids, strait, gay, or other, and we want them to feel loved and safe, so enjoy the concert". Period. I was stunned at how awesome that was.

[Red Ryder]

May I gently remind us that there are two sides of the church mouth. Sometimes they speak at the same time.

[Mormorrisey]

May I gently remind us that there are two sides of the church mouth. Sometimes they speak at the same time.

True enough. And they've been doing it for years. However, given that this organization is going to be in my life for the long haul, I'd rather they try and make some progressive movement from time to time. They might even start to tell Sister M that she needs to love the agnostic in her life, rather than see things like Elder Perry. Even though reading that MormonLeaks meeting, and the section about agnosticism being the most "insidious thing" he knows, tends to show he didn't know WHAT it was. So I continue to naively hope for ANY signs of moderation.

And I have to shamefully admit, I've been following A Purposeful Wife's twitter feed since this came about; I won't give the link to give her any more press, but she essentially threw down an interesting gauntlet, basically saying that this was the church PR department's point of view, and until the FP tells her to not love "her culture," whatever that is, she won't worry about this. And so I thought about this all day; could it be just a rogue liberal programmer coming up with these progressive statements? Could Oaks, Nelson and Bednar stage a coup and overthrow the PR department at some point? I guess we'll only know if tomorrow the church claims that "white culture" is a religious freedom that needs to be protected at all costs.

[Give It Time]

I, too, am glad for these statements. I, too, thought this seemed more out of the PR department. Whatever. These statements are receiving positive response from all sides in my newsfeed. People who know how to smooth ruffled feathers and build bridges all while making the Church look good deserve McDonald's happy meals and an adult sized play area built in their office. Church? PR? Who cares? Good was done.

[moksha]

There is an untold story here.

I imagine it there is a feature length story out there of how some courageous individuals overcame both the odds and the obstacles in obtaining the Church's blessing for this LGBT concert. It would be a bit of a miracle narrative, like silk from a sow's ear. I would like to read it if it is ever written.

If I were to write it in the absence of specific facts, I would have the Brethren visited by the ghosts of Pioneer Day past, present, and future. After the visitations, they awakened joyously on the morning of July 25th and beckoned some street urchin to relay a message to the concert committee that their blessing was given.

[Thoughtful]

May I gently remind us that there are two sides of the church mouth. Sometimes they speak at the same time.

This one has a lot of publicity.

At some point the very public statements distract each other they're skewered publicly. So maybe get the show on the road for real changes because the stakes are higher the more public and controversial they are.

[oliver_denom]

Don't they have a history of doing stuff like this right before they pull an opposite move internally?

I remember they came out in support of anti-discrimination legislation just before the November policy came out. My instinct tells me that if these two statements have tilted the scale in a liberal direction, that there are already forces at work to slam them back the other way.