My Faith

I have spent most of my free time today knitting (I'm making another lace shawl), but I thought I would blog for a bit before turning in. Even though experience has taught me that blogging at 11 pm is a good way to add grammatical errors and general incoherence to my writing.

These days, not a week goes by when the LDS Church isn't mentioned in the news. A lot of it is kind of mean. It's giving me flashbacks of being taunted at recess in fifth grade. One would think that journalists from prominent news sources would have a greater level of maturity than your average 11-year-old.

So...I'm a Mormon. I guess you could say I fit pretty firmly in the stereotype, too: middle class, white, stay-at-home mom. Most of my ancestors crossed the plains. I even graduated from BYU. But the picture Carrie Sheffield paints of my faith in this article does not resonate with my experience at all, even though we come from the same background.

"Avoid books and marry?" That's not how I was raised. While marrying and having a family was always a goal, my parents taught me that college was not optional, and that getting a BA was more important than getting an MRS. My dad, especially, gave me a lot of encouragement to have a career in my field. Before my kids were born, my parents twisted my arm to go to grad school.

(Aside: Now that I do have children, however, I stay at home with them, but not because anyone is forcing me or because it's "a woman's place." I have strong convictions about how I want to raise my boys. I believe in the importance of my role in their lives.)

The media is quick to label believing Mormons "sheep," blindly doing what we are told without questioning. For the record, I have questioned. There are a lot of issues that can make or break your testimony - women and the priesthood, polygamy, the Church's stance on gay marriage - but after reading a lot and pondering even more, I have found a nice resolution with each of these issues. In fact,  but I am even in a pretty happy place about them. I am no sheep. I am a Mormon because I want to be one, and because I genuinely believe in the doctrine and in the Church. 

People still like to accuse Mormons of not being Christian. My best friends in high school came from all sorts of backgrounds, but the cruelest and most unkind person I have ever met was one of those born-again Christian types. He treated me like he treated everyone else until he found out I was Mormon. Then came the snide remarks, the accusations of human sacrifice, of all things. "You just don't know what you believe," he'd say if I protested. If he is an example of what it means to be Christian, I want nothing to do with it.

I know that boy isn't a good example of Christianity. You get all types in all religions. There are good Christians and bad Christians, good Muslims and bad Muslims. Good Mormons and bad Mormons. The trouble is, some journalist has a bad experience with Mormonism, publishes it in a prominent newspaper, and suddenly it's national news and people think all Mormons are like that.

I know I shouldn't care what other people think, but I do. Negative media attention hurts. Purposeful misrepresentation of who I am and what I believe hurts a lot. Somehow, no matter how often or for how long you have to put up with it, you never get used to it. It always feels like a slap in the face.