American Only

[Five]

One thing that in particular bothers me about the church now is realizing how American-centric it all is. It's another one of those small problems that prevents me from ever falling back into belief. I just cannot get on board with an organization that claims to be the only true way to God giving revelations that only apply to or focus entirely on one country.

Setting aside how awful and toxic it is to ban members of a certain race from crucial saving ordinances, the fact that such a doctrine excludes great chunks of the population on this planet outside of the United States, shows a lack of foreknowledge on God's part. It's not just the generations of people of color in the US who had to forestall saving ordinances for 130 years. That is also people of color on all the other continents who also didn't get access to those works.

And now, the #givethanks Thanksgiving themed message... What value does this have for those in other countries who don't celebrate this holiday? What about underprivileged countries where people don't have social media or the luxury to post online every day? I think about the failings of the prophet to address the Covid pandemic and to be honest, I was originally thinking about it just in context of the foolish folks in this country who are privileged to have daily masks and can social distance, or access to good health support(compared to a lot of other places) if they get infected, or at the very least, tests to see if they have it or not. What about other countries with higher death rates? What about countries without all of these wonderful things? The message from their prophet that their God wants them to hear: be grateful. Show your gratitude in the invisible virtual world and do it for a whole week until this American holiday.

I just can't believe in a God who would neglect 90% of the planet in favor of one of the most privileged and wealthiest places on Earth. He restored the gospel here and the Book of Mormon stories are set here. The church headquarters are here. The Garden of Eden was even here. It's just troubling.

[Hagoth]

Thanksgiving is that day when we joyfully reminisce about sitting down for a peaceful meal with the Natives of this land shortly before their removal and genocide. The church continues this tradition by flooding the earth with a scripture that holds racism as its central theme, despite the apologetic candy coatings.

And let's not forget the ongoing reminders to members in other lands that they are expected to abandon their culture for the culture of The Corner of South Temple & State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[deacon blues]

The founder of Mormonism did not have a broad world view. He grew up in a society that believe in American exceptionalism, Fundamental Christianity, folk magic, and ancient American civilizations, among other things. If he really had a vision of world history it was narrow rather than panoramic. It included wars and politics, but not utopias. (4th Nephi is too short, the Enoch chapters not much longer.) His vision tells of migrations and settlements, but relatively little of the details of intricate societies, complicated interpersonal relationships, or comprehensive religious customs. (Compare the BOM with Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy.) How much can a prophet learn from a vision that probably lasted one night at the most? No wonder Mormonism still reflects that narrow world view.