I, for one, proudly and absolutely unapologetically prioritize standing against the oppression and abuse of minorities, women, and the poor. I have relationships with victims of abuse who already feel marginalized and devalued in the Church, and seeing the choir further marginalize them in the interest of celebrating democracy, maintaining tradition, or not appearing partisan has been especially dehumanizing. Donald Trump is a self-described unrepentant sexual predator who has repeatedly asserted intentions to facilitate grotesquely racist, sexist, xenophobic, and generally hateful, violent, and destructive legislation. His elevation to the presidency has already catalyzed a spike in hatred and a scurrying to exploit and protect the mainstreaming and normalization of that hatred. I believe this is the greatest threat to our nation and to its citizens that our generation has ever faced, and I will not participate in its normalization, much less its celebration, in any sense whatsoever. If you are LDS and you’ve made it this far in this post, consider where your priorities are placed, whose wellbeing is most important to you, and how you may have been trying to rationalize things.
https://danielomcclellan.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/the-mormon-tabernacle-choir-the-cognitive-science-of-religion-and-creds/
Kudos to Danny Mac on this one. It’s a fascinating case study on how an organization should weigh the various pros and cons when trying to advertise their product. In this case, the church once again shows it’s more interested in short term publicity (TV time, etc) than doing the right thing (standing up for victims and the oppressed).
It does beg the question, how’s new Mormonism working out for Danny?