Conflicted

I'm as the title says. I don't know how I feel about this. I read it, and I thought the guy was wrong and deliberately obtuse. Then I read this, which is the article he responded to, and I thought the person described within was also wrong and idiotic. I wanted to write something about the whole thing, but all I can think to say is that everyone is wrong and bad and should learn how to think outside of the realms of their special little cult. I'm afraid to criticize any specifics of either post, for fear that I might accidentally lend support to the other, so I'll just advise the gentle reader to visit both, and see for themselves.

Stand for Winter Holidays

In case you've missed it, Christmas in under attack from the secularist left who hate our freedoms and the baby Jesus. Even capitalism has fallen under their violent, strident offense. Fortunately, there's help. These brave souls have made a website to help you decide to whom to give your money this holiday season as you buy overpriced stuff for relatives.

I find it endlessly hilarious which two businesses are most "Christmas Friendly":

("Friendly", "Negligent", "Offensive" respectively)
Pro Shops 97% 3% 0%
Cabela's 90% 5% 5%

Feeling Worthy?

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Targeting mormon women specifically seems weird and somewhat sleazy. On the other hand, although mormonism is oppressive towards everyone, it's especially oppressive towards women, so it's hard to complain about something targeting those who most need out (in general). On the gripping hand, the group doing this is a conservative Christian ministry--a group that doesn't exactly have an impressive record on the issue. Jumping from one oppressive environment to another is not an improvement.

This article does quote some LDS apologists, providing an opportunity to pick apart some bad argumenta, which satisfies my boredom.*

It mentions the Mental Health America (MHA) study which found Utah to have the highest depression rate in the USA and . That was fine, the fallacious part was the statements they provided afterwards for "balance". The first is from Sherrie Mills Johnson, a BYU sociologist**, who authored a paper "Religiosity and Life Satisfaction among LDS Women". She says

[T]o date, no conclusive evidence has been presented that proves that LDS women are more depressed or take more anti-depressants than other women.

Working from the assumption that her conclusions are accurate, this still does not address the MHA study or the conclusions drawn from it (that the LDS church/culture has a share in the blame for Utah's high depression rate). Firstly, her study was national, so it includes more than Utah. If mormon culture and/or religion is (partially) responsible for Utah's depressed (and depressing) status, then it's not unreasonable that mormons living in a population with less LDS dominance (i.e. not Utah) wouldn't suffer depression as much as those who live in a population with heavy LDS influence (i.e. Utah).

Additionally, Johnson's paper only looks at LDS women. That's only approximately half the population of Utah. Even if the depression rate among Utah women is in line with national trends, that merely means the depression rate among Utah men is what causes Utah to have the highest overall rate. In many ways, this is even more worrying.

Research appears to support this interpretation. A study about depression and religiosity among those 65 years old or older in Cache County, Utah found that although church attendance had a negative relation to depression in women, the opposite was true for men: increased church attendance corresponds to higher prevalence of depression. Also from that same paper:

LDS church members reported slightly more depression than non-LDS individuals, and after we adjusted for age, marital status, and health status, this difference became statistically significant at roughly twice as much depression among LDS members as among non-LDS members.

This gives more credence to the idea that mormon culture's contribution to depression is strongest in high LDS population areas (approx. 90%, in the case of Cache County), while it's not strong in areas with low LDS influence.

The article then mentions how "local psychologists agree with those findings"--well, one psychologist. No one else is mentioned. According to Reed Stoddard, said psychologist and director of the BYU-I Counseling Center,

Properly understood, our religion does not contribute to depression or anxiety. In fact, the church can be helpful in overcoming stress and depression.

That's even worse avoiding the issue. Whether the LDS church helps cause depression in Utah is an empirical question; hand-waving away responsibility by saying that, implying that depressed mormons are only depressed because they don't "properly" understand their religion, doesn't answer the question.

The remaining quoted mormon apologist continues this No True Mormonism theme, while casually mentioning the protection racket the LDS church has set up to help these people.

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is fundamentally liberating. By definition it offers salvation from guilt, sin and weakness -- but he (Christ) provides those on his own terms. He requires our allegiance, our loyalty and our faithful obedience to his commandments and ordinances because they help qualify us to receive the highest manifestations of his grace.

So you can feel all happy and liberated, but you have to do it on Christ's (read: the mormon church's) terms. If you don't give your loyalty and obedience then he (we) can't (won't) help you. He then quotes James E. Faust, one of the highest ranking in the LDS church until his death a few years ago:

Transgression is so devastating to self-esteem. After transgression so often comes rationalization and even lying. This is what makes justice so violent to the offender. Fortunately we have the great principle of repentance whereby sins that are 'as scarlet' can become 'white as snow.' I am grateful for this principle and pray no one will hesitate to find the peace that comes from repentance.

In other words, you can get rid of all the guilt you have (from being told the various ways you are wicked and unworthy, etc.) by taking the processes that the selfless LDS church has set up to help you feel better (after they cause you to feel worse). How charitable of them.


*This sentence is funny to me, after spending hours researching information for this.

**Searching around, I found she's not listed at the BYU Sociology Department (she's not on the faculty roster and her name only shows up on one page on the BYU sociology website, where she's listed as a co-author on one paper (on religious views on abortion) with one of the BYU sociologists). She has a PhD in sociology and is listed as having been the "Chair, Part-time Faculty" for BYU's Faculty Women's Association from 2005 to 2009 (link).

Aside from the two papers mentioned above (the religiosity and life satisfaction one being her dissertation for her PhD), the only publications are a collection of poetry and religious writings. She teaches at in the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture--most assuredly not sociology. I know this is a minor point, but to me, it's somewhat unethical to label her as "Brigham Young University sociologist Sherrie Mills Johnson" when she's apparently not a professor of sociology at BYU, let alone an active researcher in the field.***

***I'm reminded of the common tendency among creationists to try to get graduate degrees and publish a few papers that kind of support their ideology (if you squint a lot) to wave around as "support" for intelligent design/creationism (after all, most journalists and the majority of the public lack the will or ability to verify the story told by the creationists, so it's relatively easy to get something out you can use as a talking point), but don't actually contribute anything further to science (not that what they do do is much of a contribution at all).

Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate

When not pillaging or hijacking cargo, how about starting a stock exchange? [insert joke about everyone in the stock market being thieves]

Possibly the greatest review ever, on possibly the greatest product ever

The product.
The review.