Sunstone Day 1

Maturing and Enduring: Dialogue and Its Readers After Forty Years, Robert W. Reynolds, Armand L. Mauss and John Dewey Remy.
Religious commitment not based on age
Church attendance not an indicator of belief that BOM as historically authentic. Dialogue base constituency as exploring religious faith and heritage; holding fast while continuing to explore
Sunstoning Dialogue-ers: Sunstoners more apt to believe BOM not literal history. Sunstoners older.
John Remy as belonging to subset that Dialogue “should” be marketing to? Younger, student, etc. Core needs of Gen X different from older generations? Doesn’t read cover to cover. Maybe two articles from each issue. Do more researching and do topic based reading.
Changes that explain differences in survey? Now living in more conservative era. Competition from other sources … FARMS, Journal of Mormon Studies that are so
much safer by comparison. Also blogs - group and personal. Church leadership more hostile, starting in 80’s? People either turned more conservative or left altogether

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Truth Telling and Mormonism
Scot Denhalter
Truth: knowledge of past, present and future (LDS)
Aquinas ~ definition of a lie ~ intent to deceive or mislead
Frankfurt : BS is short of lie. Kidder does not claim to know the truth.
Intention: kidder ~ intent to deceive is absent. May or may not tell/know truth
Elicit external/internal response
McKonckie – used hyperbole and guilt to discourage pondering in certain areas
Kidding versus lying about teachings of earlier prophets about doctrines that are no longer in practie.
Manuals/leadership concerned more with behavior than knowledge, in order to “protect” the members?

Ryan Wimmer
Hinckley as taking advantage of mult-media interviews. In the past, has equivocated on certain doctrinal issues? Couplet on people can become as God is, taught since King Follet discourses.
Taqiyah - religious principle used by Shi'a Muslims; allows members of the faith to be untruthful when their life or religious faith is in danger.
Save self from danger. Diplomacy. Between men and women? Talking about war?
1840’s: used in LDS context with polygamy
Used in LDS (and Christian) apologetics

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Mormon Feminist Bloggers: Can Blogging Help Mormon Feminism?
Margaret Toscano
TracyM FMH – is mainstream feminism serving “real” women?
Years ago, these types of discussions occurred in chat rooms – more democratic, but still rather elitist, where you had to know someone to get involved.
Blogging – only need a computer and internet access. More egalitarian. Still have anonymity. Can choose own level of involvement – lurk or comment

FMH Lisa
Started blogging due to personal crisis of church. Googled mormon feminism … nothing out there. Around time of elections … looking for other liberals … timeandseasons article by Nate Oman, “What I hate about mormon liberals.”
Was able to participate on abortion debate in an LDs forum.
A place where people with similar backgrounds could discuss issues
POV presented that are never discussed at church
Needed a place to put “mind vomit” that no one else would listen to. Started for
personal reasons
Feminist Mormon Housewives has approximately 1600 unique visitors a day, five permabloggers, various guestposters and discusses gender-related topics.
FMH Lisa: Didn’t realize the history of Mormon feminism … how scary it was. Blogging has been essential to knowing how to navigate being LDS and feminism. Torn between using real name and pseudonymn … mother finding out

John Remy
Man, priesthood holder, father with feminist sensibilities. Blogging as more than a diary … it's being an active part of a dynamic community.
Blogging Against Myself
Community for discussion and help
Men need to be converted to feminism to eradicate sexism
(Me: I think that the term feminism is so loaded, especially within the LDs community. In order to truly eradicate sexism, do we need a new, egalitarian term that doesn't carry such negative connotations that alienate those who want to stay safely within conservative boundaries? Unionism?)
Holly – Battle needs to be fought on both sides.
Deborah – LDS male feminist are often conflicted between personal beliefs and
institutional directives.
Blogging as personal mission to obtain honesty in all aspects of life

Jana Remy
Exponent II blog journey.
Caroline Klein became J’s visiting teacher. Bond of feminist ideals. J shared past issues of Ex II. Both wanted to get involved, but difficult as Ex II centered in Boston, while they were in So Ca. Contacted Ex II to do a So Ca issue.
(Me: held Feminist Roundtable Discussion. Other speakers: Lorie Winder Stromberg, Lael Littke, Amelia Parkin. I attended, and it was a pivotal moment in the midst of some very trying religious trials.)
J & C were very frustrated with censorship by editors on issues dealing with women in priesthood, ecclesiastical abuse, etc.
Went to retreat and met members of the board, has a wonderful time. Put together blog, some resistance, some support
Reasons why ExII is needed: Some women feel excluded from other boards, not married, or no children; Can draw on history of original and II exponent, republishing. Can discuss issues that LDS women cannot discuss at church, or don’t have a real
life community.
Why I Blog
No censure from church leadership as yet. Safe space for those to explore
Any change that comes will come from those who are participating in the Bloggernacle
Bored in Vernal reiterated what a relief it was to find the bloggernacle.

A couple sessions went completely by me as I read Carol Lynn Pearson's Goodbye, I Love You. This was one of my favorite books as a young woman. It was the only explicitly LDS female voice (aside from my mother and one YW leader) that seemed to advocate college for the sake of education as opposed to a way to meet and marry eligible men. Bell has exerpted diary entries from just before CLP started college, through her graduate work and first teaching job, and travels around the world (1956-65), and used it as a springboard to talk about how to keep a journal. Imagine my surprise when I found out that my swing/church friend John was her son. I took another look at his face and thought, well of course you're her son ... just look at your dimples! When I told him how much I loved her book, he gave a semi-sigh, and said that yes, she was a wonderful bridge between the church and the gay community. I was non-plussed. And then he told me a little bit about the history behind his parents' marriage, and we had a little discussion on homosexuality and the church.

Anyway, I loved _Goodbye, I Love You._ I love CLP's humor, how she articulates her struggles with issues relating to femininity and finding and keeping a place in the church despite misgivings about the way it talks about women, and how she never demonized her husband, although some of his actions were demon-worthy.

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Went with JLITh and Genie over to The Happy Sumo. Lots of sushi, and some sashimi. However, the wait was way too long. So, we ordered it to go ... and went.