I find the names interesting. They're way cooler than the names men gave to us when I was coming up.
'The group of girls turning 12 or 13 will now be called “Builders of Faith,” those turning 14 or 15 will be “Messengers of Hope,” and those 16 or older will be “Gatherers of Light.'
I did notice an interesting tier-structure, which mirrors the levels of heaven.
You've got your low-level laborers at the bottom, building shit. Then there's the Messengers, middle-managers who get a bit more pay for far less work. Then there's the Gatherers who are just gathering light, which is the lightest work of all, enlightened youngsters ruling over their younger, less-equal sisters in Zion.
I'd love to see the men's youth group counterpart names to represent the eternally opposing gender roles.
I suggest:
Foot Soldiers of Faith
Prophetic Preachers of Hope
Big Game Hunters of Light
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/04/25/lds-young-women-president-emily/
(Clearly this one's lit a blog post in me.)
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Wow, big changes in the LDS Church. They're giving women so much leeway over their own organizations!
Clearly, Mormon leadership has come to respect women and expects big things from them! They've put a tremendous amount of trust in them for this monumental job! How inspired! Has any human organization ever been so progressive towards women's liberation?
It'll be difficult, but I know you can do it girls!
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The ICSA has a journal article about how career counseling can help protect vulnerable kids from trafficking and cults.
Surprise! Poverty increases risk. Having a solid sense of identity helps prevent risk.
Abstract: 'Human trafficking is a rapidly expanding global criminal industry that frequently targets children and adolescents by preying on their vulnerabilities. This article presents research identifying seven categories of susceptibility in Generation Z, with a specific focus on how poverty and low personal achievement increase the risk of being trafficked. The authors propose that career counseling can serve as a vital preventive measure by building self-sufficiency, motivation, and a long-term “career self-concept” that helps youth reject the immediate gratification offered by predators.'
(Sorry, it's Substack.)
https://icsatoday.substack.com/p/could-career-counseling-help-protect
#ReligiousTrauma #cult #cults #exmo #exmormon #exvie #exvangelical
In this academic article, the authors argue that addressing poverty and personal achievement gaps through career counseling may inoculate vulnerable youth against trafficking and predatory actors.
Natasha Helfer on developments in Utah with the LDS church supporting rollbacks of discrimination protections for transgender people. 10 minutes.
#ReligiousTrauma #UTPol #exmo #exmormon #LGBTQ #Sexcommunicated
Christians and defenders of Christianity who haven't thought it through like to point to the New Testament as where God finally decided to be a nice guy. (Which is antisemitic, btw. But that aside.)
Sometimes I revisit various stories from the New Testament and realize what an asshole Jesus was.
Today my feed reminded me of the walking on water story, in which Jesus was particularly dickish. It goes like this:
Jesus sends his pals out in a boat and he's like, "You go on boys I'll catch you up later." And he goes on a mountain to pray for the rest of the day because he's SO HOLY. When he's done, he heads back to the ship, which by now is way out to sea. So he just walks out there as if states of matter are nothing to him.
The dudes on the ship, they're like holy shit boys, there's a ghooost! (idk why but everybody was always mistaking The Christ for a ghost back then.)
Jesus is like "hey guys, lol naw it's just me, walking on water!! Check this out!"
Peter is like "I don't fucking believe you, SCARY GHOST! If it IS you, then tell me to come out there and get you!" (wtf Pete??)
So The Christ is like, "ok bru, come on out here."
Peter is like "boys, hold my beer, don't you go drinking it Judas, it's my last one!" and he jumps out of the boat and is walking on water, just like his buddy Jesus!!
But it's a bit windy and this one huge wave is like "ooooohhh I'm the ghost now! Boo!" and Peter is thinking "Shit this was really stupid, I'm way too drunk for this." So Peter starts sinking, right?
Then Jesus, god what a dick, he goes, "Pete you motherfucker, you didn't have enough faith and now I've got to save your ass AGAIN!" And he saved Peter from drowning, even though this whole thing was a setup from the beginning to make him look like some sort of savior.
And just to prove it, the weather calms right back down when Jesus gets into the boat, and they all has a good laugh.
Just kidding. What really happened is, in fact, everyone started worshiping him then and there with his smug-ass grin.
The version they tell in Sunday school has all of these same beats, but is told in a different tone, where Jesus is awesome and Peter should be ashamed of himself for not believing hard enough that he could only walk *a little way* on stormy water.
That, my friends, is what I call #AbuseCulture and why you should decolonize your mind.
The scientist in this video, at the end, asks why scientists are so quick to assume animals don't have language, and my immediate answer was, "colonization."
My ancestors knew animals could speak. They used a spiritual model to convey this idea, that animals and humans aren't different, and that everything has a spirit. They told stories about things animals had said to them and others.
This type of religious view is known as "animism," which is shared by many pre-colonized societies, including my own European pre-colonized ancestors.
But both Christian and scientific colonizers labeled these people "primitives" and their ways as "backward." Then they systematically obliterated these cultures wherever they found them until this idea became a religious element, taken on faith, within science.
Strict categorization is a tool of colonizers. These researchers concluded that language exists on a spectrum. Spectrum-thinking is decolonization. As the scientific method decolonizes, the scientific model becomes closer to understanding reality.
And if you want some tears, read some of the animal interaction stories in the comments. I've been learning to talk to animals and it is incredibly rewarding.
This article examines how high-control religious groups use religious freedom claims to bypass State child-protection laws, often leaving children vulnerable to systemic physical abuse.
@canadaduane It doesn't really take a great approach though. God inflicts the suffering, suffering and obedience in this life are the answer to ending suffering after *death*, and suffering is the central sacrament.
Buddhism says suffering is an unfortunate but unavoidable fact, suffering isn't the same thing as pain, and that suffering comes from attachment. This gives us some answers for reducing suffering for ourselves and others.
Christianity (via Mormonism)
never taught me *how* to be companionate. In fact, its examples of how to be compassionate were actually just lessons on how to be sales force for the church. So it centered the goal of ending of suffering around getting people into the religion that worships suffering.
My first inklings of *how* to feel compassion came from a single Buddhist meditation where he walked me through finding a helpless animal in an alley way and caring for it. It centered care, not suffering. I don't see a lot of Buddhists actually seeking out suffering or telling people they deserve it. They know it's already there, and move on to better pursuits.
I've learned more about how to be a healer from a couple of hours per year of listening to Buddhists than I learned in 20+ years of 20+ hours a week I gave to that church.
Anyway, time to stop making fun of Easter and get back to suffering in terrible guilt that Jesus suffered in terrible pain so that anyone who obeys the father won't have to suffer but everyone else is a terrible bad person who gets to suffer for eternity! Yippie! What a joyous, wonderful time of the year!
Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸