God and I

[filkertom]

For those who don't normally check out Atrios' Eschaton, here's an essay by Teresa Nielsen Hayden that might be of some interest.

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[vanye.livejournal.com]

Seems to have been taken down, unfortunately. Or at least, I can't get the link to work for me.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hm. Still there, and it's a pretty boring text page. It's basically about her being excommunicated by the Church of Latter Day Saints, and how she took it to 'em at the hearing. For me, the high point is:

The court asked me if I had anything to say. I did; in fact, I had a dozen copies of my typed statement in hand. I stood up and read it off. I accused the church of profound sexism, of both covert and overt opposition to the women's rights movement, and of giving moral sanction to the continuing social and economic subjugation of women. Right off, that was enough to get me excommunicated; it was no more than what Sonia Johnson had been saying--in politer language, too--when they kicked her the hell out. I went on. I said that if any institution--church, family, whatever--required the continuing systematized oppression of some group for its continued survival, then it ought to be brought down with no regrets; and I charged "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, its elders and leaders and the Prophet himself, with the guilt and burden of this injustice they knowingly perpetuate." That was fun, so I went still further. I denied the validity of the Book of Mormon and all church doctrine, said that they were not inspired of God, said that the Prophet and the Council of Twelve are not in direct communion with God, and repudiated my baptism, confirmation, and reception of the sacraments. As a sort of grand final hurrah, I denied the authority of the court to sit in judgement on me, and said that I had only appeared before it in order to separate myself from the church as thoroughly as possible.

There was silence for a few moments after I finished. Then Bishop Lee asked if I had anything more to say.

"Haven't I said enough?" I asked plaintively.

"I think you have."

He fumbled around with his three-ring binder, and I passed out copies of my statement to the people there. The Ward Secretary was grateful--he'd have had to copy the thing out longhand, otherwise--and complimented me on my organization. I thanked him.

I went to wait outside while they made their decision, and sat down in the chair next to Jerry's. "Do you think they'll do it?" he asked. I told him that there wasn't much room for question. All told, I was out in the hall for maybe five minutes before the door opened again and I resumed my place at the foot of the table.

Bishop Lee looked sober. "It is the judgment of this court that you should be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," he said.

"I'm not surprised."

"Do you have any further statements to make?"

"No."

The Bishop stared at me authoritatively down the length of the table, trying hard to look awesome, so I stared back at him and put my chin up: Mammalian Politics 101, pretty basic stuff. "I think you will find that your life will be very different now-" he began.

I interrupted him. "I expect it will."

"Your life will be very different now," he continued sternly, "for you will find that the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was conferred upon you when you were baptized, has now been taken away from you, and you will no longer have the promptings of the Spirit to guide you in your decisions."

It was a little startling, after the complete mundanity of the proceedings thus far, to find myself on the receiving end of an authoritarian and rather acrimonious casting-out. I took a deep breath and said, "I don't think the gift of the Holy Spirit is yours to either give or take away."

[vanye.livejournal.com]

I think it may have been blocked by the filters at work. Very, very strange....