What the Pope said

Actually, the hardest part of this has been finding a succinct summation of what the Pope said. Everyone seems to have caught the gist of it, but finding one brief quote that gets everything pretty well-covered is not happening. Francis is not a pithy Pontiff.

Basically, he was applauded for saying that the obsession with abortion, homosexuality, and contraception needed to end, but then right after he reaffirmed the wrongness of abortion to doctors. Some were disappointed that he walked back so quickly, or bothered by the mixed message.

Recently with my own church, there were some complaints after our General Conference that they were sending mixed messages. I think the specific complaint that I saw was that one person said something about men not putting off having families to advance in their career, but that in another talk someone applauded women who focus on their families. The complaint was that you can't have both.

That is not a mixed message. That is a message to both men and women that family is more important than money and career. That should not be a surprising message to anyone who would have been watching the conference. Families are forever; of course they are more important. And it doesn't mean that making a living isn't important, or that making a living shouldn't be satisfying, but both speakers were referencing a clear and consistent priority.

Likewise, I do not believe the Pope was sending a mixed message. With the doctors, he said that the culture where life is disposable is wrong, and those unborn children have worth. That is completely true. It does not mean that abortion should be illegal.

I know I have covered how we should not be trying to impose our morality upon others before, and what are reasonable laws to make. However, I think I have focused on reasons why that works better for society, or for the person you want to change, or for God. (In all of those cases, coercion not being optimal was a factor.)

I will probably get back to those things at some point, because the problem doesn't seem to be going away, but I want to focus now on why force is bad for the enforcer.

If there is one thing my religion tells me over and over again, it is that I need to have charity. We love each other, we lose the divisions between each other, and that is Zion.

Obviously, if I am the one dividing us into two groups, me in Saints and you in Sinners, there is no charity and unity there. I am fooling myself that I am not a sinner, so there is pride there too. I know the pride part is wrong -- the scriptures are very clear on that. So my humility is gone, and my motivation to root out my own impurities.

I don't have the Spirit anymore. The fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith" -- well I am not feeling love and gentleness, because I am too busy being angry at people who dare to believe differently than I do, so that means that the comfort and guidance and assurance that the Holy Ghost brings is shut out.

Okay, that was referencing Galatians 5:22, but let's go to Moroni 8 for a moment, and verse 16, which tells us that perfect love casteth out all fear. It is very evident to me that turning off the love lets the fear creep in.

There is a meme going around complaining about the word "homophobia", because that implies fear and that the problem is not fear so much as that you're a jerk. (Yeah, they didn't use "jerk" in the original.) 

I think I disagree. I think for the most virulent homophobes, there is fear there. Homophobia correlates strongly with suppressed homosexuality, so a friend and I were talking that any time someone was having a big problem with homosexuality we should just say, "I'm sorry you're struggling with those feelings. I'm sure that's hard for you."

So, we would be kind of bratty in doing that, but on another level, maybe that is the most valid response. If the person really is afraid of what is inside, and troubled, as much as I agree that being a jerk is a poor response, I can empathize with fear. I can relate to not trusting yourself, or being worried about what will happen. I can care about that.

When you look at the abortion/contraception issue, it is easy to see those opposed to both as hypocritical, because greater access to contraception and education about it could really reduce the number of abortions. As they get more hysterical on justifying their opposition to both and defending rape culture, it is easy to get appalled and just write them off as misogynist troglodytes, but still, I think there is fear.

I believe there is fear of unfettered female sexuality. Granted, I believe in chastity, and so evangelizing that is one option, but that doesn't work with the double standard, where sex is only bad for girls, and also, that way you are still letting people choose, with all the possible horrible ramifications of that.

Well, it's true. People make bad choices all of the time, and sometimes that has bad results for the one making the choices, and sometimes bad results for others. I can give you an example of that right now. I have an article up about antibiotic resistant superbugs. I'm pretty careful about beef, in terms of where we buy it, and how often, but because there are factory farms where the cattle are dosed, the bacteria still get the opportunity to develop resistance.

(There is some room for appropriate legislation here, incidentally, though the people I am complaining about would probably disagree.)

It is possible that I or someone I love will die because of a superbug. There could even be a mass die-off. I can make good choices for health, but some things are out of my control. I believe in the Resurrection though. I believe families can be forever. I have comfort. I should still be making good choices, and working toward a better world, but I can handle the things that are out of my control because of the safety that my faith provides me.

If I am obsessing about your sins, I am narrowing my world down from an amazing universe full of grace and beauty to a petty fear and distrust of all around me.

I thought I saw somewhere, and I can't find it now, that the Pope's point was that you need to bring people to what the Church can offer, rather than automatically shutting them off from it. There is that, but also, we shut ourselves off from it if we obsess about what other people might be doing.

It doesn't mean that there is no such thing as sin, or that no one needs to change, but if the first thing they hear is a rejection, where are they going to find any motivation?

It seems so obvious to me that I get frustrated with people who get hung up on it, and then hung up on even stupider things, like the unpardonable sin of voting for the Democrats. However, I keep seeing more fear, and I care about that. Trying to exert control over others is contemptible, but fear gripping your throat because everything seems like it is spinning out of control is pitiable. I can work with that.

So tomorrow, we will talk about letting go.