Circle of Trust

There is someone I know who is a racist. Not in a string black men up by their necks or make them eat and live elsewhere kind of way, but in a you're black because you're not as righteous as me kind of way.

Since I feel the need to provide evidence in this case...

This person visited in my home some years ago. He sat and expounded his beliefs that the 'mark' of a black skin was a punishment from God, due to a lack of commitment in a pre-earthly battle among the spirits.

His argument is that even though the LDS Church has extended privileges to black members in recent years, it is a mistake, and that black people will not now, nor ever have rights to the same privileges as white people.

In hindsight, I should have asked him to either shut his mouth or leave.

Mrs Koda, who was present at the time, and confirms my recollection of the incident actually caught my eye as I walked into the room, and mouthed the words... "Go Outside" to me.

I mentioned this incident on my blog shortly thereafter, and have since been told that I am mistaken and that no such doctrines were ever taught or put forth by this person.

I suspect he still actively believes this bullshit (for lack of a better word), but something has changed.

Similar situation... There is a State Senator in Utah, who is quite frankly a bigot and a moron (Not to mention an active Mormon too). I was thinking about him, because I was going through the Constitutional Amendments I'm supposed to vote in in the next couple of weeks, and he is vehemently opposed to one of them. The problem is, I'm having a hard time separating him from his position. He's a douche-bag, so naturally I'm assuming his position is wrong. It probably is... He's opposing measures which have been proposed to help stem corruption, but that's a topic for another day.

This same douche-bag politician, got himself in some hot water a while back, for saying to a camera crew that he felt that homosexuals were there biggest threat to the American way of life.

His defense when those comments later appeared in "8 - The Mormon Proposition"

They tricked me. They were talking about their LDS missions, and one of them was wearing a BYU shirt.

That's just a lousy argument, but I think it illustrates the same problem as the first story.

There seems to be a circle of trust within Mormonism.

Within the circle you can be a homophobic, hate-spewing bigot, and you can feel reasonably secure that no-one will turn you into the gays.

Outside the circle however, you love all your brothers and sisters and only want what is best for them, and to help them come to Christ through love and kindness.

Within the circle, you can be a white-supremacist, bigoted racist and generally those around you will nod in assent at your keen gospel insights.

Outside the circle, you love all your brothers and sisters and welcome all to the fold. Racism and Mormonism? Why the two are completely incompatible. The Church simply appeared racist because of the norms of the day. The time just wasn't right and that kind of thing.

There is other stuff too.

Inside the circle, it's safe to assume that anyone who votes other than Republican in the elections is a sinner.

Outside the circle - Why the Church is and always has been politically neutral.

Inside the circle, you can become a God.

Outside the circle, I don't know that we teach such a thing.

It's been interesting moving from inside the circle to out. And I'll be honest that I find it mildly amusing to see how people treat me differently based on my position, relative to the circle of trust, or at least my position, based on their perceptions.