Actually, after I receive payment from Amazon for reselling the copy I purchased, my total out of pocket expense will be about 1/2 that. Reading your comments on the book has actually been more valuable than reading the book itself. I understand that it was the author's first book, and I did enjoy the end (for multiple reasons), but when I finished reading it I wanted to write my own book: Why Men Hate Reading Books about Why Men Hate Going to Church. The premise will be stated on the first page, but I will spend a few chapters quoting some people and rehashing my beginning statements.
But now on to productive matters, I will respond to some of your comments and add a few of my own.
Peter: I too saw Murrow's insinuation that all "masculine behaviors" should be welcomed/encouraged was an absurdity.
Your comment that no one should be comfortable spiritually brought to mind a couple of quotes that I have heard: "We as leaders are to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." "A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."
Jesse: Did your stake president read the book? What kind of commentary did he offer on it?
Paul: I got to thinking why it is that I am still active in the church. It was an interesting mental exercise. I believe what has made a difference for me is the caring leaders (men and women) that I had as a youth, along with a great group of friends that had strong values; I can also recall family prayer and scripture study leading to personal spiritual experiences that still serve as a personal anchor.
Ryan: I briefly shared a few things from the book with my elders quorum when we discussed Elder Ballard's recent talk about women and the Church. They didn't have much to say regarding a possible feminization of religion. It was interesting to discuss how many people outside the Church view LDS women as being oppressed by some great patriarchal order. That is not the case. In an article on fairlds.org titled "The Place of Mormon Women: Perceptions, Prozac, Polygamy, Priesthood, Patriarchy, and Peace" the author points out that "LDS women have had early access to suffrage, healing, religious ceremonies, autonomous leadership in Relief Society, and access to coeducation at a time when much of the nation still struggled to accept the idea."
A couple of observations related to some other comments that have been made: Most of the recent converts I know are of middle to low income/education status. Most of the less active members in the Church are middle to low income/education status. A friend of mine who was baptized last summer commented on the high percentage of highly educated men and women in the church and in the church leadership. He is a college drop-out so he felt a little uncomfortable about it at first.
Another member, this one inactive, is put off by most efforts to fellowship him. His wife said to me a few weeks ago that if I want to fellowship him there's going to have to be a service project involved. He likes work, he avoids social events.
Summary: unenjoyable book, highly enjoyable discussion
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Hi Glen,
I guess in my comment I unwittingly gave the impression that I was talking about the perspective of women and feminists who aren't familiar with the church, but I was talking about those who are. I agree that they are not oppressed, that's too strong of a word. But there is a male flavor in much of what we do in the church. For example, think of a mission where statistics play an important role and competition can emerge between missionaries. I think of women as being a little less competitive and more cooperative. Also, in many other churches, women can receive counseling from female clergy, and other churches also have female leadership. I thought it was very progressive to see 3 women and 2 men having the long discussion on families during the recent leadership broadcast, and the general authorities seem to be often reminding ward leadership to include women leaders in counsels and to listen to them. In academics, it's a big issue that the men tend to be the leaders and they can often steamroll the women and not listen to their opinions during faculty meetings. If women had played a more important role in church leadership in the past, maybe the Achievement days program would have been introduced sooner? I don't think the program even existed when I was a kid, although cub scouts was a part of the program. Fortunately the church does seem to be gradually taking care of many of these inequalities, like church basketball for the girls too, father-daughter outings instead of just father-son outings, etc.
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