The following are responses to an official Church Instagram post in March 2024. This post, featuring the art of Kathleen Petersen (originally uncredited, then updated), had the following caption:
“There is no other religious organization in the world, that I know of, that has so broadly given power and authority to women. There are religions that ordain some women to positions such as priests and pastors, but very few relative to the number of women in their congregations receive that authority that their church gives them.
“By contrast, all women, 18 years and older, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who choose a covenant relationship with God in the house of the Lord are endowed with priesthood power directly from God. And as we serve in whatever calling or assignment, including ministering assignments, we are given priesthood authority to carry out those responsibilities. My dear sisters, you belong to a Church which offers all its women priesthood power and authority from God!.” — Sister @j_anettedennis
[J. Anette Dennis]
As of July 2024, the post has 68,753 likes
and 17,400 comments.
“Sisters” by Kathleen Peterson
@kbpeterson1 I am the artist of this painting. I often choose women as subject matter for my work. I like to paint them because I know women from first-hand experience, and I love the intuitive nature of women. This painting was inspired by beautiful and powerful relationships I have experienced with my female family and friends and that I believe uniquely happen between women. All the comments on this post show how women support women.
@rachelelizahunt Hi. I have been thinking of this post all day and just deeply resonate with the many many voices acknowledging it sadly does not align with reality.
I was one of the primary researchers for the BYU Studies article, “A Mother There: A Survey of Historical Teachings About Mother in Heaven.”
I watched as my previous shared authorship from the spoken conference version was removed, and my name was relegated to a long list of “contributors,” leaving only two men (I love) as the listed authors.
I’ve watched further as Renlund told Mormon women all that is known about Heavenly Mother is in the six paragraph Gospel Topics Essay written by my professor, when there are footnotes, and I personally have more than 600 single-space pages gathered of quotes on Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Parents, mostly by general authorities. I’ve watched as Renlund repeated Hinckley’s words to not pray to Heavenly Mother when Eliza’s hymn was first called “Invocation: or the Eternal Father and Mother” and she addresses both directly. She saw it as a prayer.
I’ve watched as general conferences since Renlund’s talk, most mentions of even “Heavenly Parents” have faded away.
I’ve watched as Mormon women have been very clear about what helps them feel included in the church, and they’re chastised for it.
I do have power and authority. God gave it to me and I gave it to me.
Mormon women like Claudia Bushman and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Joanna Brooks gave it to me.
The church has not.
Oh and to clarify the last paragraph, the women gave it to me not by laying on of hands, but we have this precedent by women in our church history too, but by showing me with example that Mormon women’s stories matter. Mormon women’s voices matter. And in speaking and telling our own stories, we have claimed that power.
“And I Call Her Mother” series by Laura Erekson (Photographed by Ashley Thalman)
@rosiecard In the spirit of President Nelson’s plea to the sisters, “we need your voices,” please HEAR these women in the comments voices. This is simply not true nor is it working to tell us this anymore. It’s disrespectful and belittling. It’s misleading and harmful. We need actions not words.
@sadee18 It’s disheartening that women have to validate their comments by saying how faithful they have been and for how long . . . “I’ve been a good girl, please value me . . . ” If that’s how this game is played, I earned myself about 30 years of full, nonquestioning, never-faltering activity/service, 20+ of tithe-paying, 10 years of temple attending . . . Does that give my heartfelt thoughts any weight alongside so many others? No.
Many more women, for many more years than I have been alive, have been fighting this fight. Enduring . . . hoping . . . waiting for permission . . . to what end? Not wanting to get “ahead of the authorities,” yet lacking representation and ACTUAL equal respect as men. Silencing their God-given intuition that something is not right. Something isn’t adding up. The words from the mouths over the pulpit say something different than what is felt in their hearts.
After I became a mother, unraveling the conditioning I had gone through is one of the most painful, yet liberating things I have ever done. Whether or not that conditioning is intentional . . . the way women are taught to look to men for permission to live their lives is real and harmful.
Props to the women who still have the energy to keep trying. To speak to deaf ears. The women are so, so tired. Despite subversive, secondhand citizenship, many stay and suffer on. And, many find their path leads elsewhere, following the same still small voice inside they learned as children.
Women are incredible and powerful in their own right . . . enough to heal, enough to lead, because God made them that way–regardless of any outside institutional authority that ACTS otherwise. (Words are not actions @rosiecard) Saying it doesn’t make it true. #womenspeakinglds
@kbs1218 At some point in my life, previous to now, I would’ve been content with this post and the sentiments.
I’ve woken up. I love the Gospel. I can’t imagine our Heavenly Parents not wanting more for their daughters. It feels sometimes more like control, power, and tradition, rather than strictly revelation from God. This is what our leaders should be on their knees about night and day. Listen to the women!
@sawgibb Who should be giving this power and authority? Prophetic revelation vs. updating policies where discrimination is clear and heavily supports patriarchy. They’re very different. Policies reflect traditions and culture in American 19th-20th centuries.
There’s plenty of room for change and improvement in order to represent a worldwide church. I think it would be prudent for our female presidencies and councils to review policies and present recommendations for change that reflect equality.
@abbybuahin Even if [the disappearing comments] was a glitch, [I] guess that’s a message from God that She wants us to be more enraged!!
No coincidences, right? That’s what y’all taught us!!
@erbear4 I was so hopeful that perhaps a change might be shared, after hearing how profoundly Pres. Nelson was moved by the impact of his wives. And I was sad that all women got was lip-service and a pat on the head saying don’t run too fast.
Women can run as far and as much and as fast as men. Let’s partner better and see what God can do with a team.
@neylanmcnaine As a bystander to this conversation today, but as one who was deeply engaged a decade ago, this conversation feels like a miracle in itself. The ground swell represented here would never have happened a decade ago. In fact, the first third of my book Women at Church — 10 years ago! — was devoted to establishing why we even needed to have this conversation. Sisters, thank you for the soulful, reasoned and grounded responses presented here. Pushing against the fact of structural sexism while continuing to embrace the beauty of the gospel in our lives is the tension that will move us forward. Thank you for showing up here. This is the most hopeful I’ve felt in a long time.
@denise.e.woo Ever wonder why widowed men can marry more than one woman in the temple and widowed women cannot? The LDS church would say this is both equal and fair. Always favor the men. When I was a 26-year-old widow, who was already on the outs, the unequal treatment became even more glaringly obvious. When my now-husband and I started to get serious, he was discouraged from being with me because I put HIS salvation at risk. #usedgoods
@marileecr Yes, the mission of the RS is compassionate and strong. I wish we had final say about decisions made for our organization as women.
@rubyloveslee It’s incredibly painful to grow up in an organization that claims equality and then to experience, time and time again, the opposite to be true. I no longer participate in the beloved church of my childhood because it became too painful to see the harm that this church caused myself and other women. I mourn all the fun and goodness my daughter will miss in Primary and at girl’s camp, but I also feel so glad that she’ll miss out on the sexist and damaging traditions and doctrines passed down by church leaders and members. This post is an important reminder that my leaving is protecting me and my little family from the sandpaper teachings like these that were causing my soul to bleed.
@tiffanyrueckert When my youngest son was ordained to the priesthood two months after he turned 11 (because they do ordinations at the beginning of the year now instead of birthdays, and my son’s birthday is in November) the counselor of the bishopric said to him after he finished, “Now you have more power and authority in your little pinky than the Pope!” Well, imagine telling a young child he has more power than a grown man and subsequently telling that barely 11-year-old child he has more power and authority in his pinky than his own mother, who is sitting in the same room, without the priesthood. I think many men and women in the church are blind to the inequality, conditioned to believe that “separate but equal,” as far as gender roles, is, in fact, equal, when it is, in fact, not.
@crystalmeditates I hope the comments of this post will not be hidden, but taken as feedback of the hurting hearts of so many women. Most who are not sure they can feel comfortable expressing the same sentiments in a public way. Please know that there are so many more than just what you see here that ache for true equality. Better seen in the early restoration of the church. I have sat with these women, cried with these women; they are in your pews as well as gone from your rosters because they cannot handle the discord in their hearts over this issue. I know people always say “change takes time in the church,” but some changes must come sooner or you will continue to hemorrhage out women (and many men who feel the same) from your records. The hurt and dissonance is just too strong.
@cassandrahulse I have never felt more connected to the Relief Society, thanks to this post. I sustain President Nelson as the Lord’s mouthpiece on the earth. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I wish that women were given the same respect, authority, and power that they were given anciently and in early church times. I love the changes that we have seen so far in recent years (seen in the language teaching the presentation of the endowment). It’s a good start. We have SO far to go though. I hope the church uses this as a learning moment. (When referring to respect shown to women in ancient times, I’m specifically referring to Christ’s treatment of women. He has been the greatest advocate for women. Obviously women have been treated horribly to poorly throughout history to today. We have now advanced enough as a society and as a restored gospel (AKA restoring gospel) that women have a voice and a way to be heard.)
One more experience to add: I spent my entire life believing I was the only girl in the entire world to struggle with compulsive p or n use, because of how it was spoken about in general conference and consequently in Young Women’s. Little did I know that 1 in 3 girls struggled (at the time, it’s higher now). I had to spend years in therapy undoing the absolute shame and isolation this caused me. The brethren didn’t mean to cause so much damage to a third of the female youth of the church. We were casualties of patriarchy. Knowledge precedes revelation. Now please allow us to educate.
@therapygab This comment section feels like a home I wished I had.
Women. Sisters. What I would have given for this version of Relief Society. Whatever the future holds, we saw each other here. And for some reason, the comments haven’t been censored or removed.
Yet. I’m heartened.
Benevolent patriarchy can feel like being pulled from an ocean while floating on debris.
Like we should be grateful.
And somehow, I have been.
But something that’s given by authority can always be taken back. We never needed to be granted something that was intentionally taken away. It was intentional. Being really stoked to have a tiny token of “you are special” is Stockholm syndrome. It’s something I accepted way too long for myself. Our daughters aren’t under that spell. Thank Heavenly Mother.
@mikaelahincydeluca It really saddens me that instead of using this platform to share a quote about Christ from the conference, the one takeaway quote was comparison to other religions and putting them down, and a statement that is just flat out false.
I would personally love to see actions that back this up, rather than words and talk. I would love to see validation of women’s feelings, rather than telling them how they should feel, or that they shouldn’t feel a certain way because of x, y, z. It makes it hard to want to stay.
@churchofjesuschrist please take this comment section to heart and use this criticism to do better, which is what the atonement is for, recognize when you have hurt someone and make a plan to do better.
@kirstencj Where is my voice in scripture? Where is my voice in theology? Where is my voice in the formation doctrine? Where is the representation of my sacred feminine?
Where is the expansion and worship of my Heavenly Mother? How can I honestly believe that Heavenly Father loves His daughters, when His servants on this earth silence them? We are only heard so long as what we have to say is acceptable to the men who make the rules. So God either loves His daughters, empowers His daughters the same as His sons, and His sons aren’t listening. Or, God does not love His daughters as he does His sons, and we are only acceptable so long as we adhere to the narrow, limited scope men allot us. I am grateful for my capacity as a woman and a mother. But just like fatherhood does not preclude a man from positions as a teacher, leader, policy maker, doctrine creator and prophet, so should motherhood not preclude women from those roles and spaces as well. A benevolent patriarchy is still unrighteous dominion. Unless of course God is a liar and respecter of persons.
@jsmileybug I’ve been studying the priesthood for several weeks now in an attempt to unravel the disconnect between the messaging coming from the pulpit and what I’m seeing in practice.
If we’re “endowed with power from on high” in the temple, and since the power of God is the priesthood, of course we’re endowed with priesthood power.
Problem: what is it for? How can and should we use it? I’ve been taught my entire life to make covenants in the temple — but nothing about keeping them or using them, which I’ve struggled significantly with after finishing making temple covenants four years ago. I simply have no idea what I’m supposed to do with the rest of my life from a religious perspective. Church leaders have said that women have priesthood authority “in our callings” (which must mean that I don’t have any right now, since I don’t have a calling).
Men, meanwhile, are ordained to priesthood office and granted power and authority in that office — PLUS in the temple and in their callings. They may have to seek permission to perform one of the duties of that office (e.g. baptizing someone), but the office, its power, and its authority never go away. (There’s the verse about “amen to the priesthood of that man” following unrighteous dominion, but there’s no formal mechanism to remove a man’s priesthood office aside from excommunication as far as I know.
Women have no office. We have no formally sanctioned, approved manner of being granted power and authority with clear use and purpose which endures forever.
I’m not calling for female ordination in this comment — merely pointing out that there’s a rhetorical disconnect from practice and a lived inequality because men’s priesthood office grants their priesthood power and authority meaning that is not clear for women. I suspect clearer definitions of power, authority, and office would help the entire body of saints better understand priesthood, its importance, its function, and its place in our lives.
I’m happy for all the women who feel seen and empowered by this statement.
Unfortunately, I am not one of them. I feel more valued and empowered in my corporate job than I ever have in a church setting. Why? Because at work, everyone works in partnership together based on actual skills, not platitudes about what we “should” be best at, and I don’t have to run everything by a man for approval. I have a vision of what my career can look like because I see women with that pathway and can ask them questions. Meanwhile, at church, everything operates under the jurisdiction and approval of men. Even in the temple, Eve spends half the ceremony silently standing there while Adam does things. I’m tired of being told I have power and authority in a religious context when, if I really did, you wouldn’t have to keep telling me about it because I would know it and use it.
@rachelrueckert Feedback is a gift.
A story — every single person’s story — is a gift. I’m haunted and honored by everything shared on this post. I hold these voices as sacred, in sacred solidarity.
A few years ago, it occurred to me that one of the only ways to exercise my power and voice as a woman in the church was to write a book. So I did. This thread reminds me of a quote:
“Who was I to claim I had a story worth telling, let alone the confidence to tell it? A twenty-something, millennial, know-nothing, married, Utah Mormon girl. But then I remembered the bitter, small place where that thinking came from. That story wasn’t true. That story wasn’t true for anyone. That story had never been true.
“I was more than the histories I’d casually and actively consumed [ . . . ] I could be the narrator, shaper, of my own life and not just a character. Is that not what I’d always wanted?”
When others speak out as narrators, it reminds me I can do it for myself. Thank you for helping me not feel so alone by sharing these words. Keep writing. Keep speaking. Keep listening and witnessing. My soul needs it so much. Also, @exponentii_mag is another lifeline that welcomes stories in an atmosphere of trust. This year marks 50 years that they have been in publication, sharing stories by women and gender minorities.
@jeffnate3 Let me join the trend and speak from my own experience. When I go to church, I see leaders of my gender sitting on the stand; my wife does not.
When I was growing up, I was taught to expect that some day I might preside over hundreds of Latter-day Saints; my wife was not taught to expect this. Although my wife and I have made the same temple covenants, I am able to get out of bed at 2 am and call down the powers of heaven to bless her, to abate a fever, to provide comfort; she is just as faithful but cannot do the same for me. The raw number of callings I am eligible to receive is higher than it is for my wife.
In terms of skill, intelligence, covenants, divine potential, etc., we are equal, but in matters related to the church, my priesthood office grants me opportunities that are denied to my partner, regardless of her priesthood power or authority. It is clear to me that righteous women act and serve with divine power and authority, which is why it’s so hard to see the ways women still are treated as second-class citizens in the Church.
@latterdaystrugglespodcast LDS Church . . . what a gift you’ve been given by this post! So much authentic feedback by amazing, competent, articulate women.
When sitting in councils and wondering why people (both men and women) disaffiliate, you might consider the data you’ve accidentally gathered on this thread.
Women in 2024 find their LDS faith the only place where they are limited by their gender.
Take this gift of knowledge and please be touched by it.
@cravephotography Wow! A verbal anarchy and revolution from faithful sisters around the world.
@instaneen This has not been my experience as a woman in the church. My personal authority has been minimized or dismissed too many times for me to feel that this ideal is currently a reality. One example, I was serving as a Relief Society President when I became pregnant with my third child. I knew from having my older kids how difficult the postpartum period would be for me, in addition the ward was very high needs in regard to welfare.
I took the initiative to speak with the bishop and asked to be released before the baby came. He was supportive of my decision, which wasn’t necessary in my eyes, as I had already received personal confirmation, but it was nice. Whether he then mentioned it to the stake president in passing or specifically asked for his counsel on it, l’m not sure, but some days later I received a call from the bishop saying that the stake president wanted me to reconsider. Ultimately I made the decision that was best for my mental health and for my family’s needs at the time, but I certainly didn’t feel that my power and authority was respected when that decision was questioned by a priesthood leader. Some might say, “Well, this is just one example of one woman and one leader . . . ”, but it’s not my only experience, and I know that these sorts of experiences are not unique to me. The number of women who have had similar experiences is reflective of a mindset and pattern within the church which dampens or altogether dismisses the power and authority we are so often told over the pulpit that we possess.
@ree_becks Love this gorgeous artwork @kathleenpetersonart. And this discussion is giving me LIFE! So many women’s voices with different experiences, many drawing the same conclusions I have. I feel less alone, and I didn’t need “the world” or any “angry feminists” to influence me on my own journey of study, prayer, and reflection, personally . . . I no longer feel threatened by voices that differ from mine, in or out of the church.
The truth shall set you free and, wherever it is, I let God guide me to it; no external permission necessary. I hope as women we can each connect with the divine in the way that most resonates with us and recognize truth from error, even if that means facing unpleasant realities that cause dissonance. Sending love to my fellow women around the world, regardless of religious affiliation.
@hdevlinjuarez This statement ignores the systemic disparities within the church.
Women are excluded from key decision-making bodies and leadership positions, perpetuating gender inequality. True progress toward equality requires tangible changes to institutional policies and practices. Until then, claims of equality and power remain hollow.
@brittjm I have nothing new to add to what has been said. Reading these comments has felt so validating — an absolute relief to my soul. Thanks to all of you for sharing what has been my experience and feeling as well. I hope for change but fear it will not come soon enough. And I’m exhausted too.
@rachelhiteeng This is an absurd example of gaslighting. The Mormon church is based on patriarchy. Women are not equal, women have no power, women have no voice. If women were actually equal and truly had the power and voice that you claim we do, then you would not have to work so hard to try to convince us.
@emmy.jane.anderson Why don’t male leaders thank the church for the power they are given as men? Because those in power don’t feel the need to defend that they actually possess it.
@phd.momma You only need three priesthood-holding men to organize an official congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You could have 10,000 LDS women, even 100,000 or a million LDS women, and still not have enough to organize an official LDS congregation. No matter how much “priesthood authority” they may have.
@artfulapologist Actions would be helpful! Let’s let our orthopraxic nature shine here! It’s one thing to say women are the moral compass, spiritually wise, etc. etc., and it’s another to model this by actually letting them drive once in a while! We have the license, give us the keys! There is no downside to MORE priesthood holders.
@artfulapologist If priestesshood is the analogue to priesthood I think the leaders should emphasize this, using this language. That term is so obscured and maybe it’s time for a revival. Also, assuming that they are truly 1:1, I’d like to see that reflected administratively. I have been shut down (and seen other women be shut down) by far too many priesthood holders who think they own the final say. This is NOT representative of a 1:1, on local or global hierarchical levels. Women still, administratively, functionally, have “a boss.” I appreciate that the Church has walked back some of the more patriarchally problematic language of husbands presiding and being the head of the home (and also the temple language updates), and I long to see this egalitarian relationship of husband and wife ruling together reflected in the larger spiritual economy. Give me a prophet and a prophetess!
@lorillp The comment was problematic in so many ways. I understand that she was trying to say that every woman in the LDS Church has access to priesthood (i.e. God’s) power and compared that with churches where only a handful of people (men or women) are ordained and recognized with power within the church. However, this fails on several levels.
1) The apples-to-oranges comparison of the many versus the few ordained doesn’t just apply to women, but also to men, so it doesn’t make a woman-specific argument.
2) Defining priesthood power as available to all doesn’t distinguish us at all from women in other churches. There are many who believe they have access to God’s power — they just don’t use the word priesthood with it — but for the LDS, priesthood and God’s power are the same thing.
3) All the discussion about priesthood power and authority ignores the fact that although women may have more access to power and authority than previously acknowledged, we still do not have access to organizational authority in nearly the same fashion as men do. This is very different in many churches, where leadership is much flatter and women have much more actual decision-making power.
I love that so many women and some men are pushing back so much on this. It just goes to show how far the conversation about women and priesthood has come in the past decade. There can be no doubt now that women are “agitating” (as Hinckley said would be necessary before ordination for women would be considered).
@katetalksmormonism I’m not sure what you need us for. You don’t need us to administer essential, saving ordinances. You don’t need us to make any decision at an organizational level. You don’t need us to use our voices to advocate for the marginalized. You don’t need us to give or participate in blessings. It seems like you only need us for the purpose of birthing children. How sad that as women of the church, our value has been reduced to our bodily capabilities.
@amormonmeg Our daughters and granddaughters won’t put up with this inequality for as long as we have.
@brkate Priesthood, the power of God, is synonymous with maleness in the LDS church. I am “presided over” both in the home and at church by men. I covenanted in the temple through a hypothetical future husband, and was told any future power and glory of mine would be obtained through him. We speak to and of only male gods — my eternal destiny a mystery and verboten. In my “patriarchal” blessing, I was told to obey my male leaders, and the sacred “garment of the priesthood” I was given is actively harmful to the functions of my female body. When women were finally granted permission to “witness” ordinances, children were too. I could go on and on.
The people who are speaking here do not lack understanding, or faith. They see things as they are.
@jheaton3 Allow [the] family history leader, Sunday school pres, and ward mission leader callings to be either gender. If not this, allow the female presidents in the ward to bring a counselor or two each to ward council so there are equal female and male voices weighing in on things. Don’t make [the] Primary president get approval for the Primary to learn special musical numbers that aren’t found in the song book.
@exponentii_mag Fifty years ago, Claudia Bushman wrote in our very first issue: “Exponent II, poised on the dual platforms of Mormonism and Feminism, has two aims: to strengthen the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to encourage and develop the talents of Mormon women. That these aims are consistent we intend to show by our pages and our lives.”
Unleash the potential for women in the Church to serve in ways that are commensurate with their talents. Lift women, lift the church. “These aims are consistent.” It’s time.
