Blog Tag: testimony
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The Double-Bind
Mary and Eve
Originally uploaded by Hi, I'm G
by mraynes
About a month ago I had the opportunity to attend an all day conference about the dynamics of gender violence in the South Asian community. The conference was put on by a wonderful South Asian feminist non-profit organization in Phoenix that I work with and was one of the best conferences I have ever attended.
Among the excellent speakers was a representative of the Peaceful Families Project which is a national organization devoted to ending domestic violence in Muslim families. I was impressed with the mission and the action of this particular...
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Reflections on My Faith
by Kelly Ann
Perfectly still, I am still amazed at how the lake water reflected the trees, hills, and even the clouds (better said the fog remnants that had evaporated off the lake in the morning due to the season beginning to change). On vacation, with countless similar beautiful views, I relaxed and enjoyed the outdoors. As one who has been over-occupied with work, house projects, family, complicated relationships, etc. as well as a shifting faith, a real vacation last month was overdue. I was fortunate enough to enjoy myself for three weeks visiting family, tourist destinations,...
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Exponent II Classics: Keepers of the Keys to the Culture
I love this piece from one of my favorite Exponent II founding mothers, Judy Dushku. I hope that we bloggers continue to be the Exponent II women that others will seek for companionship when they are questioning or feel like they don't fit in.
Judy Dushku
Watertown, Massachusetts
Vol. 8, No. 4 (Summer 1982)
In a recent Relief Society meeting, a convert bore a powerful testimony filled with exhilaration about spiritual manifestations she had experienced in answer to her prayers pleading for peace of mind and confirmation that the Lord loved her. Because the woman was new in the Church, the words she...
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Coming out of the Feminist Closet
by Jessawhy
With at least two like-minded feminists in my ward, I'm beginning to feel a little bolder in expressing my feminism at church. My husband reminds me that my personality is intense and feminism can be my hammer and sometimes everything I see becomes a nail. So, I take this analogy into account in my comments at church. I'd like to think that some people my know a lean liberal, but most don't think of me as a feminist.
That all changed at church yesterday. Because Stake Conference is next week, we had fast and testimony meeting. After the sacrament...
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Persecution and a Small Voice
by Alisa
Easter Sunday, our Relief Society Lesson from the Joseph Smith manual on the Responding to Persecution. In graduate school, I studied religious persecution in England from the 16th to 18th centuries. It has always saddened me to read the recording of a woman on trial for her life, as she recounted her belief in whether or not the sacramental wafer was the actual body of Christ. If nothing else, this has given me a strong appreciation for the founders of the United States who realized that the government’s non-involvement in religion is what would allow religions to flourish....
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Gold Plated Enigma
by G
Something I struggled with when re-negotiating my faith in the church, was to find the exact location of the Book of Mormon in the grand scheme of my personal beliefs. The generally accepted stance from the pulpit goes something like 'if it is not what we say it is, than everything else is a lie too.' Well, I do not believe the Book of Mormon is what 'they' say it is. Then again, I don't believe the all-or-none rhetoric surrounding it either.
What an enigma it is, the Book of Mormon, claiming to be a history of an ancient...
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Exponent II Classic: Fear of Fasting
Edward Hopper's Early Sunday Morning
by Anna Tueller
Somerville, Massachusetts
Originally Published in Exponent II, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Summer 1986)
Fasting had always been a window-cleaner that allowed me, at least for occasional moments, to see through the glass a little less darkly. It was a key that I trusted and used to open, however slightly, the spiritual dimension when I needed to be comforted, assured, renewed, or enlightened. I loved Fast Sundays; my hair was always a little bit cleaner; my skin more radiant; my dress more pristine; my voice more melodious. I depended on that monthly spring-cleaning and trusted that...
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Ambivalence as a Religious Virtue
(Influence by Chidi Okoye)
Ambivalence generally has a negative connotation, despite its neutral root definition of simultaneous conflicting feelings (ambi = both, valeo = feel strongly). Indecision, wishywashiness, lack of commitment is what generally comes to mind when you hear the term.However, in The Religious Imagination of the American Woman, Bednarowski argues that religious ambivalence - feelings of constraint and exclusion within a religious tradition, but at the same time feeling shaped, enriched and nourished by it - can be a religious virtue and a conscious choice that enriches and enlivens a person’s spirituality and community.
She argues that “ambivalence emerges...
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Those who leave…
When my husband (John), a 'golden' convert to the church and an RM, first told me that he was losing his testimony, I got angry. Much of my anger stemmed from the fact that my husband's choices changed my outlook on our future relationship. I felt that if John was changing his ideas about church doctrine, he might also be changing other aspects of his behavior that would seriously impact my ability to trust him. I wondered if his beliefs in Mormonism diminished, would his belief in our marriage and his love for me diminish, too?...
What is Exponent II?
Exponent II provides Mormon feminist forums for women and gender minorities across the Mormon spectrum to share their diverse life experiences in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. Through these exchanges, we strive to create a community to better understand and support each other.
Exponent II was founded in 1974 by a group of Mormon women in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These women were inspired by the original periodical, “The Woman’s Exponent,” to create a forum “posed on the dual platforms of Mormonism and Feminism.”
For 50+ years, Exponent II has shared women’s voices in its quarterly magazine, and members of the community have convened at an annual retreat. Our reach has expanded as technology has advanced: the blog, founded in January 2006, has reached millions. As we look to the future, we are focused on growth and building a more inclusive community.
