On Religious Authority, Gay Marriage, and the Family

Elder Dallin Oaks’ latest bursts against gay marriage not only remind one he has spent a good part of his career as an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on a jeremiad to first define so-called “traditional” marriage and family, second to make them sacred, and third to impose them on a general public--far beyond the ranks of members of his faith. Though he has tried with his words and political activities to stop the flood of history on this issue, it seems he has failed. And, he fears the net result will be a decrease in the space allowed for religious leaders to influence publics.

While I can only imagine the anguish he must feel at the failure of his gargantuan efforts and the ways he must be cloaking it all in conviction and even notions of spiritual martyrdom, there are analytical issues here that interest me.

Ideological Pressure and Social Science

As the bandwagon to censure Mark Regenerus and his work on marriage grows, following its harsh rejection by a MIchigan judge,  the hoard focuses on conservative funding of social science and attempts to create the appearance of a debate within the field for the purposes of public relations and for legal action.  Nevertheless, there is much more that should be considered. 

Let me first be a little personal.  In 1990 I went to Buenos Aires as a recently minted Ph.D., on a Fulbright grant, to help train a new generation of social scientists since their ranks had been decimated by the dirty wars, when voices raised in concern or opposition, and science that ran counter to official presumption, were silenced, often for good. At the time, it seemed to my naive self that the military government’s censoring of social science was a rare event. 

Fraud Accusations, the Exception, and Mormonism: Thoughts on the Study of Religion

My newsfeed trumpeted this morning that the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will not have to appear before a British magistrate to face fraud charges. From this news item surge issues that are analytically interesting, even without my having read the court documents. 

I am fascinated with the idea that religious preaching and organization could potentially be judged by transactional standards of fraud, or not. In either case, we see a division of the social world into different segments where divergent standards of evaluation ostensibly hold.