21st Century Update

WARNING: Further examination of religious and political topics!

After I posted about Nathan's problem with religious discrimination at school, my awesome brother (Check out his blog: http://testingtodd.sirrub.com/ . He's got great politics and technology commentary.) made this comment:

Todd is in the front. My other awesome brother, Mark is in the back.

When we lived in MA I was afraid to tell anyone that I was LDS. I am not sure where the fear came from, but it was there. I actually did not like to talk about my religion or my beliefs until a few months ago. I had a baptist missionary drop by. A simple question turned into a 2 or 3 hour conversation. It was great. I was able to see that I had a lot in common with that missionary. I also tried to show him that we had things in common. I really felt good after that conversation. It made me realize what I believed and why. The thing that I think is really funny is that members of our faith are in government. Check this out...the senate majority leader is LDS, the Secretary of Health and Human Resources is LDS, and there are a handful members of the house and senate that are LDS. In the past, Ezra Benson was the Secretary of Agriculture. Those are the people just of the top of my head. Many CEOs and presidents of companies are LDS (like Marriot, General Mills, etc). So, like every other faith, our members contribute greatly to society and somehow we are all okay. I don't even want to turn to sports (ahem...Steve Young). I guess that as long as us Mormons keep our distance everyone is okay. I guess Dr. Kings dream doesn't apply to us. Oh well. Could be worse.


This leads right in to what we did last night for Family Home Evening. Yesterday as I was putting Christmas decorations away, I found a pile of books. Serendipity! There was a book called "If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King" by Ellen Levine. I brought the book down to the living room and May picked it up and read most of it. I was so impressed. She said they had read from that book in school. She was incredulous at how African Americans were being treated. I asked her if she would share five things she learned with us for Family Home Evening. She wasn't very willing at that point, but once we started discussing what the holiday was all about, she willingly chipped in.

Nathan taking in this great book.

We read just a bit of MLK's, "I Have a Dream" speech. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." We talked about non-violent civil disobedience like sit-ins and marches. I felt very enlightened by the end of our discussion.

This ties back to Todd's comment because as we read snippets from this book, I tied it back to being LDS. Not to take away from Dr. King's message, which is very important in it's own rite, but just to expand upon the idea and apply it to my own situation. "I have a dream that my five little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their religious affiliation, but by the content of their character!"

I also saw other links to my religion that I thought were interesting. Here is the one that stuck out the most to me. After his house was bombed Dr. King said, "If I am stopped, this movement will not stop. If I am stopped, our work will not stop. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just." This reminded me so much of when the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed by the mob in Carthage Jail. People thought that if they stopped Joseph Smith, they would stop the progress of the church, the building of temples and churches, the very faith of the people. This was not the case and Joseph Smith, much like Dr. King said that very thing a few years before his own death, though much more eloquently than I can, "No unhallowed hand will stop the work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assembly, calumny may defame, but the TRUTH of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God are accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say, "THE WORK IS DONE!"

Along other lines, I am impressed as we hold family scripture study each night and Family Home Evening every week, just how much there is to teach my children! I'm so grateful for the chance I have to teach them. When we were less regular with our family time, I didn't even realize the depth and scope of what I would like to give to my children. I am thankful for prophets who encourage us to do these things!