it's that time again...

Twice annually the Mormon church has what it calls "General Conference" where all the old fossils in Salt Lake City blather on, slowly and monotonously for a hellish combined total of 10 hours spread over a weekend. (5 sessions of 2 hours each.) If you manage to stay awake for all of that (most people don't) your head will be filled with some of the best propagandist nonsense of all time.

Like this little gem: (provided to me by a friend who lives with his Mormon parents, who are, of course, watching every single moment of mind-numbing boredom)

"fidelity is the glue that holds society together"

He sent that to me as he knows so very well the umbrage it would cause me. Just like abstinence-only education actually results in HIGHER rates of teen/unwed pregnancy, this constant reinforcement of single-partner (yes, the Mormons really did give up polygamy in 1890) monogamy-only model of adult human relationships causes resentment, discontent, and divorce/separation of many partnerships that might actually endure quite well if their participants merely got past the fact that just because you love someone doesn't mean you can never have sex with anyone else the rest of your life...

The part that really gets me about that is that it's not just the religious who hold so fastly to this ridiculous and unnecessary ideal. Even when I talk about it among some gay people and atheists (people who, for the most part, have cast off religion) single-partner monogamy is the default/assumed position. Then I hear such ridiculous proclamations as "well, jealousy is a deep-seated natural emotion." Uh, no, actually - that's an artificial societal creation as well. You only adhere to it and feel it so deeply because it has been ingrained in you since birth, just as religion has been for a great majority of the population.

Then I will also hear some who have maybe one foot across the line - who allow sexual interactions with others outside the relationship, but where the "sin" of "falling in love" or having an emotional connection go along with it is also forbidden... it can only be meaningless sex... Which I think is just as stupid as forbidding all sex outside of the relationship. There is a very strong emotional connection that comes with sex (it's a very personal, intimate act.) For me, if that's not there, I don't even enjoy it. Just because you ALSO love someone else, does not erase the love, devotion and commitment to your chosen mate. If you keep loving and feeling this emotional connection with another person in addition to your mate - ADD them to the relationship. It IS possible to love more than one person at once.

Anyway... I could go on about this subject for quite some time, but others have already done so, better than I could - get the book "Sex at Dawn" (only about $12.00 new on Amazon.) As I read it I just want to copy and paste nearly every passage on social media and say "see, people, this is what I'm talking about!" Christianity has re-written and revised human history so that people currently believe that the expected behavior is what has always been and should always be, and that is certainly NOT the case. At all.

Also, as a humorous p.s. - my good friend's wife posted on Facebook complaining about the hideous excuse for "fashion" of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir ladies - and all the comments from the fellow Mormons resoundingly agreed that the outfits are hideous... what I wanted to say, but restrained myself: "well, that's what happens when you drive out all the gays and fight against their right to get married..." Or maybe I will go trolling anyway... >:}