Had a hard time in Relief Society yesterday. The teacher was giving the lesson from The Teachings of the Living Prophets, President Bensons words about the priceless blessings of the temple. In the middle of the lesson, she starts talking about President Boyd K. Packer's quote about how the greatest threats to the church are feminists, homosexuals, and intellectuals. And she's printed these three words out on a paper and she taped them up to the board. And she said isn't it wonderful to go to the temple where we don't have to see these three things.
I sat there, aghast and confused. Have we entered some alternate lesson dimension? What is going on? Did I fall asleep and miss how this applies?
And EXCUSE ME??? I consider myself a feminist and intellectual. And while I'm not a homosexual, I have people I care about who are. And feminists and intellectuals and homosexuals can go to the temple as long as they are worthy. Why is she pinning this forty year old, divisive quote up on the board to label people and to stare down at us the whole lesson?
I wanted to say something. I came pretty close to saying something. But the problem was that this particular teacher is notoriously bad for being able to handle comments in class, especially comments that don't agree with her own point of view or open up a new thought or basically go against whatever she thinks. She gets flustered and doesn't know how to handle it. And I didn't want to be the one who did that to her. So I sat there and didn't say anything.
But now I'm wishing I hadn't. Surely there were other sisters in Relief Society that day who are also cursed with being either a feminist, intellectual, or homosexual. I should have piped up.
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