My mother was born in a small town in upstate New York.
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Why do we hate boys?
Of course, there’s the refrains in the media that boys are being left behind in education, are more likely to be held back, commit suicide, etc.
This isn’t really about that, though it might be connected. Why does it seem to me that Mormons hate boys? For a supposedly patriarchal church, there seems to be a lot of deep dislike for primary age boys – at least in my experience.
Here are three experiences that make me wonder:
Great Ward Traditions
I know that after most LDS funerals in North America (I know nothing of LDS funeral traditions elsewhere), the extended family meets after either the funeral service or graveside dedication in the cultural hall for a post-funeral meal (mmmm… funeral potatoes are the best). It’s a nice tradition. A great tradition was something I experienced on my mission.
God on Campus
This story discusses the increase in evangelicals at Harvard. Apparently, one of the major reasons is the higher number of non-Anglos (African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians) who are dedicated Christians.
I’ve yet to see any figures on the increasing number of Mormons at America’s universities, but I would guess that the difference is huge. Just to give you one idea, when I went to Stanford in the early 1980s, there was no ward and students met off-campus with the local family ward. Now, there are two very active wards and an Institute program. My wife tells me that Colorado State, her alma mater, has had an even bigger increase.
So, let’s produce some Bloggernacle firepower — tell the world how your student wards (and perhaps even stakes) have grown at your universities in the past few years. The growth may even dwarf the increase in evangelicals at Harvard.
A real May Day
On Sunday, we found out that one of the brethren in the Spanish ward that shares our chapel in Miami had been deported. He is married to an American woman and has two children, but he had not filled out his immigration papers correctly, so the INS caught up with him and deported him back to Central America, leaving his wife without a husband and his children without a father.