Women on Pedastals

Recently a few feminist Mormons have tried to make changes within by trying to get women to wear pants to church.  This is confusing to women in mainstream Christianity because they are not defined by what they wear to church.  But within the Mormon Church, it is not culturally accepted for women to wear pants to church, as 'Sunday best' has been traditionally defined as dresses for women.

As a facebook page was formed and dialogue was engaged in, the diatribe was fascinating to watch and even participate in.  So many Mormon women and men were very upset about something that to me, seemed so innocuous.  Why would it matter so much to so many people? Does god really care what people wear to church? Was this really what people were fighting over? There were even death threats made to the original participants:  threats

Didn't Jesus criticize the Pharisees for not looking on the heart?  What if someone came to church in jeans because that is all they owned? Would we snub them?  Look down on them? The honest people would say yes, because I've seen it happen time and again.  So many women threatened by the idea of equality?

As I have contemplated this, I remember what many of the women say, that they like feeling put up on a pedestal in the church, that the talks in General Conference talk about how special they are, that they have their Relief Society organization.

Any time I see people put on a pedestal, the result is a false sense of self.  They have a false sense that they are looked up to, even worshiped, just like a roman goddess or idol.  but just like that idol, it has no real sense of worth or value.

Its sole worth is only in the hands that made it, in the male who sculpted it.  The real value belongs to the sculptor.  He is the one who fashioned the idol, who made the creation, who gets all the glory and praise.

When he gets bored with his creation, he has the option of tearing down his idol at any time.  He can do this with his words or physically, because it is with him that the  real power lies.

There will be no real change for the women in the church until they become real people with their own power, with real equality, not a creation of the men.