I retired last month after 42 years of working civil service for the Department of Defense. Although I’m going to work next week part time as a consultant for my old job, I still have way too much time on my hands. So I’ve been going through my old files, and found this below. I printed it off of internet on 4/12/96. So it was in the early years of the internet, 28 years ago. It was written by somebody named Heather M. Laurence. It is called “Top 30 Indications You Live in a ‘Liberal’ LDS Stake”. Obviously some things are dated (referencing Rush Limbaugh, but you could insert Trump for the same meaning), but it struck me was how little has changed in almost 30 years in the Church, and the list mostly still applies today!
Top 30 Indications You Live in a ‘Liberal’ LDS Stake
30. Most of the men have long hair; most of the women have short hair.
29. Members frequently use the term, “international church.”
28. The singles’ ward has better Home/Visiting Teaching statistics than the family wards.
27. The flagpole hasn’t been painted since Ezra Taft Benson was prophet.
26. The flag hasn’t quite made it up the flagpole since Ezra Taft Benson was prophet.
25. Flag? What flag?
24. No bubble perms on women (or men — see #30).
23. Very few, if any, men are wearing white shirts.
22. Most members of the Bishoprics, High Council, and Stake Presidency sport facial hair in one form or another.
21. The Relief Society President attends PEC. Every week.
20. There are no lawyers or orthodontists in high-profile leadership positions.
19. Primary children are permitted to “drum” when singing “Book of Mormon Stories.” Corollary: Primary children are permitted to shout “Sun-BEAM!” (You know when.)
18. No “Rush is Right” bumper stickers in the parking lot.
17. No faded “Happiness is Family Home Evening” bumper stickers in the parking lot.
16. No 1970’s-era station wagons or vans in the parking lot, with or without the aforementioned bumper stickers.
15. None of these aforementioned station wagons or vans can be found at the neighborhood Costco.
14. The Laurels don’t flirt with the missionaries — the Beehives do.
13. No ward picnic on or around July 24.
12. Portraits of past Relief Society presidents are prominently displayed in the foyer — but no apostles.
11. Nobody in a leadership position uses a Franklin planner.
10. The red punch actually tastes good.
9. The Relief Society doesn’t own a lace dolly tablecloth.
8. The Stake President is quoted in the local liberal rag.
7. During the weekly announcement from the pulpit, the Ward Magazine Rep pushes Sunstone and Dialog.
6. None of the Young Women wear hair bows, floral print dresses, or lace collars.
5. Ezra Taft Benson is never quoted in any meeting (not even the “Pride” talk).
4. The Relief Society Presidency all wear Birkenstocks to church on Sunday.
3. Multi-whole-grain sacrament bread.
2. The General Handbook of Instructions is supporting the broken leg on the bishop’s desk.
1. Members prefer to be called “Mormons” rather than “Latter-day Saints.”
Does it surprise you that the number one item on the list is still at the forefront 28 years later?
What can you add?
Image by nateen08650 from Pixabay
Wheat & Tares 
If I had ever wondered if I lived in a liberal ward or stake, this post confirmed that no, I didn’t. I had heard Sunstone mentioned occasionally by one couple but didn’t know what it was. I struggled with trying to faithfully read the Ensign (now Liahona). I had no interest in adding additional “church” reading. If only I had known!! The ward I spent the bulk of my years raising my children in had a large representation of NSA employees. They extended their training in secrecy to all levels of the ward. Being a female and having a non-member spouse, it was just about impossible for me to know anything because I had no access to those channels of information and things were rarely shared in sacrament meeting to the general members.
I have no recollection growing up or raising children of girls of any age flirting with the missionaries, but that was the only item on this list that was a head scratcher for me. This liberal ward sounds wonderful and it makes me sad that it’s not the norm. Honestly, it sounds like a unicorn, but I’d be pleasantly surprised to learn that a few unicorns do/did exist.
I can believe there are still liberal wards out there somewhere, but whole stakes? That sounds like a fairytale. Has anyone seen this magic island in the last ten years?
Finding Sunstone Magazine on the Bishop’s coffee table. I did once. Then I figured out that this loving, open minded man had joined the church “for his wife”. His becoming Mormon was not an act of conversion, but to make the woman he loved happy. He was an anomaly in an average Utah ward.
And as far as updating, the thing about using Blackberries needs to be replaced with “there is more than one person in each ward who can operate the tech for broadcasting Sacrament meeting to those who can’t attend because of Covid.” And they are still broadcasting instead of demanding in person attendance. And no, my stake doesn’t qualify.
And I want to say that our lawyer bishop is an exception to that rule about lawyers and orthodontists. He showed up the the Christmas party in a suit and tie, with huge candy canes and Christmas ornaments printed on the suit. For a lawyer, he is really unlawyerish.
1. The stake has outlawed standing and singing the Star Spangled Banner on the 4th of July.
2. Pride flag pins adorn suits rather than American flags at church on Sundays.
3. Prayers before meetings are addressed to “Our Heavenly Parents.”
4. Vegan offerings are available at all ward and stake functions.
5. RS, EQ and other presidencies often have single divorced people serving in them.
Alas, most wards are still conservative. Having members from different cultures and ethnicities is helpful though.
I’ve lived in Washington DC area, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Buffalo, Phoenix, and oh yeah Provo wards. Only the Pittsburgh ward was liberal and that was because half the ward members were Carnegie Mellon or Pitt students. The Pittsburgh area stake was typical LDS conservative, as were all the other. Even Princeton at the time (20 years ago) wasn’t a particularly liberal ward which surprised me but they were super kind and welcoming to all. I loved that ward. The DC area stake president was a military man and didn’t put up with much.
The one thing I remember about the liberal Pittsburgh ward was that if you were liberal enough you were invited to book clubs and an annual pilgrimage to a women’s conference in Chicago I believe. I was orthodox at the time and my wife and I were not invited to those events. I still remember thinking it odd that they called it a pilgrimage.
Alas I do not live in a liberal stake. Notwithstanding my community is liberal and diverse, the LDS community here is conservative and white.
I love faith over fears additions.
I would add:
Multiple second hour classes where congregants can explore scripture in their own way.
Female representation on the stand. Until the powers that be shut it down.
Female representation in administering the sacrament. As Sam Brunson has pointed out at BCC, there is no scriptural prohibition for the administering portion.
Not requiring a temple recommend for certain high profile callings.
I think I would have to update this one a little bit. I definitely grew up in a more liberal branch than anything I’ve ever been in since, and here were some of the symptoms:
– Most ward leadership were college professors
– Not everyone in the bishopric was married
– The bishop’s wife had a career (in the 80s)
– Lots of involvement with both the local democratic party, and non-church charity work
But those days are gone, even there. Here are some symptoms of the reverse that I see now:
– Ratio of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs in the parking lot is high.
– Talks referencing culture wars abound.
– Absolute credulity about QAnon conspiracies, shared freely and with wide eyes
“14. The Laurels don’t flirt with the missionaries — the Beehives do.”
I’m puzzled as to why this would be an indicator of a liberal-leaning ward.
Is it saying that Laurels (women almost of legal marriagable age) aren’t interested in marrying an RM? Or is this saying something about the beehives?
I thought that moving to Eastern Canada from the southern US would place me in a more liberal ward, but instead I found myself surrounded by the most conservative Canadians in Ontario. Hearing Canadians defend Trump at church was gross.
I grew up in Provo. Definitely not a politically liberal stake. Although Steve Robinson was my neighbor and he has more liberalish takes on religiosity. He was against prudism and cultural obsessions with drinking caffeine, watching R-rates movies, rigid Sabbath observance, etc. In the 1990s this came off as liberal to me.
I moved to the DC area for a while to go to school. Definitely more liberal there. Although DC does have a fair amount of conservatives who migrate there to work for the Republican Party.
Now back in Utah, I attend a ward with lots of people from Latin America. The liberal/conservative bifurcation doesn’t quite apply. It is a very different dynamic. But it isn’t white liberal, that is for sure. The larger stake is most certainly not liberal, but not Trumpist conservative, either. An aura of libertarian conservative seems to pervade the stake.
I am not aware of living in a liberal stake. I do live in a liberal country so the members who think being a republican is part of being a good member, really stand out, and make the church look extreme. The extreme right men are chosen for leadership.
Our Prime Minister, (Albo) who lives in “the lodge” announced on Feb 14, that his companion in the lodge had agreed to marry him. Anthony Albanese (Albo) is an impressive man, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, living in social housing, he went on to get a degree in economics, and is now at 60 the PM. He is trying to help the disadvantaged to rise, and equality to improve. He will get very few Mormon votes.
One of his pledges when coming to office, was to amend the constitution so that aboriginal people were recognised, and set up a body called the voice. The voice were to be aboriginal people, elected by their people, to advise governments, on legislation that affects their people. We had that vote last year, and almost all the lies, racism, and disinformation I saw, in the lead up, was spread by church members. It was like being in Trump post truth world. He has affected how the political right conduct themselves.
I doubt there are liberal stakes in Australia, because Liberals don’t become Stake President’s.
Over thirty years ago I lived in a liberal ward in the Bay Area, on the peninsula, for about a year and a half. The ward was comprised of young families, their young children (there were only a handful of youth), a few medical students, a few families from Eastern Europe, and maybe a third of the ward were single adults. It was eclectic and urban. I would characterize it as liberal with a little “l”. I don’t recall national party politics being talked about, ever. Liberal here meant members were open-minded, welcoming, not judging of others based on their race, dress or sexual orientation. The church’s status quo beyond our footprint was often explored, even questioned, and the vibe was one of ‘you do you’. Maybe because so few of the members conformed to the conventional idea of what a Mormon should be, everyone seemed to bring a sense of humor with them to church, somehow understanding the ward was nothing like your typical Utah, Arizona or Orange County California ward, and everyone was cool with that, even relieved.
Some sisters wore pants suits each week and nobody gave it a second look. A single brother occasionally came in a women’s kimono complimented by red stilettos. The rumor was that the bishop asked that he not pass the sacrament when he wasn’t wearing pants and high heels. Other men passed the sacrament in jeans and a polo shirt. Again, few cared. Some who attended always smelled like cigarette smoke–maybe their roommates smoked? I never heard anyone comment about it. Two older men (maybe in their late 60s or early 70s?) blessed the sacrament from time-to-time. The rumor was that at some point earlier in their lives they had been a committed gay couple, but as they grew older they desired to be platonic friends. Members didn’t give it a second thought–and this was in the 1980s! Often during fast and testimony meeting, a member would get and sob about having lost yet another dear friend to AIDS. At that time, AIDS was ravaging the Bay Area. A free Castro District newspaper would list death notices and short obituaries. The times I picked up a copy to read while riding the bus or light rail, there were always several pages of death notices. It was horrible. The ward was extremely sensitive to this because it impacted several ward members’ lives.
Several members and a few families really struggled. I can’t say the ward was easy to be a part of. I always felt like the challenges many members faced outstripped the ward’s ability to take care of its own. But there was also a beauty there on Sundays. It was a few hours of escape from the rigors of the week, and people seemed to attend for the peace they felt there. Sometimes a speaker wasn’t able to make it to sacrament–no stress. The bishop either talked or we ended early. Sometimes assigning someone to teach the lesson in quorum meeting had been overlooked, no problem. We found things to talk about. It was warm, comfortable, a place where most, I assume, felt they could be themselves. And while I don’t recall members ever launching broadsides against the church (this was the time when Ezra Taft Benson gave his infamous ‘women should stay at home’ talk), everyone seemed to chose to live beyond whatever was coming out of Salt Lake City. Many seemed to have this sense that those in the ward were in it together and just trying to make it to the next week–there were bigger issues than worrying about the ideals broadcast from church headquarters. I can say this, it changed me for the better. It’s the only ward I have ever been in where members didn’t mask. Everyone was honest about their lives and the challenges they faced. They were vulnerable before being vulnerable was a thing. While my time there was brief, it certainly contributed to shaping who I am today.
Thank you Big Sky. One can only hope that ‘Think Celestial’ includes being able to associate with groups similar to that congregation you described.
It’s all relative and fluid. My current ward (U.S., well outside the Jello Belt) leans a little too conservative for my taste, but would probably be considered somewhat liberal when compared to a typical family ward in, say, Rexburg ID. But I also see my ward’s conservative bent softening a bit lately, as a few of the key orthodox pulpit-pounding ward members have recently moved away to “greener pastures” (redder states), and we also have a new bishop who is a bit more open-minded than his predecessors (he’s an adult convert on his second marriage, and generally a decent dude). The stake as a whole likely leans conservative; though it contains a large state university with enough LDS students to justify the existence of a YSA ward, it also reaches far into rural farm country, including 2 isolated small-town branches.
A ward I lived in previously, in the southeastern U.S., would probably be considered liberal in hindsight. It contained many low-income minority neighborhoods and had a very welcoming, “come as you are” vibe to accommodate the diverse members and visitors, but I didn’t get much chance to appreciate it myself, as there were many, many needs to be met among the members, and regular members like myself were just busy trying to help where we could. But there was a little more tolerance for unorthodoxy, since the ward leadership considered themselves lucky that people showed up at all.
I grew up in a suburban ward in California that was fairly conservative, despite being located in a congressional district that has always been represented by a democrat (in my lifetime, at least). As of last year, the ward no longer exists, having been consolidated with two other neighboring wards (the stake was also consolidated at the same time). I haven’t been back there in years, but I’m told by friends there that its a result of an overheated real estate market, combined with the outmigration of long-time stalwart families to Utah and Idaho, as well as the bleeding of liberal-leaning members who feel less and less welcome with each passing year.
I’m not sure if I have attended any ward that meets all or even most of the listed criteria above. And it seems less likely to happen nowadays.
Do I live in a liberal stake? Why yes I do. I’m a member of the Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds Ward in the Strawberry Fields Forever Stake. Let me take you down…
Ohhh boy has this one done a 180°.