Conference Reports

My daughter and I gave our conference reports today at church. It went well. No one had a problem with any of the legislation at all. The Words of Council passed without a hitch and those who were opposed were civil and respectful of others. No wonder I am so impressed with our people.

There were several impressive stories. The speaker of the opening day was the executive director of the National Council of Churches, Rev.Dr. Michael Kinnamon. He told of growing up just west of Lamoni, Iowa where our university is located. He then moved near our church headquarters at Independence, Missouri. Later his father was transferred to Salt Lake City. He said "I know who you are and I also know who you aren't". He is very much in favor of our membership in the National Council of Churches. Time will tell if that works out.

To illustrate the different cultures represented in our church, one man told of his struggle. He is from Africa. His brother died from Aids. His culture expected him to take his brother's wife and have children for his brother with her. He already had a wife and did not want to do that so he argued with the village elders. She died soon afterward of Aids. That relieved him of that conflict.

In some places in Africa and also Haiti, if you even discuss homosexuality, you can be burned to death or stoned to death. So that is a taboo subject.

In India, where the church is also located, women are also treated terribly. They have no rights at all. They have no say in the family. If they earn money, they have nothing to say about the way it is spent. They must surrender it to their husbands. They are required to cover themselves from head to foot and if anything bad like rape happens to them, it is considered their fault. They are ostracized from their family and must resort to begging or prostitution to survive.

So there are very different cultures throughout the church. Some of these issues will have to be handled on a local basis and not by the International Church. Therefore, we will begin, within two years, to hold regional conferences to address such issues.