Community of Christ’s First Presidency’s “February Policy” targeted non-monogamous people and gave them a second-class status. This essentially said that ethical and consensual non-monogamous people and families are not as good as their monogamous counterparts.
As I am non-monogamous, I saw this as an attack on my family, especially in light of me literally begging the First Presidency not to create such a policy. It made me realize that this church hypocritically refuses to live up to its enduring principles of “Unity in Diversity”, “All Are Called”, and “Worth of All Persons”, and a result this church excludes people like me. I refuse to let my and my family’s value be diminished. I know our worth and wont tolerate anything less than respect.
However, I want to give my friends in my Mission Center and/or Congregation a chance to right this injustice by developing localized policies which stand in Faithful Disagreement to the First Presidency’s immoral policy. I need this policy to feel as if my pain has been heard and I am truly valued in this community. I want to help my friends liberate me, and will be a part of any committees or movements to create a justice-filled policy that they put together.
That being said, I wont wait forever, as they could easily dangle a carrot and say that liberation is always just right around the corner. The initial attack on people like me occurred on September 18th, 2022 and the policy was finalized on January 28th, 2023, which is a total of 132 days. I think its fair to give the same amount of time to correct an injustice as it took to do the injustice. That date from the day of writing this will be July 4th, 2023. That date also feels appropriate, because it is American Independence Day.
This is how long is left that I will tolerate inaction:
CountupMany friends have said that action would be taken after World Conference, which is from April 22nd-29th. Assuming they don’t work on my liberation before Conference, this will leave them 66 days to enact a policy. Since the First Presidency unilaterally issued this immoral policy, I would urge the congregations and Mission Centers to follow their example when righting their wrong.
I literally begged the First Presidency not to create this policy. I am now begging you to help create a policy that nullifies this immoral edict.
That being said, I fully realize that the people in Community of Christ may not be up to this task, and I will not be putting my spiritual journey on hold until they decide what they want to do. Divinity can be found everywhere, and I will start to explore communities I could also make my home and wont discriminate against me.
To explicitly say it, the beef I have is with the First Presidency and the sluggish administrative bureaucracy which enables continuing oppression. Individuals, such as you reading this, are very dear and important to me, and I would like to continue walking the path of life with you.