Defend the implication that the LDS church receives no gain from its membership. Last I knew its coffers were pretty full. The remuneration per ward from Salt Lake for financial aid of its local members is also frequently quite inequitable. There are wards collecting $100k+ each month in tithing, sending it all to Salt Lake, and being allocated mere $1000s of it in return--insufficient to help all the needy families in their own ward.
Also, you must both qualify and quantify "such joy in their hearts". Esp. re the fact that Utah is the state with the highest use of anti-depressants per capita. That's not a coincidence or simply correlation without causation. Sorry, I have to side with Danial C. on this one, for similar reasons from similar experiences. In defense of Sasha's position, I will qualify that there do exist varying pockets of micro-cultures among the LDS church. *Some* of them, function altruistically and to the mutual benefit of all. Something Sasha may have not experienced yet is some of the other micro cultures that exist--several of which I have personally experienced, and others which have been recounted to me first hand, which do not function in the idyllic fashion Sasha has experienced. To head off objection from Sasha, these other micro cultures in no way violate the principles that the church espouses--they are right in line with the general handbook of instruction also--you can't say they are apostate wards or anything and dismiss them or the effects they have on their members--they must be included in the equation. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
