Leaders
of the LDS Church have repeatedly taught that women and men are equal, but not identical. For example, Elder Oaks recently said, “In the eyes of God, …
women and men are equal, with different responsibilities.” Similarly, Elder
Ballard recently said that “men and women
have different but equally valued roles.”
Many LDS Church members accept the premise that
God’s definition of “equality” means something other than “sameness.” However, does
that mean that everything in the LDS Church
today is exactly the way it should be
with respect to the treatment of women? In other words, even if “equality”
means something different to God than it means in modern secular culture, are
current Church practices fully consistent with God’s definition of “equality”?
I
can’t say that I have a firm conviction that they are. This is one of the
reasons why I think Neylan McBaine’s recent book, Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women’s Local Impact, is so important.
