(January 29, 2013 at 11:21 am)TaraJo Wrote: Yes, the generosity of the Mormon church did help his family survive. I have to give them credit for that. That generosity doesn't take away from the damage the church has done, though, most notably the church funds a lot of extreme homophobia and they're probably the reason the Boy Scouts are so staunchly homophobic. Also, they only help their own; had this been a Catholic family or a Jewish family or an atheist family, they would have just let them starve. I think the bad outweighs the good.
My family had a similar situation. My mother was counseled by her priest to stay in an abusive marriage, which she did for 18 years.
I agree that though the church may provide help, the damage of pressuring members to stay in unhealthy, abusive relationships outweighs any charity they may give. It is irresponsible to counsel someone to stay in an abusive situation because god would be upset by a divorce. It's negligent to not consider the well-being of the kids. It's far better to come from a broken home than being forced to live in an abusive one.
