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<\/a>I have a number of linguistic pet peeves. \u00a0Not all of them are related to Latter-day Saint usage \u2014 e.g., \u201cshe advocates for x<\/em>\u201d rather than, simply, the perfectly adequate \u201cshe advocates x<\/em>\u201d is not \u2014 but some of them are<\/em>. \u00a0Here is one of them that is:<\/p>\n Back in the General Conference of April 2018, I was very pleased to hear President Dallin H. Oaks ask us not to use the word priesthood<\/em> to refer to the body of men who have been ordained. \u00a0And yet I still hear it.<\/p>\n This has always bothered me. \u00a0I\u2019ve never liked hearing that \u201cThe priesthood will be gathering for basketball on Thursday night,\u201d or \u201cThe priesthood will be cooking pancakes in the park on the Fourth of July.\u201d<\/p>\n I realize, of course, that this reflects a legitimate English usage \u2014 e.g., \u201cIn pharaonic Egypt, the priesthood had great power and often owned enormous tracts of land.\u201d<\/p>\n But, for Latter-day Saints, an important doctrinal point is at stake, and clarity is important.<\/p>\n In German, there are two distinct terms that can be translated as priesthood<\/em>: \u00a0Priesterschaft<\/em> and Priestertum<\/em>. \u00a0The first refers to a group of priests (or, in the Latter-day Saint context, to a group of boys and\/or men holding the Aaronic and\/or Melchizedek priesthood). \u00a0The second refers to \u201cpriesthood\u201d in the sense of an authority that can be transmitted to or conferred upon someone, but it does not refer to any person or group of persons that receives such authority. \u00a0It seems to me a useful distinction, between two things that need to be kept distinct.<\/p>\n In English, we should never confuse Priesterschaft<\/em> with Priestertum<\/em>. \u00a0Priesthood is an authority that may or may not have been conferred upon a person. \u00a0We should never come within light years of confusing it with simply being male. \u00a0When men gather to play softball or to flip pancakes or to move a piano or fix a widow\u2019s screen door, they may well even be acting meritoriously and in accordance with principles of priesthood service or quorum fellowship, but they\u2019re not acting, strictly speaking, as priests. \u00a0They aren\u2019t the priesthood. \u00a0They are bearers<\/em> of it.<\/p>\n Here endeth the lesson. \u00a0I step down from the pulpit.<\/p>\n I finally had a chance last night to watch The Good Samaritan<\/em>, the 45-minute film written and directed by James Dalrymple and produced by Howard Collett that won an award a week or two ago at the annual Zions Indie Film Fest. \u00a0I liked it. \u00a0I thought that they did a really good job with it, and I was pleased by the two lead performances \u2014 both the man who fell among thieves and the Samaritan himself, who was played by Dave Martinez (who excellently portrayed Thomas Sharp in the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s 2024 theatrical film Six Days in August<\/em>).<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know when The Good Samaritan<\/em> will be publicly released, or where or how. \u00a0But I hope that it eventually finds the audience that it deserves.<\/p>\n And, speaking of Thomas Sharp [aka Dave Martinez] and Six Days in August<\/a>, that film can be streamed via multiple platforms. \u00a0(See here<\/a>.) \u00a0And have you availed yourself of the opportunities that are on offer here<\/a>?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve stood east of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives and watched Ramadan prayer taking place on the Temple Mount directly to the west. \u00a0It\u2019s deeply impressive, for one thing, to see so many people move in unison. \u00a0(In that regard, meaning no disrespect, it\u2019s rather like watching \u201cThe Wave\u201d in a football stadium.). Anyway, here\u2019s an article \u2014 sadly, far too much connected with politics \u2014 about the current celebration of Ramadan in the Holy City: \u00a0\u201c90,000 Muslims ascend Temple Mount for Ramadan prayers:\u00a0The Israel Police deployed around 3,000 personnel, including Border Police officers, in Jerusalem for the first Friday of Ramadan.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n While on the topic: \u00a0I was happy to see this article: \u00a0\u201cWhat Latter-day Saints Can Learn from Ramadan.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I found this article in the Wall Street Journal<\/em> extraordinarily interesting. \u00a0Perhaps you will be able to access it, as well: \u00a0\u201cWhy Are Girls Less Likely to Become Scientists? \u00a0Closing the gender gap in STEM jobs has proved difficult, perhaps because it has more to do with the priorities of men and women than with sexism.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 It\u2019s probably a good idea that the author is based in Australia. \u00a0That way he has at least a slight chance of survival.<\/p>\n In the same connection, more or less: \u00a0Some writers and media personalities like to characterize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> as fundamentally and profoundly misogynistic. \u00a0For an alternative point of view, though, here\u2019s an article from the Church itself: \u00a0\u201c\u2018You Bring Light\u2019: How the Church of Jesus Christ Celebrates Women\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n And here, as part of my continuing effort to share as much bad news as I can from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122, is an article in which a woman (no less!) joins in on the lie that religion isn\u2019t overwhelmingly a force for evil in our otherwise sound and healthy world: \u00a0\u201cPresident Porter Says, \u2018Humanitarian Work Is a Joyful Part of Peacemaking: Primary General President ministers in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, this too obviously comes from the Hitchens File<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cSupporting Marriage in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo:\u00a0\u201cMarriage is ordained of God\u201d, 81 couples achieve their goal of civil marriage\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/a><\/a>