Tomorrow morning President Russell M. Nelson
will announce his presidency during a live broadcast. I don’t have particularly
strong feelings about his upcoming announcement or tenure. I’m also not interested
in personally condemning him. I don’t envy the mantle of the calling he will be
assuming. I wish him the best, and hope he presides in love, charity, and
compassion. I also hope he sets an example worth following as a disciple of
Christ by keeping the greatest commandment of them all: to love one another.
Even so, I’m still inclined to express my
concerns about the LDS Church being run by a patriarchal gerontocracy. This
commentary is not directed exclusively or specifically toward any single individual,
but rather about reevaluating an idea.
The patriarchal gerontocracy is fundamentally
flawed in that it lacks diversity within the upper levels of leadership. It is specifically
designed to thwart diverse participation by gender and age, and implicitly by race
and orientation. It’s an institutional power imbalance built into the
organizational structure.
As life expectancy increases through the
emergence of life extension technologies and the accessibility of anti-aging
medicines, we will need to more seriously reevaluate the usefulness and morality of the power
dynamics in a patriarchal gerontocracy. In this system death becomes a gateway
for institutional progression and innovation. Waiting or, God forbid, hoping for old men to die so LDS policy can adapt hardly seems like a productive or
compassionate way for an organization to affirm continuing revelation.
What happens when humans are able to live to be
120, 150, or even 200 years old? What will be the effects of having a
presidency and apostleship being two centuries removed from the youth of the
Church? If that seem a little far-fetched, consider this: President Nelson was
born in 1924—only four years after the U.S. Constitution was amended to allow women
to vote. My children are almost a century younger than our soon-to-be
President. Imagine how much the world has changed in that time and how that affects
a person’s perspective of the world, humanity’s potential, and how to get
there.
This is not an argument against elderly persons
having positions of leadership. Age can also lead to patience, experience, and
wisdom. What I am suggesting is that leadership should be composed of diverse
ages, genders, races, and orientations which affect the human experience.
Prophets should not be empowered by the death
of their peers. Nor should prophets be granted institutional power by virtue of
gender, age, race, or birthright. Prophets should be empowered by the
truthfulness and/or usefulness of their prophecies. They should be granted
power by their ability to invoke, inspire, influence, persuade, and motivate
people to live the Gospel of eternal life through love unfeigned.
Regardless of the tenure of the next President
of the Church, may we all be prophets, seers, and revelators. May we all sustain
one another in our efforts to elevate and improve the world through the
participation of our common religion.
