W06 Assignment_ Journal 10.21.23
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Brigham Young University, Idaho *
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460
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Philosophy
Date
Jan 9, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by DoctorKangarooPerson5169
Week 06 Notes:
The definition of marriage can have persuasive arguments on both sides
Researchers writing about their findings can help us understand what outcomes are produced by particular attitudes, behaviors, family structures, etc.
Family advocates must be able to locate, evaluate, and interpret different forms of research.
Doctrine and research can work together
“Is there any conflict between science and religion? There is no conflict in the mind of God, but often there is conflict in the minds of men.” Reflections of a Scientist (SLC: Deseret Book, 1983) - President Henry B. Eyring's father—Henry Eyring
President Oaks counseled all people of faith to become skilled at framing their positions without coming across as religious zealots.
Leaders of the Church often use research and data in General Conference talks, but encourage the use to the Holy Spirit to discern in research, the scientific method, and alleged claims.
"Whether truth emerges from a scientific laboratory or through revelation, all truth emanates from God. All truth is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” - President Russell M.
Nelson
We must ensure the research we find, and use is useful, trustworthy, unbiased and valid
“..just because something is printed on paper, appears on the Internet, is frequently repeated, or has a powerful group of followers doesn’t make it true.” - Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Other valuable resources include advocacy groups, think tanks, and credible and reliable survey data.
If we have valuable information but don’t know what to do with it, or if we use it ineffectively, all the effort expended in the previous steps loses value and ends up being for nothing.
"Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart" (D&C 8:2)
Feminism has made tremendous strides for women's rights and empowerment.
Much of academia today has been highjacked by ideology and subjective agendas rather than objective scientific inquiry.
Life expectancy would be much lower if not for scientists and medical professionals being able to practically eradicate common diseases and plagues that previously killed thousands.
Despite the thousands of lives that vaccines have saved and potential epidemics that they have prevented, the topic of immunizations is still controversial.
Propaganda = information intended to persuade
Good research reflects a sincere desire to determine what is overall true based on current research.
Bad research starts with a conclusion and only finds and presents supporting information
Factoids = individual facts taken out of context
Good research requires judgement/discernment and honesty to carefully evaluate information sources
Week 06 Reflections:
What personal impressions did you have as you reviewed the material?
My main impressions throughout the reading were how easy it is to be confused by bad sources, that academic research is always advancing, and that we still have to be careful about our own biases when searching for and conducting research. Without having this caution going in from the beginning, it would be easy to get off track and be swayed by incorrect information.
What did you learn from your peers this week? It was a smaller group this week due to schedule conflicts, however, Haylie and I were able to have several points of agreement and civil disagreement throughout the Zoom call. We each were able to bring new perspectives to the discussion and bring the purpose back to advocacy overall. How is this lesson helpful to you as a family advocate?
Regardless of what field you go into for advocacy, it will be important to be able to research effectively. This is critical for our own education and awareness, and also to be able to provide the best possible resources and information for those we help. Week 05 Notes:
Divorce rates have been hovering around 50% for many years now, and fewer and fewer people are getting married today than ever before
Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015
"No-fault" divorce swept the United States in the 1960's and 1970's
From 1960 to 1980, the divorce rate more than doubled
Approximately half of the children born to married parents in the 1970s saw their parents part, compared to only about 11% of those born in the 1950s
“Success Sequence” = Professor W. Bradford Wilcox and Wendy Wang (American Enterprise Institute)
"The patterns of the shopper may be applied to the topic of marriage. A couple in love can choose a marriage of the highest quality or a lesser type that will not endure. Or they can choose neither and brazenly steal what they want as “marital shoplifters.” - President Russell M. Nelson
Family can have various definitions for different people
Conflict over what constitutes a family has been a constant topic of debate in various forums:
o
Academic
o
Political
o
Mass media
o
Social media
o
Music
o
Books
o
TV Shows/Movies
"Poisoned by degrees" = Alma 47:4,18
"To promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society” - The Family: A Proclamation to the World
Changes in one system have a ripple effect across the others
“Law teaches. It shapes ideas, which shape what people do. A radical change in the law of marriage will have at least four harmful consequences that we can foresee.” – Dr. Anderson
When children are missing a parent, social costs run high.
The consent-based view of marriage now enshrined in law teaches that marriage is more about the desires of adults than about the needs— or rights— of children.
No-fault divorces lead to many single parent households
Today, 40 percent of all births in America are out of wedlock
Many scholars and policymakers have concluded, unsurprisingly, that America’s most pressing social problem is absentee fathers.
“Marriage has become primarily a way in which two adults 3 affirm their emotional commitment to one another” - Andrew Sullivan
“Allowing same-sex couples to marry will weaken the institution of marriage” - Former President George W. Bush
“Once you make marriage a genderless institution--or rid marriage of sexual complementarity--there is no reason of principle for marriage to be permanent, exclusive,
or monogamous” – Dr. Anderson
Week 05 Reflections:
What personal impressions did you have as you reviewed the material?
There were a lot of strong options throughout the study materials, and they felt one-sided in my opinion. I view things a little differently than what was suggested in the text, however, it was an important lesson in expanding my understanding from all sides of a topic, even if I don’t agree. This will be essential for a future in advocacy.
What did you learn from your peers this week? I felt grateful for my group this week, as we always have great discussions, even if we do not all agree. There were many different perspectives shared and even some opposing views to the text. Rosa shared some personal experiences to the opposite of the text as well, that was quite
enlightening. How is this lesson helpful to you as a family advocate?
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As stated previously, it’s important to hear out all sides of a topic, no matter how much you disagree. When we do not experience something ourselves, we have to take in the full experiences of others who have. This is the best way to learn as a whole. It will also help us best advocate for children we help in the future.
Week 04 Notes:
We have all been taught (directly or indirectly) to think, feel, and act the way we do
“We’re born to be righteous, but we have to learn what, exactly, people like us should be righteous about.” – Haidt (The Righteous Mind)
We should examine not only the family environment influencing someone, but also the others in their life, systems and entities
“The family is the most powerful, the most humane, and by far the most economical system known for building competence and character.” - Professor Bronfenbrenner
Family = fundamental unit of society
“No success can compensate for failure in the home.” - President David O. McKay’
Socialization = the process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, and character traits that enable them to participate as effective members of groups and society.
We should always “promote and defend” and not “attack and dehumanize” when having hard conversations with those who have opposing views.
Just because truth is rejected or not popular, doesn't make it any less true.
Family Advocacy involves 6 areas: o
Fundraising
o
Policy and Law
o
Social Media
o
Strong Coalitions
o
Research and Knowledge
o
Persuasive Speech and Writing
What happens in one system can influence the other systems
Children are socialized and supported by their families, schools, and communities which helps to nurture a children’s development, thus enabling them to become a contributing adult.
Hearing and trying to understand differing perspectives can be illuminating and humbling
Patterns are vital to understand and discern because they help us see the consequences of keeping or violating natural law.
"Throughout the world, the family is increasingly under attack. If families fail, many of our political, economic, and social systems will also fail." - President Russell M. Nelson
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory views child development as a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate family and school settings to broad cultural values, laws, and customs.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems:
o
Microsystem
o
Mesosystem
o
Exosystem
o
Macrosystem
o
Chronosystem
The microsystem is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory.
Week 04 Reflections:
What personal impressions did you have as you reviewed the material?
This week’s study materials were of a “heavy topic” nature all around, and my key takeaways were that.. it’s complicated. There’s a lot of information from both sides of each debate and as advocates we must remain unbiased and understand all aspects. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must have unconditional love for all of our earthly brothers and sisters, even if they do not believe or behave the same way we do. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard, and set an example for others, without becoming too overbearing and pushing them away from the light and into the darkness.
What did you learn from your peers this week? We discussed a lot about how there isn’t one particular cause or one particular solution for many things when it comes to advocacy. It’s important to have a clear understanding and education in all social, political, cultural, etc. aspects, even if you don’t agree with them. Having the “whole picture” when trying to advocate for someone is critical for providing the best kind of
support. How is this lesson helpful to you as a family advocate?
Echoing my thoughts in the other reflection questions, I believe it has helped me become more open to different ideas/beliefs. Life impacts us each in unique ways, such as religion, race, gender, economic status, etc. All of these factors will vary when we work with children as their advocate. If we are only speaking from our own personal experiences, then we will be more limited in who and how many people we can help. Empathy can be a great unifier in helping them see that you can understand their situations, even if you haven’t experienced it yourself.
(
Week 03 "Getting Outside My Moral Matrix" assignment
REPLACES the W03 Journal entry.)
Week 02 Notes:
Israel is God’s covenant people
Hebraic meanings of the word Israel: let God prevail
Family is central to God’s plan and it’s our duty to protect the children
Character is who we are at our core as individuals, whereas Personality can be altered more frequently by outside factors
Christ doesn’t want us to have His personality, He wants us to develop His character
Having different personalities is not a bad thing, as it can give us unique views and allow us to advocate for people of all walks of life
Strengths and weaknesses come from all personality traits, but having Christlike character can amplify our strengths and develop our weaknesses for the better
As advocates we are asked to judge ideas and messages, not people
To be effective followers of Christ we have to have a clear understanding of right and wrong
Doing good things is about more than just “going through the motions”
It is a natural desire to strive to be more than we are, however, we have to keep that desire in check, so it’s not corrupted by comparisons to others
Worth and usefulness are different
“Never check your religion at the door” – Elder Holland
We must deepen our understanding in the differences between God’s Love and God’s Laws
“Our compassion and our love—fundamental characteristics and requirements of our Christianity—must never be interpreted as compromising the commandments.” – Elder Holland
Following God’s Laws are easy when everyone around us is doing so too, but when we feel pulled in different directions by friends or loved ones, it gets more difficult to follow
Some people fear that loving others who sin means condoning the sin, but Christ didn’t believe so
"One of the greatest indicators of righteous character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us.” – Mosiah 3:19
Loving those around us unconditionally does not mean we are ignoring God’s Laws
One of the best ways that Christ was able to be a balanced advocate was by always seeking to please Heavenly Father
If we don’t put God first in all things, then our understanding and application of love can become distorted.
We have to be mindful of our reactions to things we may disagree with, as to not let pride
or our own insecurities take over
We must continue to challenge ourselves to learn to love the way God loves, while also trusting His laws for us
Only Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can love unconditionally – worldly love always has some level of condition attached to it
Remember the story of the woman taken in adultery – “let those without sin, cast the first stone” Week 02 Reflection:
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What personal impressions did you have as you reviewed the material?
I felt that the discussion topics this week are incredibly difficult, but important to talk about. Personally, I’m an advocate for sex education and plan on making this a part of my career path in the future. In a perfect world, abortion would never be necessary, however, the influences
Satan has on the Earth leads to situations where that tough decision is made. With proper sex education and resources available to all, majority of the abortions could be prevented. I don’t believe Heavenly Father would’ve given us the gift of agency if He wanted us to force others to do or believe what we tell them too. We all have a choice, regardless of if that choice is what everyone would do.
What did you learn from your peers this week? (PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to attend your
zoom meeting in any given week, you can still receive points for answering this question by discussing the week's topics with a family member and friend and then giving a brief summary of
your discussion and what you learned from the person you shared with.)
I really liked something Tihane said about character. That it is, “who we are when no one
is looking.” We also all had really good discussion around sin and how it can be viewed as
different levels of sin, when really no one is perfect and we shouldn’t be letting our own
perceptions or biases influence judgement towards others. How is this lesson helpful to you as a family advocate?
This lesson was great in helping me realize that certain topics I’m passionate about and would like to advocate for in the future, still have a lot of unknown information to me. I think in order to properly advocate, you must be knowledgeable about all aspects of a topic and be willing to learn more each day. I need to learn to be prepared for whatever questions and comments may be asked and be willing to listen to other’s perspectives. It also gave me an opportunity to think about what topics are the most important to me and what I’d like to pursue further.
Week 01 Notes:
With the gift of agency, we are given the choice to follow or not to follow the voice of the
Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost helps us become “learners who act on faith”
When we have the knowledge to seek answers by faith, then we will be guided, strengthened, and protected to act and ultimately do what is right
Having agency as a learner gives us the great responsibility to monitor what we will learn
and how well we will learn
We can all end up creating limitations on ourselves
Agency allows us to be independent of the choices and actions we take and not just adjust
as things are thrown our way without a choice in the matter
We are all solely responsible for our academic successes throughout our lives because of the great gift of agency
Knowledge is the only thing we take with us to the Eternal Kingdom
How much we each learn while on Earth will affect and determine our next life
Understanding and fulfilling our responsibility will help us stand up for our beliefs and values
Understanding our responsibilities will help us as learners will help us follow the path of righteousness
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth." (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith)
We are gaining all the knowledge we can to help us defeat the evils of this world
Our voices will be powerful when we have to advocate for those who may not be able to
The family is one of the crucial things that help a child's development, which means that we must do what I can to protect them
"Whether by my own voice or the voice of my servants, it is the same."
As an advocate, we are speaking the words of Heavenly Father in protecting His children
"The simple truth is that the family is 'the fundamental unit of society."
Many of us can pour out our hearts and souls in prayer, but we often forget to listen afterwards to hear what Heavenly Father has to say back to us
"Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—
yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your
mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will
grow into the principle of revelation.” (Russell M. Nelson)
Some believe we have no choice whether we get offended/upset/angry in certain situations, however if our spouse, coworker, family member, etc., says something that is offensive to us, it is up to us individually how offended/upset we will become by it
Giving others control over our emotions, goes against the idea of agency for our choices
Agency is applied in small and large ways. It’s not just life changing decisions, it’s also the daily things like; waking up on time for school/work, eating a healthy breakfast, attending Church activities regularly. Week 01 Reflection:
1.
What personal impressions did you have as you reviewed the material?
I was particularly prompted by the lessons to consider how important the family is and how impactful having a strong family unit is to the future of our society. The meaning of what a family is has changed a lot in recent years. Many couples have children without being married first or establishing a firm family foundation. This can also further contribute to the downfall of the marriage in the future since each person may view a family dynamic differently. I believe that
if we are strong in our morals and beliefs then we can work together to combat Satan’s influences.
2.
What did you learn from your peers this week? (If you were unable to attend your zoom meeting you can still respond to this question by discussing what you learned with a family member or friend and writing a paragraph summary of what you learned during that discussion.)
There wasn’t a zoom meeting this week, however, I was able to share some of the lessons with family and friends. In the past when I’ve shared lessons from classes, I’ve needed to do most of the talking to keep the discussion flowing. This topic, however, was relatable enough for everyone that they felt more comfortable chatting. We all have individual agency and even if someone’s beliefs are different, we can still love them. When we’re more open with each other, and start these conversations with friends and family, it can lead them to ask more questions in the future as well. As I have these conversations, I realize that sometimes it’s not just about the “what” we are teaching, but the “when” we are teaching them and the mindset they have at the time. This can be a huge factor in how well the conversations influence them. 3.
How is this lesson helpful to you as a family advocate?
I pondered why I chose to pursue this career field initially, since it will be a mental challenge for me in many ways. One of the biggest factors for me is being a part of helping children have a better future. Since I have personally experienced many traumas as a young child and into my adulthood, I feel as though I can connect to those children uniquely. Through many years of therapy, support, and self-reflection, I’ve been lucky enough to overcome many of the effects those experiences had on me, however not everyone who experiences these kinds of trauma is able to recover from it. The first step in my opinion is attacking it at the source. If we provide more education and resources to the parents, then they can more directly influence the children in
their homes. And even just small changes in the daily patterns of parenting can have significant long-term effects on these trauma responses.
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