With the change in LDS Church leadership, the opportunity comes for new social policies that don’t compromise the faith’s eternal doctrines (blacks in the priesthood is a good example).
So, with an eye toward retaining the more progressive-minded Mormon millennials, here are a few tweaks that might make sense as President Russell M. Nelson and his team tackle the challenges facing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
• Adopt gender-neutral church greetings. How about “Saint Smith” instead of “Sister Smith” and “Saint Jones” rather than “Brother Jones”?
• Sponsor casual Fridays at the Salt Lake LDS Temple so unworthy people strolling through Temple Square could pop in without a “recommend” to use the restroom.
• Make a strong statement during General Conference that opioid abuse is worse than medical marijuana.
• Relax the no-beard policy at Brigham Young University. Allow, say, Brigham Young- or John Taylor-style whiskers, but forbid full-on Lorenzo Snow or Joseph F. Smith ones.
• Look the other way when regular BYU students, not just high-profile sports stars, get tattoos.
• Have a Political Diversity Day twice a month — perhaps on alternating Mondays with family home evening — to encourage faithful Mormons to watch MSNBC for two hours and share with the family nationally syndicated columns by Dana Milbank and E.J. Dionne.
• Conduct sensitivity training in LDS Primary classes that teach children it is wrong to throw rocks at classmates whose parents had Hillary Clinton signs in their yards.
• Shift the focus of bishop’s interviews with young Mormons from talking about sexual practices to assuring them that if they vote for a Democrat, they won’t go to hell.
• Invite the apostles to dress, cosplay style, during one General Conference session to better connect with younger generations. Nelson, for instance, would be a fine Dumbledore. Dallin H. Oaks could be Gollum, and Dieter F. Uchtdorf would make a great X-wing pilot.
• Hold virtual sacrament meetings via Facebook Live.
• Give participation trophies to those serving partial Mormon missions.
• Allow parents to cover their young adult children’s tithing obligations.
• Ease temple recommend interviews by always saying, “You tried your best, and that’s all that really matters.”
• Do home teaching through inspirational Instagram posts.
• Change men’s and women’s restroom signs in meetinghouses with signs that say: “We don’t care, just wash your hands.”
• Find better music.
• Introduce other inspiring texts (maybe “Harry Potter” and “The Hunger Games”) into Sunday school lessons.
• Cut the Sunday meeting block by two hours.
• Ease up on the Word of Wisdom by rewarding temple attendance with an after-session wine social. It could be confined to red wine and just one glass per templegoer. After all, many doctors preach that such a practice is good for the heart. Besides, it also could make those members feel more closely connected to the dead non-Mormon imbibers for whom they were just vicariously baptized.