The Covenant of Responsibility

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Wisdom, insure domestic stability, provide for our general Sanity, promote Common Sense, and secure the Blessings of Responsibility to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Covenant for the United Stated of America.

Article I – Financial Responsibility

Section 1. Governmental

We shall cease voting for any and all Officers of Government who promise to both lower taxes and increase government services. All Representatives, Senators, and Presidents will be held accountable by the People for financially irresponsible conduct with public funds.

As the Government of the United States has proven to have only limited power to improve the economy, we agree to refrain from complaining about the President or Congress every time the economy suffers.

All Officers of Government shall support legislation in favor of keeping and maintaining a balanced budget, such that Congress shall pass no law allowing deficit spending. In addition, they shall pass legislation requiring the setting aside of a portion of all tax revenues for a rainy day, to be spend in times of emergency or war.

Section 2. Individual

Each of us will spend less than we make. We will avoid debt whenever possible, and we will repay our debts quickly and honorably.

Debt shall be considered permissible for simple housing, transportation, education, and other necessities. We will implement financial education in our families, communities, and schools.
We will be honest and diligent in all paid work, in order to increase the value of the goods and services we provide, and in order to maintain our self-respect.

Section 3. Community

Each of us who has more than enough for the necessities of life will give a generous portion of their income to Charity, to provide food, shelter, psychological services, medical treatment, and other necessities to those who cannot support themselves, including the mentally and physically disabled. All such systems, whether public or private, will be designed to reward those who do everything they can to support themselves.

Each of us will give careful reflection and discussion to what is truly a necessity, and we will lower our expectations for our quality of life, if necessary.

Each of us will look for opportunities to help those who need it on a personal basis, but we will also respect and encourage others' need to develop independence.

We will provide special care, including health care and Education, for children who are neglected or have few opportunities.

If public systems of Charity exist, tax deductions will be given to those who donate to private charity, so that each Citizen may choose how they wish to support those in need.

Article II – Familial Responsibility

Section 1. Gender Equality in Families

Every person—female or male—who participates in creating a child will be responsible for their efforts in caring for that child.

Each of us will appreciate, respect, and participate in the unpaid labor that takes place in home a
and family life.

Spouses of both genders will have equal say in family decisions.

Section 2. Parenting

The community will recognize that the primary Responsibility for nurturing children lies with the parents. If parents have patterns of abuse or severe neglect, their children may be placed in foster care. However, in all other cases, community-based programs of child care, education, and health care will be designed to support the parents in nurturing the child. Parents should be given the opportunity and responsibility to have a voice in decisions concerning these programs. If educational or other administrators do not grant this voice, parents have the right to fight for it. No authority should be more binding in programs for children than a majority or consensus of parents.

As parents, we agree to recognize our children's responsibilities. If our children fail to meet their duties for any reason, we will help them to understand and cope with the natural consequences of their actions, and we will encourage them to grow and fulfill their responsibilities in the future. We will also make it clear that our love for them is not dependent on their successes or failures.

Article III – Use of Freedom

Section 1.

We will hold ourselves responsible for any and all exercise of Liberty, and we will recognize that a Right never includes the right to harm others.

We will hold ourselves accountable for the use of Free Speech, since it comes with the ability to express love, hate, knowledge, ignorance, gratitude, and selfishness.

We will hold ourselves accountable for the use of Property, since it was once God's, and it will someday belong to another.

We will hold ourselves accountable for the use of Religion, since millions have been given death in the name of God, yet millions have been given comfort and care in the name of God.

We will hold ourselves accountable for the use of Sex, since it can be a power of love and creation, but it can also be a power of abuse and manipulation. We will hold ourselves accountable for the children we choose to create, or take the chance of creating.

We will hold ourselves accountable for the use of the Courts, and we will not petition the government for a redress of grievances which could be resolved in another way, or which are inconsequential or fictional.

We shall hold ourselves accountable for the use of these and all other rights, and we will fulfill our duties to God, to each other, and to our families.

Signed,
Michael Reed Davison

Gender Stereotypes

"It's funny how we laugh at "women should be in the kitchen" jokes and then become judgmental when women really do think they have to be in a metaphorical kitchen to be worth anything."
--Nikki

Science, Morality, and Theistic Values

Can science answer moral questions?

Yes and no. Moral questions are partially based on knowledge of facts, which can be discovered through scientific observation, reasoning, and experimentation. However, all moral questions depend on one decision: what is most important? At the most fundamental level, science can't tell us whether preventing suffering, spreading knowledge, or forming relationships are more important than each other or any other fundamental value.


Once you've chosen what is most important to you, then science is one important way to decide how to reach that goal. If close relationships are the most important to you, then you can become a social scientist and study which relationships are the closest, how to encourage them, etc. Science can focus your values: you may find that marriage influences happiness more than any other relationship, and since you value happiness, you go into marriage counseling.


It is my belief that God is the source of all good values. He gives us a conscience so that we will be able to choose values that are consistent with His. The more consistent our chosen values are with His, the better our existence will be after death, in every conceivable way.


As a Christian, I believe that Jesus Christ exemplified the two most important values: love for God (which includes love for goodness in every form, since God embodies all good values), and love for fellow humans (which includes honesty, compassion, etc.). In Jesus, these two values formed an unbreakable foundation for all other, lesser values.

The Mormon Doctrine of Agency

Using different interpretations of certain biblical verses, most of Christianity has been fairly confused as to the role of choices in salvation. Choice is usually associated with works, and works are usually seen as the opposite of grace. Those who emphasize grace usually de-emphasize works and choices.

The revelations of God to the Latter-day Saints, mostly through Joseph Smith, make this doctrine much clearer. In essence, we are saved by choosing the love and grace of Jesus Christ, which leads to the desire to do good works. Because our good works will never be enough to qualify for salvation on our own, the grace of Jesus Christ will make up the difference. Choosing the grace of Jesus Christ takes work, but that work is only useful as long as it is leading to Him.

Most Mormons understand this. However, this ability to choose Jesus Christ or reject Him is sometimes overextended to an unequivocal belief in absolute free will. Here is what the Book of Mormon says about free will, or "agency:" "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and call things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Ne. 2:27).

This scripture specifies that all people are free to choose Jesus Christ or not. However, this freedom is "according to the flesh." What does that mean?

First of all, we can all think of times when we are hungry, stressed, sleep-deprived, or otherwise limited. We may become withdrawn, thoughtless, or irritable. In these times, our agency is limited in two ways. First, it is harder to be kind, thoughtful, controlled, or disciplined. Second of all, it may sometimes be impossible to do those same things.

This never relieves us of responsibility to those we may have harmed. Instead, it gives us a responsibility to increase our agency by living the gospel (Allen Bergin said this once). The Lord once told someone that He commanded them to sell their farm so that they would not be tempted above that which we can bear. Likewise, He has commanded all of us to "retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary" (D&C 88:124).

The same is true of mental illnesses. The Lord will judge us according to our weakness, but we have the responsibility to do all we can to manage it wisely.

And where does the power and motivation come to increase our agency through wisdom? It comes from our love for Jesus Christ. "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). We need Him. As Qui-Gon Jinn said, our focus determines our reality. As President David O. McKay said, what we think of Christ will determine who we are.

If we turn our eyes to the tree of life, which is the love of God as manifested in the condescension of Christ, then we will have the power to hold to the iron rod. We will have greater emotional and spiritual freedom to serve, to work, and to learn.

Islam: A Wise and Peaceful Religion

When Islam came into being around 600 AD, it revolutionized the Middle East for several centuries. We don't hear about it in school, because American "World History" is mostly European history. However, during the European dark ages, the Middle East was thriving in education and technology. They had a large amount of religious freedom, something that can't be said for Europe at that time. About the same time as the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe, the Middle East started to decline. Because of that decline, as well as the hostile and predatory colonization of the Middle East by European powers, the positive effects that Islam originally had were lost. They lost their unity, their education, their supremacy.

A few turn to bitterness--the terrorists and warlords. Many turn to their religion, trying to reclaim the goodness and wisdom that Islam meant all those centuries ago. However, most of them are just struggling to survive.

My point is that the source of Middle Eastern terrorism is NOT Islam. It is bitterness, poverty, and ignorance. And the good people in those countries know it. They do everything they can to get their children educated, to develop their countries, and to fight violence.

I once heard a Jordanian prince speak at my school. He spoke English with virtually no accent, and he was working to get an education--a graduate degree in Public Health, actually.

I've also come to admire the Queen of Jordan. She has thousands of fans on Facebook and over a million followers on Twitter, because she devotes countless hours to serving people, to reducing the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, to improving education, etc.

I've met several Middle Easterners who were sent by their parents to a private Christian university, largely because they wanted a school with good values and morals, a place where their kids wouldn't waste their entire lives on alcohol, drugs, sex, or other potential addictions.

Throughout the Middle East, education and human rights are slowly improving. If you'd like a good example of how Islam should be separated from traditions of human rights violations, read this 1996 New York Times article: "Blame Men, Not Allah, Islamic Feminists Say".
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C14F83E5A0C738DDDA90994DE494D81&scp=4&sq=Blame+Men%2C+Not+Allah%2C+Islamic+Feminists+Say&st=cse

(You may need a free New York Times account to be able to read it. I'm not sure.)

The Savior and the Scriptures

"And in them [the scriptures] shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation" (1 Ne. 13:36).

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation..." (Helaman 5:12).

"Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life. Behold, I have given unto you the commandments; therefore keep my commandments. And this is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me" (3 Ne. 15:10).

Every scripture testifies of Jesus Christ in truth and holiness. Since salvation comes in and through Him, we must take every opportunity we can to get to know Him. One of the best ways is to read what He said and caused to be written, every single day.

The Lord is our Savior. A testimony grows--it is different from factual or memorized knowledge. It must be nurtured and cared for, through prayer, study, and service.