Christianity [+ Women] Sometimes Get Off On The Wrong Track

. . . sometimes we all don't agree on things but somehow or other we do get things right.  Sometimes in looking back at history, we actually have the opportunity to learn and move forward.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity."
It's hard to imaginate the world from the 1870's -1930's but that span in time, thankfully gone-bye, has some uncanny and twisted applications in social reforms from the 1960's to now.

What did we get during those years?
Prohibition that started on January 16, 1919 and lasted for almost 34 years until the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was repealed on December 5, 1933
Good intentions with unintended consequences? And it took more than three decades. Things don't move much faster than that now. But there was relatively recently an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution that created some furor; nonetheless it became "the law of the land". Let's get back to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union with all the agitation it created to change "social customs". 

EARLY HISTORY: [Source: http://www.wctu.org/history.html ]
The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in November of  1874. It grew out of the "Woman's Crusade" of the winter of 1873-1874. Initial groups in Fredonia, New York and Hillsboro and Washington Court House, Ohio,  after listening to a lecture by Dr. Dio Lewis, were moved to a non-violent  protest against the dangers of alcohol. Normally quiet housewives dropped to their knees in pray-ins in local saloons and demanded that the sale of liquor be  stopped. In three months the women had driven liquor out of 250 communities, and  for the first time felt what could be accomplished by standing together . . .

Similar to strategies used today on other current issues, "Through education and example the WCTU hoped to obtain pledges of total  abstinence from alcohol, and later also tobacco and other drugs. The white  ribbon bow was selected to symbolize purity, and the WCTU's watchwords were "Agitate - Educate - Legislate."

Looking deeper into the status quo at that time: "The crusade against  alcohol was a protest by women, in part, of their lack of civil rights.
Rights we all have that needed to get protected by the force of enacting and enforcing laws.
Does that sound very current and  familiar, or what?
Things that immediately to mind: voting rights, reproductive rights, the exercise of religion in private and public places [like your own bedroom or public bathrooms], gender orientation and marriage equality, housing discrimination, economic status, and disabilities.

Women could not vote.
In most states women could not have control of their property or custody of their children in case of divorce.
There were no legal protections  for women and children, prosecutions for rape were rare, and the state-regulated "age of consent" was as low as seven.
We've come a long way for sure, but there is now shocking metrics and data from those earlier times: Most local political meetings were held in saloons from which women were excluded. At the end of the  19th century Americans spent over a billion dollars on alcoholic beverages each  year, compared with $900 million on meat, and less than $200 million on public education.
In 1879, Frances Willard became president of the WCTU and turned to organizing political means in  addition to moral persuasion to achieve total abstinence [much like the abstinence pledge for pre-marital sex].
Willard's personal motto was "do everything."
The WCTU adopted this as a policy which came to mean  that all reform was inter-connected and that social problems could not be  separated.
. . . and so it goes
Much like the so-called "Unity Pledge" promoted by the City of Mesa that has instead divided interest-groups, certain fundamental rights are best handled by the power and enforcement of laws.

VIDEO ON DEMAND > You Own It .... Use It!

There are fewer and fewer lame excuses when residents, citizens and voters say it's too hard or too inconvenient to get engaged or participate in the government or in the politics here in Mesa.
If time or circumstances interfere with your being there in real time at important meetings or events, the public television station Mesa Channel 11 offers a service.

You can watch live or access uploads any time you want - it's how technology is changing participation in the democratic process.
You can find a calendar of meetings and events here

There's a special City Council Study Session @ 07:30 - almost live right now you can catch for a presentation of plans for the Higher Education Initiative, with the emphasis on pushing for an AZU Downtown Mesa campus


For LIVE ON DEMAND PROGRAMMING http://mesa11.com/ondemand/

Commercial Properties Are Changing Hands Here In The New Urban DTMesa

Case in point: 62 South Center Street, a one-story building part of a large piece of land at the northwest corner of Center Street and First Avenue, directly across the street from the south campus of the Mesa Arts Center.
The image to the left was taken back in March from the second floor outdoor area of the community room at Encore On First.
If you look closely in the foreground you can see a cyclone fence topped with barbed wire enclosing an automobile repair business.
At the middle right you can see the southwest view of MAC in very close proximity to the site, as well as in the center the Main Street façade of City Hall at Main Street/Center where there is a Valley Metro Light Rail Station - a prime location no doubt for adaptive re-use development.
TAKE ANOTHER LOOK: This perspective is from one block south of Main Street between Macdonald and Center Sheets on First Avenue. Nice view, huh? 

Image to the right is a view from the vantage point of the frontage of 62 S Center Street from directly across the opposite corner at the NEC with First Avenue.
The building's showroom has sat empty for more than two years with the exception of a Rolls Royce on display under repair that "disappeared" shortly after the sale of the property.
Seeing a seen a couple of months that the property had been sold and is "available", curiosity got the best of your MesaZona blogger sending an email to the Mayor's Office for Public Information only to receive that the was "a private transaction" [?????????????????]

With any luck or combination of circumstances [like the Notice of Seizure & Landlord's Lien]  posted on the door of office/showroom by LRA Associates who's handling the property] and after striking up a conversation with someone in the auto repair lot, he didn't know who had purchased the property, but told yours truly the property would be turned into a restaurant with parking . . . mebbe just another rumor??

Time will tell, or plans will be drawn up and proposed to go into the zoning/approval, but maybe it is likely that that the plans for an RFP at 1 West Main Street for a mixed-use 3-5 story building that included a sidewalk restaurant will somehow take place at 62 S Center Street.
It's open for speculation od course.

Using Data > Bringing Transpsrency to The Diversity & Social Equality Space

With employers around the globe placing greater value on diversity in the workforce, a recent study from the McKinsey Global Institute calculated just how much could be gained by achieving gender parity: $12 trillion.
Other studies repeatedly demonstrate that diversity encourages diversity of thought, stronger leadership and ultimately, more successful businesses.

Organizations with more women in management and senior leadership positions are tied to stronger financial performance and companies with diverse workforces benefit from higher returns, increased innovation and higher employee satisfaction.

On Tuesday morning, Bloomberg unveiled a new index intended to showcase what the biggest financial players are doing to promote gender equality.
The index, called the Bloomberg Financial Services Gender Equality Index (GEI), includes 26 public companies that are best-in-class in the financial industry in terms of providing opportunities for women.



The results released two days ago, provide investors and companies increasingly sought after information to evaluate reputation, value and performance.
“We decided to create the Bloomberg Financial Services Gender-Equality Index because we realized investors and organizations lacked the data to assess the gender-equality of various firms” said Angela Sun, Head of Strategy and Corporate Development.
“We hope the index will bring greater transparency to the diversity and social equality space and raise awareness around the issues companies, employees and communities face.”
Bloomberg partnered with third-party experts, including Women’s World Banking, Catalyst and Working Mother Media, to focus on the most pertinent challenges and data points in the space. . . Yet a glance at corporate boardrooms and c-suites around the globe indicates we’re largely ignoring what the research tells us.
Women in S&P 500 companies make up 45% of the labor force but hold just 19.2% of board seats and represent only 4.4% of CEOs. Their representation drops to just above 25% at the executive and senior-management level.
The new GEI lists 53 data points for each included company, ranging from number of women in the company and on its board, to length of parental leave, to provided child care and adoption services. It will also provide investors with an easy way to compare the performance of these companies with that of the market as a whole.
The Bloomberg index is simply a rich source of information—it’s up to investors to decide how to use that data. Still, understanding where companies stand on women and diversity is the first step to creating real corporate change, says Sun: “If you can’t measure something, you can’t manage it.”
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Blogger Note: this post is an aggregation from two sources
http://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/using-data-to-bring-transparency-to-the-diversity-social-equality-space/ November 23, 2015

http://fortune.com/2016/05/03/bloomberg-gender-equality-index/ May 3, 2016

Exercising Your Conscience > Religion Gets Personal + Public

Religion versus Equality? . . Which one of these statements is not like the others? My religion forbids me from eating pork. My religion prohibits me from saying the Pledge of Allegiance. My religion requires me to wear special clothing. My religion requires me—as a private business owner—to refuse services to same-sex couples who are planning weddings. 
The fourth statement is the outlier in this series, and it’s wrapped up in a culture war that pits religious freedom against individual rights.
This war is being fought very publicly all over the country but just at a slow and long-delayed simmer here in Mesa to take action even for consideration on the Mesa City Council for proposed action on an Non-Discrimination Ordinance.
While Mesa is the third largest in size in the State of Arizona, this city we all love frequently lags behind the other two larger and more diverse metropolitan areas Phoenix and Tucson.

 

Even long after the advent of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's, Arizona became the butt of jokes and boycotts by corporations and companies for being the last state to honor a national holiday Martin Luther King Day.
Arizona Governors and state legislators have faced impeachments and recalls from office for any number of violations, most recently with the passage of SB1070.

And yet on the Heritage Wall outside of City Hall Plaza a certain version of history is proudly put on display like the bronze plaque dated 1953
Civil Rights for All.

And now that the issue of non-discrimination has come up again, we see another plaque with the date 1996

Celebrating Diversity
To finally honor the birthday of one of America's great political and religions leaders for the protection of equal rights under the law.
[Mesa does remember oftentimes in hindsight that injustices were committed, for instance noting in 1953 that swimming pools and housing were segregated]

It might be asked - and perhaps all too easily - will Mesa end up on the wrong side of history when it comes to guaranteeing by force of law current issues dealing with prejudice, discrimination and religion?

How Religion Unites and Divides Us: Muslims @ +66.7% Outpaced Mormons @ +45.5% Jump

According to a report in Mormon Chronicles BlogSpot

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Mormonism leading way in U.S. religious growth

[Note, the story below is based on inconsistent numbers. See here for an update, or here for a discussion on growth rates]. Excerpts of Mormonism leading way in U.S. religious growth by Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune]

LDS Church is fastest-growth Christian faith in 30 states, report shows

The Utah-based faith is leading the way — Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota and other states far outside the West's traditional "Mormon corridor."

These are among the findings of the newly released once-a-decade U.S. Religion Census. It is "the most comprehensive local-level analysis of U.S. religious adherents" since the religious census began about 60 years ago, Clifford Grammich, who led the study's supervising committee, said in a news release. "We are especially pleased to have increased participation for several independent and non-Christian bodies."

In the latter category, researchers estimated that Muslims outpaced even Mormons between 2000 and 2010, adding 66.7 percent more adherents. During that time frame, the nation's overall Muslim tally shot up from 1,559,294 to 2,600,082.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported an increase from 4,224,026 U.S. members in 2000 to 6,144,582 members in 2010, a 45.5 percent jump.

That is "far and away the largest gain reported by any [Christian] group," the report noted, not just in percentage but also in actual numbers.

["The single largest religion in every state is Christianity," said Dale Jones, director of research services at the Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center in Kansas,"if one counts Mormons as a branch of Christendom — which the LDS Church does."]

 

 

 

Radical Transformation for The Urban Downtown Mesa - Who Wants to Turn The Center City Into Downtown Tempe?

There have now been two plans within the space of two years for two different proposals for the same site here - the latest is to plop down a 200,000 Sq Ft plan to insert an ASU campus at the center of this city.
Do we really want an education factory like ASU taking over and eating up an open urban public space here?
A small satellite campus somewhere close to the Main Street grid for light rail transit is fine - there are other city-owned vacant properties where this can go - like at Country Club/Main where there's an announcement on the intercom "Mesa Center for Higher Education" or other sites in close proximity to public transportation.

A deal with The Devil?

The question arises: Is there a clear vision for Downtown Mesa?
Is it an Arts-and-Entertainment District or your playground or what? 
Another Quick Fix with a deal that's gotta get nailed down by June 10th??
Developers are hoping to ride on the boom in construction for student housing taking place in Tempe, and it certainly will increase residential density with students

 

This vision from two years ago?

Or this?

Or None of the Above, find a different place to put it please

Questions or comments on the project may be directed to the Director of Downtown Transformation Jeff McVay at (480) 644-5379 or jeff.mcvay@mesaaz.gov.