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AOC on real work, and the real work of General Authorities

AOC on real work, and the real work of General Authorities

Last updated on: October 29, 2025 at 12:56 pm by Dan Peterson

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AOC on real work, and the real work of General Authorities 2025-10-29T12:56:14-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This portrait of my mother, carefully framed by my father using the finest imported hardwood, was an early harbinger of my impressive artistic ability.

I know nothing about this story beyond what I’ve read in a Fox News article about it: “Riley Gaines and Ocasio-Cortez trade barbs as conservatives defend the former swimmer in ongoing dispute: Conservative influencer Allie Beth Stuckey joins defense of Gaines after latest social media clash.” I freely admit that there may be more to it. Here, though, I’m going to take it at face value and the Fox News report as substantially accurate. This is the part of the article that caught my attention:

In the latest exchange, AOC took another hit at Gaines, telling the new 25-year-old mother to “get a real job” after her latest appearance on “The Ingraham Angle” challenging the New York lawmaker to a debate.

The University of Kentucky alum replied on X, “I have a real job. I’m a mom. It’s the most important & rewarding job in the world. I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you’d understand my positions a little better.”

The contemptuous idea that motherhood and managing a household aren’t “real jobs” has been abroad in the land in certain strains of feminism for a very long time. That it demeans the lives and choices of a vast number of women both now and historically doesn’t seem to faze those who hold it. However, I liked this response:

Allie Beth Stuckey, another conservative influencer, defended Gaines’ reply.

Stuckey posted on X replying to a tweet by AOC from 2020 where she wrote, “Sex work is work.”

“Being a mom & women’s advocate isn’t a ‘real job,’ but prostitution is,” the Dallas-born social media star wrote. “Girls having access to private spaces and fair competitions isn’t women’s rights, but murdering babies is. Noted.”

The Preston England Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Andy Munzer)

I frequently see the claim among disaffected members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the Church’s highest-ranking leaders are “in it,” to a significant degree, for the power, wealth, perks, and glamor that allegedly go with their positions.

Whenever I encounter such assertions, I think immediately of (among other things) friends of mine who were, at the time, members of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

I ran into one of them at the open house for the Preston England Temple when he was a member of the area presidency there. I had known him since before his call as a General Authority, and I asked him how he was doing. He had clearly had a long and difficult day. “Dan,” he responded rather wearily, “let me just tell you that the law of consecration is a check with a virtually unlimited number of zeros in it.”
Another, a friend since our freshman year at BYU who had been serving in an area presidency covering a vast (and exhausting) geographical territory, commented drily that 99% of the glory and glamor of his position came during two days in April and two days in October, when he would sit in one of those big chairs on the rostrum of the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. He told me laughingly of one occasion when, visiting a large provincial Russian city, he and another General Authority had stayed in the best hotel there, climbing over sleeping drunks in its urine-smelling entryway to get to their shared room, where it was so cold that they feared to go to sleep — instead spending most of the night in their trench coats, sitting on the heating unit in an attempt to get some minimal warmth. And he mentioned a visit to Moscow by the late Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Scott, he said, declined an invitation to visit tourist sites. Instead, he spent many hours each day during the time that he was there sitting backwards in a wooden chair while meeting one on one and face to face with ordinary Church members, listening to their concerns, offering counsel, and answering their questions. There seems little “glory” in such situations

I thought of these things while watching this sixteen-minute video: “Beyond the Pulpit: An Apostle’s Ministry in the Philippines” What grandeur! What glamor!

The official October 2025 portrait of the new First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: (President Henry B. Eyring, left; President Dallin H. Oaks, center; President D. Todd Christofferson, right)

I close, as I often do, with a few things that I’ve found in the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:

“BYU visitor says nations desperate to arrest falling birth rates need to support religion: “Religious liberty is the best family policy,” says Catherine Pakaluk, author of a book about the 5% of women defying the global birth dearth”
“Elder Rasband Begins Central Africa Ministry in Kenya: Apostle meets with Mully Children’s Family during Nairobi Visit”
“Church Donates 40 Latrines to Ramba Boys High School in Kenya: In Response to Tragic Accident, Church Builds Restroom Facilities at Ramba Boys High School”
“Inside the Church’s Massive Giving Operation” Many theists, of course, will actually be happy about the kinds of things shown in this nine-minute video. Decent people, however, will recognize in it just one more example of religious fanatics imposing their silly superstitions upon innocent others. “We’re taking you behind the scenes of one of the world’s largest humanitarian efforts, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You’ll discover incredible places and learn how food is grown, packaged, and distributed to care for those in need. From fields and orchards to canneries and storehouses, see how donations and volunteers come together every day to make a difference.”

Please note that, like the large majority of my biog entries — and like everything else that I write and publish — this entry contains absolutely no reference to the current president of the United States of America. Hypersensitive MAGA people can now relax and enjoy the remainder of their day, free (here, at least) from any possible encounter with differing ideas that might trigger them or threaten their safe space.

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