In 2015, the Exponent community urged policy change.

In 2015, several of the most lively conversations on the Exponent blog centered on church policy. The post that received the most comments in 2015, Where is the outrage? by Amy, pointed out that “taking girls and women behind closed doors with middle-aged men, asking about sex and masturbation, is perverse.” In a post about policies barring women from callings of financial responsibility in the church, I asked,  “Can Mormon women count money?” I proposed a complete plan for policy change in my series, A Values-based Approach to Woman-friendly Policy in the LDS Church and readers chimed in with their own Policy Suggestions.

A new church policy published in 2015, aimed at gay couples and their children, shocked the Exponent community. Mraynes pondered how such a policy could have affected her own family, if it had been in place during her youth, in If and Then. Guest Kathy suggested that friends who “expressed shock, worry, sadness” about the new mandates might “sit with that feeling a little longer” before accepting them in To my friend who accepts the church handbook changes. (Kathy has since joined our ranks as a permablogger.  If you are interested in a permablogging gig, submitting a guest post is the way to start.)

In An Announcement from April Young Bennett (yes, that’s me) and Jenny‘s No Discipline Cases Elder Oaks?, both Jenny and I described our personal experiences with the church’s informal discipline policies, which grant male lay leaders authority to punish members of their local wards and stakes in a variety of ways without oversight or appeal options for the accused.

In addition to posts about church policy, other posts with many comments included The Church of the Nuclear Family of Latter-day Saints? in which Emily U discussed a questionable interpretation of church doctrine that was being presented as part of the church’s push to promote Sabbath observance. Guest Kate Kelly discussed gender norms within the feminist movement in Who’s the Captain of the Ally-Ship?

Exponent bloggers took time to celebrate Heavenly Mother during the week of Mothers Day with our Heavenly Mothers Day series, including a guest post by artist Katie Payne about her BYU Heavenly Mother Art Show.

This post is part of the Exponent Blog’s Ten Year Retrospective Series. This post links to the most commented posts of 2015. Check out the posts that received the most comments in other years and personal retrospectives by current and emeritus Exponent bloggers here.