Flexibility: The key to faith?
I live in Northern Virginia, so I am surrounded by lots and lots of trees. My house is in some woods that are quite dense, which means the trees are tall and the trunks are thin. We get some pretty exciting thunderstorms around here, and even the occasional hurricane,...
South Park vs The Church
VS My friend posted the above painting on Facebook last night. I asked him where the painting was hung and he told me temple square by the Christus statue. I know I have posted about this issue before, but don't you think we need to stop depicting the Book of Mormon...
Be Not Afraid
Today is the most Mormonest of days, Pioneer Day, so Happy Pioneer Day to you all. I originally intended to address how strange it is as a convert to be a part of a religion that is simultaneously so invested in its history yet runs from it at every turn. While it is...
Pragmatism and Progress: An Overview of LDS Sister Missionary Service in the Twentieth Century
Pragmatism and Progress: An Overview of LDS Sister Missionary Service in the Twentieth Century By Andrea Radke-Moss Note: This post originally appeared on the blog, The Juvenile Instructor, on October 8, 2012. With Dr. Andrea Radke-Moss' and The Juvenile...
Chat Bot Missionaries: Better than the Real Thing?
“…One evening as I was sitting with my companion watching On the Way Home for the 50th time, still feeling the Spirit, still getting weepy at the end, I had a strange thought. “This video tape is better at getting people to feel the Spirit than I am.” Is this weird? Should technology really be so adept at eliciting what seems to be an exclusively human function: spirituality?…” —Stephen Carterr, editor of Sunstone Magazine, drops by to write about Face Book Missionaries.
ON BEING BROWN … ON PIONEER DAY
“…Notwithstanding that most Mormons in Christchurch, New Zealand have never been to Utah nor to the United States, the opportunity was given us to don bonnets and pinafores, or braces and breeches and drag handcarts around the beaches of Banks Peninsula in commemoration of this singular event…”—-Gina Colvin swings by again to talk about the weirdness of Pioneer Day in New Zealand.
Mormonism Mandates Transhumanism
This is the fourth in a five-part series on Mormon Transhumanism. The first part was an introduction to transhumanism written by James Carroll. Carl Youngblood wrote the second and third parts. If you're a Mormon, you should be a Transhumanist. To identify as a...
If We are What We Wear, Then Elders are Still Boring
“…I immediately relaxed, but I also felt a little ashamed. Polo-shirt guy was not wearing a random polo shirt. When I looked more carefully, I realized it had a logo over the left of the chest. Either this man was just off work, or he had to run off to work immediately after the meeting. Here was a brother trying in his might to be faithful, and I realized in that moment that I needed to step down from the figurative stand of judgment.” William Silverman stops by and talks about the “Uniform of the Priesthood.”
Search, Ponder, and Pray… Unless You Have Faith?
Often, when hard doctrinal (or, more often, cultural) questions come up among church members, people rely a good bit on the idea of faith. In difficult conversations with other members, I have often been told by more than one fellow saint that they aren’t sure exactly...
Open Policy, Closed Culture
“By the time the temple president arrived, the phul was excavated. Maya had made a blood sacrifice at the altar of the temple.” Derek Staffanson talks about LDS culture affecting those not from Utah
A Call to Action and A Call to Repentance
Your mistakes, as a church hierarchy, only makes you human, fallable, and in great company. The admittance of this mistake, among any others, does not deter my faith in you as seers and revelators. In fact, the admittance of wrongs frees ones soul, allows you, and all of us to heal.
Why this feminist doesn’t support female ordination
On Wear Pants to Church day I proudly wore a purple tie in support. When it was time to request prayerful consideration of women praying in conference I wrote in encouragement. With all of that said, I cannot get behind current efforts to ordain women into the Priesthood.”—Ryan Freeman lays out his view on ordaining women to the Priesthood.
Why Do Book Names Change in Mormon’s Record?
Our Book of Mormon is wonderful but it isn’t the book Mormon intended that we have. The material we have from Nephi to Words of Mormon were added to replace what we lost of Mormon’s work.
Bikini Messages
many posts I’ve come across lately discuss whether wearing a bikini is OK, but often the writers don’t seem to consider the fashion choice as a communication. What are the messages that wearing a bikini reasonably sends in American culture? How does the message change depending on location and context across the United States and among different ethnic and generational groups?
Messengers From Father
Below is an old journal entry from a year ago. It has sat as an incomplete draft on my personal blog for months because I've been too scared to post it. However, in conjunction with my recently published interview with Devery Anderson on the development of LDS Temple...
A Transhumanist Interpretation of the Gospel
“…Throughout this process we are in constant need of Christ’s grace, which flows to us from his body, or the divine community, which is comprised of all those who have followed the path of the Messiah or anointed one, of which Jesus was our chief exemplar.” Carl Youngblood talks about a slightly different interpretation of the gospel.
LGBTQ Mormon Crisis
Two Printable handout for bishops and stake presidents that talks empirically about LGBTQ suicides:
The LGBTQ Mormon Crisis: Responding to the Empirical Research on Suicide
Youth Suicide Rates and Mormon Religious Context: An Additional Empirical Analysis
The Barker Brothers’ Projects
These videos were created for Latter-day Saint parents and allies to voice their love for their LGBT brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They want to give a message of comfort and support to other parents who are navigating the difficult conflicts that can arise in families around this issue.
“Cogito!” (“I think!”) follows the intellectual adventures of a recovering academic outside the walls of academia.
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