37: Ask a Mormon Sex Therapist Part 4
In this episode of "Ask a Mormon Sex Therapist", Laurel and Brian interview Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife on the topics of sexual trauma, managing nudity with children, and developing sexuality as a single. Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-Fife is a psychotherapist who focuses on...
From Whom Do Your Blessings Come?
By Michael Barker I once heard a provocative question: When you feel God's presence, or have an answer to your prayer, to whom do you acknowledge the comfort or the blessing came? God the Father? Mother in Heaven? Jesus Christ? The Holy Ghost? In...
Mormonism is Not Book of Mormon Christianity
With the new BYU curiculum change, one of the classes that will be required is "Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon." It made me think about doctrinal similarities and differences between the Book of Mormon and modern Mormonism. Since I can't write a blog...
Thank You Dad
Today marks 9 years that my father passed away. Nine years is a long time. When you're talking about missing someone, 9 years is a very long time. At the time, I was serving a mission in Salta, Argentina. One of my biggest regrets in life is not coming home from my...
14 Fundamentals in Falsifying the Prophet
A bomb went off in Salt Lake City in the 1980’s. But this bomb wasn’t set by Mark Hofmann. It was set by Ezra Taft Benson, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The trigger was his famous speech, The Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, which...
Christ is Not Leading a Petty Church
There is a common cautionary tale I hear retold within Mormon circles. This tale goes something like this: Once upon a time the LDS Church was going to do something progressive, and amazing. However, these measures were abandoned when some person or group (often...
Christmas Wishing
As a new father, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how my daughter will experience Christmas. My own family was pretty light on holiday traditions. Honestly, there were a few years the lights never went up on the house and we didn't get around to doing a tree....
36: Liahona Children’s Foundation Cofounder Robert Rees
Irreversible stunting of child brain development results from the chronic undernourishment of children between birth and age 5. The Liahona Children's Foundation targets helping children in this age range by providing critical nourishment in order to minimize the...
I Am The Little Drummer Boy
My favorite Christmas song has, for years, been “The Little Drummer Boy.” It is the one which most closely resembles my relationship to my Savior. There are probably other choices that would seem more obvious. “O Holy Night”? “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”? “Joy to the...
Revisiting “Why America May Go to Hell”
Admittedly, I wasn’t surprised at the non-indictment of Darren Wilson. Governor Jay Nixon had issued a ‘State of Emergency’ prior to Monday’s decision which surely indicated that the response would be heavy. There was no relief found among the images of the National...
The Answer to All the Hard Questions: Um…Maybe Not.
by Michael Barker The December 2014 issue of the Ensign has an article by R. Val Johnson entitled, "The Answer to All the Hard Questions." It's intended audience seems to be those in faith transition, but the author attempts a reductionistic-like answer to "all the...
I Love You
Last week my wife and I were driving past a motel in the dead of night. The temperature was below freezing. We saw a young mother walking along the side of the road with her toddler son, they had no stroller, they were just walking. Neither of them was wearing coats;...
Christmas Reflections: The Three Wise Men
It is joked that if the three wise men had been women, they would have asked directions and thus arrived in time to help with the birth, cleaned the stable, and brought practical gifts. Well, maybe. But I'm not a fan of the bumbling male motif, especially when the...
35: Brent Metcalfe and the Mormon Studies Podcast
Do we have enough Mormon podcasts? NO! We need MOAR! In this episode I talk with Brent Metcalfe, who is the host of the new Mormon podcast called Mormon Studies Podcast. We discuss the approach he is taking in presenting another important Mormon podcast to the world...
SLC Blogger Event: Meet the Mormons
On September 27, 2014, the female staff members LDS Public Affairs hosted a pre-screening of Meet the Mormons for a cross section of female LDS bloggers including contributors to Exponent Blog, Feminist Mormon Housewives, The Sistas in Zion, Mormon Women Stand, and...
Giving Thoughtfully and Thankfully
Within the church, we have a couple of avenues for giving. Our church makes giving within those options very easy. There is a nice little form with different "options" of where you want your money to go, they take checks or cash, they keep track of everything to...
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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