006: Meet Melody Newey
Melody Newey was one of our first permabloggers at Rational Faiths. She brought with her the wisdom of a mother and the gift to craft beautiful posts, like a poetess. She was our Eliza Roxy Snow. She now proudly wears the title of "Emeritus permablogger". Click...
The Mormon Movie Massacre: The State of LDS Cinema
LDS Cinema has a lot of potential. With recent films like The Saratov Approach and Saints and Soldiers enjoying mainstream success and critical acclaim both inside outside of the LDS community, as well as high profile parodies like The Book of Mormon, it seems like...
Unattainable Male Standard of Beauty- A Conversation With My Daughter
I overheard my oldest daughter Sammie the other day say she wanted fake eyelashes. She's only 15. What follows is my best recollection of the conversation that followed. Some of what I said I wish I could change. There are a few statements I wish were more nuanced and...
PREVENTING TEEN SUICIDE
PREVENTING TEEN SUICIDE After Dr. Greg Hudnall, a high school principal, helped identify the body of a boy who had died by suicide, he made a promise that he would do all he could the rest of his days to prevent another child from taking his life. This promise...
Balancing the Scales of Obedience and Free Thought: A Reminder and a Call
This is a call to balance the scales of obedience and free thought in our religious community. Recently, I listened to an intelligent discussion on the Mormon Matters podcast on the topic of Wrestling with Prophets and Scripture. I highly recommend the podcast in that...
Avoiding Zion – Milgram part two
(here are part 1 and part 3) Last post I discussed what we can learn from the Milgram experiments about obedience and authority, specifically about how authority can affect our moral decision making. I'm going to briefly summarize the experiment again, focusing on a...
OF ASSES AND PROPHETS
OF ASSES AND PROPHETS by Michael Barker A few weeks ago I was studying for that week's Gospel Doctrine lesson, which came from Numbers, chapters 22-24 — the story of Balak, Balaam, and Balaam's ass. As I was reading the story, a few things jumped out at me: The...
The View From Above You
Mormon Women Stand on Rameumptoms is a collaborative online effort to join like-minded female members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who share a desire to make a public stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ and support all Proclamations, Exhortations,...
Biblical Inerrancy and the Book of Mormon
Biblical Inerrancy and the Book of Mormon: Creating a Platform for LDS/Evangelical Dialogue by Michelle G. Wiener Question: Is there room for the Book of Mormon within the theological framework of “biblical inerrancy”? Recently the following paragraph from my essay...
Ministry, Me and the Holy Ghost
“…I grew up learning that the Holy Ghost was easily offended, that he wouldn’t go into certain places and that he went to bed early. But…I realized that my experiences with the Holy Ghost were different than what I had been taught…” Daniel discusses how the Holy Ghost feels.
005: Mormon Women’s Group Meets with LDS PR Department – A Chat w/Jerilyn Hassell Pool
After our chat with Jerilyn regarding her performing a marriage for a lesbian couple, we started chatting about a Salt Lake Tribune article in which it seems our Church's PR department might have been a wee-bit duplicitous. Click here to read the article. MORMON...
Rethinking Sin
What if sin is a feature of life rather than a flaw? What if we were sent here not to be perfect, but . . . to sin? No matter how often we tell ourselves that we're perfect in Christ, that we don't have to be perfect because He is, we still beat ourselves up for not...
Translated Correctly: Joseph Smith and the Art of Interpretation
If you accept that Joseph translated through revelation to any degree, you have accepted that reason, rationality, or properly defined words and terms sincerely aren’t the point: the point is that something magical happened.
Putting Down Our Stones
"Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: ‘If you judge people, you have no time to love them.’ The Savior has admonished, ‘This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.’ I...
Armand Mauss and the Coronation of Emperor Napoleon: The Politics of Graceful Dissent
ARMAND MAUSS AND THE CORONATION OF EMPEROR NAPOLEON: THE POLITICS OF GRACEFUL DISSENT By Brian Whitney, 5/23/14 The role of academics is to complicate seemingly simple matters. Armand Mauss was a sociology professor for 25 years. He has written college curriculum in...
004: MORMONS MARRYING GAY PEOPLE – A PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH JERILYN HASSELL POOL
On Monday, May 19, 2014, the state of Oregon legalized gay marriage. The first gay couple to be married in Jackson County, Oregon (and perhaps in the whole state of Oregon), were married by an active, believing Mormon woman. Here is her story. Click on the "play"...
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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