As I Have Loved You…
We were all abuzz in the bloggernacle last week when Meridian Magazine published Joni Hilton’s “Are You a Liberal Mormon”. Such a fierce and vehement reaction (even from Meridian’s faithful readers) forced Meridian to take the article down before the day was over...
Beardliness is Godliness VOTE
There are three contest going on! One is a Before/After Contest for a $100 prize and for those that already have a rad beard for a $50 prize. The third contest is just for fun - the founders of RationalFaiths vs the founders of ModernMormonMen. Click here to vote...
Absurd Moments in Mormon Art, Part 3: Gird Up Them Loins
The word of the day is…Loins. Loins. Loins. Loins. Does anyone else find this word gross? The word loin specifically refers to the region “below the ribcage, extending to the pelvis” (thank you Wikipedia), but has common usage as a reference to…well, you know....
What’s Silver Fox Say?
The following video…[iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jofNR_WkoCE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen] made me think of how many Mormons don't really hear what our Silver Fox, President Uchtdorf, says. This compelled me to write a loose parody...
Heavenly Mother: Divine Body and Priesthood
“…I feel that the eternal spouse of Heavenly Father must hold the same level of power…” Nancy Ross talks about our Mother in Heaven.
Timeline of Mormon Thinking About Homosexuality
Mormonism’s understanding of homosexuality shifts over time from quiet disapproval to intense institutionalized homophobia by the mid-20th century. The common theme that runs throughout Mormonism’s treatment of homosexuality is what I call “other as outsider” – the...
Become as Little Children
Dr. Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and philosophy at UC Berkley, presented a TED talk titled, “What Do Babies Think?” in 2011. Dr. Gopnik's specialization is early learning, and she began by discussing her research on the development of compassion, and when a...
What Is Sin–A Perspective Influenced by the East.
There is some mystery about Jesus' life before he started his ministry. Some believe that he went east in those years and encountered Buddhism. Frankly, this makes sense because it is very easy to re-interpret much of what Jesus taught and did from a Buddhist point of...
Black Mormon: The Story of Elijah Ables
BLACK MORMON: The Story of Elijah Ables The book Black Mormon follows the life story of Elijah Ables, a prominent and part African American member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ables was converted to the Mormon faith during the early years of the...
A Year of Biblical Womanhood: A Book Review
I can’t stop talking about evangelical writer and blogger Rachel Held Evans and her book A Year of Biblical Womanhood. Seriously, if you consider yourself a close personal friend and I haven’t mentioned this book to you, you need to re-evaluate our relationship. For...
Lesson Notes on “How can I help others understand my standards?”
These are some brief notes I put together for my youth Sunday School lesson using the theme How can I help others understand my standards? Paul asked me to put them up here in case someone else finds them useful. Open by reviewing the experience Al Fox (the "tattooed...
God’s Robot Apocalypse
I've been reading The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin. In the first large portion of the book he explains five big fundamental problems in Physics, and examines how string theory has evolved to attempt to answer them. Here is his list: The problem of quantum...
Eve and Her Own Conscience
During General Conference last month, I didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary from the pulpit, but then Pres. Uchtdorf stood up. He started a typical general conference talk touting the benefits of joining the LDS church, and then he said this: “One might ask,...
Tragedy and Salvation
Theologically, the latent power and millenia-long appeal of Christianity might largely be found in acceptance of genuine tragedy, precisely because human living is intimately familiar with the tragic; part of what it means to be human is to contend with tragedy. This is why Christ’s death on the cross, preceded by a cry of lamentation and forsakenness, can be so incredibly powerful and resonant, even for non-believers. True appreciation of this aspect of Christianity might be necessary in order to unlock its saving power.
ELDER MARLIN K. JENSEN LISTENS TO PAIN CAUSED BY PROP 8
ELDER MARLIN K. JENSEN LISTENS TO PAIN CAUSED BY PROP 8 --Carol Lynn Pearson This originally appeared on Sister Pearon's website: clpearson.com. She has given us permission to re-posst it here at rationalfaiths.com At an early morning meeting prior to the ten o’clock...
Elder C. S. Lewis or: Thomas in Wonderland
Some time ago, someone suggested that it would be interesting to see details of C. S. Lewis being quoted in General Conference. So I searched the corpus for all times ‘Lewis’ was mentioned… turns out that while President Monson hasn’t mentioned C. S. Lewis in General Conference, he has mentioned Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, many times.
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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