Contact: chanson dot exmormon at gmail dot com
Welcome to Main Street Plaza, the place where everyone is welcome to join in the discussion about Mormonism!
This blog is largely run for and by the former Mormon community — we started as a spin-off blog from FLAK. However, we want it to be a place where people of all viewpoints can have their say as long as they’re interested in having a two-way discussion. And folks, keeping a discussion friendly (when it’s about passionate topics like politics and religion) is not easy. That’s why we ask for everyone’s cooperation. Our commenting policy is simple:
We ask everyone to make a good-faith effort to keep their comments civil and constructive.
That’s it. We don’t have an elaborate set of specific rules, but your intentions do matter. As long as we all intend to have a reasonable and fruitful exchange of ideas, the details will work themselves out. Remember that we’ve been pretty successful at having a civil discussion across belief lines here for several years now, so if you won’t/can’t make your point in a clear and reasonable way, then it only makes your own position look, well, questionable. And if you think we need some improvement (we admit we often do!) we’re open to constructive criticism — just leave a comment.
If you’re wondering why non-believers are talking about Mormonism at all, please read our FAQ.
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We’re always looking for great new content. If you’d like to write a guest-post or become a regular writer here, please email chanson dot exmormon at gmail dot com.
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Outer Blogness
Here on Main Street Plaza we’ve collected up all of the former Mormon blogs that we can find into a grand blogroll called “Outer Blogness.” If you’ve been Mormon or if Mormonism has been an important part of your life in some way, we’d be very happy to add your blog. Mormonism doesn’t even have to be one of the main topics of your blog — we include plenty of personal blogs from former Mormons.
If you want your blog included — or if you know of an exmo blog that’s missing from the list — please email chanson dot exmormon at gmail dot com.
Similarly, please email if you’re a believing Mormon and you’d like to be added to our “TBM Blogroll” (or if you’d like to be transferred from our “TBM Blogroll” to “Outer Blogness” or vice-versa, or if there’s some other error in your link).
When you join Outer Blogness, you’ll be included in our weekly community link roundup Sunday in Outer Blogness. And we’d appreciate it if you’d link back to Main Street Plaza, possibly using one of our link-badges:
Either save your favorite image and link it to MSP on your own, or copy this code into your blog template:
<a href="http://mainstreetplaza.com/" > <img src="http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f394/Chino_Blanco/Brig-Blue-120-web.jpg" /> </a>
Thanks, and see you in Outer Blogness and on Latter-day Main Street!!
I’d like for my new blog to be added to your Outer Blogness blogroll. I need readers! Thanks.
Is this where we’re putting Outer Blogness suggestions now? If so, here’s my latest tip: http://stakepresident.blogspot.com/ ( h/t http://liberalagnostic.blogspot.com/2011/02/dont-talk-shit.html )
I am looking for a community with whom I can honestly-and anonymously-share my personal experience(s) with the Mormon church. Raised Mormon, I did everything by the book. . .including marrying at 20 to an RM in the Temple. 3.5 years later that marriage dissolved in a deluge of lies, deception – a regular Lifetime ‘Made for TV’ special. However, life in the Mormon community post-divorce? I don’t see a lot of chatter on here about what THAT’S like. . .and I think it’s worth exploring. For example. . .three years out and my ex has remarried (in the temple) making me a sister-wife (talk about disturbing), I have been denied (and denied and denied and denied) a temple divorce. . .the list of personal offenses goes on and on and on and on. Alas, though, I seek not to vent my anger or goad others for provocativeness’ sake. Instead, I hope to foster dialogue with other men and women in my shoes – standing in outer bloggedness searching for a safe space to discuss the things we cannot do so elsewhere.
Dani, you’re more than welcome to hang out here. We’re pretty welcoming, particularly toward someone who has been wronged by the Church. If you’d like to post your story, I’m sure that could be arranged.
Hey, could you add me to your blog roll – so I can get some readers? Thanks.
I would like to have my blog added, although I am not sure which category fits. I would call myself “A Thoughtful, Prayerful, Sometimes Inspired, Always Open Minded Mormon who has seen the best and worst of the LDS Church and decided to stay on my own terms.”
Which category does that go in? I assume TBM stands for True Blue Mormon, and I think I may be too open minded to fit that label. Lately another blogger “accused” me of being a non-judgmental peacemaker who chooses empathy and love no matter where they stand on the LDS church.” (I found it a compliment and I think she meant it that way. 😉 Even if it meant not to be a compliment, I hope it describes well who I try to be online, offline and in all of my interactions.)
I regularly try to include non-Mormon or exmo blogs and bloggers when I do my Sunday “My New Faborite Blogs” post, as well as blogs that have nothing to do with the church. I had some very difficult experiences as an incest survivor and rape victim, where church leaders acted in ways that were inappropriate, painful, and in some cases almost criminal. I have no illusions that every word out of a priesthood leader’s mouth is directly from God.
Maybe I belong on both, or not at all? I certainly am willing to go to outer blogness with my friends, even if I try to follow most church standards while I am out there with them. What do you think Post Mormon Girl? Where do I belong? 😉
Sounds great! We don’t really categorize our blogroll — there’s just Outer Blogness. Believing/practicing Mormons who want to join us are welcome!
Did WordPress have an update or something that broke all the [i] italics tags (requiring they now be [em])?
Alan,
A short walk around the WordPress website did not list that as part of the update, and I could not find a specific question about it.
Toe dipping into the first 20 google matches gave me articles from seven and three years ago, when wordpress and italics had a variety of issues – from all posts always posting entirely in italics, having italics only work if you also are underlining the same section. None of the top 20, even went I specifically included 2012 in my search.
So, maybe chanson or other readers who use wordpress for their personal blogs can help more.
Julia
Alan (#8)… There may have been such an update, though I don’t recall seeing anything about it specifically. I’m just wondering if this is causing a problem. Are there posts that are now not formatted correctly as a result?
Not posts, but every comment that uses italics, such as this one, places the italics on separate lines.
I noticed that too — at first I thought it was a problem with my browser or something!
I really don’t know what happened. However, now that Sunstone is over, I can focus on researching alternate hosting — plus figure out a little better how the WordPress software works.
In the meantime, you can type <em></em> instead of <i></i> — I know that’s not a great workaround, but it works better…
I am a very unorthodox Mormon. I’d like to submit my blog “My search for meaning (or whatever)” to any blogroll you have that you deem appropriate. I would link your icon on my side bar.
@14 Looks good. I will add you this weekend.
Could you add my listing of “Beyond Mormon” on your cool sites? I have a logo similar in size to the ones you have listed on your site. If you’ll email me, I send you the graphic.
Beyond Mormon is a news, events, and info site for Ex-Mos and others. Here’s the address: https://www.facebook.com/beyondmormon
Thanks!
Sure, looks good!
I’ve been away from the Internet for the entire month of July, so please be a little patient. 😀
Hello,
My name is John Draper. You don’t know me from Adam. What led me to you is I’m a first-time novelist who is furiously marketing his first book, A Danger to God Himself. As such, I’m continually scouring the internet looking for blogs who might be willing to review my book.
My book is about a Mormon missionary who goes insane on his mission. I’d like to send you a free copy, paperback or Kindle.
Let me tell you the story behind my story:
Writing this novel cost me my religion. I’m not bitter or anything. Actually, it was liberating.
I started the book eight years ago as an Evangelical who wanted to skewer Mormonism. The book took me eight years to write. I probably read 25 books on Mormonism (and read everything on Mormonthink at least twice) and 25 books on schizophrenia. What’s more, I started attending a local ward undercover.
Long story short, I saw that devout Latter-day Saints had the same religion I had, really. Basically, we both loved God and Christ and we wanted to serve God and live more like Christ. I had to admit, the only difference between us was the words we used to describe our experience.
Further, I came to realize that the only reason I believed what I believed was that someone had told me to believe it.
I was just like so many Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals—if not all.
Bottom line, I became an agnostic.
The novel is narrated in the first person by Kenny, the missionary companion who watches his companion, Jared, succumb to schizophrenia. At first, Kenny and others assume that the voices Jared is hearing and the visions he’s seeing are from Heavenly Father.
But as Jared gets sicker and sicker, Kenny has to rethink his whole view of God and how God does or doesn’t interact with the world. Kenny’s journey became my journey: theist to, at best, deist.
So . . . I’d like to send you a free copy of my novel. I’m hoping you’ll write a book review—good, bad, or indifferent. Or maybe you’d like to interview me. Or maybe I could do a guest post.
If nothing else, you get a free book out of this.
Obviously, I want to sell more books, but I really think this book would be of interest to your subscribers. I think they will be able to see themselves in Kenny.
Let me know if you would like to talk more.
Thanks for your time
-john
Hoju1959@gmail.com
@18 Sounds good — see my email.
It appears that Outer Blogness is not aggregating my posts from my blog. I think the HTML was recently changed. How do I have someone look into this? Thanks
@J. Byrd — Thanks for catching that. I think that some change in the config file got overwritten at some point, but it should be fixed now.