Awards
Lists of Brodie award winners:
X-Mormon of the Year 2012: David Twede
X-Mormon of the Year 2011: Joanna Brooks
X-Mormon of the Year 2010: Monica Bielanko
X-Mormon of the Year 2009: Walter Kirn
A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.
FARMS and me!
Many of you no doubt recall that there was a recent shake-up in the Mormon Apologetics community. I don’t have all the details (mostly because I don’t find apologetics to be a terribly interesting topic), but in a nutshell, it was this: The Maxwell Institute (which is perhaps? affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was publishing an apologetics journal in conjunction with the Mormon Apologetics organization FARMS. The FARMS guys have something of a reputation for using Read more [...]
Posted in Apologetics, civil discourse
Mormon Intra-faith Dialogue Under Controlled Circumstances
A week ago, a number of bloggers from across the Mormon belief map joined together answer the following question- do good online fences make good LDS neighbors? My co-panelistchanson has posted some remarks here, andRachel Whipple has posted her remarks at Times and Seasons, andyou can also readHolly’s post herefor thoughts from a non-panelist. I have written frequently on the topic, but I wanted to address things again here. For our panel, we had wanted to have members of the orthodox, believing Read more [...]
Posted in Bloggernacle, civil discourse, Community, DAMU, ex-Mormon, Mormon Alumni Association, post-Mormon
Reclaiming Our Stories
This is the presentation I gave for the panel Who gets to say what former Mormons are like? which I organized at the 2012 Sunstone Symposium. I could see that she didn’t know what she was talking about just by the description of this book! Author needs to do her research first! I have only read the description of this book and I realize that I might not really understand the content, but the Mormon church is not like what is being described. The author does not have the least bit of correct Read more [...]
Criticism
This is the presentation I gave for the panel “Do Good Online Fences Make Good LDS Neighbors?” (which Andrew S and I organized) at the 2012 Sunstone Symposium. Criticism. Sometimes it tells you more about the critic and his own personal issues than bout the thing being criticized, doesn’t it? Other times criticism gives you valuable information about real problems that should be addressed and solved. And sometimes it’s a little of both — you can pick some nuggets of useful data out of an otherwise Read more [...]
Posted in Bloggernacle, civil discourse, Sunstone
Help? Do I belong here?
How do we help “new bloggers” find their voice? Are we really a community that does? I believe we are, or at least can be. Main Street Plaza is an Internet home for people who care about their thoughts and ideas, eventhough weoften disagree. Wedon’t have the same world view,but it helpsus tobe able toarticulateour point of view, and listen to others asthey express theirs.Disagreements on doctrineor different life choices,does nothave to lead to animosity.I hope that we are making a space for Read more [...]
Posted in Affirmation, civil discourse, Education, History, Humor, Main Street Plaza, Open Thread, Philosophy, Uncategorized
Why do you blog? How do you choose what to include, or focus on?
(This is part of a post that is on my personal blog. To see the entire post you can go to http://poetrysansonions.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-do-i-blog-why-do-you.html) When I startedmy currentblog, there was a lot of”legal “crap” going on in my life, thatlasted over a year, beforea judge finally dismissed the case for lack of evidence. My lawyers didn’t want me to continue posting to my previous blog(s) since they were coming under a lot of scrutiny. However, since I didn’t have anything to hide, Read more [...]
Posted in Blogroll, Changes, civil discourse, Community, Family, Guest Authors, Health, Uncategorized
Who’s holding the microphone???
Molly recently left a comment here that, I think, expresses a question on a lot of people minds: Must admit to having trouble understanding why Joanna Brooks is taken so seriously. Her work is very softball, and frequently skirts meaty issues or downplays legitimate problems completely. This was largely in response to the fact that Brooks won the Mormon Alumni Association’s prestigious “William Law X-Mormon of the Year” Award, however, I think that the attention she gets from the other side Read more [...]
Posted in civil discourse, correlation, Joanna Brooks
Building on a Religious Background
The following is an article I wrote for the October / November 2011 issue of Free Inquiry (the magazine of the Council for Secular Humanism), reposted here with permission from the editors. The Oct/Nov issue is a special issue on Mormonism, and one other MSP regular also contributed to it. I am an atheist, but I grew up Mormon. My children have asked their grandparents and others about religious belief, about how it works, to try to understand it. But for all of their interest and curiosity, Read more [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheists, civil discourse, Free Inquiry Magazine, Humanism
Troy Williams @ Sunstone 2011: Thoughts on the Sacred and Profane
Troy tried to buck me up after my latest mini-meltdown over l’affaire Lyman and it reminded me that I need to remember to catch Tabloid (91% “Fresh”!) at my earliest convenience. Here’s Troy riffin’ at Sunstone (go show their Youtube channel some love) on his role in the Errol Morris documentary and his thoughts on the Broadway Book of Mormon: Enjoy. Read more [...]
Posted in Arts, civil discourse, COB, Dottie S. Dixon, Dustin Lance Black, Film, God's Favorite Musical, Troy Williams, YouTube
Memphis station posts four Mormon stories
1) Local Memphis TV news report mocks Mitt Romney’s Mormon beliefs (and ace reporter* Ben Ferguson reminds viewers why some folks prefer to avoid the Bible Belt). The cringe begins at 03:21: 2) Local musical director (and LDS church member) Steve Danielson offers his opinion of the Tony-winning Broadway musical. 3) 89-year old Church of Christ apostle, William Sheldon, explains the origins of the Mormon religion. 4) Meet a pair of Memphis area Mormon missionaries. *CORRECTION: From Read more [...]
Posted in anti-Mormon, Christians, civil discourse, Culture, Evangelicals, God's Favorite Musical, Politics, YouTube
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