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.
Sabbath Police!! Apparently, Mormons crack themselves up making videos like these.
While the rest of us watch in horror. Or am I the only one frightened to discover that Mormons find this kind of thing amusing? As far as I can tell, this is another example of the Mormon surveillance culture that empowers anonymous snitches, got Brandon Davies kicked off a BYU team, and Brian Devine fired. But Mormons apparently want the rest of the world to see how much fun their surveillance culture can be, so here it is in all its rib-ticklin’, knee-slappin’, report-your-neighbor glory: Tip Read more [...]
Posted in Aaron Shafovaloff, Authority, Fundamentalism, Humor, Mormons, Obedience, Video
Does this make sense to anyone else?
We recently had some visitors to our university from Eboo Patel’s InterFaith Youth Core. They are trying to encourage interfaith dialogue, of course, since that is what their movement is about. One of the handouts they gave us was this guest post from The Washington Post’s “On Faith” site called:Why evangelicals should reach out to Muslims (and Hindus, Buddhists and others). Thinking I’d give these representatives the benefit of the doubt, I read through it. Here are the parts that don’t make sense Read more [...]
Posted in Fundamentalism, Interfaith
Im with shuck face
The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Deseret Book wont carry Utah authors latest novel This latest book from James Dashner contains language some of our customers would find offensive, said Gail Halladay, managing director of marketing at Deseret Book … The Scorch Trials, the story of teenagers trekking across a dystopian landscape … includes words such as damn and this sucks, as well as the phrase shuck it. So far, 38 44 readers like this Trib comment: “But they’ll carry Glenn Read more [...]
Posted in Appearances, Arts, Deseret Book, Fundamentalism, Glenn Beck, Hypocrisy, James Dashner, Literature, Utah, Values, Youth
BYU Law Professor explains why Prop 8 was an unfortunate example of Mormon fundamentalism
Frederick Mark Gedicks Brigham Young University – J. Reuben Clark Law School William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 18, pp. 901-914, 2010 God of Our Fathers, Gods for Ourselves: Fundamentalism and Postmodern Belief: ” … there is also an ethical reason for wariness. One should pause at imposing absolute truth on those to whom the validity of that truth cannot be demonstrated unless they already believe it — indeed, absolute truth whose universality or validity may sometimes be in question Read more [...]
Posted in BYU, Freedom, Fundamentalism, Law, Proposition 8
atheist v. Muslim – part 1
I play soccer on occasion during the lunch hour at my university. One of the other players (probably the best player) is an Iranian-American, “H”, who is also Muslim (he’s in IT). He asked me what I teach and when I told him Sociology of Religion, he became very interested. He said his favorite topic is religion. I knew where this would end up going, but I thought it would be fun to go there anyway. He eventually suggested we do lunch, which we did. Over lunch a number of topics were raised, resulting Read more [...]
Posted in Apologetics, Atheism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Quran, Reason, Science
The Day I Sang about the Latter-Day Glory with the C of C and with the Polygamists
Wherever people talk about Mormonism, you always hear about the fundamentalist Mormons: the polygamists. On the LDS-interest Internet there’s tons of discussion of modern-day polygamy usually in a hand-wringing what should be done about them kind of way. Naturally, I was glad when I finally got the opportunity to meet some real-life fundamentalist Mormons, and listen to their perspective. I was at the Sunstone Symposium, and merely attending the panel by/about the polygamist community was already Read more [...]
Posted in Fundamentalism, Joseph Smith, LDS History, Meetings, Nostalgia, Polygamy, Sunstone, Women
Book Club Discussion of “Under the Banner”
My book club recently read Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer. Despite my interest in all things mormon, I did not recommend this book to my group. I had read it before, and found it frightening. The Lafferty murders were especially heinous (to my mind) and disturbing on many levels. Other book club members had read “Into Thin Air” and “Into the Wild”, and had enjoyed both. As an aside, my book club meets at a local library, and is comprised of anywhere from six to ten people from various Read more [...]
Posted in Book Review, FLDS, Fundamentalism, Mormon Doctrine, Mountain Meadows Massacre, Polygamy, Violence
Skousen + Beck = Paranoid Fascism?
Salon.com is running a pretty fascinating article on the Cleon Skousen/Glenn Beck connection. It’s a pretty fascinating look into Mormon-laced, right-wing, ultra-nationalistic, paranoid, pro-theocracy, conspiracy theory, which also goes by the name “The Glenn Beck Program” on Fox News. Views: 1925
Posted in Fundamentalism, Politics
In the name of religion – George Tiller, RIP
One of the staunchest defenders of abortion rights was killed Sunday, May 31st, as he walked into his Lutheran Church. George Tiller, long villified by anti-abortionists for performing late term abortions (one of very few doctors who would do so in the US), was shot and killed. This was the second time someone shot him. Religious fanatacism is not dead in the US… Read more [...]
Posted in abortion, Fundamentalism, Violence
Why Mormons Are Not Conservatives
Andrew Sullivan makes an interesting point: Most Americans have a healthy respect for religious teaching but in their lives give greater preference to common sense and practical experience. That includes almost all religious groups as well – Catholics, in particular, show conservative tendencies. The exceptions? Evangelicals and Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses – who are trained to forego practical reasoning for abstract truths based on unquestionable authority. Evangelical Christians are much Read more [...]
Posted in Culture, Epistemology, Evangelicals, Fundamentalism, Mormon Doctrine, Philosophy, Politics, Religious Right
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