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.
Wait a minute; those aren’t my morals!
The other day, I wrote on my blog about how I continue to find that even as intellectually and ideologically, I’m moving farther (bad typo; I wish I could move my father past the church) past the church, I realize from a practical standpoint, I’ve still got a lot of Mormonism in me yet. But I mean, I was not too concerned about a lot of it…after all, just because you don’t believe in the spiritual underpinnings of Mormonism doesn’t mean you somehow immediately become a dramatically different person. Read more [...]
Posted in Baptism For the Dead, Culture, DAMU, Deconversion, Ethics, ex-Mormon, Moving On, NOM, Values
Catholic ethics = punish the rape victim, not the rapist!
So, I’m reading the news this morning, enjoying my bagel with strawberry cream cheese and hot chocolate when I catch this article about abortion in Brazil. Apparently a 9-year-old girl was raped by her stepfather, became pregnant by him, and was carrying twins. The doctors who performed the abortion said that if she didn’t have the abortion, she would die. Here’s the part that made me spit up my hot chocolate: Weighing just 79 pounds and barely four feet tall, the 9-year-old girl, from Alagoinha, Read more [...]
Posted in abortion, Catholicism, Values, Women
What the Mormons (and others) don’t understand about freedom
It’s not religious. It’s not moral. It’s not even about family values. Gay marriage is a constitutional issue, but not in the same way that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The Mormon Church) views it. It wants an amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman based on their beliefs. Not only is this an encroachment of religion into state matters, the entire idea of creating any law or amendment to deny a right or privilege to a group of people is unconstitutional! Read more [...]
The Logic of Power and Salvation
In disfellowshipping or excommunicating scholars (like Michael Quinn, Grant Palmer, and others) Church leaders create a theological paradox. Assuming that such actions are eternally binding implies that, regardless of researchers’ choices, it becomes impossible for them to obtain the benefits of the Savior’s atonement. The threatened punishment of their leaders leaves researchers with the choice of denying their findings or disobeying their leaders. Denying one’s insights is lying. Lying Read more [...]
Posted in Ethics, excommunication, Freedom, Jesus Christ, Philosophy, Politics, Power, Science, Values
The Lack of Fellowship
I am sure that some of you have seen Peggy Fletcher Stack’s report about Peter and Mary Danzig who felt that they had to resign from the LDS Church to follow their conscience. Those of you who know a little bit about me, will not be surprised to learn that the Danzig’s experience strikes a chord in me, since I was motivated by similar concerns to question my persuasion regarding Mormonism. However, I have to admit that I was surprised by the response of Bill Bradshaw to Peggy Fletcher Stack’s Read more [...]
Posted in discrimination, Ethics, excommunication, Family, Freedom, Homosexuality, Power, Values
Utah, bastion of depravity and sin ;)
My wife was searching for videos on sexually transmitted diseases to show her Biology class when she came across this one: Views: 1121
Posted in Health, Sex and Gender, Values
Mormon Politics Time Out?
Mark Brown would probably like George Orwell’s aphorism: “To see what is in front of our nose requires a constant struggle.” In the wake of Harry Reid’s speech at BYU, ‘naclers have been struggling with the role of politics in our religion. Because our political persuasions are a function of social conditions rather than reasonable reflection and amount to prejudice rather than virtue, Mark Brown calls for suspending politics in church. Although I sympathize with his sensibility, I believe that Read more [...]
Ward boundaries & choice
Every week my Catholic grandmother drives 20 miles to the next county in order to go to Saturday mass with her sister. Both are elderly widows, and the routine has been ongoing for over twenty years. I think their little tradition is really sweet, and it means a lot to them. Whenever I go to visit I go along with them because it’s such an important part of their lives and I like to be a part of it, even if it is only once or twice every few years. Of course if they were mormon this wouldn’t be Read more [...]
Posted in Community, Political Economy of Religion, Traditions, Values
When It Hits Home
Leave The Light On I was privileged today to witness a speech given by the Mayor of San Diego, CA, Jerry Sanders. You can watch the speech for yourself here. I suggest you do, it’s very moving. In a heartfelt declaration, he announced that after searching his heart, he decided that he would be signing a resolution in support of gay marriage. He campaigned under the banner of “civil unions”, feeling that was a fair alternative to marriage for ‘the gays’. He knew that several members of his staff Read more [...]
Posted in Christianity, Community, Culture, Family, Homosexuality, Mainstreaming, Mormon Doctrine, Values
Maidenhood, Spinsterhood & Sex
The highlight of attending Young Woman’s each Sunday was seeing C.J. C.J. was one of the Young Women’s advisers and she wasn’t your typical LDS woman. She was blunt, honest and downright irreverent at times. I looked to her as more of a big sister, rather than a teacher. She was in her late 20′s, unmarried and, by Mormon standards, a spinster. She chose to attend the family ward with her elderly parents, rather than the singles ward because it was “a meat market”. She was graceful, quick-witted Read more [...]
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