Sunday in Outer Blogness: Countdown to Excommunication Edition!

Before beginning this week’s links, I want to remind everyone that the Brodie Award nominations are going strong! I will try to consolidate the categories and add my own nominations on Thursday (at which point you’ll have some more time to add your nominations in the final categories) — but I encourage you to look through the nomination thread and see if you have any nominations to add in categories suggested by others, as this can influence the final category list. Also note, the Wheaties/Tareific Awards (on the Wheat and Tares blog) are in their final nominations phase, and you still have until Thursday morning Europe time to vote for X-Mormon of the Year!!

Now on to this week’s news!! You’ve probably already heard whose case is coming up soon before the Court of Love! The faithful are saying it’s about time Dehlin got the rack. People speculate that the CoCJoL-dS put some space between Kate Kelly’s excommunication and John Dehlin’s in order to diffuse the PR fiasco, but no such luck! It made the front page of the NYT again!!

April Young Bennett received a similar ultimatum as a condition of renewing her temple recommend which again highlights why the CoJCoL-dS gets criticized for this stuff:

–The inconsistency across stakes is simply unjust. In my stake, people don’t live in fear of having temple recommends pulled for being a member of Ordain Women. There’s something wrong with the system when I can be a firebrand feminist without worry, and my sisters in other places have to be careful what they say.

–It leads to murkiness about what exactly constitutes apostasy, creating a climate of fear. The lowest common denominator—the most conservative bishops and stake presidents—sets the tone for the entire church.

–It allows the church to throw local leaders under the bus when there is controversy: they simply refer to everything as a local matter, and don’t have to take responsibility for their own role in such situations. Plausible deniability wins the day.

Interestingly, it looks like the CoJCoL-dS has created a new type of unit to deal with LDS congregations that don’t have enough adult males to lead a branch. A reasonable solution would be to let the women lead, but it would just be so embarrassing for the CoJCoL-dS to take Kate Kelly’s advice after excommunicating her for giving it.

In other Mormon news, the reviews of “My Husband’s Not Gay” have started rolling in:

it spotlighted three Salt Lake City couples where the husbands are attracted to men but are married to non-men. Contrary to what you’d expect, these marriages were not the result of an escalating series of hilarious misunderstandings, but were done on purpose

It seems that — even though it’s been publicized that these characters make money from promoting mixed-orientation-marriage — they were still unsuccessful at making it look like an attractive option:

Instead, they came across as sexually stunted, immature men who married delusional women who desperately clung to wishful thinking. Far from the sympathy and sunny optimism these couples had hoped the TLC special would generate, most viewers will simply feel angst and pity for the protagonists.

The poor wives of these uber gay men. They try mightily to keep a brave face and express confidence in their marriages. However, the façade often cracked and revealed deep anxiety. At several points, their husbands appeared one wink or gay kiss away from leaving them for men.

Then there was little-reported bit of news: the lawyers of the wealthy CoJCoL-dS have succeeded in legally claiming the word Mormon, denying it to other branches of the Mormon tradition (in Canada).

In scriptures, the Book of Mormon contains some questionable messages, and the Christmas story has some plot holes.

In books, Theric Jepson has been continuing his series on The Bishop’s Wife and City of Brick and Shadow. Also, Mithryn wrote an Encyclopedia Brown mystery and John Larson wrote an analogy.

In other Mormon fun, BYU lightened up a little on beards, missionaries are using fake surveys to get in the door, see some weird stuff inspired by the Osmonds, a bit of a dispute over lying for the Lord, and tips on moving up in the priesthood hierarchy. Also, Meg Stout’s series on Joseph Smith not having sex with his plural wives got an amusing review from her own brother:

I don’t know how to say this. It’s like watching Ancient Aliens on the history channel or a 9/11 conspiracy documentary, but not silly

The Charlie Hebdo massacre has inspired interpretations and analysis: opposition to political Islam, clarifications about free speech, the problem with limiting free speech that insults others’ beliefs, the problems of insulting beliefs for the sake of doing it, and the question: Why must I have respect for religions that have little respect for me? That seek to curtail the rights of women? That find me unclean?

In personal stories, Chelsey Sidler-Lartey has been discussing mental health issues, Dooce relived some horrible Mormon memoires, and Monica Bielanko wrote about her feelings about finalizing her divorce. And Runtu explained why staying with Mormonism when you don’t believe its truth claims isn’t for everyone.

On a lighter note, Tracy M posted a tasty-looking kale salad recipe which made me want to post my own kale adventures!!

Have a great week, and don’t forget to get your nominations in!