I recently came across this study released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in December. The analysis is based off of a 2007 religious landscape survey. On the link there is an interactive graph of the various states and their responses to the questions. Utah comes in…
Author: aerin64
The Nature of Ritual
I heard this story this morning- about an exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York: An exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York looks at some of the many ways people are re-imagining Jewish ritual. From “green energy” synagogues to a prayer shawl that doubles as an apron,…
Battlestar Galactica and the Lost Ten Tribes
The re-imagined Battlestar series ended last year, and the DVD came out this past summer. But I was thinking of it the other day when someone mentioned the lost ten tribes of Israel. How did I get from Battlestar Galatica (BSG) to the lost ten tribes?
A Healthy Dose of Skepticism
Recently, I got a chance to experience the missionary/salesperson perspective first hand. I was asking various people to sign a petition. For privacy reasons, I’m not going to say what the petition was for, except that it may or may not be related to my work. You might question how…
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…
Contradictions
In this post, I wrote that I was really happy for the older relative of mine who wanted to work in the temple. And in the comments to this post, Jonathan compared baptism for the dead to flag desecration, which I agree with. I think his comparison has merit.
If it makes you happy…
A close relative of mine wrote me the other day about the various things she’s doing in her life. She is gardening and hanging out with the great grandchildren who live near her. Then she mentioned that she’s excited to try and work at the LDS temple near her home….
NZ man almost kills daughter for not attending church
I was saddened last week to see this story about a New Zealand man who hit his daughter in the head with a lump of concrete when she refused to go to the mormon church with him. Now, I think this man is an abuser, and would be an abuser…
Appearance and Helen Andelin
Helen Andelin, author of Fascinating Womanhood recently passed away. My sympathy to her friends and family. I’m sure that she had a life and beliefs outside of her work. I do have definite opinions about her work, which I will discuss below. I definitely disagree with her work and its…
Following the rules or Seeing the Forest Through the Trees
I’m not someone who is particularly good at following the rules, at least some rules. And believe it or not, depending on who you talk to, Mormonism had a lot of rules. What type of soda/pop to drink, what kind of music to listen to, etc. What always astounded me…