I know…I have resigned my membership. So why do I care about the new Mormon church policy update that impacts LGBT Mormons? Why bother stressing about it if I don’t even belong or believe? Because this was my faith community for 46 years. Because it was how I was raised. Because…
Author: Alison
More than feeding roots
I feel like it’s important to share my experience and thoughts regarding a recent talk Elder Ballard gave in the Marriott Center to the Utah South Area. Why do I even care when I no longer believe or attend church? I have close family members that do believe and accept…
Why Mormon Spectrum?
When my husband went through a faith transition, in the Mormon church we were each raised in, we lost friends and a sense of community. Many of the people we had developed close relationships with pulled back from us. Some of our family members struggled to navigate this unexpected change…
Knowing Emma and Joseph’s History: A Response to the Speculative Essay on Early Polygamy– Alison Udall
It was really enjoyable to work my way through this. This is the first response I’ve done with these new church essays since I had read enough to be able to notice things that I recognized were missing, or implications that were being made that felt incomplete or inaccurate. As…
Deciphering Ballard
M. Russell Ballard begins a talk (given at BYU August 20, 2013) reprinted in the September 2014 Ensign and titled ‘Men and Women in Priesthood Power” with this In what I say, please keep in mind and think straight about the basic doctrines of Christ…. Let me suggest five key…
New Church Survey
Mormon Open Letter has added a survey to their site in a new tab. The purpose of this survey is to gather information about any church action or threatened church action (such as excommunication) that Mormon church members have experienced due to their outspokenness or questions in regards to doubts,…
Why You Should Read and Sign The Mormon Open Letter
On February 7, 2014, we wrote the Mormon Open Letter addressed to Thomas S. Monson. The church had already started publishing essays in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org. These essays introduced and attempted to explain some of the troubling historical events and doctrinal issues (e.g. translation of the Book…
Disjointed conversations
My parents are wonderful and very conservative, orthodox members of the church. They feel a need to bear their testimonies to me and let me know they believe. I understand totally that this comes from what they hear at church. They feel responsible for and so sad about my change…
Letting go
A very significant relationship in my life has recently come to a close. This relationship has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It impacted every aspect of my upbringing and guided me in all the major decisions of my life up to this…
No Longer Afraid of the F Word
Last year my 20 year old son recommended I read The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. I don’t think I had ever read an explicitly feminist text before that and it was an eye opener. I was surprised by how much the experiences of the women she wrote about resonated…