A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.
by Johnny Townsend Religious conservatives often accuse secular or inclusive people of conducting a “War on Christmas!” or “War on Religion!” or “War on God!” I would rephrase that. I and many others are anxiously engaged in conducting a war against ignorance, a war against bigotry and selfishness and greed and short-sightedness, a war against […]
Continue Readingby Johnny Townsend In the life of every atheist raised in a religious household, there comes a moment when we encounter our first question that can’t be answered. For me, it was when as a young Mormon teen reading lots of science fiction novels, I encountered aliens with amazing abilities. I’d think, “Wouldn’t it be […]
Continue Readingby Johnny Townsend A Mormon by any other name would smell as sweet. Or, more accurately, a Mormon by any other name would smell as saccharine. I don’t mean to sound offensive. That’s always the trick, isn’t it? Not sounding offensive. It’s perfectly okay to be offensive, though, right? “I love you but I hate […]
Continue Readingby Johnny Townsend My mom had few friends in her life. As a kid, I watched her interact with neighbors just twice. My parents never hosted parties, never invited anyone over for dinner, rarely let my sister or me bring any of our own friends over. Once, on a visit back to Mom’s hometown in […]
Continue Readingby Johnny Townsend Elder Boyd K. Packer, as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church, said back in the April 2013 conference what many of us had long understood and what is still true today. For Mormons, it is a sin to be tolerant. Packer describes tolerance of “legalized immorality,” […]
Continue Readingby Johnny Townsend Mormons (and others claiming to be Christian) seem to routinely ignore Matthew 25:40, one of the most profound statements from the New Testament. No one is perfect, and human nature is what it is, but it seems many people are able to ignore this verse without feeling the slightest bit guilty about […]
Continue ReadingSALT LAKE CITY— An audio recording of a conversation between members of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and members of the Quorum of the Twelve was recently obtained by Main Street News. The audio, acquired from an unnamed source in the Russia Moscow mission, has no accompanying video, […]
Continue ReadingOn Gay Pride Day in 1973, someone set fire to the entrance of a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Within minutes, 28 people were dead, and 4 more died within the following two weeks from their burns. A mother died along with her two gay sons. A minister burned to death […]
Continue ReadingThe novel by Tim Wirkus, City of Brick and Shadow, is a riveting tale of two missionaries in a sweeping Brazilian slum looking for a missing congregant they had recently baptized. All the characters are well-realized, from the unhappy local Mormons to the woman at the lanchonete to the mysterious Argentine, a kind of Satan […]
Continue ReadingI am accepting short stories dealing with unconventional Mormons for an anthology to be called “Marginal Mormons.” The stories should be 25 pages or shorter, though length will not necessarily disqualify a submission. Payment will be $20 and one copy of the book, in exchange for perpetual, non-exclusive rights. The stories may be original or […]
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