Review of Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? An Election Year Guide to Mitt Romneys Religion, by Ryan T. Cragun and Rick Phillips, July 2012, Strange Violin Editions (strangeviolineditions.com). Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? is a well-written, thoughtful, fair, and balanced appraisal of the Mormon…
Author: Robert
Loves to read books. Frequently does so. Currently lives and works in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
An Open Letter to the LDS Church
I was riveted by the fascinating tale of excommunication from the Mormon church, over at Mind on Fire, told with great honesty and feeling, as well as by the reader community response. I have just one question, though, which I suppose should be directed to the Mormon church itself: Where’s…
Summum Goin’ On
Pleasant Grove City has won a battle in the legal war with Summum, Utah’s local pyramid/wine/sex cult. From what I’ve read, it appears that the matter is far from over, though, as this particular battle was narrowed in its scope to its free speech component. In essence, the Supremes have…
NCMO at BYU
According to a Salt Lake Tribune article, citing a survey conducted by a retired BYU sociology professor, only “1 percent to 3 percent of students say ‘making out and intense kissing’ are acceptable in a ‘hanging-out’ relationship.” No report on what percentage considers screwing like bunnies (or at least having…
Romney and Religion
Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy has brought Mormonism—and the role of religion in politics—into the spotlight in some interesting ways. His candidacy is revealing of some of the fault lines both in Mormon culture and in the American political environment. The Mormon church has long had a confused approach to its…
The Space Between Subjectivity and Objectivity
There are few things as enjoyable as coffeeshop philosophizing, and usually my favorite philosophical topic to mangle is epistemology, which is the study of whether it’s possible to know things, and if so, how we attain knowledge. Over the years, I’ve trended towards a viewpoint that I call radical subjectivity…
The Many Meandering Paths Away from Faith
When people leave Mormonism, where do they go? What paths do they take? Purely on the basis of anecdotal evidence, this is what some of them do:
Fiction at Main Street Plaza
Coming soon to a browser near you, Main Street Plaza will be publishing fiction! Our first published piece will be “Love, Mormon Style,” by Bob Bringhurst. “Love, Mormon Style” was originally published in a short fiction anthology called In Our Lovely Deseret: Mormon Fictions. This is a humorous yet poignant…
Mormon Art
So what the heck is Mormon art, anyway? Putting aside the much larger question of what is art (but using the term broadly to cover all creative expression), we might instructively ask: What is a Mormon? Do we count only members of the mainstream organization, the Church of Jesus Christ…