This summer, when I posted on X about my lifelong conviction that the god of Mormonism is a moral monster, someone told me, very helpfully and completely accurately, that I would love God’s Monsters by Esther Hamori. God’s Monsters is the first work of religious scholarship that has made me…
Category: Power
Do you believe in Priesthood Blessings?
In the July 2012 edition of the Ensign, there is an article by Elder Dallen H Oaks. http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/07/the-importance-of-priesthood-blessings?lang=eng&query=blessings+comfort In the article, he talks about the different kinds of priesthood blessings. For this post, I would like to focus on Blessings of Comfort or Counsel. The article describes them this way:…
Criticism, Power, and Validation
If a subordinate gives you negative feedback, it often implies a bigger compliment. It means that people trust you because you conduct yourself with integrity. Otherwise, your subordinates wouldn’t dare to speak up. Good for you. Of course, I would rather be praised than criticized but when somebody over whom…
the Big Exit Letter (BEL)
Thanks to chanson’s weekly round up, I read this post about Carson N. leaving. It reminded me of my own experience. My wife and I didn’t send emails, we sent letters in the mail. But the anticipation of the response from family was pretty intense. And one family member’s response…
Thinking About You
I got into trouble in fifth grade and I think about it every week. It was in the beginning of the school year. We had just switched from elementary to prep school. Except for three of us, everyone else was new.
Making Your Opponent’s Case
If you have to ban somebody over religious differences, it is probably a good idea to wait until the debate about what constitutes a bad religion is over. When you argue that religion provides a special path to the truth, you are not helping yourself by prohibiting your rhetorical opponent’s…
Hi, my name is Jessica and I’m a Mormon.
Disturbing video of a Mormon mother and LDS Stake Primary President abusing her adopted son: Families are forever? Let’s hope not all of them are. Why are so many Mormons so angry and abusive? h/t ldsgems
Signature Books: Important Mormon Diary Published
Salt Lake City In December 1892, the 33-year-old Mormon apostle Abraham H. Cannon recorded in his diary: At my Quorum meeting on Thursday the brethren were told that our success in the Church [law]suits was in a great measure due to the fact that we have a partner of Justice…
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff calls on LDS HQ to take a position on US immigration policy
No theocracy going on here … Deseret News promptly weighs in with a response on Thomas S. Monson’s behalf.