Sunstone was an interesting experience for me. I was there Friday and Saturday, and Saturday morning I presented my paper “Two Paradigms for ‘Gay’,” which compared themes/reception of Langford’s No Going Back (which if you overlay onto the categories at the right, takes a North Star-like stance), and my novel…
Category: Prophets
Drinking Coke
We’ve discussed before how difficult it is to determine official mormon doctrine. Policies and guidelines seem to change with the generations, with geographical area or with personal revelation. I’ve heard from two different sources that someone very high up in mormon priesthood and corporate leadership drinks coke on a regular…
General Conference predictions
Back in the days when I paid attention to General Conference, I always attended the priesthood session with my wife’s father and brother. I enjoyed the tradition of returning to report some fantastic fictional revelation to my wife and her mother. I call this a tradition because I did it…
Oldies but Goodies: Testimony of a Dissident
A while back another blogger asked me to submit an essay about my Mormon experience. Probably, for good reasons he changed his mind and never published it. Since it is already written and might shed some light on my argument at Times and Seasons, I might as well publish it…
Prophet v. Pope
My Mormon mother-in-law is staying with us for a week to help with newborn care. My wife, mother-in-law, and I decided to watch Angels and Demons last night while the baby slept. After it was over, my wife said, “I don’t understand why Catholics revere the Pope so much.” I…
“Optimal Tension” fine, but how far are we from “optimal”?
We hear a lot on the Bloggernacle about Armand Mauss’s theory of optimal tension. Getting down to brass tacks, it’s that when the LDS church denies the priesthood to black people or marriage to gay people, it’s not just about the black people or the gay people — it’s also…
A Convert’s Conscience
Although he appears to be a star professor at BYU, I have only become aware of Robert Millet’s efforts during the last two years. As a convert, I have to admit that his approach to investigators distresses me somewhat. I know that Millet means well when he suggests to side…