Image: “Roscoe Considers Recording a Podcast” by zoomar is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Halloween brings honest queries on whether homosexuality is caused by possession; scholars track gay Mormons’ journeys and mental health Mormonland is packed with podcasts. Here’s a random sampling of my listens over the last fortnight.* Human…
Category: Testimony
Symbolic beliefs can counter cognitive dissonance, but at a cost
The Coffee or the cup?
A couple of years ago, I ran across an invitation to the reception for a couple who were to be married in the Provo Temple. In the obligatory picture, the man stood stone-faced, dressed in the usual church attire, while his fiancé was grinning ear-to-ear, kicking up a stiletto heel,…
Performing Mormon womanhood
LuLaRoe, Judith Butler, the Family Proclamation, and our invisible Heavenly Mother In the 1990 book Gender Trouble, queer philosopher Judith Butler proposed that gender is not a fixed trait but one that must be constantly performed. Now she’s an academic superstar. But decades earlier, Mormons made a pretty penny perfecting…
Suicide ideation in non-straight Latter-day Saints: what hurts? What helps?
For National Suicide Prevention week, Main Street Plaza reviews a study of active and former Church members A team of researchers investigated whether active Latter-day Saints were different from inactive and former members in terms of how and how much they thought about suicide. Over 600 people identifying as sexual…
Elder Holland, consequences, and cruelty
On Monday Aug 23, the President of BYU announced an “office of belonging” to “combat prejudice of any kind.” Sexual orientation was specifically mentioned. That same day, Jeffrey Holland, former president of BYU and member of the Quorum of the Twelve, denounced “flag-waving” and “parade-holding” around “this same-sex challenge.” He…
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Psychotherapy, Mormonism, and me
When I read advice for counseling Church members, I did not expect to see myself A while back, searching for something else, I came across an academic paper advising psychotherapists how to treat Mormon clients. I began reading the article, by Stephanie Lyon at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological…
But Does She Still Go to Church?
Four years ago I ran across an old Mormon acquaintance on Facebook. I’d always liked this woman. Back in the day (1990’s) she’d seemed relatively open-minded. A quick glance at her wall suggested she was still one of the “good ones.” Fourteen years ago, I wouldn’t have considered reaching out…
General Conference-Will it Ever Change?
Today the First Presidency announced that the Saturday evening sessions to the semi-annual general conferences will be discontinued. Traditionally, a Saturday evening session was held for priesthood holders in April and then women in October. Also traditionally, the priesthood session featured a lineup of male speakers, while the women’s session…
The Brodie Awards and X-Mormon of the Year
Main Street Plaza has hosted the Brodie Awards and William Law X-Mormon of the Year for a full ten years. It all started in 2009 when exmos were explicitly excluded from the Bloggernacle’s “Niblets” — a set of awards that fizzled out a few years later. Check the sidebar for…
The Gospel of Misery
by Johnny Townsend “Man is, that he might be miserable.” Mormons are moral ascetics, demanding secular bans on alleviating misery whenever possible. Could the state of Utah or the U.S. federal government afford to provide healthcare to its citizens? Yes, but that would improve everyone’s quality of life. Could the…