It was really enjoyable to work my way through this. This is the first response I’ve done with these new church essays since I had read enough to be able to notice things that I recognized were missing, or implications that were being made that felt incomplete or inaccurate. As…
Category: Testimony
Symbolic beliefs can counter cognitive dissonance, but at a cost
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Response edition
The big news this week is that Kate Kelly has appealed her excommunication. In her appeal, Kate wrote: I am, and have always been, a faithful Mormon. My only “sin†elucidated by you has been speaking my mind and pushing for gender equality in the Church. Far from being wrong,…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Reflection Edition
Chanson asked me to fill in for SiOB this week – I think it’s been a quiet week. (Sort of like Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon – it’s always a quiet week). But this week is quiet for many reasons – perhaps we’re all still reacting (or not reacting) to the…
New Church Survey
Mormon Open Letter has added a survey to their site in a new tab. The purpose of this survey is to gather information about any church action or threatened church action (such as excommunication) that Mormon church members have experienced due to their outspokenness or questions in regards to doubts,…
Why You Should Read and Sign The Mormon Open Letter
On February 7, 2014, we wrote the Mormon Open Letter addressed to Thomas S. Monson. The church had already started publishing essays in the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org. These essays introduced and attempted to explain some of the troubling historical events and doctrinal issues (e.g. translation of the Book…
Letting go
A very significant relationship in my life has recently come to a close. This relationship has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It impacted every aspect of my upbringing and guided me in all the major decisions of my life up to this…
No Longer Afraid of the F Word
Last year my 20 year old son recommended I read The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. I don’t think I had ever read an explicitly feminist text before that and it was an eye opener. I was surprised by how much the experiences of the women she wrote about resonated…
Missionary Chat: Ordain Women
I thought I’d follow proxfm’s lead, and talk to some missionaries. My chat was about Ordain Women… Spencer: Hi Alan! How are you doing today? 🙂 Alan: Pretty good. Spencer: Glad to hear it! How can we help you? Alan: I’m just curious about the Ordain Women movement in Utah……
Why Ordain Women
As I’ve been reading through the various blogs, posts and media reports about the Ordain Women movement, as a result of the church’s letter that came out yesterday, I noticed something:….I’m different. Kate Kelly told the Salt Lake Tribune
My MSP contributions thus far
I’ve been a contributor to Main Street Plaza for a few years now. Recently, I’ve been posting a lot less frequently because my interests have developed in other directions than Mormonism. This is probably because I’m 30 years old and left the Church half-my-life ago! Looking back through my posts,…