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…
Category: Traditions
Christmas in Outer Blogness!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! My sources indicate that many people in Outer Blogness did! Just see for yourself!
The Nature of Ritual
I heard this story this morning- about an exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York: An exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York looks at some of the many ways people are re-imagining Jewish ritual. From “green energy” synagogues to a prayer shawl that doubles as an apron,…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: The Reason for the Season Edition!
I know it’s only December sixth, but it seems the “War on Christmas” starts earlier and earlier every year! As usual, the Christmas-warriors are trying to ruin everyone’s jolly holiday with their death-worshiping kitsch. Then there’s one of my personal favorite holiday traditions: lamenting how commercial Christmas has become. Rosalynde…
Atheists and Traditions
Religion has a lot different facets that different people find appealing: identity/community transcendence/awe/altered states of consciousness rituals tradition/culture purpose/guidance belief in the supernatural And surely many others. It’s my impression that people tend to focus on a few of their favorites among these components and ignore the rest. It’s just…
A Healthy Dose of Skepticism
Recently, I got a chance to experience the missionary/salesperson perspective first hand. I was asking various people to sign a petition. For privacy reasons, I’m not going to say what the petition was for, except that it may or may not be related to my work. You might question how…
The reason ‘Eastern Mormons’ leave Utah: we love the attention.
I stumbled upon this smaller blog that was talking about “Cultural” Mormons. …I’ve noticed the strangest phenomenon. Many people view cultural Mormonism as the extra-doctrinal, hyper-faithful parts of the church that make it seem so unbearable, rather than the mere culture of growing up in such a peculiar church. So…
On the church’s uniqueness
…Sometimes, these blog entries just take too much time to set up…anyway, I was reading Mormon Matters and getting into the discussion there, and Bruce had said something that I found intriguing: …John Dehlin suggested that it was a mistake for modern Mormons to down play what he calls “19th…
Christmas Story Tradition!
In my family, growing up, we had a tradition that on Christmas Eve, we’d sit together in the living room beside the Christmas tree and read a Christmas story or two. Sometimes it would be something explicitly religious — like the Christmas story from the New Testament — or semi-religious,…
Wishing you well…
I was reading somewhere on the internets (not linked to protect the innocent) where someone wrote that they were surprised to find out recently how happy some former mormon friends of theirs are. They were a little shocked (and embarassed of themselves) for realizing that former mormons’ lives aren’t that…