Have any of you read Black and Mormon? The authors explain why even though present-day Church leaders have said “NO, NO, NO!” about the curse of Cain folklore, why Mormons like Jason and even his stake president continue to believe and espouse it. It’s not just racism and/or residual notions…
Link bomb #5
Wikileaks is back in the news with revelations about the detention of Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old soldier accused of divulging classified information to the group. Ive been critical of Wikileaks, but I nonetheless disapprove of Mannings treatment. In a Virginia military brig, he has been kept in intensive solitary confinement…
Wednesday in Outer Blogness: Pi Day Edition!
OK, so I missed Sunday (and I actually missed Pi Day, too), but — since I was busy last Sunday and I’ll be busy next Sunday — I figured I’d try to shoot for a round-up somewhere in the middle. Sorry for any inconvenience. Anyway, as you know, the big…
Culture
Continue Reading
Coming Out of the Conservative Closet
I have chosen to write about coming out of a closet the closet that hid part of who I really am, a part of me that I always knew was there but never wanted to acknowledge or accept. I guess part of the reason I never came out is that…
The Book of Mormon Musical
I applied for a summer writing grant in the Fall and promised myself I would use some of the money to go see the new Book of Mormon musical if I got it. Well, I haven’t heard about the grant yet, but I was planning a trip to Connecticut to…
Mormon Social Responsibility: Marshaling the Business Community in Defending Religious Freedoms.
Update: Keynote speaker (and University of Utah president) Michael Young brought this surprising bit of advice: Mormons ought to be “among the most passionate civil libertarians in the world” to preserve religious freedoms. “We all ought to be members of the ACLU,” Young said Monday in a question-and-answer session after…
Here’s to hoping we’re likeable enough to earn your Facebook support.
I noticed this recent post over at TPM and it got me to thinking about Facebook and what we do here. Like our friend Micah over at Life After Mormonism, I’ve been playing around with Facebook ads, trying to get a feel for how much bang they deliver for the…
Why Would Heavenly Father Do That?
This now-infamous question (slightly paraphrased) posed by President Boyd K. Packer at this past October Conference will, I think, reverberate in the minds of many church members for years to come and not just with respect to sexual orientation. I cant help thinking that Elder Packer may for many members…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Honor Edition!
Naturally, the buzz this past week was about the big news that a BYU basketball player had sex with his girlfriend — if you can believe it! This led to lots of very amusing discussion about control and the BYU honor code, musings on parenting, and the obvious observation that…
Revisiting Dallin Oaks’ “Principles to Govern Possible Public Statement on Legislation Affecting Rights of Homosexuals”
The Church’s logic behind its policy concerning antidiscrimination laws for gays, as well as its steadfast opposition toward same-sex marriage, was spelled out in Dallin’s Oaks’ 1984 confidential memorandum “Principles to Govern Possible Public Statement on Legislation Affecting Rights of Homosexuals.” This document I believe got leaked a few years…