It’s that time of year again!! Time to recognize the best creative works of the year in the LDS/Ex-Mormon universe!! Main Street Plaza has been hosting these awards since 2009 — back when the blogging world was a bit more lively… But even though the hotspots of social media keep…
If Christmas doesn’t come from a store… and isn’t Jesus… what is it?
**Remember to nominate candidates for the X-Mormon of the year.** I’ve seen people argue that — given the environmental/climate impact of wasteful consumerism — maybe we should have a war on Christmas. I have some sympathy for that position. All my life I’ve heard the cry to remember “the true…
Dallin Oaks’s Christmas warning
**Remember to nominate candidates for the X-Mormon of the year.** Raise your hand if anyone’s ever said this to you: “Mormons are just so nice!” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it, and very often it’s true. Outright deznat sneering may be on the rise, but it…
Collecting Nominations for X-Mormon of the year 2022!!!
It’s that time of year again!! Time to reflect upon the past year and recognize the most interesting parts. Here at Main Street Plaza, that means electing the William Law X-Mormon of the Year!! The Wm. Law X-Mormon of the Year should be the X-Mormon who made the biggest splash…
Do Good People Smile Behind Closed Doors When LGBTQ Folks Are Murdered?
When you heard about a shooter killing five people in a Colorado Springs LGBTQbar, were you happy or upset? When you learned the alleged shooter was a member of The Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints, were you proud or embarrassed? If you were embarrassed, was itbecause of what “the…
Get ready for the Brodie Awards!
2022 is nearing its end, which means that awards season is coming up! Main Street Plaza has hosted the William Law X-Mormon of the Year and The Brodie Awards since 2009. In case you’re not familiar with these awards — or maybe you are, but you’d like to know more…
Exclusion policy, meet the latest strength of youth
November 5th was the anniversary of the Exclusion Policy, the 2015 declaration that same-sex couples who married would be excommunicated as apostates and their children barred from blessings, baptism, and other rituals until they turned 18 and condemned their parents’ lifestyle. Googling that today, the bulk of articles on the…
A Seer Stone for Halloween
A magic rock, a spooky house, and ghosts conjured up from the Latter-day Saints’ colorful past. My new mystery novel, Seer Stone, might be just be the perfect read this Halloween. Not to mention a fun Christmas gift, or even just a vehicle for confronting one’s own demons. Mormon or…
Mysterious Mormon Magic: Donna Banta’s “Seer Stone”
The modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is awash with mainstreaming. Becoming a god of your own planet (or universe), Heavenly Mother, even the name “Mormonism” — anything that might make Mormons look weird to Evangelical Christians — gets ignored out of existence. I’ll admit that a lot…
Will Capitalism Reign During the Millennium?
I can’t wait for the Millennium when we all work six days a week, twelve or fourteen or even sixteen hours a day. I can’t wait for that serene society, when Satan has been bound and we can send our six-year-old children to work in the mines or shuck oysters…