Facebook is all agog about The Not Even Once Club, a new children’s book by Wendy Watson Nelson, whose credentials include a PhD in family therapy and gerontology and 25 years as a professor of marriage and family therapy, plus being married to a general authority. Here’s the official plot…
When you can’t lock your heart: Elder Peterson’s Mission Memories, by Jeff Laver
Always in sight of each other — 24/7 — except while showering or on the toilet: It’s hard to imagine a more intimate relationship than that of Mormon missionary companions. In some ways a mission is training for a Mormon-style marriage: The two companions are expected to love each other…
Great Big Polygamy Timeline
The Timeline For a very long time, I’ve always wanted to know exactly who was doing who and for how many jelly beans (Sorry, old joke between old friends). I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a timeline of EVERYTHING polygamy related?” This is a composition of everything I…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Nailing jello to the wall edition!!
Here is a common problem faced by faithful Mormons: A few years ago, Sam and I attended an endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple. As we approached the gate, a man stood on the public sidewalk a few feet away, holding a sign that read: Joseph Smith had 27…
No longer invisible: Latter-Gay Saints
They try to convince gay people that it’s in their best interests to be straight. In fact, they try to convince them that they’re already straight. (from “Ockham’s Razor”) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a gay problem. Specifically, the church has a plan for how to…
What Hannah Arendt can teach us about Women’s Ordination in the Church
Just like the issue of accepting same-sex intimacy, Mormons are beginning to understand a good Mormon can hold the position that women should be ordained. And this means that half (okay, maybe one quarter) of the battle is won, because now Mormons talk amongst themselves about the following equation as…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Wrong Side of History Edition!
There were two little tidbits of Mormon news this past week, and in both, the CoJCoL-dS couldn’t stop hamming up its role as villain. First off, there was a case of a gay author whose book was dropped from publication because he wanted to mention his partner in a book…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Life on the Fringes Edition!
This past week, Andrew S. tackled the question of why he sticks around Internet discussion groups on the fringes of Mormonism — a familiar topic for many of us in this space, and his answer is very similar to my own. It seems that for groups discussing Mormonism, it’s nearly…
Is Mormonism going to evolve, and can I make it work for me?
I had a young man email me with a couple of questions. Â After writing up my response to him, I thought my response might make a good post on MSP. Here’s the question: Is it possible, do you think, for a fundamentalist religion like Mormonism to evolve to become a…
Paved With Good Intentions – Part IV
Arrived in Tucson, July 1983 – hotter than hell and – unknown to us at the time – our last stop on the path of Mormonism. Larry was still in the military and our first residence was in a local rental. We settled into our ward and it quickly became…