The whole Chick-fil-A controversy reminds me of a period of time in recent American history when a segment of our society that tried to assert what it believed to be its civil rights and dignity was brutally repressed, particularly in a certain section of the country. I refer, of course,…
Mormon Intra-faith Dialogue Under Controlled Circumstances
A week ago, a number of bloggers from across the Mormon belief map joined together answer the following question- do good online fences make good LDS neighbors? My co-panelistchanson has posted some remarks here, andRachel Whipple has posted her remarks at Times and Seasons, andyou can also readHolly’s post herefor…
It’s the Doctrine, Stupid!
The recent patriotic month here in Utah turned my thoughts to the subject of parades and patriotism. As a resident of Davis County (just north of Salt Lake City) for a number of years, my former wife and I took our children to the Centerville 4th of July parade every…
Thursday in Outer Blogness: Sunstone Edition!!
Hey folks! I’m back from Sunstone and had a fantastic time!! If you want to know what you missed (or a review of what you saw), here are some recaps. I met lots of very very very cool people and posted my presentations. John Dehlin explained why he stays and…
LDS Church is “kicking against the pricks” on gay marriage
So, get this… A center at BYU collated some survey numbers and guess what is up in Utah: support for civil unions and same-sex marriage. Check out some of their figures. First, all Utah voters: Second, political party identification: Third, by religion: No surprise that the nonreligious support civil unions…
Reclaiming Our Stories
This is the presentation I gave for the panel Who gets to say what former Mormons are like? which I organized at the 2012 Sunstone Symposium. I could see that she didn’t know what she was talking about just by the description of this book! Author needs to do her…
Sunstone 2013: Mormon Bodies: Literal, Metaphorical, Doctrinal
Sunstone 2013 will be held Wednesday, 31 July through Saturday, 3 August, on the Weber State Campus. The theme will be “Mormon Bodies: Literal, Metaphorical, Doctrinal” and the description published in the program reads as follows: One of Mormonism’s most distinctive attributes is the emphasis on embodiment, including the belief…
Criticism
This is the presentation I gave for the panel “Do Good Online Fences Make Good LDS Neighbors?” (which Andrew S and I organized) at the 2012 Sunstone Symposium. Criticism. Sometimes it tells you more about the critic and his own personal issues than bout the thing being criticized, doesn’t it?…
Because the Need to Understand a Relationship Often Doesn’t Die When the Relationship Does
Not surprisingly, one of the best parts of Sunstone for me involved Main Street Plaza. After the closing banquet (which included a terrific talk by Eunice Rho of the American Civil Liberties Union about the efforts of the ACLU to protect the religious rights of members of minority religions, like…
Mormons in Pride Parades Okay, I need to vent (Part 2)
(Part 1 is here.) Now that the Pride parades are almost wound down for the summer, there are concerns I have about the Mormon presence that I would like to address. One major theme I’ve seen is this idea that “local politics is inherently good politics.” Prominent liberal Mormon bloggers…