This post is another installment in my “5 Cool Things” series. Today I’m giving a list, again in no particular order, of some things that are cool about the 2008 race for President of the United States. I have tried to make the list from the angle of not knowing or anticipating which candidate will win. Continue reading…
Archive for the 'feminism' Category
I am an over-analyzer. As a musician I listen to music in a different way than a lot of folks. I pick apart each instrument and criticize the cleverness of lyrics (or lack thereof). I was briefly interested in screenwriting and read some books about it, and now I pick apart the plotlines of movies. Things that many people enjoy in a simple way become an exercise in academic frustration for me. This is the blessing and curse of humanity. We think.
Recently I heard Robert Kirby say, “Humans are the only species than can actually think themselves stupider.” Oh brother, you nailed me. Continue reading…
“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Jessica Rabbit
Plenty of criticism is heaped on post-restoration church leaders. There seems to be a tendency to hold them up against an impossible and inaccurate standard of perfection while giving a pass to figures in the Old and New Testaments. But is that fair? Wouldn’t OT & NT leaders have the same shortcomings when viewed from our “enlightened” modern perspective? Continue reading…
Tired of talking about gay marriage? How about women and the Priesthood? 
In all seriousness, let me share with you a recent experience that has had a profound impact on the way I view the concept of Priesthood, and that has convinced me, once and for all, that I am not the sole Priesthood bearer in my family. I believe it’s high time we recognized the service rendered by faithful LDS women as more than simply the fulfillment of a Relief Society assignment, or being a good visiting teacher. Such efforts constitute the righteous exercise of Priesthood power.
There is a common belief among LDS that wonderful women are sometimes saddled with mediocre men or sometimes no man at all, which will result in a surplus of women in the Celestial Kingdom. So, are Mormon women really so much better than men? Continue reading…
When I was a kid in Southern California, it was obvious to me that there were two kinds of people in the world: Mormons and the rest. As I got older, the rest became more differentiated; there were Catholics and Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Baptists, Syrian Orthodox, Church of Christers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists and even some people who claimed to have no religion at all. I was puzzled at one family’s celebration of Christmas when they apparently didn’t really even belong to any particular religion that I could discern.
As I attended high school and early-morning seminary, I began to notice that there was more than one kind of Mormon in the world as well. Some Mormons had such different attitudes and beliefs from me that I sometimes felt like I had grown up in a different church. Also, some Mormons I knew made strange comments, like whites shouldn’t date those of other races because the prophets have counseled us not to, or Americans shouldn’t pay income taxes because the prophets said not to. To my horror, as one raised by a baby-boomer mom to respect Martin Luther King and John Kennedy, some even used statements of the BRETHREN to condemn the civil rights movement as communist-led and hence Satanic. Continue reading…
During this campaign season I’ve been helping Newell Bringhurst and Craig Foster edit their forthcoming book, The Mormon Quest for the Presidency. The book tells the fascinating story of 9 Mormons who ran for president prior to Mitt Romney’s bid and I thought I’d briefly share their stories while Mitt’s fate is being decided today…
1844 Joseph Smith Jr. (no party) — In an era when the separation of church and state were still absolute, Smith was the first clergyman to run for president. As such, he did not emphasize his role as a prophet or as president of the Mormon church. Instead, he campaigned as “General Joseph Smith” (of the Nauvoo Legion of the Illinois militia). Smith organized the Council of Fifty whose chief goal was to campaign to get him elected president. The Fifty ratified Smith’s choice of Sidney Rigdon for Vice President, and then spread out across the country campaigning for the Smith-Rigdon ticket. Smith’s positions were expressed in a widely distributed pamphlet entitled “General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States.” Dominating the day was the question of Texas annexation, which Smith favored. This was a very popular position in the western states which were interested in expansion and cheap land. People in the eastern states viewed the question more soberly because annexation meant an unprovoked war with Mexico. Continue reading…
My uncle emailed me the other day. The bishop in his ward gave a talk about the Kirtland Temple and explained how the LDS church donated $100,000.00 per year to the Community of Christ for its upkeep. My uncle wanted to know, “is that true?”
I knew it wasn’t. My work with the John Whitmer Historical Association for the last few years has allowed me to form close connections with a number of Community of Christ leaders. But since this had been preached from the pulpit as a fact, I wanted to respond with definitive facts. So I talked to my friend Barbara Walden who is the director of the Kirtland Temple, and I put the question to her directly. Continue reading…
Men don’t understand women very well.
I understand them even less because I grew up with brothers. No sisters. This may have contributed to my girl-craziness in high school and college. Getting to know my wife better has helped me to begin to understand women and their motivations, but I’m still learning.
I work with women. My boss is a woman. The majority of my co-workers are women. Such is a career in education. I really like it, because I’ve been able to see that women are no different from men in very fundamental ways. We are all capable of hiring, firing, managing budgets, motivating colleagues, and getting the job done. That’s my life Monday to Friday. Saturday is family day, and then Sunday rolls around…and women are not my equals anymore, at least for 3 hours, and I really don’t understand why.
A continuation from Episode 4.
Thanks again to Dr. Bushman, Taryn and Rosalynde!!!!
And of course, to hear more of (and to purchase!!!) the wonderful music included in the podcast, please check out: claytonpixton.com and skyepixton.com
Enjoy!
Today we release part 1 of a 2-part conversation reviewing the recent Mormon Stories series on Women in the LDS Church (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5). This includes a discussion of my introduction, the 3 waves of Feminism in the USA, and a 3 part interview w/ Claudia Bushman.
Today’s brilliant panelists are:
- Taryn Nelson-Seawright: Taryn lives in the Chicago area with her husband.
She is a researcher in the medical social sciences. She is a passionate
amateur scholar of the Book of Mormon. In her spare time, she blogs
for By Common Consent and, under the pen name Serenity Valley, Latter-Day
Saint Liberation Front. - Rosalynde Welch: Rosalynde lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband John
and her three children. She’s an independent scholar of early modern
English literature and an eclectic assortment of other topics, and
she blogs on Mormon issues at timesandseasons.org.
Finally, to hear more of (and to purchase!!!) the wonderful music included in the podcast, please check out: claytonpixton.com and skyepixton.com
We hope you enjoy!!!
