There was very sad news from Visalia, California on Sunday. A mentally ill man named Kenneth Ward walked into a church looking for a leader. Members pointed him to a Bishop Clay Sannar, father of 6. Ward shot Bishop Sanner, and then fled. A few minutes later, he called police, confessing to the crime. As police arrived, he opened fire. Police killed the assailant. It is a truly senseless act. More details can be found at the KSL website. Please pray for his family.
news
Pyramids-R-US
Last week I spent a supper hour (it took that long) reading an article called “America’s Ruling Class – And the Perils of Revolution” by Angelo Codevilla. The overall article is well worth reading to better understand current political debates, but that wasn’t what called my attention to it as a possible subject for Mormon Matters. Rather, the following paragraph toward the end of the Article startled me: “Nothing has set the country class apart, defined it, made it conscious of itself, given it whatever coherence it has, so much as the ruling class’s insistence that people other than...
The Death of McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine
Last night on KUTV in Utah, an announcement was made which signals the end of an era. It was reported that Bruce R. McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine will no longer be published by the Church, and that it will not be sold by Deseret Book. Since I didn’t see the newscast, I’m not sure what reasons were given, but one viewer stated, “Why? For tighter correlative control, because of the book’s embarrassing clarity, and because of some controversial assertions in the book.” He also said that the publisher asserted the book was withdrawn because of poor sales.
Leavitt Alone, You Idiot!
Our guest post today comes from Renn Oldsbuster, a somewhat passionate (!) polygamy sympathizer who blogs occasionally at The Fall of Reynolds. Okay, yes, I’m all amp’ed up about this one. Stupid David Leavitt has jumped on the anti-polygamy wagon again. He has taken on the custody case of a Juab County, Utah, woman who doesn’t want her soon-to-be ex-husband to have their children near any fundamentalist Mormons – see the following recent article from the Salt Lake Tribune: (and I have pasted some paragraphs below ) -
A Plea To Mormons: Walk A Mile In Palestinian Shoes
Guest Post by Non-Arab Arab BiV’s recent post “Sod, Seed, Salvation: Abrahamic Covenant and the Claim to Palestine” brought me out of my normal lurking. Modern Palestine and what I firmly believe to be the erroneous interpretation most members of the church have regarding events there always riles me up. Usually I do the smart thing and bite my lip, but every once in a while I choose to enter the fray in full combat mode. As I’ve found on most issues of debate, it doesn’t really matter how right I think I am the noise of the argument...
Mormon Missionaries Die in Romania
I want to let everyone know of a very unfortunate situation in Romania. According to this Deseret News article, Elder McKay Choy Burrows, 20, of Highland, Utah, and Elder Jace Edwards Davis, 20, of Logandale, Nevada, died from accidental natural gas asphyxiation due to a gas leak in their apartment sometime Friday night in Romania. It’s terrible that such a seemingly preventable tragedy happened to these 2 young men.
CoC to tackle Major Issues at April Conference: Gay Marriage & Baptism
This is the second guest Post from FireTag, a member of the Community of Christ (formerly known as RLDS). As he mentioned in his previous post, the Community of Christ is going through the process of canonization of a new revelation. Here’s his latest installment of the process. CofChrist Prophet: Baptism in Christ Transcends Culture “5 It is imperative to understand that when you are truly baptized into Christ you become part of a new creation. By taking on the life and mind of Christ, you increasingly view yourselves and others from a changed perspective. Former ways of defining...
Nuclear Disarmament Meets Mormon Patriotism
Lately more and more Church members have begun to wonder why the Church is so supportive of the United States military. We’ve experienced a long tradition of this, beginning with the Mormon Battalion in 1846. When the U.S. Army requested 500 men to join the service in the conflict with Mexico, Brigham Young responded positively despite the fact that our people were in the middle of a forced exodus from the country. This story is proudly retold in our Church lessons and manuals, making it a seminal moment in the formation of our military philosophy. Isolation in the West...
What if the Brethren decided to allow gay marriage? by Justin Perry
What if the Brethren decided to allow gay marriage? They’d have to do a lot of back-peddling to explain why they were suddenly in favor of something they stood against for so long. But over time, the church’s previous “official” opposition to gay marriage would be downplayed, the Apostles who spoke publicly against gay marriage would be criticized for giving their own personal, uninspired opinion, and new generations of LDS children would grow up in a church that accepted gays openly.
An Outsider’s Look at the United Effort Plan
If you were in downtown Salt Lake City today, you may have noticed a large rally of over a thousand peacefully protesting polygamists. What is happening to the financial affairs of the FLDS right now seems completely inexplicable, but I need to try to understand what is going on. And it seems to me to behoove every citizen of the United States to do the same.
Dancing Through the Sidebar
Comment on any of the following articles – or anything else from the sidebar – or any other article of interest to this forum that we missed. There is no such thing as being normal If Kaimi were in dire straits, he would prefer to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s Apparently, marriage is hard work Gayby Boomers? Silly name, interesting phenomenon An explanation for Utah bankruptcies I don’t think PETA would approve of this Aren’t you glad we have calculaors? Even Orson Scott Card realizes that Mormonism is a culture Another reason to have more kids – Placenta...
Even Kung Fu Masters Eventually Leave Us
David Carradine died today in a hotel in Thailand. Go with God, Grasshopper.
Interfaith International British DJ
OK Paul technically isn’t exactly an international DJ, not unless you consider that you can listen to his interviews on line.
International Ignorance
Someone mentioned in a blog post that I read recently about how accessible materials and information about the Church are for us these days: blogs, books (official and unofficial), news, the internet in general. I couldn’t agree more. There’s a wealth of information about the Church at our fingertips and goodness knows that many of us spend hours reading, analyzing, discussing, and debating it all. I’m often surprised that more Mormons don’t take advantage of it. There is one problem, however. This wealth of information is NOT equally available to members of the Church.
Jesus for President!
Many view the Second Coming as a time when Jesus will personally and politically reign, not just host lamb & lion mixers. So what do you think? Will Jesus govern politically? Or is the notion that Jesus will govern politically more of the same wishful thinking that people had the first time around when they thought the Messiah would free them from political oppression by the Romans? (Weren’t they disappointed!)
Nipples, Sexism and Racism
There was an interesting article in Time recently about Facebook’s censorship of pics with nips, specifically eliminating pictures of breastfeeding moms (and, in their defense, a few of topless women who just happened to be holding babies). But, this brought up an age-old question of Mormondom: why are there no nipples on the Nephites in the BOM vids?
MormonStories: Thank you John Dehlin
http://www.mormonstories.org/ MormonStories, the site that hosted dozens of audio and video podcast interviews, was retired this weekend. John Dehlin announced he is taking the opportunity to focus his energizes on his family and pursue new opportunities in life. It sounds like it was a complex and difficult decision for him. Many people involved in Mormonism on the internet are familiar with his work. He interviewed prominent Mormon scholars, activist Mormons on the internet, and just everyday members about their beliefs. The result was a sampling of the colorful rainbow of faith, doubts and hopes in the world of Mormon...
5 Cool Things About the 2008 Presidential Campaign
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.
Subscribe to Podcast
How to Support
