Tag Archive for 'Government'

Wired World Views: Preserving the Other’s Truth


In a February 2, 2008, cover story in New Scientist, Jim Giles asked whether political leanings were genetic:

“…Across the land, liberals and conservatives are slugging it out, trying to convince each other that their way of thinking is right. They may be wasting their breath.

“According to an emerging idea, political positions are substantially determined by biology and can be stubbornly resistant to reason. ‘These views are deep-seated and built into our brains. Trying to persuade someone not to be liberal is like trying to persuade someone not to have brown eyes. We have to rethink persuasion,’ says John Alford, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

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On Being an Apostle but not in the Quorum


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‘In 1866, at the age of only twenty-seven, Joseph F. Smith was ordained an Apostle by President Brigham Young, and served briefly as one of his special additional counselors. When a vacancy occurred in the Twelve the following year, Elder Smith was sustained as a member of that quorum’ [1].  The date was Oct 8, 1867.  This means Joseph F. Smith was an Apostle a year before he joined the Quorum of the twelve.  Moreover, BY ordained Joseph F. Smith spontaneously without consultation of all members of the First presidency [2].  Lest we think this is just another aberration of the Brigham Young period, it has occurred a few times in the Church’s history.  What does this tell us about what it means to be an Apostle, and what is the relationship between the quorum and the office? Continue reading…

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‘Christmas’ or ‘Winter Festival’: I’m not sure I care!


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This must be the the third year that I have heard people bemoan government plans to change the name of Christmas to ‘Winter Festival’ or some such other variant.  A little research shows that this is unfounded, in most cases, and seems linked to a gentleman named Bill O’Reilly, but there has been some rumours bubbling in the UK.  But is this really a big deal? Continue reading…

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Common Consent: Democracy or Prophetocracy?


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At 10:00am on a brisk August morning in 1844 Sidney Rigdon addressed the Saints.  Brigham Young spoke briefly before the break and at length in the afternoon, at which point they voted for a new leader.  Arrington notes that the response was almost unanimous, but the subsequent disaffection from the Church shows that not all was well in Zion[1].  This experience raises interesting questions for me about the role of Common Consent in the Church.  Seeing this is General Conference weekend (and we have just had a sustaining vote), I ask: Have we moved from a democracy to prophetocracy, and is this a bad thing? Continue reading…

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Insiders & Outsiders


insiders-outsiders

When it comes to Mormonism, do you feel more like an insider or an outsider? Continue reading…

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Unleashing the Analyst. A Personal Story


As I have already posted a few times, I think it’s time I introduce myself.  So, this is my story, Mormon Story style (only without the cool podcast, John, and well…okay, it’s nothing like Mormon Stories).  It’s likely familiar to many, so if it sounds like Déjà Vu feel free to move along!
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Blood Brothers: Mormons, Genocide, and the Nixon Administration


Charles Radford, a Navy yeoman, present some fascinating questions about Latter-day Saints’ relationship with the government, the law, and politicians. Charles Radford was serving as a navyman aboard a ship in India. He was an active, married Latter-day Saint. In various venues, Radford was a trained stenographer who took down highly-secretive government documents about war actions in various sections of the globe. And he was a spy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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Subliminal Battle for our Free Agency


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Edward Bernays


If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits. – Bernays


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My Disenchantment with Church and State—Part 2 The State


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MY DISENCHANTMENT WITH THE STATE

Perhaps I should blame Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman or John Pilger for my enlightenment. Or perhaps I should thank the neocons, George Bush and Tony Blair for waging an illegal war, as judged by the UN, in Iraq and destroying my naive ideal of the United States & UK. I am only 25 and had never experienced the fears of recession or seen, first hand, the duplicity of my own government before. As time went on, I began to read, download, and read more. Why was the world I knew as a student and a young man at secondary school not the world I was seeing and learning of?
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“Theoconservativism” – Extremism under the Guise of Religion?


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Being a latitudarian, I hold the separation of church and state as part of my sacrosanct liberality. Continue reading…

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