We’ve explored some of the answers members have posted on the mormon.org site in the church’s new profiles campaign. So far, we’ve discussed member answers …
Sorrowing for Korihor
Mormon Heretic’s post on forgiveness from a few weeks ago touched me deeply, but I needed time to get my thoughts together about it before …
Mormon.org FAQ: Political Parties
We’ve explored a few of the mormon.org profiles’ answers to tough questions on polygamy and women & the priesthood. Today let’s take a look at …
Ward Cliques
Does your ward have cliques? Are cliques a good or bad thing?
Faith & Doubt
Today’s guest post is by Glenn. When I was at BYU, I got interested in the study of folklore – the way that traditional culture …
Equal Parenting: Feasible or Not?
There was an interesting article in NYT about the parenting equality in Sweden. Sweden’s practices are probably the most advanced in terms of creating parental equality, …
Mixed Belief Marriages
What should a church member do if their spouse is a non-believer? This is something that many couples encounter, either because one spouse ceases to …
AZ Immigration Law vs. LDS Interests?
A recent article in the Arizona Republic highlights the negative impacts to the LDS church of the new Arizona law that steps up enforcement of …
Mormonism and Catholicism: Who Can Mock This Church?
There was a great article in the New York Times this week: Who Can Mock This Church? While it was about Catholicism reeling in the …
What if the “Sunday School Answers” were:
First, do no harm Be kind Help others I see nothing but good coming from praying, reading the scriptures, and keeping the commandments. But it …
Temple Recommend Assumptions
Maybe it was an upcoming family wedding. Or maybe it came out some other way. Have you ever been in a situation when you became …
Radical Retention
Our guest poster, Jason M. Brown is a life-long ‘Niblian’ Mormon who grew up in Southern California. He served an LDS mission from 2001-2003 in …
What I Learned in Nursery
Many of us have been told that no matter what the calling you have, you will learn from it and grow. I imagine that’s probably …
You’re the Bishop #5 (Poll)
Bishop Bill again, folks. Now for one that has nothing to do with the ward.
You’re the Bishop #4 (Poll)
OK, Bishop Bill here again with a really difficult situation.
You’re the Bishop: Poll #3
Bishop Bill back with more. We’ve had fictionalized situations in the last two installments with a YW and a YM. Now, let’s have a situation …
You’re the Bishop: Poll #2
Bishop Bill back with your next installment of “You’re the Bishop.” Just to be clear, the examples I am using have been changed enough that …
Abstainers vs. Indulgers
Mormons dig abstinence. Like many other highly committed Christians, we abstain from premarital sex. But, that’s not all; we also abstain from tobacco, alcohol, coffee, …
Dysfunctional Families or Church?
Exit stories are the tales told when someone leaves the church. The internet is full of these stories, and in many, there is drama in …
Mormons Celebrating Diversity
Hello Mormon Matters community! I was invited to contribute a blogpost now and then, and hope I’ll be able to throw some meaningful questions into …
Mormon Blogs – What’s OK?
What should be acceptable for a blog to be considered a “Mormon” blog? All Mormon content? Only that which is respectful to the church (not …
Approaching Isaiah 58: Fasting as a Spiritual Practice
Sometime ago Jana Reiss wrote a column for Sunstone entitled ‘Mormonism as Praxis’[1] in which the writers attempted to explore what Mormonism means in terms …
Saturday Session Thoughts
These are just a few quick observations from today’s sessions, not every talk, though, nor every observation. I also want to direct attention to the …
A Personal Interpretation of Elder Hafen’s Remarks
At the Evergreen conference held September 18-19, 2009, Elder Bruce Hafen gave a talk regarding homosexuality. The talk was reprinted on the official LDS Church …
Do Mormon Kids Understand the Atonement?
Does the church teach that we are saved by grace or that we are saved by works? This is one of the most oft-repeated criticisms …
Insiders & Outsiders
When it comes to Mormonism, do you feel more like an insider or an outsider?
Belief vs. Action
Which is more important – belief or action? Is faith without action better than action without faith? Is belief without action better than acting despite …
I Have Seen the Axe
Alice Walker, who wrote about the heartbreak of female genital mutilation quoted an African proverb in the beginning of her book Possessing the Secret of …
The Genius of Mormonism: Missions
I wanted to do a series of posts on aspects of the LDS church that I consider to be sheer religious genius. These are religous …
Bloggernacle Personality Survey
The bloggernacle seems to attract a specific subset of Mormon culture, and as a result, opinions and comments are often different from those we hear …
Quals or quants?
Today’s post is by The Chorister. I’m an education professor. In academic research, we talk about quantitative research and qualitative research. In order to avoid …
Hymn #114: Come unto him
Today’s post is by The Chorister. This is one of my favorite hymns. We hardly ever sing it in Sacrament meeting, which is a real …
Eating Jell-O in the Ivory Tower: Scholarly Adherents and Adhering Scholars
So as one who utterly lacked a life, I did what most good, quality no-lifers do…go to graduate school. Traumatic. The structures that I had …
A Child’s Prayer: Are we doing enough?
Are we satisfied just paying tithing and fast offerings?
Give Said the Little Revenue Stream
Do Mormons do less charitable giving due to the commitment of paying tithing? Three months of the year, you can rest assured there will be …
A Case Study on Racism and Learning to Forgive: Anthony Walker’s Mother
This is the story of forgiveness.