Our controversial guest post today is from Rock Waterman. Check out the original unabridged post at his blog, Pure Mormonism, so titled from his observation …
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 …
Church History: Principles
There has been a lot of discussion in the b’nacle about what the church can do from a practical standpoint to address the thorny issues …
Putting Things on a Shelf
People like to talk about putting things that bother them about the church on a shelf. Of course, the problem is that for some, the shelf …
Symonds Ryder and a Crisis of Faith
Once again, the story of Symonds Ryder has been misused to illustrate a point about leaving the Church over something inconsequential. Undoubtedly there have been …
Bombshell at the BYU Studies Symposium
A small crowd at the BYU Studies Symposium yesterday was on hand to receive Richard Holzapfel’s self-proclaimed Mormon history “bombshell.” He presented the morning plenary …
Memorialising the Holocaust: Post-memory and the Latter-Day Saints
According to Arrington and Bitton, “most individual responses of modern Mormons involve a kind of tie with the past”[1] . History is central to the …
Church Growth and the Tendency toward Liberalism
Some time ago, as a guest I wrote a post entitled ‘Academic freedom in the Church‘ which tried to explore some of liberalizing tendencies seen …
The Church in 20 Years
Where do you see the Church in 20 years? Today’s guest post is by David Heap.
The Surprising Truth About Mormon Employment Discrimination
Religious discrimination in the workplace is barred in the United States. It has been that way since the 1960s. This prohibition is across the board, …
Trying to Understand My Friends Who Didn’t Leave the Faith
Here is a modified excerpt from a 60-page writing that I made for close friends and family members when I decided to leave the church …
Temple ceremony, the stabilizer for mystical enthusiasm
I’ve been thinking lately about the differences between the LDS Church we participate in today compared to what attracted and retained early members in the …
The Problem of History – First a Fake Example
In my past posts I discussed the impossibility of knowing what really happened in history as well as the problem that, believe or disbelieve, we …
History as Narrative Fallacy aka What Type of Apologist Are You?
“History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events, the generator of history. There is a fundamental incompleteness in your …
Thorns in the Side: Villains in the Mormon Mind, Part I
Everyone loves a good villain…the bellowing laugh with hands thrown up in the air utter triumph. As a child, I found Dr. Claw of Inspector …
Righteous Gentiles Part II
So methinks that we have a few clairvoyants on-board. That said, behold the top four “Righteous Gentiles.” A few caveats… A) No, C.S. Lewis fans…he …
How should we know? Ask him yourself!
Today’s post is by Wade Nelson. I served my mission in Quebec in the mid 1970’s and hate to admit it but spent more time …
Our Foundation Stories Part VI: The Laying on of Hands
This is the last installment of Our Foundation Stories, I promise! As a child, I heard the story of the restoration of the Aaronic and …
A Non-Member Kirtland Experience
I recently read an interesting post by a non-member couple and their visit to Kirtland. IMO, their contrast of the Kirtland temple (Community of Christ) tour …
The Unfinished Restoration: A Global Vision
Mormons tend to think of the Restoration as a discrete series of events that began with the First Vision and concluded with the Martyrdom. Because …
Robert Millet & Krista Tippet Pt. 3: Robert Millet as a Budding “Sunstone” or “New Order” Mormon
As I’m sure you’ve discovered by now — my takeaways from this interview between Krista Tippet and LDS Theologian and BYU Religion Professor Robert Millet …