Archive | January 2012
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Boomerang Back to Religion
I transcribed a bit more of the Jana Riess interview from Mormon Stories. Â There have been many posts (such as this one by Mike S) lamenting the fact that the activity rates seem to be slowing for the LDS Church. Â I thought it was interesting that John Dehlin acknowledged that atheists are having a hard […]
Jana Riess: Truth Doesn't have to be Empirical
Jana Riess has recently published a book called Flunking Sainthood in which she decides to spend 1 month participating in various spiritual rituals. For example, she spent one month fasting from sun up to sun down as a pious Muslim would do during Ramadan (though she picked the month of February because it had the […]
The First Black Mormon Leader: Pete
Since today is MLK day, I thought it might be nice to talk about the first Black Mormon leader. In his book on The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations, Mark Staker spends a surprising amount of time discussing the first Black Mormon Convert–a former slave known as Black Pete, and notes that he […]
LDS Film Festival Schedule is Out
I always enjoy going to the LDS Film Festival. This year it will be held in Orem, Utah (Scera Theater) from Jan 25-28. The official schedule will come out on Monday, but some of the bigger films have already been announced here. The biggest headline name is Dean Cain in a film called Sweetwater (a […]
Mixing Religion and Government
After welcoming everyone with a “Happy New Year”, the Salt Lake Tribune posted a headline “LDS view on role of governing is distinct.” What caught my attention was the subheadline: “Church doctrine says it is unjust to mix religion and civil government.” As I mentioned in a previous post, even Richard Bushman has called Brigham […]
Mormon Heretic 