Mormon Heretic

Sunstone Testimonies 2015

I’m a few weeks late with my recap of Sunstone.  The one thing about Sunstone is that you can find all kinds of different sessions, both pro and anti church.  People seem to concentrate on the anti-church presentations, but there are some others I would like to talk about.  The people I have highlighted below […]

Mormon Pageant Season

This year my family has tried to attend several pageants (Manti Pageant, Hill Cumorah Pageant) but schedules haven’t worked out.  Last night, we attended the Clarkston Pageant.  Never heard of it?  Neither had my wife. Clarkston is definitely off the beaten path.  It is about 30 minutes northwest of Logan, Utah, just 10 miles or so […]

Greg Kearney on Masonic Origins on LDS Endowment

In one of John Dehlin’s first podcasts (September 14, 2005), he interviewed Greg Kearney, a member of FAIR (Foundation of Apologetic Information and Research, a pro-Mormon think tank), and a several generation Mormon  and master mason.  Greg attended BYU, and is the member of a Farmington, Maine ward that has been around longer than any […]

Greg Prince on “Polarizing Packer”

Doug Fabrizio interviewed Greg Prince on KUER this past week on the passing of Boyd K. Packer. (You can listen to it here.) Prince is a businessman, a historian of LDS church history, and a board member of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and The Journal of Mormon History. He’s author of the books […]

Atheist finds Garden of Eden

Where is the Garden of Eden?  I watched a really interesting documentary, part of the Myth Hunters series found on Netflix, Youtube, and CafeMom.  They noted that the garden story is so vague that it could be anywhere.  The film notes that a Boston University president felt is was in North Pole, Mormons felt it […]

Parenting Taboos – Part 2

I wrote a TED Talk transcript of Parenting Taboos previously.  Parents Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman (I guess she didn’t take his last name–maybe that’s another taboo) gave an interesting TED Talk (episode 3 available on Netflix.) In part 1, they gave 2 parenting taboos. Taboo #1:  You can’t say you didn’t fall in love […]

Atheist in a Foxhole: The Tillman Story

I watched an interesting documentary last week, The Tillman Story.  Pat Tillman played NFL football for the Arizona Cardinals, and unexpectedly quit the NFL and enlisted in the army rangers following the September 11 attacks.  I knew he had been killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004, and there was a coverup, but didn’t really […]

Parenting Taboos – Part 1

With Father’s Day here, maybe it’s a good idea to talk about parenting Taboos.  Parents Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman (I guess she didn’t take his last name–maybe that’s another taboo) gave an interesting Ted Talk (episode 3 available on Netflix) where they discussed parenting taboos.  I created a transcript, and here’s what they had […]

MHA 2015 in Review

The Annual Mormon History Association meetings came to Provo last night.  Last year it was in San Antonio, and next year it will be at Snowbird Resort in Utah.  Sometimes I like it better when it’s out of town, because I can attend all the sessions.  When I’m home, there’s just too much going on, […]

Caitlyn Jenner, Welcome to being a Woman in America!

This week the news has been filled with Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner’s transformation from a man to a woman, and the Vanity Fair photo shoot.  I’m not sure how you feel about the issue.  Jon Stewart gave a very interesting take on the topic, and it was a very interesting monologue that was a bit different than […]