Culture
BYU May Lose ROTC program over Coffee
The BYU Student newspaper, The Daily Universe, published a scoop last week. The Office of the Secretary of Defense requires all Air Force officers to sign an oath to defend the constitution — the only obligation for officers in terms of signatory requirements. BYU, however, requires that all faculty, staff and employees sign and abide […]
BYU, LGBT & the Big12
College Football has undergone some seismic shifts in the past few years. The BYU-Utah rivalry took a big hit when the Pac-10 Conference decided to take Utah (from the Mountain West Conference) and Colorado (from the Big Twelve Conference), changing its name from the Pac-10 to the Pac-12 Conference. Other conferences have expanded by raiding […]
Are Cops in Schools a Good Thing?
With the recent school shootings, many have called upon armed police officers to be stationed in schools as a protection measure for students from school shooters. Of course nobody wants mass shootings. Many of the people calling for police officers don’t seem to address the issue of how much extra tax money it will take […]
White Dudes Talk about Race
I attended Black, White, and Mormon, “A CONFERENCE on the EVOLVING STATUS of BLACK SAINTS WITHIN the MORMON FOLD” at the University of Utah a few days ago. I took a lot of notes from the speakers, and had planned to give an overview. Lester Bush gave an outstanding speech Thursday evening. I should have started with his […]
Your Thoughts on Kim Davis
Kim Davis, county clerk in Kentucky, has made headlines with her refusal to issue marriage licenses to both gay and straight couples applying for marriage licenses. I was surprised to learn that (1) she is a democrat (I’ll bet she has more republican supporters and Democratic haters than any other person in America), and (2), even […]
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 […]
Utah’s model of Anti-Discrimination and Religious Rights
A recent law passed in Indiana has put the state in an unusual spotlight. Proponents claim that their law uses essentially the same language as the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that passed with near unanimous support. However, one thing Indiana has done that the federal statute did not is expand the reach of the religious […]
How do we Agitate Faithfully?
In the previous post on my blog Dehlin and Bennett Put on Notice, I was surprised that the discussion of April Young Bennett’s resignation of the board of Ordain Women, instead of John Dehlin’s pending excommunication. (Incidentally, Dr. Nancy Ross of Dixie State University in St. George, Utah and Jessica Finnigan at King’s College London […]
Mormon Heretic 