History
Excommunication is Counter-Productive
Does excommunication do more harm than good? I think the answer is unmistakably yes. It is just simply a bad idea to turn loyal members into enemies. There is the old adage that “they can leave the church, but they can’t leave it alone.” I think when the church excommunicates someone, the church create their […]
San Antonio MHA 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed MHA 2014 here in San Antonio, and getting to meet some other bloggers like Clean Cut and Matt W from New Cool Thang. I didn’t live blog MHA like Kevin Barney did at By Common Consent, but thought I’d give a “quick” recap of the happenings there. (Kevin and I obviously overlapped […]
Kirtland Sunstone 2014
This is the first time I’ve ever attended Sunstone outside of Utah. It was very fun to come to Kirtland, Ohio. I got in Thursday night and went to the LDS visitors center where they start out with a film. Joseph Smith came to Kirtland just 8 months or so after organizing the church in […]
Agitating for Change
There has been a lot of chatter on the Bloggernacle this week about whether it is appropriate for Kate Kelly and proponents of female priesthood are employing proper methods in seeking to bring attention to female ordination. Kate has organized the group Ordain Women. According to their website, “Ordain Women aspires to create a space […]
The Diaries of Anthony Ivins
Anthony Ivins was an LDS apostle from 1907-1934. He was the cousin of Heber J. Grant, and served in the First Presidency with Grant from 1921-1934. Signature Books has recently come out with Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony Ivins 1875-1932 (the Kindle version is only $20.) Ivins is notable for a few reasons: (1) […]
Marriage Poll: What are your thoughts?
The Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 disenfranchised the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The law was enacted by Congress to punish the church for practicing polygamy. The church challenged the law, but following an 1890 ruling in which the law was declared constitutional, Wilford Woodruff issued Official Declaration 1 (also known as “The Manifesto”) […]
Snuffer’s Take on Polygamy
Denver Snuffer has generated a bit of controversy on the bloggernacle lately, though I suspect your average member has never heard of him. My post Is Excommunication Useful? got over 300 comments, and Tim Malone’s Q&A about Snuffer also got over 300 comments. One Who is Watching noted “an obscene amount of traffic to my site” […]
The Black 14 of Wyoming
Margaret Young organized a special meeting at BYU on Saturday night. She invited Mel Hamilton to discuss his experiences as part of the Black 14 protest against BYU in 1969. Mel grew up Catholic in North and South Carolina. In 1965, he was recruited to be part of the University of Wyoming football team. Arriving […]
Where was the LDS Church organized: in Fayette or Manchester, NY?
Orson and I have had a conversation over at StayLDS discussing where the Church was organized, as well as who the original 6 members were. I didn’t know there was a controversy on the location, but Orson has done quite a bit of research that it may have been Manchester, NY instead of the official […]
Mormon Heretic 