Mormon Culture
Being Grateful for Boring Church
When I first started blogging nearly 10 years ago, I complained about how boring church was. This prompted some to ask me why I went. Why I go to church was one of my surprisingly popular posts over the years. In my ward, some of the priesthood leaders wanted to talk about Ordain Women, and the […]
Drunk Driving in Utah
The National Highway Transportation Board (NTSB) is encouraging all states in the U.S. to change the threshold of drunk driving from .08 to .05. Back in 1983, Utah was the first state to drop the limit from .10 to .08, which became a nationwide federal mandate in 2000. The NTSB wants Utah to be first […]
Are you a sinner?
In a recent meeting with a counselor in the stake presidency, he asked us all to tell him how we run our families so well. While I appreciate the compliment, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking I do a lot of things wrong, as well as some things right. I didn’t like the implication […]
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 […]
Yes or No to the Inauguration?
On Dec 22, the LDS Newsroom announced that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has agreed to sing at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. This has drawn fierce criticism from many, and the Deseret News reported that reactions were mixed to the announcement. Many of my friends on Facebook were appalled at the announcement. One friend […]
Mental Illness – Part 2
Back in 2010, I asked for advice on how to handle a mentally ill man that I was home teacher of. I called him Ted back then and will continue to use that pseudonym. Let me quote from that post because to be frank, he scared the hell out of me. So, I dropped by […]
A Different Take on the Samaritan Story
I want to subtitle this post: Defending the Priest and the Levite. Not long ago, we had a lesson in priesthood on the Good Samaritan. This is one of my favorite parables, but the lesson quickly devolved into the traditional platitudes. People began to point fingers at the “hypocritical” priest and the Levite walking past the […]
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 […]
Utah: Is McMullin Fulfilling the White Horse Prophecy
Utah is leading the way for republicans who can’t stand Donald Trump AND Hillary Clinton. A recent Deseret News poll showed Trump, Clinton, and relative unknown Evan McMullin in a statistical tie! This poll took the statisticians at FiveThirtyEight.com by surprise, and they promised “We’re going to be adding McMullin to our model in Utah […]
Dunn and other Bad Business Deals (part 2)
I finished the book, Lying for the Lord by Lynn Packer. (Click here for part 1.) It seems to me that most Mormons are upset by his telling stories that weren’t true. To be honest, I ‘m not all that fond of piling on Dunn for that, though after reading the book, it wasn’t so much him […]
Mormon Heretic 