Mormon Culture
The Idolatry of Following the Brethren
I sometimes feel LDS church members are guilty of idolatry. Perhaps it is not completely the members fault; We have been told so much to “follow the brethren” that we have built them up as idols, and fail to “study it out in our minds, and ask God if it be right.” Early church leaders […]
The Saddest Funeral
All funerals are sad, but I attended a memorable funeral a few weeks ago. Almost six years ago, I expressed my discomfort in home teaching a mentally ill man. When I first met him, he told me he was a paranoid schizophrenic, he heard voices, and he didn’t want Obama to take away his […]
Blacks and Gays
I am still appalled by the new church policy banning baptisms for children of gays and polygamists until age 18. A distant relative of mine was just released as stake president, and I told him that I feel this new church policy has set the church back 100 years. That was an understatement; it’s more […]
Suffer little children, and forbid them not
Matthew 19:13-14 13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. History is repeating itself. The LDS Church surreptitiously released some changes to […]
Lester Bush Looking Back 40 Years
Lester Bush gave the McMurrin Lecture at the University of Utah on Oct 8, 2015. These are my notes from his lecture. He discussed the changes over the last 40 years since he wrote his groundbreaking article Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine. Paul Reeve introduced Bush. (I tried to make this as readable as possible–some parts may […]
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 […]
Sanders Appeals to Conservatives
Bernie Sanders is a socialist. Yup, I said it. Apparently Karl Marx thought that Socialism leads to Communism (as is the USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) or Naziism, which was headed the the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. But the opposite seems to be true. Both Naziism and the Soviet Union have died, although certainly […]
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 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 […]
Mormon Heretic 