Main Street Plaza A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Last Call for 2011 Brodies Nominations!!

01.26.2012 · · Posted in Awards

Don’t worry, you still have time — it will take me until Wednesday at the very earliest (and probably longer than that) to prepare the polls. And you can keep adding nominations until then. Here’s the current list, including my nominations. I have made a very serious effort not to swamp it this year with ...

Those BYU Volunteers

01.23.2012 · · Posted in Uncategorized

Since McKay Coppins reported about the Romney campaign’s efforts to energize the South Carolina primaries with volunteers from out of state Mormon colleges, which has been linked by Profxm, I thought that a quick note to put the event into context might be in order. Every campaign is trying to swell its volunteer force by ...

2011 Brodie Award Nominations!!

01.15.2012 · · Posted in Awards

It’s that time of year again — time for you to look back on the past year of posts and choose the ones that were the most excellent!! This is the third year of the Brodie Awards. Just have a look at the winners from the last two years to get an idea of what ...

Would Romney dare choose a Female VP?

01.13.2012 · · Posted in Evangelicals, GOP, Religious Right, Romney

I assume Romney’s gonna win the GOP nomination.  Currently, some of the other candidates are playing populist cards to try to paint Romney as a “vulture capitalist,” and the rest of the GOP is folding in on itself, wondering whatever happened to the party that supported laissez-faire capitalism. Meanwhile, evangelicals are coming to terms with ...

“Religious Exemption” in Sexual Orientation Nondiscrimination Law

01.02.2012 · · Posted in BYU, Homosexuality, Law, Politics, Utah

I’ve been thinking about how a couple leaders of the LDS Church have vocalized how they wouldn’t mind the 2009 nondiscrimination laws in Salt Lake City (in housing and employment, on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity) be expanded across the state of Utah.  Specifically, what they’re interested in is duplicating how those ...

Illustrating Mormonism is a Social Construct

12.31.2011 · · Posted in Mormons

A cousin recently sent me a message via Facebook.  I’m guessing it was related to his sister giving birth to a badly deformed child that died within about four hours, but he didn’t mention that.  Anyway, here’s his message and the questions it contained: Hi [ProfXM]. I hope you are well. I’ve had the chance ...

Interesting Jewish/Mormon story in the New Yorker!

12.28.2011 · · Posted in Judaism, Literature

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you guys how much the Mormons love to compare themselves with the Jews (or, if you do need a hint, read this post). This comparison is usually kind of one-sided — Mormons love to contemplate the parallels, and the Jews are (usually) blissfully unaware of their Utah-based secret ...