I caught this article in the MormonTimes today: Mormons don’t get depressed? It’s an MD saying that it’s okay to be depressed, be on medication, and be Mormon.  While I don’t think this is a stunning reversal of any official Mormon positions, I have to wonder if this is kind of an informal means of spreading a new “quasi-official” position of the LDS Church: Have an authority (admittedly, a pediatrician isn’t an authority on depression, but close enough, I guess…) make the recommendation in the official Mormon online news source.  Thoughts?

Our revulsion at the cruelty of the Supreme Leader’s henchmen is a powerful refutation of the postmodernist credo that anything goes. After the enlightenment discredited the authority of tradition and religion, the notion that reason or civilization could provide an ersatz God has also collapsed. The efforts of analytical philosophy could neither remove the ambiguity from language nor provide mathematics with a foundation.

While most people could not care less, much less understand, analytical philosophy and its implications for everyday life, even the most casual observers realize in the wake of the World Wars, the Holocaust, and the impotence of imperial powers that claims of western superiority have become unsustainable. Rather than rectifying liberal and nationalist abuses, Marxism has turned out to become rationalism’s most murderous effort.

During the 20th century, the idols have been knocked of their pedestal. The absence of an ultimate authority, however, does not imply that there are no standards. Only the most partisan among us will support violence against women and children. That taboo is an implication of our mammal nature, perhaps the most consequential property of our species.
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Yesterday we saw how the GLBT community in SLC has grown stronger in the face of adversity. Well, in today’s news item, we see what has become of Massachusetts. It’s a Mormon’s nightmare of a society, told in the words of “Mike Henkle, a devout Mormon from Provo, Utah”:

Beth and I have been married for almost eighteen years, and we’ve got three great kids, which, in Mormon terms, means we’re barren. But give us time. Last week, for a sort of second honeymoon, we loaded the whole family into our Jeep Wagoneer and headed East, to Massachusetts, to visit my brother Steve and his beautiful wife, Jen. I didn’t realize at the time that Massachusetts is a state where gay marriage is now legal.

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So Cleve Jones wasn’t joking when he thanked the LDS church! Now Lisa Duggan (of The Nation) explains why Salt Lake City’s LGBT community is an inspiration for the whole country:

At the Pride Center, a broad range of local activist groups and LGBT individuals actually talk to each other–in stark contrast to the balkanized landscape of national LGBT organizations. Indeed, perhaps more than in any other city, Salt Lake City’s queer scene resembles the storied days of ACT UP, when mainstream assimilationists collaborated with radical activists to develop talking points, coordinate strategy and change homophobic policy.

This conversation across boundaries is a product of savvy activists and, paradoxically, of the formidable political and cultural barriers created by the Mormon Church and the statewide strength of the Republican machine. In such a political arena, queer flamboyance and tough-minded seriousness have to coexist in order to get anything done. In that sense, as gay activists nationwide take stock of where the gay rights movement has come in the forty years since the Stonewall riots and plot a political future, they should look to Salt Lake City for pointers instead of Boston or New York.

It’s like the “mission field” in reverse! There’s something to be said for a little opposition. I’m looking forward to my visit more than ever — I bought my plane tickets just this morning.

Hat tip Holly

Hi folks — I just arrived in Minnesota yesterday (to visit these folks, among others), and am still fighting the jet-lag. Fortunately, the trip went a lot more smoothly than that one time, so I’m up and ready to give you this week’s highlights from Outer Blogness!

First off, the lovely Sabayon is planning to get a “Daughter of Perdition” tattoo! Unfortunately, she totally rejected my suggestion that she get herself some butt-antlers. All of you ink-lovers can perhaps give her some more useful advice.

There were a number of interesting philosophical discussions this week. I especially liked Hypatia’s story of coming out as a non-believer to her TBM brother (and following up with a friendly discussion of logical fallacies). Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, B10 Mediaworx released the Fob Bible, an anthology of Old Testament stories reimagined as short stories, poetry, and drama by members of the Friends of Ben–a collective of Mormon and ex-Mormon writers. (Full disclosure: I’m Ben.) Since then, the book has received a glowing two-part review from Tyler Chadwick at A Motley Vision, while here at Main Street Plaza, Chanson has been so kind as to mention us in a couple of Sunday in Outer Blogness posts and now to invite me to share an excerpt from the anthology with you.

If you enjoy the short story below, please take a look at our (free) online sampler and then get your own copy of the Fob Bible. Proceeds go to LDS Humanitarian Services.

The Changing of the God

by B.G. Christensen

“THUNder! LIGHTning!” Old Testament God raised his arms high and peered down at Earth through an opening in the dark storm clouds. “What part of ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’ do you not understand? Don’t make me come down there with another plague!”

A beam of sunlight hit Oldie in the right eye and he turned, annoyed, to see the dark clouds parting, a white beacon clearing a path through the gray. A figure silhouetted by the light stepped forward. Songbirds and butterflies danced around this tall and lanky man while fluttering cherubs—chubby human-looking babies with the cutest little wings—scattered pink rose petals along his path. As the white-robed figure approached his features came into view: golden blond hair, sky blue eyes, and a smile that shone like a sunrise. It was, of course, New Testament God. Read the rest of this entry »

I caught this article while reading my science news this morning: Bankruptcy Rates Reflect Policy, Not People.  Basically what the article says is that the different rates of bankruptcy filings by state are not due to spending patterns or characteristics of the people in those states but rather policies regarding bankruptcy filing.  In other words, Mormons aren’t REALLY spending more than they are making or filing bankruptcy at higher rates (by Mormons I mean Utahans, just to be clear).  What’s happening is the laws in the state simply make it more beneficial to file for bankruptcy.  Additionally, the younger age structure of the state increases the odds of Utahans filing for bankruptcy.

Okay, those arguments make sense.  However, look at the affiliations of the professors who wrote it… Brigham Young University.   Hmmm… Anyone think this is a direct response to the claims the paper debunks about Mormons spending too much and being quick to file for bankruptcy (as outlined above)?  I’m not going to challenge the article’s findings (not my area of expertise and I don’t have the time), but if there are any economists out there who want to dig into this paper and try to replicate the findings, I’d be really interested to hear what you find.

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Continuing our discussion of John R’s impending excommunication, Holly has written an interesting series on the power of the priesthood (specifically, on its power to corrupt), see Men with First Names and Sweaty Palms, Stunted and Misshapen by the Priesthood, and The Priesthood is Magic. The angryyoungwoman, also inspired by John R’s words and experiences, wrote about the importance of being strong, honest, and never backing down.

But what about when the Lord makes a real show of power by, say, striking a building with lightning? The Mormons have a perfectly reasonable excuse for the damage to Moroni on the new temple: He was actually designed to act as a lightning rod. And yet, why can’t they just count on God not to strike His holy temple with lightning? Oh, ye of little faith!

In this week’s funnies, we have the power of not being reverent during prayer, how to get to heaven, how to witness to Mormons, and new strategies and alliances for stopping the Tube Sock Holocaust of Spermatazoan-Americans. Also, Daniel talks about how dogma keeps you in the dark, offering some interesting ideas about motion-sensing automatic lights and the (Jewish) sabbath.

Finally, we have the first review of the FOB Bible! You guys can tell me whether it got good marks or not — I’m holding off on reading other reviews until after I’ve finished writing my own.

I caught this story today about Mormon missionaries being called to serve their missions fielding questions via online chats at the MTC.  My first thought was, “Wow!  That makes Oklahoma seem pretty exotic.”  Then I wondered just how easy it is to chat with a missionary.  Turns out, the website is fairly accessible, but the service sucks…(see below).  Has anyone else taken advantage of this new feature on www.mormon.org?  And if you could corner a Mormon missionary, what is the one question you would want to ask them?

I tried out the service this morning.  Apparently they are only online after about 8:00 am Mountain time, as I couldn’t get a representative of the Lord before then (I’m on Eastern time).  At the top of the chat screen it says, “You are speaking live with Nathan, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Information provided in this session is to provide assistance only and is not an official statement of the Church.”

Prof: Hi Nathan.

Nathan: Hi Prof, how are you doing?

Prof: Pretty good.

Prof: How about you?

Nathan: I’m great thanks!

Prof: Groovy.

Prof: I have a question for you.

Nathan: What do you hope to gain from your chat here today?

Prof: I’m wondering about the LDS Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

Prof: Why does the LDS Church oppose same-sex marriage?

(No response for about 5 minutes.)

Prof: Um, am I allowed to ask that?

(Several minutes later…)

Nathan: Yes, you are.

Nathan: This article has the answer.

Nathan: If you click on the link it will open the webpage so you can read it.

(about five minutes pass…)

Prof: Did you send the link?

Prof: I don’t see it…

(1 1/2 hours pass while I wait for an answer and do other things, like feed and change my 2 week old son)

(I finally close the window figuring Nathan is chasing “Golden Contact” tail elsewhere on the inter-tubes…)

If I were anyone else, I’d be turned off by the lack of attention.  God’s representative Nathan gets an F for customer service.  Also, just so you’re aware, you can’t copy and paste the text from the conversation.  I’m guessing this is to prevent people from getting a missionary to say something stupid and then spreading it around the internet.  Finally, they use BYU’s servers for this: rc1.mtc.byu.edu.  I thought that was kind of interesting…