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Archive for January, 2009

Narratives and the Golden Rule

01.27.2009 · Posted in civil discourse, Ethics, Manners

I was doubtful as to whether to complete this, since I guess things have kinda blown over in recent times, and perhaps we may not even need this message. But something I read recently made me want to write about it all over again… You may have seen our great Wall of Text discussion recently ...

Three Categories of Sinners!!!

01.27.2009 · Posted in addiction, ex-Mormon

Bull received (from his TBM brother) this unsolicited catalog of all of the types of those who leave the church: Group 1: People who have battled patterns of behavior who fight until they conquer it Group 2: People who go inactively quietly in an attempt to minimize feelings of shame or guilt because they have ...

In the Shadow of the Temple

01.26.2009 · Posted in Arts

There’s an exciting new documentary in the works, coming out in the Fall of 2009! Called In the Shadow of the Temple, it’s about the lives of ex-Mormons and of people who don’t believe but still practice Mormonism for family reasons. The filmmakers have finished taking all of the footage and interviews they need, but ...

Moral Foundations: Why we may not see eye to eye with the faithful

01.19.2009 · Posted in Ethics

During my most recent tour around the interwebs, I found an interesting idea that Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia, has been working on. The idea is a new way of looking at the foundations of morality than the old economic idea of humans being rationally self-motivated or the traditional moralities ...

A Convert’s Conscience

Although he appears to be a star professor at BYU, I have only become aware of Robert Millet’s efforts during the last two years. As a convert, I have to admit that his approach to investigators distresses me somewhat. I know that Millet means well when he suggests to side step investigators’ questions. Sometimes, gentiles ...

On civility and scoundrels

01.17.2009 · Posted in civil discourse

I want my commenters to be uncivil. There is no virtue in politeness when confronted with ignorance, dishonesty, and delusion. I want them to charge in to the heart of the issue and shred the frauds, without hesitation and without faltering over manners. These demands for a false front of civility are one of the ...

On the church’s uniqueness

…Sometimes, these blog entries just take too much time to set up…anyway, I was reading Mormon Matters and getting into the discussion there, and Bruce had said something that I found intriguing: …John Dehlin suggested that it was a mistake for modern Mormons to down play what he calls “19th century doctrines” (as he interprets ...

Your Sunday School Lesson: The First Vision

According to the philosopher Mircea Eliade, of whose work I learned at BYU, every community, tribe, or nation requires an origin myth. The account of a community’s or practice’s origin has far reaching consequences because it implies how they relate to the cosmos, which is necessary for human beings to imbue their world with shared ...

In addition to touring the temple…

01.13.2009 · Posted in Priesthood, Public Relations, Tithing

I heard this story on Friday on NPR. I support the Utah LDS church’s movement towards openness and honesty. I admit, this effort seems a little like a drop in the ocean. Yet I have to acknowledge the attempt. One of the comments Quentin Cook made was that they were “surprised” by the reaction from ...