In some countries, proselytizing a religion other than the religion of that land is illegal. Many countries in the Arab world prohibit the proselytizing of any religion but Islam (and whether being an Iranian Christian is really all that difficult, I wouldn’t know). Nepal is considering adding proselytizing to its criminal code, and as the ...
One of my favorite things about participating in the exmo community is swapping stories — even (or especially) when they’re embarrassingly absurd! So I was delighted by all the reminiscences about stake dances! (I wrote my own tales of stake dances long ago here.) Other amusing memories include worst hymns, youth indoctrination, trying to be ...
For years our family has received the Liahona instead of the Ensign. I used to work for Distribution Services which is where I discovered that the Ensign magazine is only published for English-speaking American/Canadian Latter-day Saints. While I knew that the Liahona served non-English LDS around the world, I discovered that an English version of the Liahona is what LDS ...
A recent post on a Mormon-themed group blog asked the question What are some of the common themes that emerge in patriarchal societies? It then compared these societies with Mormonism. There were a number of parallels. To me, the most interesting aspect of this article was what it didn’t mention. Here are the salient items ...
As difficult as it may be for some to believe, this is a statement I can agree with. It is/was an LDS statement originally said by David O. McKay**. From my understanding, it was meant to encourage Mormons not to feel as if they had to “move back to Utah”. My own ancestors flouted this ...
As you probably know, the Book of Mormon (the musical) won nine Tony awards, including Best Musical! Even the faithful Mormons are excited about it — though they can’t quite decide whether to feel proud or indignant (so some go with both). Suddenly, they’re interested in tolerance. Anyway, the CoJCoL-dS isn’t going to let this ...
During a recent (perhaps ongoing) discussion of faith (among other things), we found that the four people in the discussion are using four different definitions of faith. Naturally, this led me to ask: “What is faith?” So, I used my faith in Google and in the Internet to get some ideas. First off, Google told ...
The Boston Globe: The Mormon image campaign And here’s my dozen reasons why: (Memo to the Mormon leadership: Diverse teams cause people not to revert to stereotyping.) Plus one for a baker’s dozen. Local Mormons weigh in: I’m a Mormon and I am here in New York and I really wish the church would pick ...
I have to say that, a year ago, I knew of only a handful of LDS families that were said to have gay members, but I knew nothing of any challenges they may have faced because of this. I had no knowledge of damage that had been done to families by the Church’s involvement in ...
If you have a spare $1.99+tax, Amazon has The Book Of Mormon : Original Broadway Cast Recording with digital booklet (pdf) from the show for all of $1.99 – as an mp3 download. If you haven’t listened to the show yet, you could spend $2 on a lot worse things. UPDATE: Amazon has adjusted their ...
I came across this article in the Advocate that lays out the following argument: since the majority of Americans don’t think think gay/lesbian intimacy is morally wrong or sinful (based on a 2010 poll), we now to need to “allow for some discrimination and relinquish the ‘zero tolerance’ mind-set.” In short, “We need to give ...
I probably don’t need to tell you that there have been some amazing Gay Pride events recently. Which didn’t go unnoticed by the LDS church. (Sadly, I didn’t get to go — at least not this year.) On a related note people are analyzing and rethinking their marriages (among other parts of their journey). And ...
This post was written by MoHoHawaii. Timed for the annual gay pride celebrations, the LDS Church’s official magazine, the Ensign, has an anti-gay manifesto in its current issue. The article is written by Elder Bruce D. Porter a General Authority who was formerly a political science professor at BYU. The article’s subject is political, not ...
When I was invited on to post at Main Street Plaza, I was asked to explain why it is I go to the trouble, as a committed member of the LDS Church, to debate with those who are hostile to the LDS Church in some way. This article is a part of my answer to ...
I issued a call for volunteers to speak with a reporter a while back about a story she was working on. Several MSP readers and regulars stepped up and spoke with the reporter. The article is now complete and just went live on BusinessWeek’s website: God’s MBAs: Why Mormon Missions Produce Leaders. While I think ...