We’ve just gotten yet another comment asking the above question. I feel like we’ve answered this on MSP about a million times — it’s probably our biggest “FAQ” — but I don’t think we have one go-to post where people give their various answers and explanations. Mine’s a little like Jonathan’s: it’s basically a fun ...
We’ve posted quite a lot about 8: The Mormon Proposition here; all positive. However — whether or not the film deserves accolades exclusively — I’d prefer to avoid the danger of falling into the group-think echo-chamber. To that end, I’d like to point you to a civil and detailed mixed review by faithful Mormon TT. ...
Hey, Mormons: Wilco Tango Foxtrot? (Comments are now closed at the original post, so please comment below) Serious kudos to The Millennial Star and John Fowles for taking on this topic in this M* guest post: Harry Reid fireside canceled because of politics IMHO, it’s a pitch-perfect response to this outrageous situation, and ought to ...
I posted this elsewhere not too long ago, and it seemed to get positive feedback, so I thought I would share this experience here and get your thoughts about it. During a conversation with my wife in the car after meeting some fantastic believing/disaffected couples for dinner last week, I realized something that has somehow ...
We don’t need to stoop to insults to win debates; reality is on our side. And there are many people out there who are willing to listen to logic and evidence, when presented reasonably and in good faith. We should always presume that people who disagree with us are amenable to reasonable discussion, until proven ...
Recently, I got a chance to experience the missionary/salesperson perspective first hand. I was asking various people to sign a petition. For privacy reasons, I’m not going to say what the petition was for, except that it may or may not be related to my work. You might question how this relates to Mormonism. Well, ...
Guest post by MJBY (The author teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University and has written extensively about blacks in the American West). Marshall, Missouri — I’ve known the name of the town for a decade now, since I teamed with Darius Gray to write three books and produce two documentaries on blacks in the ...
Todd Whitaker recently bore his testimony. The video of Todd testifying to his ward has now gone viral. As you may have seen, it was not your typical Mormon F&T meeting fare. I caught up with Todd by email and he agreed to answer a few questions. ...
The big news this week is John Remy‘s excommunication for apostasy!! And he’s not the only one who’s feeling the heat this week for disbelieving and/or criticizing the LDS church. The crap has hit the fan and set off a whirlwind of drama, accusations, and letters of condemnation from Hypatia’s mother. Daniel is also responding ...
Hi everyone, I’m honored to join the Main Street Plaza crew. My name is Mike, and I chose the nickname Saganist because Carl Sagan has been a big influence on my thinking. Just a bit of background on me: my religious history is long and complicated, but I joined the LDS church in 2000 at ...
These days, I don’t talk religion that much with people offline that much, and even when I do, I keep my religion/lack thereof cloudy until someone asks outright (it’s amazing how many people will talk and talk presuming you’re Christian and never ask you if you feel otherwise…but maybe that’s just because I go to ...
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 ...
Is is cheap sensationalism to post the usual from nutty protesters? Well, I posted positive inauguration stuff on my other blogs. ...
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 ...
Over the joyous holiday season, I’ve had time to think about some less-than-joyous things. I hate getting into arguments. It makes my heart sink to get into yet another argument. Some days, I just don’t want to check the blogs I read because I fear that there will be a comment in response to me, ...
Faithful Mormons often imagine that those commenting on Mormonism from outside their circle form one monolithic block of “antis”. Mormon culture encourages this view, so people are often surprised when they read the discussion on the Internet and find that the people who disbelieve Mormonism occasionally agree with the Mormons more than they agree with ...
Andrew pointed out the irony of Gary Lawrence’s advice to “just be yourself” (reported here): Gary’s son being himself (gay) + Gary being himself (raging homophobe) = family catastophe. As backwards as it is to call Proposition 8 “pro-family,” Lynnette explains that it’s disingenuous to pretend that gay marriage has no effect on straight families ...
What a beautiful Sunday morning! Actually it’s kind of cold and cloudy in Zürich, but I’m feeling warm rays of love coming in from all over Outer Blogness, as people post their personal photos and experiences from yesterday’s marches for equality. From Utah, from Seattle, from Hawaii, from Chicago. (Actually that last one isn’t a ...
Today is the day for (U.S.) nationwide demonstrations for equality (see Join the Impact). A number of our friends here in Outer Blogness have been covering the protests live, such as John R. at the Irvine protest, and many others I gathered up last Sunday in Outer Blogness. Chino has gathered up some more coverage ...
“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations,” Palin told host Chris Plante, “then I don’t know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by ...