So, when I was checking through the list of scheduled posts at Mormon Matters, I was excited because I saw a post about the “Role of the Church in the Pursuit of Righteousness: Why it works for some and not for others.” And oh boy, I was so excited, because it was a topic that ...
We hear a lot on the Bloggernacle about Armand Mauss’s theory of optimal tension. Getting down to brass tacks, it’s that when the LDS church denies the priesthood to black people or marriage to gay people, it’s not just about the black people or the gay people — it’s also about about staying just different ...
…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 ...
Of course one can always adopt a personal creed and receive some of the benefits, but the full benefits are impossible for most people (maybe even all people?) to have without believing the truth claims as part of a community.It’s possible for a rejectionist community to crop up that exists on the margins that rejects ...
It looks as though — now that Snarkernacle has fizzled out — a new mocking-the-Bloggernacle-themed blog has popped up to pick up the slack (which I found through the comments of this post)! Complete with LOL catz! I probably shouldn’t admit to reading this sort of thing (since gawking and laughing when people are picking ...
Remember when you were upset last fall when one poll after another revealed that a substantial number of liberals applied a religious test to Mitt Romney? I tried to explain to you that people felt threatened by our involvement in racist and sexist discrimination. We resisted racial equality for 24 years after the United States ...
We really need to set up a “sideblog” around here to highlight interesting posts around our blogroll… For example, if we had a sideblog, here are a few posts I might highlight: Check out John R.’s Church Visit, in which he Is Taught to Show Love for Gays by Denying Them Wedded Bliss. In theory ...
Have you ever heard people say “your body is a temple, not a visitors’ center”? Well now there’s a new blog for Mormons that asks the question “can’t it be both?” It’s called The Visitors’ Center!!! Stop by and have a look at my post Unrealistic Expectations? which will be the first in my mildly ...
Three posts have gotten me thinking about a couple of themes that come up all the time round the DAMU, and perhaps somewhat less regularly around the bloggernacle. This post at FMH is about orthopraxis and the time-honoured discussion of whether there can be such a thing as a cultural but non-practicing Mormon. This post ...
John C. at BCC published this rather stark post, the basic (and unfortunately familiar) thrust of which is that, if you “lose your faith,” it’s your own fault — not any leaders, GAs, ward members, SS or EQ teachers, Jesus, God or the Holy Ghost. (It was not specified whether you could blame the devil, ...
Hello to the great wide world of the information superhighway. This DAMU interstate is a stretch of road I am well familiar with as I have been travelling on it for nearly a decade. In fact, I have purchased temporary ownership of this stretch of road and have been busily filling in the potholes created ...
I am fascinated by the reaction to Lawrence O’Donnell’s criticism of Mormon orthodoxy. I understand why many Mormons would feel hurt by O’Donnell’s criticism. Personally, I don’t have a problem with O’Donnell’s criticism, in part, because I find it difficult to disagree with him and, in part, I have embraced the reality that my heritage, ...
Editorial Note: I have previously reported about rumors of Boyd Packer’s and Gordon Hinckley’s response to criticism of Julie Beck’s conference address, which has not only been discussed with a variety of points of view on the Bloggernacle and the DAMU but also by readers posting on the websites of various Utah newspapers. Thanks to ...