Many of you have probably already come across this Reuters special report about Mormonism’s membership troubles in this internet age, as reported by outgoing church historian Marlin Jensen.

Apparently, President Monson’s signature campaign is called “the Rescue”:  referring to rescuing the church’s membership from “rapidly declining,” as some reports have spun it.

I’m assuming the expensive Mormon.org campaign is part of the Rescue.  Another part is curriculum being developed for youth and adults to address tough historical issues (like polygamy or the ban on black ordination or the [lack of] evidence supporting the Book of Mormon, etc) so that the Church doesn’t seem like it’s hiding stuff (and consequently losing its members’ trust).  The way I see it, the Rescue is basically about how to get control of discourse about Mormonism for the purposes of maintenance and growth.

One thing that’s unclear to me is whether the effects of Mormon.org are included when Jensen speaks of continued search engine optimization problems for the Church. I would like to analyze this “problem” for a moment.

On Google, Mormon.org often appears as an “ad” when searching for various LDS phrases and themes.  For example, if you search for “Joseph Smith,” Mormon.org appears at the very top of the list as an advertisement.  Currently, Mormon.org also pops up 6th on the list, meaning people are going to the site to learn about Joseph Smith (probably as a result of the ad campaign).  The 1st listing is josephsmith.net, a site owned by Intellectual Reserve that gives an LDS-biased view of the guy, never mentioning polygamy once.

2nd on the list is Wikipedia’s entry, which of course mentions polygamy and talks about the man from a more multivocal, detailed point-of-view than anything church sites offer.  (For example, Mormon.org is “multivocal,” but all the Mormons are saying the same things, which seems, *ahem*, “cultish.”)

4th on the list is a no-nonsense wivesofjosephsmith.org whose “mission and purpose” is to “acknowledge and remember these largely forgotten women.”

It seems to me that when it comes to search engine optimization, the Church is forgetting that it’s not about what single site the searcher ultimately clicks. It’s about “rhizomatics” and how the searcher apprehends bits and pieces from multiple sources.  It is impossible for the Church to control the discourse that is outside itself.

Jensen mentions how his own daughter asked him why he never told her about Joseph Smith being a polygamist, and Jensen responded that he “hadn’t thought” to tell her about it.  I can only imagine how she came upon the knowledge herself:  perhaps as a taunt from a non-Mormon peer at school:  “Your church was started by a polygamist!” as per a quick search on Google.

Aided with this new Rescue curriculum coming out soon, his daughter might respond:  “He didn’t want to do it, but it was the Lord’s commandment.”

And the peer might go home that night, do a bit of quick reading, and respond the next day: “Well, Emma Smith didn’t want it, but there’s supposed to be a rule that it could only happen if the first wife accepted it.  So I think Joseph did want it, enough to give a ‘commandment’ to Emma to accept it.”

And the daughter will be like, “WHAT??!!!”

I think it would be hard to tell the actual facts about Mormon history without causing defection.  My understanding is that the whole reason facts are left out is to prevent defection.  Sure, some things get lost to time, but the Church relates to certain personages within its own history in a way that puts itself in a corner.  You never hear of modern-day Presbyterians leaving their church because of things clergy said or did in the 1800s. But Mormons uphold Joseph Smith and every president after him to be “prophets,” so there’s an expectation of a kind of ahistorical ethical behavior.  This is complex when overlaying onto the flow of information in the internet age.  Basically, what I think it boils down to is that the Church is going to have to get used to non-Mormons potentially knowing more on Mormon topics than Mormons themselves due to historiographical barriers built into the Church to maintain itself.  The more the Church tries to control public discourse about Mormonism, the more it will have to adapt to that discourse and face its albatrosses.

Suffice it to say, I don’t see this as a “problem” but as a favor the world is granting the Church.

Invictus Pilgrim formerly blogged at invictuspilgrim.blogspot.com. For personal reasons, he has taken that blog private and has started at new blog at mohosapiens.blogspot.com. The following was his initial post on his new blog.

A little over 15 months ago, I was prompted (not in the Mormon sense, but in the common-usage sense) to start blogging about what I was going through. A few weeks before, I had been blasted out of the closet upon hearing a talk which soon became infamous that was delivered by the President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles – the second most-senior apostle, the man who was and is a heart beat away from becoming the “Lord’s mouthpiece on the earth.”

During the course of the next 13 months, I blogged extensively about my thoughts and experiences as a gay man who had finally come to terms with his true identity after over 20 years of marriage and activity in the LDS Church.

Two months ago, I reached a decision to take that blog private and to take a break from blogging. Like other men who were (closeted) gay, married and Mormon and who blogged about their coming out experience, I reached a point where I wondered whether there was anything left to write. Furthermore, I am definitely not the same man I was when I began my blog in October 2010, and my life is very different today than it was a year ago and even six months ago. My head, so to speak, is in a very different place.

I debated for a time whether to revive my former blog. Frankly, I didn’t know whether I wanted to bother with it anymore. But when I read what Elder Packer recently said during a broadcast which two of my children probably saw, I decided the time had come to “take up my pen.” I do so, however, in a new blog, having ultimately reached the decision to permanently close my former blog.

I don’t claim to have anything earth-shattering to say about Elder Packer’s seminary address; others have written eloquently about what was said that night. But I wanted to add my voice to theirs and share a few thoughts about the following passage from Packer’s talk:

“We know that gender was set in the pre-mortal world. The spirit and the body are the soul of man. The matter of gender is of great concern to the brethren, as are all matters of morality. A few of you may have felt, or have been told that you were born with troubled feelings and you’re not guilty if you act upon these temptations. Doctrinally, we know that if that were true, your agency would have been erased. And that cannot happen. You always have a choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and live morally pure and chaste, one filled with virtue.”

Points to ponder:

“ Gender was set in the pre-mortal world.”

As I recently tried to explain to someone who knew absolutely nothing about Mormonism, Mormons believe that we humans are made up of an immortal spirit housed in a mortal body. This spirit is the offspring of deity and has existed for countless ages with a gender, either female or male. What President Packer believes but doesn’t explicitly state is that gender and sexual orientation are basically one and the same, i.e., male (gender) = wants to love and have sex with females (sexual orientation). He apparently cannot conceive of this equation: male (gender) = wants to love and have sex with males (sexual orientation). Because of this unspoken belief, he believes that we were programmed as heterosexuals in the pre-mortal world and that homosexuality in this mortal world is an aberration that defies logic and Heavenly Father’s plan for his children. Thus, the infamous line, “Why would Heavenly Father do that?”

“The matter of gender is of great concern to the brethren, as are all matters of morality.”

Gender is a moral issue? This is where we really start to get into what I call “Boyd-Speak.” Elder Packer doesn’t come right out and say that believing yourself to be gay is immoral, but he certainly implies it. He’s doing here the same thing he did in the October 2010 conference address. He couches his language in innocuous-sounding words and phrases that most (straight) members of the Church believe to be perfectly defensible (“he was talking about pornography, not homosexuality”), while sending a message straight to the hearts (like a dagger) to gay members of the Church.

“A few of you may have felt, or have been told that you were born with troubled feelings …”

This phrase reminds me of Elder Packer’s infamous 1978 BYU multi-stake fireside, “To the One,” in which he devoted an entire address to speaking “to the one” among 100 who might be suffering from “troubled feelings” of homosexuality. As if a young man or woman wouldn’t feel isolated enough, he’s going to make sure they and others know that only a tiny minority of Church members is plagued by such “troubled feelings.”

And just in case you believe the “propaganda” that you were “born” with the inclination to be homosexual, Packer’s belief and thinly-veiled assertion is that such beliefs are hogwash, pure and simple.

“Troubled feelings.” I think this is the segue to NARTH and the unspoken invitation to see a good reparative therapist.

“ … troubled feelings … act upon these temptations.”

Notice again the Boyd-Speak. Is he saying that if you have “troubled feelings” that you may be gay (a) you are suffering from a temptation to actually believe that you’re gay, or (b) that you will automatically suffer from temptations to go have sex with a guy (or gal, as the case may be)? I think he’s saying both – at least this is the message that I believe all the gay kids suffering from “troubled feelings” will hear him say. Both assertions are, of course, unfounded, unsound and just plain ridiculous. But he will have made his point through nuanced language that camouflages his message.

“Doctrinally, we know that if that were true, your agency would have been erased.”

What exactly is he saying here? The impression is given that he’s saying that if you’re born with “troubled feelings” you automatically feel that you have to “act” upon those feelings. He seems to be saying that this is where agency gets erased. That if you’re born gay, you have to have sex, and that you can justify it by saying that you were “born that way.”

Are you kind of getting a whiff of a stereotype of gays as sex-crazed animals who only care about sex? If you haven’t already smelled it, this is born out by his next sentence: “You always have a choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and live morally pure and chaste, one filled with virtue.”

Another alternative interpretation that is perfectly plausible, given his personal beliefs, is that he’s saying that it would be a violation of agency for you to have innate, authentic feelings of attraction to persons of the same sex. In his view, this would be a violation of “agency” because he believes that such feelings are a choice, not innate.

Which brings me to my final point.

“You always have a choice to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and live morally pure and chaste, one filled with virtue”

The unspoken, Boyd-Speak, message is that one cannot have even feelings of attraction toward persons of one’s own gender and be “morally pure and chaste,” and certainly not “filled with virtue.” This line is reminiscent of his October 2010 line in which he labeled such feelings “impure and unnatural.” The message to young members of the Church is clear.

So why do I bother blogging about this? Because I know that Packer’s words influence impressionable young men and women in the Church. And that impression is negative. They drive like daggers into the hearts of souls of all those youth who “struggle” with “troubled feelings”, and they put arrows into the quivers of ignorance, self-righteousness, intolerance and bigotry that other youth in the Church, along with their parents and leaders, carry around with them. I feel a personal obligation to not let those words go unchallenged.

To be clear, I am not saying that Elder Packer doesn’t have the right to preach about the law of chastity. Obviously, this is a key teaching of the Church. But it could hardly be said that he reached out (in his seminary address) with love, compassion and understanding to young members of the Church struggling with feelings of same-gender attraction, which both hurts these youth and enables the un-Christlike attitudes of other members of the Church toward homosexuality.

Here are the polls! You have two weeks to vote!!

(Note: Some nominations are for multi-part series. Due to the character limit in the poll entries, I generally couldn’t provide multiple links, even using tinyurl, so I did my best to indicate that the nomination is for multiple posts and provide a link that will lead you to all the parts of the nominated work.)

Year-long awards for people and websites:

Awards for Individual Works:

Note: I reorganized some of the categories, and moved some of the nominations that could fit into more than one possible category. I did this for one of three possible reasons in each case:

I hope nobody objects to this reorganization.

Who says leaving the church means losing your community? The Mormon Stories Conference has been getting fantastic reviews (it’s better than church!):

The cool thing is that it’s a mixed group of believing mormons, questioning mormons, and exmormons, but the focus is on accepting everyone where they are at, not judging each other for beliefs, ending the exclusion and hostility and rejection, appreciating everyone who has the courage to say what is true even when it gets you rejected or cast out, etc.

On a less positive note, we have ex-Mormons who give ex-Mormons a bad name including folks who don’t get that one person’s experiences don’t have to negate another’s (see empathy). Tangentially related: there was a bit of discussion about orientation and choice. Personally, I think my life would have been simpler if I could choose whom to fall in love with and whom not to fall in love with and make it happen by simple force of will. Simpler, definitely, and a whole lot less interesting. But that’s just me — your mileage may vary.

For those who couldn’t make it to that conference (cause you’re stuck in Europe or something), we can all get together across the Internet. For example, participate in the Brodies — my goal is to have the polls ready by Wednesday, so hurry with those last few nominations! Maybe someday we can all get together IRL at the atheist temple.

Outer Blogness was full of fascinating discussions this week!! Let’s challenge some gender-role expectations: Should a man feel guilty about being a stay-at-home-dad? (Part of me says “of course not!” yet OTOH, if we want men to get the full experience, we shouldn’t deny them magic of feeling guilty. ) SashimiX wrote some good advice (with a little help from Mórrígan) for virgin straight males entering the world of sex. (BTW: everything culture teaches us about the hymen is wrong.)

This (seemingly unrelated) batch actually fits together as an interesting discussion: Oxymormon girl discusses how the church fails to cultivate an environment for independent thought, and Amy has a relevant object lesson. Tarbet contemplates freedom, and Steve Wells discusses nit-picky (bathroom) rules that help keep you from thinking about anything else.

In life journeys: Simon Southerton has an amazing tale of what happened when he did some DNA research. Foxy Pink Cheetah is developing some pregnancy quirks. J-Dog is reflecting on what he’s learned since losing the faith, and Eric is reflecting on how he’s changed as well. Kuri just boxed up a part of his life, and Doing it Wrong and Becky are seeing their children off onto new life paths.

In books: So Says Me loved “Dancing with Crazy”, and ProgExMo gives Grant Palmer’s book 5 stars! OTOH, President Paternoster warns us away from “Raptor Jesus”. Similarly, Ardis Parshall rates this post “unworthy of FPR” — which means there’s got to be something interesting in there! (Is it really in the same league with other FPR posts like If the Book of Mormon is dull, the New Testament is duller? — undoubtedly true, but perhaps too obvious for a blog post…?)

And now for our weekly visit to the circus. Good thing the politicians are focusing on important issues. BCC provides an interesting discussion of what’s up.

Happy reading, and have a great week!!

A breakup between NARTH and Exodus International has been years in the making. But before I get to it, I think it’s interesting how it’s coming up at the same time that actress Cynthia Nixon is being lambasted by gay rights activists for saying she’s gay by “choice” (and rejecting a bisexual label):

I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me.  A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not.

Indeed.

I think that a politics of choice is stronger than a politics of “essentialism” or “biologism,” no matter how you spin it. More and more Americans agree with Nixon: whether particular gay people are “innately” gay or if it’s a consequence of “choices” and “culture,” gay rights are still important to fight for.  When people see gay couples, they don’t think, “Hmm…I wonder if they were both born gay, or if one or both of them took the queer route by choice.”  It’s more like, “They exist.”

Even for those who would say they are born gay, a politics of choice would be helpful in the current climate.  The fact is, even conservative evangelicals who gay rights activists say Nixon is inadvertently empowering have come to reject the notion that sexual orientation can be changed through choice-making.  What the far-right has been saying for almost two decades now is that even if one argues homosexuality is innate, the “behavior” is still a choice:  the choice to be intimate with another person.  Thus, a politics of choice (Nixon-style) that respects gay people’s choices to be with those of the same-gender would be wise.

Apparently one of NARTH’s leaders has said that Exodus has been clueless in how to “deal with the actual root causes of homosexuality and what leads to authentic change” for the last “20 years.”  NARTH has released a statement qualifying what what they mean by “change”:

NARTH believes that much of the expressed pessimism regarding sexual orientation change is a consequence of individuals intentionally or inadvertently adopting a categorical conceptualization of change. When change is viewed in absolute terms, then any future experience of same-sex attraction (or any other challenge), however fleeting or diminished, is considered a refutation of change. Such assertions likely reflect an underlying categorical view of change, probably grounded in an essentialist view of homosexual sexual orientation that assumes same-sex attractions are the natural and immutable essence of a person.  What needs to be remembered is that the de-legitimizing of change solely on the basis of a categorical view of change is virtually unparalleled for any challenge in the psychiatric literature.

Okay… but this statement does not address Exodus’s concern with NARTH whatsoever.  Here’s why Exodus’s leader Alan Chambers decided to remove the reparative therapy books:

The reason I removed RT books from Exodus Books is because I don’t agree with using this research as a means to say that “this” is how homosexuality always develops, “this” is the primary means in which to deal with it and this is “the” outcome you can expect.  Too, Exodus, as a whole, is not a scientific or psychological organization…we are a discipleship ministry and that is where I think our strength is and energy should be focused.

The way I read Chamber’s statement is the following:

F*** off, NARTH.  We’re the ones who are gay.  Let us deal with our own lives. We don’t need to be straight.  All that needs to change is homosexual behavior (…and the occasional obsessive thought pattern).  Leave our gayness alone.

It’s a step in the right direction, and this has been in the works for I’d say…at least since the year 2000. Many Exodus members have developed enough self-knowledge that they can now read NARTH’s literature and recognize it as crap.

I’m sure psychological therapy (as opposed to NARTH’s focus on psychiatric therapy) will still find its way into Exodus, because Americans love their therapy. For example, evangelical therapists like Warren Throckmorten have developed Sexual Identity Therapy, in which causal factors for homosexuality are deemed less important than the client’s choices and values framework.  The American Psychological Association a few years back determined that Sexual Identity Therapy is perhaps good for those having trouble resolving their sexuality and religious beliefs.  I too think this therapy can be useful, so long as the therapist has no manipulative goal to ensure the client never chooses to be intimate with the same-sex.

Readers of MSP, I was recently contacted by the casting producer for a future Vh1 reality show about mothers and daughters who are pregnant at the same time.  Since there are slightly higher odds of this occurring among Mormons, the casting producer asked me if I would post the casting call on any websites where Mormons (or perhaps those who know Mormons) could see it and consider if they know anyone who might fit the criteria.  Here is the casting call:

Casting Call: Vh1 & Ellen Rakieten Entertainment are casting for a new docu-series and looking for mothers and daughters who are pregnant at the same time. Vh1 is interested in documenting your lives if you find yourself and your daughter in this unique situation. If both you and your daughter are outgoing and interested in sharing your stories, please contact the casting team immediately at: mothersanddaughtersExpecting@gmail.com. Please include a brief description of why you should be part of this docu-series and what has happened in your lives since you both found out you are pregnant. Include your phone number, email address and the city/state where you live. Applicants must be 18 years or older.

Don’t worry, you still have time — it will take me until Wednesday at the very earliest (and probably longer than that) to prepare the polls. And you can keep adding nominations until then.

Here’s the current list, including my nominations. I have made a very serious effort not to swamp it this year with my own nominations, but Brodies time is, like, better than Christmas for me. As I review the past year’s posts, I keep thinking: OMG, I remember this one — it’s fantastic!!! I had eight times as many posts that I wanted to nominate than I actually nominated. So I’d like everyone to take a moment to appreciate my awesome restraint (not to mention my awesome speed-reading skillz). Then have a look at the nominations as they stand, and get ready to add all your faves that I somehow missed…

Year-long awards for people and websites:

Best New Blog

• LDS (Mormon) Stake Presidents Blog
• White and Delightsome
• This category needs more nominations!! — if you or someone you know started an LDS-interest blog in 2011, comment below!

Best Discussion Forum

• Exmormon Reddit
• Post-Mormon
• FLAK
• Mormon Discussions
• Life After Mormonism

Best Humor/Satire Site or Blog

• LDS (Mormon) Stake Presidents Blog
• Ward Gossip
• Eliza R. Snitch
• Jesus’ General

Best faithful-perspective Mormon Blog

• with your mutual approbation
• Mother Wheel
• Wheat & Tares
• Times and Seasons
• Ask Mormon Girl

Best LDS-Interest Audio/Video Channel/Series

• Daughters of Mormonism
• Mormon Stories
• I Am an Ex Mormon

Best LDS-Interest Photo Blog

• LDS Architecture
• Polygamy Chic
• Wasilla, Alaska, by 300… and then some

Awards for Individual Works:

Best Book-Length Memoirs

• Hippie Boy – Ingrid Ricks
• A Lost Argument – Therese Doucet
• Dancing with Crazy – Emily Pearson
• Heaven Up Here – John K. Williams

Funniest Humor Piece

• Relief Society Sisters Want THE DORK! – Donna
• Holiday Talking Points For Mormons – Donna
• Discussing potato chips with your future son-in-law* – Kuri
• Book of Mormon Zombies: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – Kuri
• Helping Mormon Women Overcome Their Porn Addiction – Cognitive Dissenter
• My Rejected Ensign Article – The Gay Dot

Most Amusing Vignette or Personal Anecdote

• “What is THIS?” – Sarah
• My Son Loves To See The Temple – Kullervo
• This category needs more nominations to continue to the voting and awards round!

Best LDS-Interest Comic or Image

• Fun With Skinny Jeans, or Lack Thereof – fMh various contributors
• The New Utah State Flag – ProfXM
• All the Mo’s… Its about perspective… – Sulli

Best Poem

• Letters to My Polygamist Ancestors
• Not a Good Little Girl – Mórrígan
• These Are a Few of My Favorite “Sins” – Amy
• This category could use some more nominations, perhaps someone could pick a favorite from The ExMormon Hymnbook or from Kuri’s Haiku.

Most Poignant Personal Story

• The Gray Areas of Agency – Winterbuzz
• Mormons and Beauty Pageants – Leah Elliott
• Faith Walk – BlissfulHeretic
• Body Appreciation Saturday: More period talk – Diana
• A Tale of Two Humanists – MoHoHawaii
• Juliane’s series on the aftermath of her talk in May – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
• An agnostic’s letter to a lost god – Sulli
• A Farewell from Tom – Heather C
• Reflections on Turning 30 – J. Seth (I go by Seth) Anderson

Best Deconversion/Exit Story

• I never imagined I would leave the Mormon church – Measure76
• I’m a happier, more rounded person now. – Tovarishch
• By small and simple things… – johnybackback
• Exodus: A Gay Man’s Journey Out of Marriage and Mormonism – Invictus Pilgrim
• Our Exit Story – Norm and Gabi Thompson

Best “Life Beyond Mormonism” Post

• Place and Grace – Mel
• Friends – so says Me
• The Fractures and Factions of Mormon Blogging, Part I and Part II – Andrew S
• Matrix and Inception Exmormons – NoCoolName_Tom
• Building on a Religious Background – Chanson
• Why are Ex-Mormons So Angry (and other questions)? Part I and part II – Andrew S
• If it’s not available at Michaels, does it really count? – Eliza R. Snitch
• Leaving the Mormon Church – AintNoMoNoMo
• A Life in Sepia Tones – Dad’s Primal Scream
• Top 10 Reasons Why I Left the Church and Top 10 Reasons Why I Came Back to the Church – Happy
• I’ve grouped Mo/Exmo community posts with “Life Beyond Mormonism” — should it be split into a separate category? Or just call it Best “Mormon Life Journey” Post? Opinions?

Most Interesting Interfaith Interaction

• Cool interaction with an angry TBM mom and her son – Zuggy
• The Mormon Wall – Invictus Pilgrim
• You Know Were You Can Put Your Passive-aggressive Flag!!! – Kevin Dudley
• My dad’s request – That Guy with the Hair
• This category could use some more nominations!

Best Chat with the Bishop, Mishies, or Other Church Leaders

• Ashleigh attempts to get spiri-chle – Undis-clothed
• Chowing with the Elders – Ren
• Mormon Encounters – Smorg
• Transcription of interview with the bishop. – Mithryn
• This category could use some more nominations!

Best News Reporting

• The Strange Tale of the Invisible Beer Nazi – Cognitive Dissenter
• Mormon Church Fires Man For Having Gay Friends – Eric Ethington
• New Directive: No More Independent Sacraments – Molly
• God saves Mormon missionaries in Japan while allowing thousands to die or suffer unimaginable loss – the narrator
• LDS Church hires two PR Firms for a Missionary Media Initiative beginning in October – Mike Utah

Best LDS Church Watch

• A Modest Bit of Data – Ziff
• Reclaiming the “M” word, mormon(.org) – Apostate
• How those at conference “Feel the spirit” in a patented technology known as “Heartsell” – Mithryn
• The WORST Talks Ever – Brent
• Deseret News is at it again – Runtu
• Yes, the Church still officially discourages interracial marriage. – the narrator
• Elder Oaks and Dr. John C. Eastman – J Seth Anderson
• Heaven Ain’t Close in a Place Like This: Mormon.org and Maxwell Institute – Chino Blanco
• Mormon Church’s Perception Problem – Dad’s Primal Scream

Best LDS-Related Political Commentary

• The Windows of Heaven Shut: A Historic Moment Denied By A Publication Called LDS Newsroom Blog – Atticus F. McConkie
• An Unfortunate Attack – Kaimi
• Mormon Scripture Predicts Bolton Nomination – Gen. JC Christian
• The Little Spermy Who Couldn’t – Cognitive Dissenter

Best Post Title

• “According to the survey, 3.2 million Americans identified themselves as members of the LDS Church in 2008. Official LDS Church statistics indicate that number was actually about 5.9 million.” To the writer who misused the word “actually” in that second sentence: please stop. – Chino_Blanco
• This category needs more nominations to continue to the voting and awards phase!

Best Philosophical/Theological Discussion

• Understanding biblical parables: The Sower – Kuri
• The Holy Ghost is a pussy – Lloyd Dobler
• Thoughts on the “milk before the meat” and “boiling frog” metaphors. – curious_mormon
• I Don’t Need Reasons To Believe in God: I’ve Experienced God – Skeptic Mormon
• What is Faith? – Chanson
• Do we owe gratitude to the universe? – Jonathan Blake
• The Book of Mormon as Inspired Fiction – Bruce Nielson
• Understanding Biblical parables: The Wheat and the Tares – Kuri
• Am I a Raging Religion-oholic? – Leah
• One Way Or Another: The Bacchae – Kullervo

Most Insightful Discussion of Mormon Beliefs, Practices, and Culture

• Tests of Faithfulness – Lynnette
• Animal Farm, Dictatorships and Mormonism – Jake
• The power of the penis – Kuri
• Abraham’s Children – Julian the Apostate
• The Book of Abraham – A Powerful Missionary Tool – President Paternoster
• Sacred vs. Profane – Holly
• Go Ahead And Skip That Temple Wedding – Alan Rock Waterman
• Reinventing Your Sundays – Alan Rock Waterman
• If World’s Doomed, I’m Grateful to Have a Mormon Mother – Ingrid Ricks
• Patriarchy, redux – MoHoHawaii
• unfortunately, not endangered. – Stephanie
• Bigoted or Just Religious – Eliza R. Snitch
• A Mormon Vatican II – Mórrígan

Best Response to Apologetics

• My Testimony: A Response to Bruce D. Porter. – Isaac H
• Orson Scott Card: The Book of Mormon as Historical Artifact – Mórrígan
• This category needs more nominations to continue to the voting and awards phase!

Best Religion-and-Gender Discussion

• Forgotten Sacrifices – the Peacewriter
• No, Women Do Not Have Access to all of the Blessings of the Priesthood – Ms. Jack
• Spiritual Home Ownership – Beatrice
• Housecleaning and Guilt – Aerin
• Methinks the Non-Women Protest Too Much: On Non-Equality in the Mormon Church – Amelia
• A Short Post About Equality – Kristine
• “The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.” ~Roseanne Barr – Juliane

Best Religion-and-Homosexuality Discussion

• I will NOT be someone else’s “sin” – Sulli
• A new focus in the gay rights debate – Jon Adams
• We’ve Already Won – Rob
• An Open Letter To Single Gay Men – Good to be Free
• Observations on MOMs from a Rambling Lesbian – Leslie
• Is Everyone Who Opposes Gay Marriage Homophobic? – Dad’s Primal Scream
• Guest Post from Dialogue – Taylor Petrey
• Toward a Mormon Lesbian Theology – Alan
• For Bishopric, Gay is the New Black – Bropromo

Best Religion-and-Race Discussion

• On Owning It – Brent
• Jane Manning James: Latter-day Saint and servant – Jon Adams
• Oh how racism haunts Mormonism – ProfXM
• Mormon young adult fiction: Preserving Racial Purity edition! – Daniel
• Saving the Seed of Cain from the Flood of Noah – Steve Wells

Best Religion-and-Parenting Discussion

• To Parents of Apostate Children – President Paternoster
• I know the scriptures are true – lifelongguy
• Sophia!….. You’re Blowing It! – Kevin Dudley
• The danger is they might think for themselves. – Daniel
• READ, READ! READ-READ! – Atheist Dad

Best Erotic or Sexual Piece

• Eliza Goes Black – Jennifer
• Molly’s saga – Just Zena
• Yes Ma’am: An Exploration into Mormon Sexuality – Maureen
• Emily vs. The Elders: MILF & Cookies – Emily Pearson

Best History Piece

• Mormon Women Giving Blessings – Mormon Heretic
• Agnes Coolbrith: Remembering the Forgotten Women of Joseph Smith – Winterbuzz
• Are Mormons Christian Mormon? — Part I and Part II – Ms. Jack
• The Garment Wars of 1913: Temple Brand, or “Approved By the Presidency”? – day2mon
• How Gay Marriage Became Thinkable for a Generation of Young Americans – Chris C. Smith
• Donnie, Marie and Elijah Abel – J. Seth (I go by Seth) Anderson

Best Science Piece

• Proctor & Gamble study proves gender-based discrimination, fails to notice – Sabayon
• Anti-Science Beliefs and Religion – Roger Hansen
• ‘Moroni’s promise’ still not evidence – Daniel
• Belief in God is Natural? – Paul Sunstone
• This category could use some more nominations!

Best Review

• Hateful Homophobe Orson Scott Card Thinks Hamlet Should Be More Homophobic – Paul Constant
• My Amazon Review of Bill O’Reilly’s History of Lincoln – Gen. JC Christian
• FSM Help Me, But I Liked Grant Hardy’s Book… A Lot. – NoCoolName_Tom
• BOM: The Most Correct of Any Musical? – Holly
• The Ishbane Conspiracy – Tachyon Feathertail

Let’s see what you have to add!

Since McKay Coppins reported about the Romney campaign’s efforts to energize the South Carolina primaries with volunteers from out of state Mormon colleges, which has been linked by Profxm, I thought that a quick note to put the event into context might be in order.

Every campaign is trying to swell its volunteer force by bringing in people from out of state. When I was the co-director of the Obama campaign in Prince George’s Coutny, MD, for example, we depoyed over 3,000 volunteers to Virginia for the general election campaign in 2008 after helping out in various states during the primaries.

BYU and Bob Jones University are notorious for supplying volunteers to Republican campaigns across the nation. In part, their prominence may reflect Democratic paranoia but the real reason is obvious:

There aren’t that many places with a high concentration of conservative young people with disposable time to volunteer.

In this case, it’s an easy story to tell because the Mormon Mitt Romney receives help from Mormon college students. In reality, however, BYU volunteers routinely come in support of conservative gentile candidates in states like Virginia and California. Likewise, you can be sure that somewhere in Florida, there will be busloads of student volunteers from Bob Jones University supporting this or that candidate.

Since they won’t be Mormons campaigning for a Mormon, the media will be less sensitive to their appearance.

Chanson asked me to do the round up of posts this week. For the record, I think this process is more difficult than it looks (please bear with me stumbling through it). And I’ll give out a shout out to the work she does each week – an important part of the community, tying threads together. Yet she definitively deserves a break every once in awhile (just like all of us!).
It has been a interesting week of protests, with the reddit and Wikipedia blackout(s) to protest SOPA and PIPA. Other blogs went dark as well in support. As a response, it sounds like the legislation is on hold for the near future.
Here in the states, it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day. Mormon Heretic wrote about an early black mormon, one whom I hadn’t heard of before.  And it looks like another same-sex marriage debacle is brewing in Minnesota.
In other news, some bloggers attended the mormon stories conference in Houston. There was more discussion of the milk before meat policy and who needs to teach church history. Maybe it’s time to stop making excuses for the church and the more unpalatable parts of its history.
Some posters  are enjoying their Sundays and living in the present.
There were also posts about sexuality and parenting a daughter. A famous blogger and her husband have separated but still appear to be putting their kids first. It seems many former mormons are parenting through divorce. Others are thrilled about pending grandparenthood and musing about life and faith.
As it’s January, there’s also snow.
Being the January before the U.S. presidential election, there’s lots of political wrangling and drama going on, particularly with the Iowa recount and South Carolina. Perhaps Romney doesn’t have the nomination wrapped up after all!
Eta: fixed links (like I said, much harder than it looks).

I caught two interesting news stories in my news feed this morning.  First is this article in the Tampa Bay Tribune about the LDS Church being one of the largest land owners in the state of Florida: Mormon church is large landowner in Florida.  The information provided in the article is EERILY FAMILIAR, as in, it’s basically a duplicate of my post here on MSP from 2009: LDS Inc owns .7% of Florida.  I guess it wouldn’t look so good for the reporter, Kevin Wiatrowski, if he cited a website critical of the LDS Church as his source for the article, but plagiarizing a blog post for a news article probably wouldn’t look so good on a resume either.  Do me a favor, if you would, and go comment on that article asking Mr. Wiatrowski where he came up with the idea for his article.  My guess is that he did a Google search using the words “Mormon” and “Florida” and saw my post as the #1 link, then stole my idea.  I could be wrong though.

The second news article that caught my attention didn’t get as much play in the big press as did the fact that Mitt was “Newt-ed” in South Carolina: young Mormons arrived by the busload to stump for Mitt.  Since they were young, loud, and energetic, it gave the impression that Mitt had momentum in South Carolina.  Um, yeah, not so much.  When a reporter questioned their enthusiasm, they admitted they weren’t from South Carolina but rather from D.C. and Utah.  It didn’t help Mitt in the end, but I call shenanigans nonetheless.