Why I Will Attend Your Same-Sex Marriage
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Galatians...
View ArticleThreatened with a Chain Saw: Mormons, Evangelicals, Hate & Love
Just over 30 years ago I was introduced to Evangelical Christianity while serving in the Missouri Independence Mission. Jackson County may have been near the locale of the Garden of Eden but, at times,...
View ArticleIllegal Immigration? A Fence Along the Canadian Border Might Help
Concerning Illegal immigration: divine law, natural law, positive law must be considered by Mormons and other religions that hold that helping the poor and displaced peoples is a fundamental tenet of...
View ArticleAttention: Retraction on the “Release” of a new Race and the Priesthood Essay
Yesterday I posted the release of an updated or revised Race and the Priesthood essay on LDS.org. I am very grateful that the Church is publishing this and other essays. However, I was mistaken in my...
View ArticleMormon Prayers & Catholic Cathedrals: Ages Four & Up
Religious bilingualism is a critically important skill to navigate in religiously diverse landscapes. For example, it is the practiced ability of a Mormon to speak to a Catholic employing the distinct...
View ArticlePresident Nelson’s Blood Money
Concerning sacrifices. Biotic rapport is a distinct tie between the life and livelihood of the sacrificer. J. H. Kurtz, a biblical scholar, explained that “it was not sufficient that the sacrifice be...
View ArticleGun Control, the Second Amendment & Christian Pacifism
I am a gun enthusiast. I own several guns—rifles, handguns, shotguns. If you’re not a gun aficionado you likely cannot appreciate the tactile pleasure associated with picking up a finely crafted gun....
View ArticleJesus, the World’s Greatest Champion of Women
Jewish women of first century Palestine were severely limited. Like the greater Greco-Roman world, Jewish culture of Jesus’ day was staunchly patriarchal and, generally speaking, a woman was to remain...
View ArticleHey Mormons! No Such Thing as an Evangelical Church
This blog is intended to correct a common misperception about Evangelicalism on the part of many Mormons. It is this: there is no such thing as an “Evangelical Church” yet Mormons frequently operate...
View ArticleMr. Priest, I Refuse to Call You “Father”
I grew up in anti-Catholic Mormonism. Catholicism was the “Great and Abominable Church” and it was the “Whore of All the Earth.” The Catholic Church damaged the Bible. Priests tampered with and lifted...
View ArticleWomen at Church
Just over one year ago Neylan McBaine published Women at Church. A few notes about the book. First of all, it is a timely publication that reached Mormonism at a high-point of the Kate Kelley ordain...
View ArticleThe Olympic Games of World Religions
It has been 22 years since the Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in the United States. It has never been held in Utah. Next week (October 15-19) 10,000 people representing 80 nations and 50...
View ArticleYes! Jesus’ Wine Was Alcoholic!
Wine in the New Testament is alcoholic. Period. Historical revisionists, that are also Mormon, are prone to overlay Joseph Smith’s 1833 revelation—the Word of Wisdom—over first century life and...
View ArticlePondering Ponderizing
It has been just over one week since the fateful day that a new word was coined for Mormons everywhere. I’ve been pondering ponderizing. I like the idea. Many of my students have been ponderizing since...
View ArticlePresident Durrant, Ponderize, and an Invitation to Chill Out
A post to those critical of President Devin Durrant’s most recent conference talk wherein he introduced ponderize to the Church. Yesterday, I wrote about cultural curiosities within Mormonism. What we...
View ArticleElder Scott & One Word: Jeanene
I first taught the course Teachings of the Living Prophets to university students Fall Semester 1995. Jeanene Scott, Elder Richard G. Scott’s wife, had passed away just a handful of months earlier and...
View ArticleNo Matter What, Teach this to Children First
In the late 1980’s, Boyd K. Packer spoke at the Missionary Training Center. He spoke of his desire that the missionaries would use their mission experiences to prepare them to raise children of their...
View ArticleWomen of the Church–Revolutionizing Mormonism
Here is my prediction—for what it’s worth. I believe that the greatest announcement since the 1978 revelation on the priesthood is the lowering of the missionary age for women. This one modification to...
View ArticleHoly Envy, Women, Men, Birds, Wings
Holy envy is a phrase coined by Krister Stendahl (1921-2008) who was Bishop of Stockholm (Church of Sweden), professor of divinity (Harvard), and master interfaith dialogist. Holy envy recommends that...
View ArticleThe Unfortunate Dearth: LDS Bookstores
Dearth: dry, parched, distressed, empty, in need of life-sustaining water and nutrients. The most prominent bookstores that serve Mormon readers are in a state of dearth. Let me explain. This week I...
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