Morality

Helicopter Parents Are Depressing (with poll)

May 7, 2013
Helicopter Parents Are Depressing (with poll)

I recently took an online test to determine if I am a helicopter parent.  Ironically, it was a helicopter quiz!  After every question, it gave me immediate, condescending feedback about whether my opinion was right or wrong.  And with several of the questions, I didn’t like ANY of the options; they were all too helicopter-y [...]

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Posted in Agency, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 4 Comments »

The Help (Janitors): Weekend Poll

April 27, 2013
The Help (Janitors):  Weekend Poll

We’ve been cleaning the chapels in most areas (except where it is not feasible) for many years now, although most of us remember a day when the church employed professional janitors to keep the building sparkling.  With so many people out of work, should the church change back to professional help? Discuss.

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Freedom, money, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 15 Comments »

CofChrist News Beat: World/USA Conference After-Action Reports

April 26, 2013
CofChrist News Beat: World/USA Conference After-Action Reports

The headline is clear. Community of Christ will provide sacramental ordinances of marriage, commitment ceremonies, and ordination independent of sexual orientation in the USA. Specifically, after two days of discussion, the USA National Conference formally approved by a required 2/3rds majority the following recommendations to the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve: The 2013 USA [...]

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Posted in America, Church Policy, Community of Christ, Doctrine, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Politics, Priesthood, Prophet, Violence | 28 Comments »

Mental Gymnastics

April 23, 2013
Mental Gymnastics

People refer to weak apologetics as mental gymnastics, being willing to cling to the improbable or outright absurd rather than cutting through the crap to the logical (yet possibly faith-shaking) solution.  And yet, we are also told that truth is stranger than fiction and that with God nothing is impossible, which gives eternal hope to [...]

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Doctrine, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 12 Comments »

A Feminist Primer for Men

April 16, 2013
A Feminist Primer for Men

Feminism makes some men very nervous.  They are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing and being labelled a sexist.  They may feel like outsiders, unclear of their own standing as these conversations unfold.  Men and women alike may not be sure what feminism entails, but it can seem like a daunting list, one [...]

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Posted in Agency, America, Church Policy, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Politics | 70 Comments »

Confessing Sexual Sins: Weekend Poll

April 13, 2013
Confessing Sexual Sins:  Weekend Poll

How much detail is appropriate in a confession?  When does a leader go from being helpful to being pruriently interested in the lurid details of a confessor’s love life?  Where do you draw the line? Discuss.

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Doctrine, Faith, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 6 Comments »

Classy Marriages

April 13, 2013
Classy Marriages

Pending the birth of Princess Kate’s baby, Lady Cosima Rose Alexandra Windsor is currently 24th in line for the British throne. Lady Cosima is the nearly three-year-old great granddaughter of a grandfather of the current queen. I didn’t know that, and I really wouldn’t care, but I did easily look it up, and I could do [...]

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Posted in Church Policy, economics, General Conference, Mission, Morality, Mormon Belief, Politics, Singles | 39 Comments »

You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby! Mormon Edition

April 9, 2013
You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!  Mormon Edition

In January 2012, I did a blog post about topics women in the church were discussing.  I identified 10 practices that some women saw as unnecessarily discriminate or that were in other ways causing women to question their value in the church.  This was in response to a request Pres. Beck made of Mormon Mommy [...]

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Mission, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 36 Comments »

Sin is Not Separation

March 30, 2013
Sin is Not Separation

The Ten Commandments was one of the first Biblical epics to command a mass audience, and so my parents took me into downtown Detroit as a boy to be sure I saw it in its full widescreen glory in one of the few theaters capable of so screening it. The movie was well worth the [...]

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Posted in Agency, Community of Christ, Doctrine, Jesus, Morality, Mormon Belief, War in Heaven | 14 Comments »

The Psychology and Reality of Evil

March 27, 2013
The Psychology and Reality of Evil

Shenpa Warrior discusses evil from a psychological view In the 5th installment of the Psychology of Religion series.

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Posted in Agency, Doctrine, Morality, War in Heaven | 8 Comments »

Love Bombs and Heart Attacks

March 5, 2013
Love Bombs and Heart Attacks

When I was 15, I had a crush on a boy named Brian from the other ward that shared our building.  His sister told me liked me, and he asked me to meet him (along with a bunch of kids from the other ward) at Rick’s Place, a dance club in nearby Lancaster.  Before I [...]

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 14 Comments »

Breast is Best: Weekend Poll

March 2, 2013
Breast is Best:  Weekend Poll

A recent news story tells of a YW leader who was released from her calling for breastfeeding her baby in a room full of young women.  She has also been threatened with the loss of her temple recommend if she doesn’t leave meetings to feed her baby.  Scott Trotter, LDS media spokesperson, was caught off [...]

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Posted in Education, Faith, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 34 Comments »

Exposure Anxiety

February 26, 2013
Exposure Anxiety

North Korea wants to show its strength despite its small size by launching missiles to intimidate China.  Napolean was said to suffer from “short man” inferiority complex, resulting in his military invasions all over Europe.  Some sources say Hitler felt inferior because his absent father was a Jew, not Aryan.  In the Wizard of Oz, the “wizard” [...]

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Posted in Agency, Alternative Sunday School Lessons, Church Policy, Joseph Smith, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Uncategorized | 37 Comments »

Seeking Truth

February 14, 2013
Seeking Truth

Today’s post is by new perma and longtime commenter, Hedgehog.  On 10 January, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed young single adults at the firstCES devotional of the year.  The title of his address is ‘What is truth?’.  This has also been addressed by David Taymon who was rather quick off the mark. Truth, as a topic, [...]

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Doctrine, Faith, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 42 Comments »

Gay Boy Scouts?

February 11, 2013
Gay Boy Scouts?

A 2000 Supreme Court decision rules that because the Boy Scouts of America is a private organization, they are within their rights to exclude gays, atheists, and agnostics from its membership ranks.  So why did the Boy Scouts of America reverse course and announce that local units now have the ability to choose whether to allow [...]

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Posted in Church Policy, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 148 Comments »

Society, The World, and Being Not of It

February 5, 2013
Society, The World, and Being Not of It

Daniel faced a serious problem.  Darius the king had been tricked by his princes into outlawing prayer.  But Daniel felt beholden to pray to his God.  The society in which he lived restricted his personal freedoms more than his religious society did.  In fact, his religious community went underground due to the persecutions and restrictions of the [...]

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Posted in Agency, Alternative Sunday School Lessons, America, Church Policy, Doctrine, Education, Europe, Faith, Freedom, General Conference, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Old Testament Sunday School Lessons, Politics, Polygamy, Uncategorized | 11 Comments »

Can’t Anybody Here Make a Good Conspiracy Theory?

February 2, 2013
Can’t Anybody Here Make a Good Conspiracy Theory?

Mystery guest number 1 was never a practicing Catholic. Mystery guest number 2 never believed in Temple rites. Now, there’s a good conspiracy theory. Sometimes a conspiracy theory turns out to be true. There is even a class of crime for which people go to jail that starts out “conspiracy to commit…”. But the conspiracy theories [...]

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Posted in America, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Politics, Prophet, War in Heaven | 38 Comments »

The Maori Mormon Prophecies & Apostasy

January 29, 2013
The Maori Mormon Prophecies & Apostasy

I must admit, before my trip to New Zealand over the holidays I had never heard of the Mormon Maori prophecies.  I knew that there are many Polynesian church members.  I was aware that the most popular religion in the island of Molokai (the spiritual center of Hawaii) is Mormonism, and that there are many [...]

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, History, Mission, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Uncategorized | 24 Comments »

Grow Up!: Weekend Poll

January 26, 2013
Grow Up!: Weekend Poll

We’ve heard the talks to the priesthood about Peter Pan syndrome:  grown men who still play video games and live in their parents’ garages, not taking adult responsibilities seriously, and not taking the initiative to get married.  Likewise, there have been posts in the bloggernacle about the infantilisation of women in the church:  male leaders and [...]

Posted in Agency, Alternative Sunday School Lessons, Doctrine, Freedom, Morality, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture | 8 Comments »

We Are All Liars

January 18, 2013
We Are All Liars

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23) At one time or another we all lie. It is mostly to ourselves about one thing or another, but sometimes to others.  In some cases, it is a “kind” lie such as, “no, that color looks great on you” or “I’ll [...]

Posted in Morality, Mormon, Mormon Culture, Truth. Lying, Uncategorized | 13 Comments »

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