Politics

Marriage Equality

June 5, 2013
Marriage Equality

This is the first guest post from Justin.  He also blogs at LDS Anarchy. Interviewer: But did [Oscar] Wilde identify himself as gay? Stephen Fry: No, I don’t think he did. He talked about his nature — he was aware of what people’s natures were, to have sex with their own kind. He wasn’t an [...]

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Posted in Morality, Mormon, Politics | 48 Comments »

The Statistics of Gun Control

April 28, 2013
The Statistics of Gun Control

Last week, Stephen Marsh at Wheat and Tares posted about how arguments about Guns and Gays are similar.  Steve specifically said “people post disputed statistics for the harm caused by the parties they wish to regulate or deny. In both cases, those opposing regulation point to contrary statistics showing how good either guns or gay [...]

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Posted in America, Freedom, Mormon, Politics, Violence | 36 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 | 30 Comments »

Jeffersonian Religion

April 22, 2013
Jeffersonian Religion

I just watched a documentary called Jefferson’s Secret Bible.  (You can download it for free on iTunes or watch it at the Smithsonian website.)  The documentary discusses the restoration and some of the theology behind Thomas Jefferson’s rewriting on the Bible.  In his day, Jefferson was called an atheist by his detractors; he wasn’t really [...]

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Posted in Freedom, History, Jesus, Politics, Reviews | 7 Comments »

Guns and Gays

April 17, 2013
Guns and Gays

In many ways, the arguments against guns and the arguments against gays are very similar. In both cases, people who find an “ick” factor in something (be it guns or gay marriage) are against it. Those who fit in the group (either owning a gun or being gay) feel it is a personal matter others [...]

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Posted in Politics, Uncategorized, Violence | 59 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 »

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 »

Inquisitions and Inquisitors: Then and Now

February 28, 2013
Inquisitions and Inquisitors: Then and Now

Last March, Jake wrote a post discussing the Strengthening Church Members Committee (SCMC), following the BBC documentary The Mormon Candidate.  The BBC programme was my first introduction to the existence of such a committee in the LDS church.  I don’t want to go over old ground with this post however, but rather widen the discussion. [...]

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Posted in Agency, Church Policy, Freedom, History, Politics, Roman Catholic Church | 11 Comments »

Who Are the Anti-Mormons?

February 19, 2013
Who Are the Anti-Mormons?

There are many on the internet publishing information about our faith, often not very flattering.  Some of that information is faith-shaking.  But where does it cross the line into being “anti-Mormon”?  Some would say that anyone who says anything that is not uplifting or faith promoting is anti-Mormon, but that seems like a pretty low [...]

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Posted in Church Policy, General Conference, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Politics | 17 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 »

Let Them Eat Platinum

January 19, 2013
Let Them Eat Platinum

Marie Antoinette couldn’t get her head around the concept that peasants might resent a lack of bread. I mean, look at her bedroom! So, eventually, her head was forced to observe the resentment in a more detached manner. The Versailles life-style was unsustainable, even if the people living in Versailles thought they could stall the [...]

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Posted in America, debt, economics, money, Politics, Pride | 6 Comments »

Too Big to Fail; Too Irresponsible to Succeed

January 15, 2013
Too Big to Fail; Too Irresponsible to Succeed

Upton Sinclair famously said:  “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”  Do our convictions necessarily follow our self-interest?  To me, Sinclair’s caution is to always look at the monetary incentives associated with a course of action, not just the direct ones, but those [...]

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Posted in Agency, America, economics, Politics, Uncategorized | 25 Comments »

Identity Politics: Good, Bad or Inevitable?

January 8, 2013
Identity Politics: Good, Bad or Inevitable?

In the 2012 election, 78% of Mormons voted for Romney (fewer than the 80% who voted for Bush in 2004), but 93% of blacks voted for Obama (down from 95% in 2008).  71% of hispanics backed Obama.  Whites voted for Romney more than Obama by 20% (more than the 12% disparity when McCain opposed Obama [...]

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Posted in Agency, America, Politics | 23 Comments »

Re-evaluating Gay Scriptures

January 7, 2013
Re-evaluating Gay Scriptures

Reverend Dr. Laurence C. Keene, Disciples of Christ, “When people ask questions about homosexuality, almost always they follow with, ‘and what does the Bible really say about it?’ The preceding quote comes from an interesting documentary on Netflix called For the Bible Tells Me So.  The documentary discusses traditional and liberal Christian beliefs about homosexuality in the scriptures. [...]

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Posted in Mormon, Mormon Belief, Politics | 34 Comments »

Failure of Leadership

December 31, 2012
Failure of Leadership

We are down to crunch time.  I can’t believe that our Congress is so dysfunctional.  There’s plenty of blame to go around.  Where should I start? Let’s start with everyone in the photograph!  D&C 38:27 “I say unto you, be aone; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” Obviously, they’re not handling this [...]

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Posted in Politics | 37 Comments »

God Bless America: Weekend Poll

December 8, 2012
God Bless America:  Weekend Poll

Do you believe in destiny?  Manifest destiny? Discuss.

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Posted in America, Mormon Belief, Mormon Culture, Politics, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Why Mormons Will Inherit America

December 8, 2012
Why Mormons Will Inherit America

Well, not really. However, with recent reports that the US birthrate has fallen to a level not seen since 1920, one starts to speculate. As Pew’s research organization reports: “The U.S. birth rate dipped in 2011 to the lowest ever recorded, led by a plunge in births to immigrant women since the onset of the [...]

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Posted in America, Church Policy, economics, Politics, Pride, Race Relations | 7 Comments »

Mormon Yin Yang

November 28, 2012
Mormon Yin Yang

Yin and Yang are powerful concepts stemming from Chinese philosophy, and religiously from Taoism. I was recently reading a book that leveraged the concepts of Yin and Yang to explain why liberals and conservatives (in America) are both needed. The point is brought out that opposites are interconnected, interdependent, and their harmonization is critical to [...]

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Posted in Faith, Mormon, Mormon Belief, Politics | 8 Comments »

Predictable Natural Law – Part 2

November 24, 2012
Predictable Natural Law – Part 2

In my last post on natural law, I focused on how changing minor “precepts” might make tremendous impacts on our theological understandings. I used cosmological models from general relativity to illustrate the point. Today, I want to look at things a little less, well, cosmically,  and review how changing scientific “precepts” over the last few [...]

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Posted in America, Doctrine, economics, Morality, Mormon, Politics, Science and Religion | 11 Comments »

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