Posts Tagged ‘ Mormon Culture ’

Last time I addressed the topic of our discussion in the church I talked about faith in Christ, and how we might shift our discussion from speculation on doctrines designed to create an emotional response to discussions about faith in our real lives. In perhaps a not too dissimilar vein, I’d like to talk about [...]

I love music! And sometimes songs can say more in a few short lines than I could in 10 different posts. There’s always been a tug-o-war in the b’nacle between various personalities. I think there are three primary personalities in the ‘nacle represented nicely by the following three songs (complete with links to cool YouTube [...]

“Finally have put a finger on an issue I have with the priesthood of this church. A lot of you want us to embrace, uphold, accept and defend the practicing homosexual. Why is it that because I do not agree with you that you try to paint me as hateful to everyone else?” Thus began [...]

Because I have had my own trials of faith, and have stood in the figurative shoes of those who see things from a non-believing standpoint, I have become increasingly aware of the language we use and the ways in which it contributes to our cultural peculiarities and often times sets people up for failure. Sometimes [...]

The terms “less-active” and “inactive” are slowly being dropped from church vocabulary, but you won’t hear it announced from the stand.  Earlier this year in a training led by the Area Presidency, UK stake public relations committees were informed that the church no longer classifies people as less-active or inactive; everyone is simply just members of the [...]

“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” That’s a somewhat simplistic, but nevertheless effective way to teach the law of conservation of momentum, and I think there’s actually some metaphorical version of that law which applies to churches. When someone leaves a church, his/her absence allows/pushes the church that remains to go [...]

Should journals be written for ourselves or for others?  Does writing with an audience in mind, especially our own progeny (for whom we feel responsible) result in white-washing our personal experiences?  You betcha it does. What is the Purpose of Journal Writing? One of my mission companions and I were talking about our journals one [...]

Today’s guest post is by Jake.  When I first went out onto my mission I was warned that when I saw missionaries all day that it might challenge my testimony. That they would lose the shine they once had when I viewed them as beacons of spirituality when I was a 14 year old youth.  [...]

Is the church antagonistic toward academics and others with conflicting opinions?  Critics would say yes.  I suggest that the real issue is that some members (even those in leadership roles) do not know how to deal effectively with disagreement within the church’s culture.  Today is another post by guest Jake. As Boyd K. Packer taught, the purpose of correlation [...]

To paraphrase Jon Huntsman Jr., diplomacy is the art of saying something when there is nothing to say, and saying nothing when there is something to say.  Blogging (and 24 hour news) is pretty good at the first half of that, but fairly lousy at the second half.  That’s because blogging relies on rehashing old arguments, hyperbole, [...]

OK, I thought I was done talking about other patriarchal societies, but then I ran across this little gem from Malaysia:  The Obedient Wives club.  This club was formed by a Muslim fringe group called Global Ikhwan on June 4th (earlier this year they also set up a Polygamy Club for women), so it is very much [...]

Liberte, egalite, fraternite, right?  Last week I examined what other patriarchal societies are up to.  This week, let’s talk about what some contemporary patriarchal societies are doing politically – especially in light of the Arab Spring. Is patriarchy really a term we want to be touting?  Do we qualify as patriarchal when compared to such [...]

What do mistresses have to do with patriarchy?  Well, clearly the church is against mistresses (unless you count polygamy, wink* wink*), but elsewhere in patriarchy, mistresses are all the rage.  This is the first of a series of posts on other patriarchal cultures.  Since the Mormon church claims (unironically) to be a patriarchy, let’s see who’s on [...]

In response to revelatory guidance accepted at its 2010 World Conference, the Community of Christ scheduled a US National Conference for the summer of 2012 specifically to deal with questions of sacramental marriage and priesthood ordination for GLBT members of the church. On May 25, the church announced a delay in the US National Conference [...]

Some of you may have followed with interest the story of Staff Seargent Calvin Gibbs, a 25-year old Mormon boy who went to war and allegedly became the ringleader of a rogue “kill team,” taking pleasure in murdering and mutilating Afghan civilians; according to his fellow soldiers he was (in Col. Kurtz fashion) trying to [...]

A few months ago, I was at a work dinner chatting with a colleague, also a Mormon (a previous bishop), and we were talking about some colleagues whose behavior we didn’t approve.   Some of our co-workers from another department (probably sales) were drinking too much at a work event which resulted in some rather unprofessional behavior.  I was rolling my [...]

Why do voters have such a hard time connecting with Mormon candidates?  Is it our weird values?  Is it inauthenticity on our part?  Is it flip flopping?  Is it our inability or unwillingness to answer direct questions about religion?  Is it that we use unfamiliar language to describe our beliefs?  Is it fear of the unknown? [...]

My own beginnings in the bloggernacle date to the 2008 election when I was interested in hearing more about Romney’s candidacy from the POV of other Mormons.  I started out reading and discussing posts at Mormon Mentality before I found Mormon Matters and got sucked in to that site’s discussion and then invited to blog there.  [...]

I wrote last week on the vacancy occurring in the Apostolic Quorum of the Community of Christ due to the resignation of James Slauter in order to assist in caring for his grandchild. As noted by Rich Brown in a comment to my earlier post on the vacancy, the President of the church has now [...]

One of my favorite ex-callings was Visiting Teaching Leader.  I know it sounds like a made up calling, but it was a real thing!  What I loved about it was that I got to be the boss of what counted as Visiting Teaching, and I was pretty liberal!  I also found it easier to just [...]