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Why Hide the Handbook?
Why can’t ordinary members read the Church Handbook of Instructions? Three things got me to thinking about this question. First, in the discussion following Vada’s recent post on people getting endowed...
View ArticleWhy I Don’t Like Scouting
As a teenager, I didn’t like scouting because I didn’t like outdoor activities like camping, hiking, orienteering, and whatnot. So I did very little scouting related stuff, and that only after much...
View ArticleSomething Different in the First Presidency Letter?
Yesterday a letter from the First Presidency was read in my ward’s sacrament meeting. It sounded like the standard letter that’s sent every so often asking members to please not write to Salt Lake...
View Article“Gotcha” questions for GAs
A recent guest poster at fMh asked for suggestions about what question she might pose to a visiting Seventy who had agreed to a Q&A session with members as part of stake conference. In a post at...
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Things to Like in the CHI
A few years ago, I wrote a post asking why the Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI) wasn’t available to rank-and-file members. And now, bowing to the strength of my arguments , the Church has gone...
View ArticleA One-Hour Block for the Holidays
What meetings does your ward or branch typically hold when Christmas in on a Sunday? Do you have all three hours of meetings, or just sacrament meeting? Or is there some other arrangement? I realize...
View ArticleTimes, They Are A Changin’
A couple months ago, I wrote a quick post about Visiting Teaching and my relationship to it. In it, I emphasized that I didn’t feel like a forced, monthly visit was spiritually or socially useful to...
View ArticleQuietism
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto...
View ArticleDistal Effects of Missionary Age Changes
Kent Larsen at T&S has a great list of possible effects of the changes in minimum missionary ages that President Monson announced in Conference. Many of the effects discussed are straightforward...
View ArticleAnother Conversation Stopper
There are several phrases commonly used to shut down discussions surrounding gender issues in the LDS church. My co-bloggers have already discussed several including: “If you only understood your role...
View ArticleHow to Disavow the Priesthood Ban
For many years the Priesthood ban has been a matter of embarrassment and consternation to many Mormons. It makes us seem close-minded and exclusionary as a church, and seems to contradict many of our...
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The Movement to Hang Pictures of Female Leaders in Church Buildings
Unless you live under a rock, you are no doubt aware of the high-profile movement that has been urging Church leaders to pray to ask God for new revelation regarding the hanging of pictures of female...
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If I Were Going to Steady the Ark, This is What I Would Do
OK, I’ll admit upfront that my title is somewhat disingenuous. I’m not really going to talk about my highest ark-steadying priorities, but rather an ark-steadying proposal that I could see actually...
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Is the Church Becoming like FIFA?
I am a huge soccer enthusiast. I grew up playing in my neighborhood parks, at the nearby indoor soccer facility, and on my high school team. My dad would take me to Camp Randall stadium to watch the...
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Who Speaks for the Trees?
At the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows and the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting old crows…is the Street of the Lifted Lorax. And deep in the...
View ArticleChurch Announces Slowdown to Hastening of the Work
In a surprise announcement this morning, the LDS Church confirmed that it will be rolling out a slowdown to the Hastening of the Work. The new slowdown program, to be tested initially in several pilot...
View ArticleA Mormon Voyage
In his brief history of India’s geography, Land of the Seven Rivers, Sanjeev Sanyal describes how India’s maritime prowess fell into decline beginning at the end of the twelfth century. Indian...
View ArticleMaybe the sea change has already happened.
It makes the most sense for Mormon theology if gay people don’t really exist. Since in Mormon belief, heterosexual marriage and child-rearing is projected into eternity, and a central element of what...
View ArticleA Peacemaker
I want to start with this great quote (from this post), one I go back to over and over and over again: Because listen – here’s the thing. After my wrestling match with God, I wasn’t really exhausted...
View Article“Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled”
On the Mormons and Gays website, Elder Cook is quoted as saying this: “As a church, nobody should be more loving and compassionate. Let us be at the forefront in terms of expressing love, compassion...
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