“Why are you so mean all the time?” I asked one of the religious conservatives in my life, this one Mormon. “When am I ever mean?” This particular family member had just posted on social media urging everyone to be Christlike. Immediately afterward, he posted his view that the very…
Send Me No Carnations
In the Spring of 2003, I was working as the minister’s assistant at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. One particular morning that Spring, in the Reverend Daniel Kanter’s office, I was alternating between sipping my coffee and offering up my opinion, both pleasures I never enjoyed while Mormon. Seven…
The Brodie Awards and X-Mormon of the Year
Main Street Plaza has hosted the Brodie Awards and William Law X-Mormon of the Year for a full ten years. It all started in 2009 when exmos were explicitly excluded from the Bloggernacle’s “Niblets” — a set of awards that fizzled out a few years later. Check the sidebar for…
Mormon Communists with Temple Recommends
by Johnny Townsend Many Mormons in Utah see Mitt Romney as a traitor, a lefty radical, because he won’t support Trump’s most egregious acts of oppression. Mormons need to start separating their religious convictions from the Republican party line. “Valeria” was one my favorite missionaries when I served in the…
Mormons Should Make Jesus Semitic Again
by Johnny Townsend Mormons have a long, troubled history of racism, well documented in Joanna Brooks’ Mormonism and White Supremacy. Feeble attempts at addressing the problem consisted mostly of changing the wording in a few Book of Mormon passages from “white and delightsome” to “pure and delightsome.” Numerous systemic problems…
Politics as Religious Conviction
by Johnny Townsend The religious right is ramping up for a modern-day crusade. That’s not a metaphor. Racially motivated killings are in the news every day. Homophobic and transphobic murders are committed regularly. Poor men and women are forced to work in conditions that will kill a significant portion of…
HEY APOLOGISTS! This is how you resurrect a parrot!
by Farraday Apologists, we have to face facts. The Mormon Church is a dead parrot. Everything the critics say is basically true. Your excuses do not work. But what can you do? Your family is in the church, so you can’t leave. And you are an idealist: you really want…
The Answer to Climate Denial Can Be Found in Porn
by Johnny Townsend I work in an adult video store, a job that’s given me unexpected insight into the motivations of good, religious people willing to continue accelerating global warming no matter how much personal suffering they experience as a result. Granted, I have other experiences—four years at a Baptist…
The Gospel of Misery
by Johnny Townsend “Man is, that he might be miserable.” Mormons are moral ascetics, demanding secular bans on alleviating misery whenever possible. Could the state of Utah or the U.S. federal government afford to provide healthcare to its citizens? Yes, but that would improve everyone’s quality of life. Could the…
Congratulations 2019 Brodie Award Winners!!!
The results are in!! There were a lot of close races — and quite an impressive number of votes — for a fantastic batch of winners! Year-long awards for people and groups: Best New Podcast/Blog/Channel/Site: And It Came To Sass: The Most Correct Of Any Podcast On Earth Best Podcast:…