On a sunny winter day of 1985 or 86, I was waiting in the entrance of the Nuremberg train station when an elderly gentlemen with an Austrian accent addressed me: “When I see how beautifully Nuremberg has been rebuild, I feel encouraged that one day our Germany will be united…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: (too much) heart and brains edition!
The juiciest news this week was TLC’s new reality show “Sister Wives” portraying the lives of ordinary polygamists in Utah! As usual, the members of the CoJCoL-dS are concerned about how this affects their image. Some are also concerned about the sex aspect, but fortunately the polygamist ladies reassure us…
Technical Difficulties in Outer Blogness!
As you may have noticed, the service that was hosting the Outer Blogness sidebar widget has vanished in a puff of smoke. Mojoey’s Atheist Blogroll was using the same service, and has plans for something new. We’ll probably use whatever service he finds (or founds), but that solution isn’t coming…
The Bananality of Mormon Studies: A Personal Encounter
Tother day: during a jaunt through a simmering intellectual salon called Facebook, I learned that by adding a flavored pudding mix to ones banana-bread dough, why, the resultant increase in relative moisture renders the final product altogether de-light-ful. Here I too strive by way of personal anecdote and even cultural…
‘Mormon Matters’ Looking for New Collaborators/Writers/Podcasters
John Dehlin posted this announcement at Mormon Matters, which I’m copying-and-pasting below (and adding my encouragement that you consider contacting John … if you’re already blogging, participating could be as simple as cross-posting your work to Mormon Matters). Mormon Matters is looking for a few new collaborators to re-work the…
Prop 8 update: the question of child welfare
Thirteen states have signed on as “friends-of-the-court” to assert that defining marriage is a state issue rather than a federal issue. If gay marriage comes to pass federally, they promise to break away and become colonies. (kidding.) The irony is that in order to argue for a state’s right to…
Liberalism, Authoritarianism, and the Mormon Experience
Since Chris was lamenting the marginal role of liberty in Brighamite Mormonism, I might as well share some thoughts about Mormon authoritarianism. There appear to be three hypotheses about the authoritarian nature of Brighamist Mormonism. First, an orthodox Mormon might say that authoritarianism is the organizational manifestation of Mormon theology….
Sunday in Outer Blogness: in or out edition!
This past week the blogworld spent a lot of time exploring that mysterious region we inhabit — not completely in the orbit of the CoJCoL-dS, but not totally outside the Mormon community either. Back before the Internet, it was so easy for members to divide the world into three neat-and-tidy…
LDS Inc. unwilling to tell members to obey the law?
You’ve probably all seen the news coverage recently noting that there is an increasing debate in Utah about illegal immigration. Mormons seem to be leading the charge in Arizona and Utah (not necessarily as Mormons, but these politicians happen to be Mormons) to restrict the rights of illegal immigrants. But…
Meet the Republican who got California and Maine to investigate NOM and the Mormon church and now intends to debate Mitt Romney on national TV
Fred Karger and I worked together on establishing the NOM-LDS connection. Now hes the GOPs first declared 2012 presidential candidate and has just released his first ad. I’d love to see Fred debate Mike, Mitt, Sarah and the rest of the (more-or-less anti-gay) 2012 Republican field. Campaigning in Iowa and…