In the second episode of this series, I claimed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a lot of nothing — but then in the most recent installment I mentioned a substantial selling point: And the church will be right there to constantly pat you on the…
Trump and the Rise of the Uninformed Expert
I got some hate mail last Thursday. It was a voicemail, actually, from an old friend. He said he’s cutting his ties to us because of my husband Mark’s recent suggestion that Syrian refugees be admitted into our country. Boasting an extensive knowledge of Islam (he owns a Quran), this…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: **edited: forgot to add a title edition, lol
I guess it’s not Mormon news, but various Mormons had a lot to say about the recent racist violence in Charlottesville — and about racism within Mormonism. Good for the CoJCoL-dS for specifically calling out racism — something Trump couldn’t bring himself to do. I wish the atheist movement were…
My most bizarre interfaith interaction
This is something that happened to me when I was about 11 years old, and it has stuck with me all these years because it was just so dang weird. As you can tell from the title, I do not mean to imply that this is at all typical of…
Strategies of the CoJCoL-dS: The whys and hows of polarization
Any path that bills itself as the one true path for everyone is bound to lead to judgement. Naturally the path will be better suited to some people than to others, and — if it’s what everyone is supposed to be doing — that leads to the conclusion that those…
The Mormon Way to Get Rich
Thanks to some of my believing Mormon friends, the blog post, “Will Your Child be Rich or Poor? 15 Poverty Habits Parents Teach their Children,” has been hovering on my radar, popping up repeatedly in my Facebook feed and even landing in my inbox via mass email. When I finally…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Extreme Parenting Edition!
By now you’ve probably heard the story about the Mormon family who dumped their son in Bryce Canyon when he didn’t want to serve a mission — and about the BYUI professor who got fired for posting pro-LGBT remarks on Facebook. By Common Consent’s new publishing house looks like it’s…
Strategies of the CoJCoL-dS: High demands and polarization
A few years ago there was a lot of discussion in the Bloggernacle about the fact that highly-demanding religions (like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are currently retaining members better than low-demand religions (like Catholicism). Both types are shedding members, but the more demanding denominations are apparently…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Baby steps edition!
Hard to believe, but it looks like the CoJCoL-dS may be moving on from the 1950’s to… the 1970’s I guess…? Female church employees are now allowed to wear pants (naturally, I’m more astonished to learn that they weren’t…) and the dudes can wear colored shirts! The most baffling part…
Sunday in Outer Blogness: Savannah’s edition!
I imagine that by now you’ve all seen this viral video: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t have to continue to double down on its homophobia. Or its racist policies. Just look what the Southern Baptists did about their past racism: WHEREAS, the roots of White Supremacy…