Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Peculiar People

Home
Latter-day Saint

diversity

Select a Category American society Art baptism Blogging Book of Mormon Book review Brigham Young Brigham Young University Bundy Catholicism Christianity Communalism Community of Christ conferences conversion correlation Culture denominations Digital History Discipline Councils diversity Doctrine Donald Trump education Emma Smith ethics family feminism fiction Film review food French Polynesia Fundamentalism Gay rights Gender global Gun politics Halloween health History Honor Code hymns Joseph Smith Kirtland Temple law of consecration massacre site military Ministering missionary moderate Mormon feminism Modern Mormonism Mormon origins Mormon War Mormonism Mormonism, politics, Romney Obama Peace politics Polygamy Pope Francis Poverty Prayer Priesthood Protestantism Race Religious freedom Revelation Reviews sacred sites Scientology Scripture Secularization See Stones sexual assault Star Wars television temples Tithing Utah violence war women's ordination

Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012

July 2017

July 03, 2017

A Letter for My Someday-Teenage Children

I write all of this to you, my kids-who-are-probably-too-young-to-make-it-through-this-entire-letter, to explain my commitment to Mormonism,...

June 2017

June 15, 2017

Confederate Symbols and the Black Flag of ISIS: Two Sides of the Same Coin

A terrorist symbol looms over my hometown. It stands for an intolerant, un-American ideology, one...

April 2017

April 06, 2017

Trump Should Learn from Andrew Jackson: Keep Church Out of State

Trump can learn from his hero and reject a fusion of Church and State. Among...

April 02, 2017

The Anti-Trump General Conference

Like many Mormons around the world, I’ve spent this weekend watching the Church’s General Conference,...

March 2017

March 20, 2017

A Hillbilly, a Professor, and a Mormon Mayor Walk into a (Dry) Bar . . .

The experience Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams gained on his Mormon mission helped him...

March 05, 2017

If Thomas Friedman were Mormon . . .

The New York Times columnist would love the Church's Global Education Initiative, but Donald Trump...

June 2016

June 17, 2016

Stop Praying for us, and Acknowledge That You Helped Create Omar Mateen

Let me give you a run down: 2015 was the deadliest year on record for...

May 2016

May 13, 2016

Trans Win: Federal Government to Sue North Carolina

The Department of Justice recently announced it will be suing North Carolina for House Bill...

March 2016

March 22, 2016

Ted Cruz’s Weak Islamaphobia

In the aftermath of this morning's tragic terrorist attack in Brussels, each presidential candidate is...

February 2016

February 17, 2016

How has Obamacare Helped Queer People?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA or colloquially termed ‘Obamacare’) has now defied the odds within...

November 2015

November 20, 2015

Finding Hope From The Westboro Baptist Church

For years, the Westboro Baptist Church have been synonymous with bigotry. I learned this when...

November 07, 2015

Why Didn’t We Do This By Common Consent?

Reactions to the recent church policy changes concerning the children of married homosexual couples (which...

November 07, 2015

I Won’t Go to Church Unless Everyone is Welcome

There is a lot yet to be said about the Church's recent policy changes to...

November 06, 2015

How I choose to see the revisions

I write this as a heterosexual person, one who is not directly affected by the...

September 2015

September 22, 2015

Ben Carson’s Islamophobia Could Cost His Mormon Support

The 2016 Republican nomination is turning into quite a spectacle, even when we’re not talking...

September 21, 2015

Celebrating Samuel W. Taylor, a Peculiar Person

Samuel W. Taylor was born, as we all were at one time or another, on...

September 18, 2015

Ahmed Mohamed, and The Need For A New Narrative

Ahmed Mohamed, a high school student in Irving, Texas, had a rude awakening this...

August 2015

August 27, 2015

There’s’ something religious about ‘political correctness’

Editor's note: This expression of ideas is way too long and meanders a bit. The...

August 25, 2015

With the Mormon Church’s Backlash Against Boy Scouts, Gay Leaders Are Merely Scapegoats

Young men in the Mormon faith are almost guaranteed to be automatically enrolled with the...

April 2014

April 02, 2014

Foodism?

I am excited to read the new collection of essays on food and religion in...

February 2014

February 19, 2014

Missionary Work in the Pre-Correlation Age, My Grandfather’s “Mormon Doctrine,” and Mormonism’s (Un)Systematic Theology

My grandfather took a train to Toronto, Canada, to start his LDS mission in 1948....

February 03, 2014

Community of Christ Sings: A New Hymnal for a Divided Global Church

“You hold in your hands a vital mission tool!” proclaims the foreword of the Community...

October 2013

October 30, 2013

There’s So Much to Do, Outside the Ivory Tower!

I am an independent scholar. Not independently wealthy unfortunately – I have to earn my...

October 14, 2013

Beyond Family: Women’s Leadership in the LDS Church

A recent flurry of debate and discussion over the issue of women’s roles in...

August 2013

August 28, 2013

A Plea for Identity on the Internet

I recently watched a preview for The Fifth Estate, the new film about WikiLeaks co-founder...

May 2013

May 06, 2013

Put Your Mormon Where Your Mouth Is: Gender, Sexuality, and The Second Great Commandment

During Conference in October 2007, at the end of General Relief Society President Julie Beck’s...

April 2013

April 24, 2013

“Matt and Me (But Mostly Me)”*: A Conversation about _The Book of Mormon_ on Broadway

The Book of Mormon, the musical comedy co-written by South Park creators Trey Parker and...

March 2013

March 04, 2013

How Conference Comes to Hong Kong

In one month, General Conference will come again to the red brick building with the...

February 2013

February 20, 2013

*Angels in America* at 20: Revisiting Tony Kushner’s Millennium — and His Mormons — in the 21st Century

2013 is the 20th anniversary of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize for his groundbreaking play Angels...

February 04, 2013

“It’s like Methodism, only more”: Mormon Conversion and Narratives of the Great Apostasy

A couple of weeks ago in Sunday School, a middle-aged woman shared her conversion story...