KiwiMormon

The Sacred Mormon Penis

May 5, 2013 By Gina Colvin 56 Comments

I've been thoughtful recently about the cultural privileges that my husband has as a Mormon man in possession of his full male faculties. He is spared a tremendous amount of time thinking and wondering about what it means to be a woman amidst Mormon males. He is simply unburdened by the need to think everything I have to think about in order for this religion to make sense. For instance, a core Mormon belief that God has a body of flesh and bones' which means he also has a penis, a … [Read More...]

Today church made me sad

March 31, 2013 By Gina Colvin 9 Comments

I woke up this morning with a sigh. I don’t every morning. But today I did because it’s Sunday, and on Sunday I go to church, and sometimes church makes me sad. But I do recall one wonderful Sunday, when I was about 23. I was volunteering with a local disability support service and we were on a camp in South Canterbury that included a Sabbath outing to the Ashburton Trotting Club. This took place in my more orthodox period and I battled with myself over this decision to … [Read More...]

The New Introduction to Official Declaration Two: It’s just not that satisfying…

March 2, 2013 By Gina Colvin 50 Comments

I once belonged to a ward where the personality of said ward was defined by a long standing rift between two women, then in their 80’s, who had, decades before, determined that they couldn’t stand the sight of each other. I shall henceforth refer to one of the women as Sister Stick (who was my … [Read More...]

LDS Church HQ announces its Relocation to New Zealand! (Well, not really but…..)

January 14, 2013 By Gina Colvin 57 Comments

After a one month summer hiatus its time to hit the New Year with more unwanted opinion from the antipodes! What better way to kick 2013 off than with a bit of serious silliness? Sitting around our dinner table last night was our usual contingent of diminutive masculinity, but we were joined by … [Read More...]

On Pants & Shootings: How will it end?

December 16, 2012 By Gina Colvin 15 Comments

Last week one of my readers invited me to participate in the ‘Wear Pants to Church’ Sunday campaign. She gave me a link to the Facebook page so I could get a sense of what this was all about. I smiled to myself and thought it sounded like a bit of a giggle. And then I clicked on the link … [Read More...]

How Southpark changed Mormonism

December 1, 2012 By Gina Colvin 6 Comments

A couple of weeks ago Joanna Brooks (via Skype) and I gave a public lecture at the University of Canterbury entitled 'What if Popular Culture Changed Religion?' in the 'What if Wednesday' series. While the title of this post is slightly tongue in cheek, we traced the relationship between … [Read More...]

Reflections on My Spiritually Heterogamous Marriage

November 26, 2012 By Gina Colvin 10 Comments

Heterogamy: refers to a marriage between two individuals that differ in a certain criterion. Homogamy: a marriage or union between partners that match according to that criterion. (wikipedia) I grew up in a home managed by my Mormon mother and my Catholic step-father. While … [Read More...]

Romney’s Defeat: A wake up call for Mormons?

November 7, 2012 By Gina Colvin 54 Comments

American presidential elections are a bit bonkers but wonderfully diverting. I’ve looked on with keen interest as $6 billion dollars in campaign expenditure was gobbled up, and a searing ideological divide was created. And after months and months of vitriol and meteoric nastiness the … [Read More...]

The New Zealand Marriage (Definition of marriage) Amendment Bill: A private comment on a public submission

October 29, 2012 By Gina Colvin 22 Comments

On the 29th August 2012 the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in the New Zealand Parliament by 80 to 40 (with one abstention). From here the Bill went to a Select Committee for further consideration. Public submissions closed on the 26th October. I had … [Read More...]

Embodying the Mormon Cultural Turn: A personal reflection

October 8, 2012 By Gina Colvin 14 Comments

I’ve only been blogging since the beginning of the year but in that time I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of comments from readers. On a regular basis I get messages from well meaning folk who have questions about my level of observance, some gently call me to repent, some have even urged me … [Read More...]

A New Dawn for Young Women: Its about time!

October 7, 2012 By Gina Colvin 7 Comments

I woke up this morning to the announcement that the age of missionary service has been lowered for both males and females. My first reaction was, ‘hurray!’ About 30 years ago the General Young Women Presidency visited Christchurch New Zealand and had an open forum with leaders and Laurels. … [Read More...]

Should Romney repent? ‘Yes!’, says the prophet Mormon

September 20, 2012 By Gina Colvin 80 Comments

I had determined that I had said all that I was going to say about Romney – I wasn’t going to dignify the man with any more attention, nor give his groupies yet more fuel to respond with their ‘correctives’. But I’m too gob-smacked at the moment to be restrained. Firstly, I don’t … [Read More...]

How am I supposed to tell my Jesus loving Mormon kids that they aren’t Christian?

August 28, 2012 By Gina Colvin 31 Comments

This post is in response to a recent blog by Ben Witherington ‘Why Mormonism is not Christian – the issue of Christology.’ My nine year old adores his older brother and it was no surprise that after years of watching Isaac sing choral evensong he too wanted to don a bright red cassock, a … [Read More...]

Romney’s tithing and the case of the Mormon Blue Blood

August 24, 2012 By Gina Colvin 44 Comments

Seriously? So Romney doesn’t want to disclose his financial returns because he feels that the amount of tithing he pays to the church should be private? Rep. Jason Chaffetz's rationale is that Romney's desire for tithing privacy is meant to save the recipients of his tithing largesse from … [Read More...]