Some Pagan Thoughts on Mormonism

August 31, 2010 By benspackman 4 Comments

As I run the Mormon Portal, Star Foster runs the Pagan Portal here at Patheos. Yes, we have a Pagan Portal, as well as Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Evangelical, etc. (Go to the main page and click on Religion Portals to explore a bit.) She’s been putting up thoughts about whichever religious tradition is the weekly focus of our Future of Religion series. She recently posted 13 Things I Like about Mormons.
While some of her examples (such as polygamy) might make us say “well, maybe, but…,” or quibble in other ways (Alma in my view is unlikely to be Latin) it’s a great example of looking for the positive in religious traditions outside of one’s own. Krister Stendahl called it Holy Envy. Not everyone is so secure within their own faith that they are willing the recognize the good elsewhere. Check it out.

Filed Under: Interfaith 4 Comments

The Girl With Her Fingers In Her Ears

August 27, 2010 By neylanmcbaine 7 Comments

I have a confession: the music in the waiting chapel of the Salt Lake Temple drives me nuts. There I am, sitting reverently in my white dress, waiting for the session to start, and instead of a quiet atmosphere in which to ponder the reasons I came to the temple that day or even say a silent prayer, I am subjected to the kind of piped-in electric organ music that one might expect to hear in a funeral parlor.

As I sit there, trying to meditate but distracted by the wrong notes in the familiar hymns (the music must be played live somewhere by someone, since I hardly think there would be wrong notes in a recording), I figure I have three choices: I could resent that my religious institution forces its musical aesthetic on my personal worship and conclude that since I want to run from the musical choice I should run from the institution; I could ask the temple workers to turn it off and make a stink to the temple presidency; or I could stick my fingers in my ears so I don’t hear the music anymore and continue with my silent meditation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture 7 Comments

Adam-ondi-Ahman in Africa

August 27, 2010 By emilyu 11 Comments

For $100, you can learn your ancestors’ migratory history on the earth.  National Geographic’s Genographic Project is seeking to learn more about human migration by analyzing the DNA of people around the world, including National Geographic readers who are interested in submitting their own cheek swab and in return getting a map of either their patrilineal or matrilineal migration pattern out of Africa.

The idea that all humans derive from a group of people in Africa who began their diaspora about 60,000 years ago is a well-accepted scientific idea, and the Genographic Project is expected to add detail and close gaps in our knowledge of this migration.  But in hearing LDS friends’ and relatives’ opinions on it, they are interested in finding out where their DNA derives from (who loves geneaology more than Mormons?), but dismissive of the idea that the starting point was in Africa.  Putting aside the debate about whether Adam and Eve were historical or non-literal figures in the Judeo-Christian creation myth, science suggests that there was a small group of people (the smallest possible group being two) that gave rise to modern humanity.  The fact that not a few Mormons are uncomfortable with the idea that this group was from Africa most likely stems from Joseph Smith’s belief that the Garden of Eden was near Independence, Missouri.  This idea is so thoroughly accepted by some that I’ve heard said that if only anthropologists would start digging in Missouri, all their questions about human migration and evolution would be cleared up. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, Speculation 11 Comments

Announcement #1- Dialogue, FAIR, Sunstone, etc.

August 25, 2010 By benspackman Leave a Comment

Patheos has informal partnerships with several of the established brands in Mormonism as well as the Church itself. (Mayhap you noticed two of our guest writers from SLC last week?)  As such, we’re beginning a new long-term series. Each week we’ll feature a select article from one of these partners for publication and discussion on the Mormonism Portal. These articles will appear in the “rotator” at the top of the portal page, and open with an editorial summary, personal meaning, or particularly salient bits to notice. We’ll rotate on a regular basis between these partnerships.

The first pick is already up. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Doctrine, History, Personal Narratives Leave a Comment

Changing Racial Perceptions of the Japanese: LDS Rhetoric between 1901-1930 (Part II)

August 23, 2010 By Heidi Harris 3 Comments

This is continued from my post on changing racial perceptions of the Chinese in LDS rhetoric at the turn of the 20th century.  Both sections here are adapted from research I conducted as a fellow during the Joseph Smith Seminar in 2007.

In 1890 there were only four documented “persons of Japanese ancestry” in the entire territory of Utah.[1] Contrasted with the Chinese, Utahns had no contact whatsoever with a significant Japanese population. Subsequently, the Japanese were easily romanticized, especially in light of the glowing reports from national newspapers about Japan’s westernization and generous trade agreements. After Admiral Perry’s opening of Japan in 1854, the United States quickly recognized that the Japanese were apparently an enlightened race to so willingly and expeditiously adopt principles of modernization into their nation. Soon, trade ambassadors from Tokyo were traveling to Washington, D.C. along the transcontinental railroad to further solidify political relations between both countries. Along the way, delegations stopped in Salt Lake City.[2] The Japanese politicians were dazzling to the Mormons. They wore fine western clothing, spoke English, and were obviously gentlemen. [Read more...]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: 3 Comments
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