Sister Wives’ Madison Brown’s Mormon Baptism Rejection, Explained

Last updated on: October 22, 2015 at 9:14 pm By Cody Ray Shafer

Confession: I actually really love the show Sister Wives. It is a pretty remarkable snapshot of American life that is uncommon, but it is also kind of an anti-reality show, designed not to hype up mundane existence into needless drama, but instead to normalize the lifestyle of the polygamist Brown family, proving that not all polygamists are cultish creeps like Warren Jeffs. The problem, it appears, is that the mainstream Mormon church isn’t buying this show’s premise. The Browns are... Read more

Scandal on the Mormon Ranch

Last updated on: October 19, 2015 at 7:22 pm By J. Paul Valley

In case you haven’t heard, the LDS Church is currently involved in a rather large land development project in Florida. According to a recent report by The Associated Press, the plan is as such: Over the next six decades, the plan being developed by the Mormon church-owned Deseret Ranch promises to convert the largest undeveloped section of metro Orlando into more than a dozen bustling neighborhoods. In the process, it would radically reshape Osceola County, a suburb that has been... Read more

The 5 Best References to Mormonism in the History of Television

Last updated on: October 16, 2015 at 11:04 pm By J. Paul Valley

So that Quantico show debuted a little while back. It’s a show about FBI agents and stuff that critics seem to generally like, but Mormons are generally nervous about. Apparently there’s a steamy hot Mormon hunk in the first episode who doesn’t really make it to the second episode and there was a lot of anxiety over this because I guess his temple garments were visible in one scene (but less visible than originally intended, or something?). Also, from what I... Read more

What Should We Take Away From Slate’s Missionary Health Article?

Last updated on: October 17, 2015 at 5:57 am By Cody Ray Shafer

We posted recently about the Slate piece by Mark Joseph Stern about missionary health care, and Jana Reiss’ piece at Flunking Sainthood in response. Both are worth a read, but the gist is that Stern reported that missionaries are often denied medical care in the mission field, and Reiss pointed out that his piece lacked some key information and relied instead on shock journalism, which undermined its potential positive influence in Church policy or culture. She’s right, but there is... Read more

This is Why the Mormon Vote Matters to Republicans

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 8:06 pm By J. Paul Valley

Mormon reporter-in-chief McKay Coppins has a new piece up at Buzzfeed (it’s actually a two days old now) about why the “Mormon vote” in Nevada has become so important to Republicans. According to Coppins, Mormons haven’t typically been seen by candidates as an important demographic in the primaries. They vote reliably Republican, but beyond that Mormons haven’t typically played a major role in the primary horse race. But Coppins details how the Romney campaign proved that Mormons can be a useful force,... Read more

Do Mormon Missionaries Get Shafted on Health Care?

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:37 pm By J. Paul Valley

Mark Joseph Stern over at Slate just published an interesting article about the state of health care — or lack thereof — for Mormon missionaries. Stern reports that there is a large number of missionaries who “face serious obstacles in obtaining quality health care” and that this has led those on the receiving end of these oversights to become frustrated with the Church, even doubting its truthfulness. It’s an interesting piece that highlights some of the dangers associated with serving... Read more

Souls, not Skin: Why I stand with the 3 new Apostles

Last updated on: October 6, 2015 at 8:22 pm By Stephanie

Yes, I admit the natural woman in me was somewhat dismayed that the ‘white American standard’ within the Quorum of the Twelve was preserved last weekend when three new Apostles were called and sustained. However, I chose then and continue to choose now to trust that it was the right thing to do and that the callings were of God and not of man. Where each of the three new Brethren spoke of how President Monson told them their calls... Read more

Science and Religion

Last updated on: August 12, 2024 at 6:58 pm By Guest Contributor

All men, regardless of race, religion, or cultural background all at some point wonder and question where they come from and what the point of existence is. Some try through science to answer the question, others through philosophy, and still others through religion. No matter how they try to answer it, they all have the question. And it is their desire to have the question answered so that they can go onto something else. For scientists, they use the scientific... Read more

A Review of Thomas McConkie’s Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis

Last updated on: October 5, 2015 at 4:57 am By Rachael

A man, peering over the ledge of a precipice into nothingness; a woman, looking down in horror at the cracks blooming across her chest, only to see that they reveal a star-studded interior. These first two images of Thomas McConkie’s newly-released book, Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis: A Simple Developmental Map, juxtapose two conceptions of “faith crisis.” One is the binary clinging to safe ground or leaping into an abyss; the other, McConkie’s rendering, casts it as a transformative... Read more

The saving habit: 123 weeks and counting

Last updated on: October 2, 2015 at 5:47 pm By Stephanie

See the crazy world going by in front of the LA Temple there? See the peace and safety the temple projects from atop its little hill out along Santa Monica Boulevard? Don’t you want that peace and safety in your own mind and heart and life? This is me encouraging you to do whatcha gotta do to get yourself there as often as possible starting now. 123 weeks ago last night, I attended the temple for the first time in... Read more