We are due for a little change. Peculiar People is relaunching with a renewed emphasis on examining the world through a Mormon lens. We are not always sure what that means, but excited about the possibilities anyway. When Matt Bowman and Ben Park first launched Peculiar People, the world was getting to know our religion during the so-called Mormon Moment. But now that introductions have been made, and the spotlight shifted from Mitt Romney to a more eclectic representation of... Read more
Young men in the Mormon faith are almost guaranteed to be automatically enrolled with the Boy Scouts of America. I spent the majority of my teenage life attending BSA camp-outs, rafting down rivers, and camping out in the middle of no-man’s land. The BSA has always stood for some perceived transition into manhood by many members—learning how to start a fire, properly use an ax, and how to tie one-thousand-and-one-knots. However, last month the BSA announced a policy change that... Read more
The Beach Boys sang about it, and now it’s coming true here in the Salt Lake Valley. The guys are loving it, but the ladies? Well… So this very interesting article by Jon Birger that TIME published on their website yesterday was floated my way. As a single Mormon female, I was intrigued by its initial mention of more LDS women getting boob jobs as an apparent way of snagging a man. I have natural 40Cs. No problem there,... Read more
Gaze upon the works of Jon McNaughton, the most important painter of our time.* Undoubtedly, there’s an uncle, or a father, or a former bishop out there who has admired, shared, and maybe even paid for a painting by the Mormon artist and curmudgeon with a paintbrush. They may have it hanging in their study, or, God forbid, in their living room next to the red-robed Christ and a photograph of the Provo temple. McNaughton’s works are well known for... Read more
For the lucky few vacationing in isolated corners of the world without internet access, you may have missed the furious hubbub surrounding Joseph Smith’s seer stone. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in conjunction with the Community of Christ released previously unseen photographs of the stone along with a new volume of manuscripts from the Joseph Smith Papers Project, sparking a conversation among Mormons about its significance and relevance to faith. Former Peculiar People blogheads Matt Bowman... Read more
I’ve been, as Mormons say, “less active” here at the blog for the past few months. A number of changes have forced me to contribute less—among them graduation (“Doctor Spencer,” now!) and a move to Utah. And I’ll now actually be signing off from the blog entirely. I’d like to make one last contribution before doing so, and that in form of a review. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to attend the press conference held in connection... Read more
This is part 3 of a 3-part discussion with Alex Griffin and Eve Tushnet. In the first post, Alex and Eve discussed discourse on homosexuality in Mormonism and Catholicism. In the second post, they discuss what elements of their faiths and other faiths they have found useful in interpreting their sexual orientation. In this post, they turn their questions toward each other. What have you found interesting about each others’ answers? What was unexpected, enlightening? How might you try to apply... Read more
This is part 2 of a 3-part discussion with Alex Griffin and Eve Tushnet. In the first post, Alex and Eve discussed discourse on homosexuality in Mormonism and Catholicism. In this post, they discuss what elements of their faiths and other faiths they have found useful in interpreting their sexual orientation. In the third post, they turn their questions toward each other. In the third post, they turn their questions toward each other. What cultural, theological, scriptural, or ritual elements of your... Read more
Sometime at church in the past two weeks, local Mormons leaders across the country read aloud a letter addressing the Church’s response to the Supreme Court’s recent decision on same-sex marriage. [fn1] In my own ward, one person asked a question that has become more and more salient: what about gay Mormons who wish to remain Mormon? Unfortunately, at present there are few good answers to this question. Today in my congregation, the answer given was that gay Mormons are no different than... Read more
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave voice to the unspeakable injustice of American slavery in an address unrivaled either before or since. As a former slave, he spoke from profound experience. As an orator, he spoke with deft and sharpened words. “What, to the American slave,” he asked his white audience, “is your 4th of July?” The answer: “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is... Read more
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