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After last week I thought it might be worth the time to write a little more about the concept of agency. While it’s accepted we don’t always have agency over what happens to us (for obvious reasons), there is an idea that has become prevalent that we nevertheless have full agency over ourselves; that, no matter how hard things are, we can always choose how we respond to anything. Overall I think, (with nuance), this can be a healthy rule of thumb. Holding yourself accountable for your own life is at the heart of almost all religious teaching, and is… Read More
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I’m working hard on my Zerah Pulsipher biography and thought it would be fun to share a few items that I found interesting or fun. Today’s post focuses on a couple fun and relatable vignettes from early settlers in Utah and Idaho. Read More
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Guest post by Fotini Tzouveleki Life is not always sunshine and rainbows. Most of the times, things do not get your way. You might find out that your friends have been mean behind your back or that your boss is planning to fire you. However, there are ways to build resilience so strong, it can get you through the toughest of times. The only thing you need to do is to find a release. Something that you can transfer all your pain and turn it into something practical. This article serves as a guide, a how to manuscript in order… Read More
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For the uninitiated, tier lists have become a fashionable way to rank order items, running from F tier to S tier (“super,” above A tier). Sometimes going up to S plus. I watch a lot of weight lifting YouTube videos, and it seems like every fitness influencer has done one of these for best exercises, but it’s used in virtually any other context where something can be rank ordered. Here I’m largely borrowing from the Substack writer Bentham’s Bulldog and his own tier list about arguments for the existence of God, but my rank ordering departs from his in some… Read More
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Happy Bastille Day! You may not think Bastille Day is important for Americans, given that it is a celebration of an event early in the French Revolution, the storming of the Bastille in 1789. But since the day is a kind of celebration of freedom and since the subsequent revolution has become a kind of template for revolutions since that time, we might think about what it means for us today. Read More
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The idea behind “Where Much is Given, Much is Required” goes beyond just the idea of responsibility or accountability. There is also in the phrase a sense of equity and care for others that isn’t necessarily part of responsibility. The idea is clearly the opposite of the images we see of excessive displays of wealth, like toilets made of gold or yachts the size of football fields. If this is about accountability, then we need to recognize that we have a responsibility to others, regardless of whether we think they ‘deserve’ it or not. So, if we aren’t wealthy and… Read More
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We have surprisingly fine-grained data on the religious affiliation of federal prisoners. I’m not sure why, but it might have something to do with the fact that a large portion of religious freedom cases in the US deal with prison accommodations (e.g. can a Sikh prisoner wear a beard? A Jewish prisoner have Kosher food? A Muslim have an imam with him during his execution, to name a few examples that have come up). The religious affiliations of prisoners are also raised a lot in the God wars since, while almost every study on the matter suggests that religiosity is… Read More
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“O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?… How long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?” (DC 121:1, 3). This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out. They believed God would protect his saints and help them build Zion. The saints did what God asked at so much sacrifice. How could God let this happen? Read More
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![[Mental Illness] The Weight of Happiness](https://timesandseasons.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/sadness-and-happiness-in-the-air-giorgi-khatiashvili-1.jpg)
In America we are obsessed with individual happiness. Like, obsessed. From the Declaration of Independence to prosperity gospel to the multi-billion dollar self-care industry, personal happiness has become less of an experience and more of a measure. Happiness has become something that is deeply individualistic, and serves as a sign that you are doing something right. Not having the time or space to go into the history and sociology of it (which is fascinating), I want to talk about the effect our social attitudes around happiness can have on mental illness, particularly in our religious setting. How many times have… Read More
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I’m working hard on my Zerah Pulsipher biography and thought it would be fun to share a few items that I found interesting or fun. Today’s post focuses on blessings given to members of the newly-formed quorums of the seventies during the 1830s. Read More
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Wilford Woodruff was a tremendously successful missionary in his early days as a member of the Church. Through doing so, he offered an example of many praiseworthy attributes, which were discussed by Kristy Wheelwright in her recently published book, Prepare Me for Thy Use: Lessons from Wilford Woodruff’s Mission Years. She also discussed some of Wilford Woodruff’s mission stories in a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history site, From the Desk. What follows here is a copost to the full interview. Read More
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“How can I tell if something I feel or goes through my mind is the Spirit telling me something, or my own thoughts?” is a question I’ve heard posed a number of times in church (often in elders quorum). So as I often think about posts in terms of series, I’m thinking about a series on Mormonism and the Spirit. As we all know, the Spirit is really important in our religion with our leaders stressing this as much now as ever. God will give us guidance through the Spirit, we should listen to that guidance, and live our lives… Read More
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Come Follow Me Currculum, Doctrine and Covenants, Latter-day Saint Thought, SS Lesson – Doctrine and Covenants
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The introduction of the ‘United Firm’ in 1832 was, I think, an attempt to provide needed structure to the Church and its members. Any organization provides roles for individuals and ways that those roles interact with each other and the outside world. As a result, the scriptures covered by this week’s Come Follow Me lesson address our roles in society and how we should act to improve the Church and make ourselves more like our Heavenly Parents. Read More
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As evidenced by the flood of AI movies hitting Twitter over the past couple of weeks, Google’s Veo 3 recently made another leap with AI video generation, adding sound and better consistency. It still has its issues (as can be seen below), but in the hands of a skilled prompter with some credits to burn it can create some fun meme-level, eight-second clips. We’re starting to see some moves towards serious artists creating longer films with AI beyond the famous Coca-Cola commercial. For example, this short was the first AI movie I’ve seen that I would describe as moving (created… Read More
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I’m in the midst of pushing to finish a draft of my biography of Zerah Pulsipher and thought it would be fun to share a few items here and there that I found interesting or funny while I’m working on it. Today’s post is about the laborious journey across Iowa in the spring of 1846, concluding with a humorous story about Brigham Young claiming things were first-rate before trying to pull out a handkerchief and realizing that the pocket was full of water. Read More
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Nielsen, Chad. “Zera Pulsipher and the Regulation of Plural Marriage” Journal of Mormon History 51, no. 3 (2025): 115-148. Gemini-created abstract: This article examines the evolution of how plural marriage was regulated and controlled within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, using the 1862 disciplinary trial of Zerah Pulsipher as a key case study. Pulsipher, one of the First Seven Presidents of the Seventy, was disciplined for performing a plural marriage for William Bailey without proper authorization. The author argues that this trial illustrates a significant shift in the approval process for plural marriages under Brigham Young. Initially,… Read More
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The vulgarity and low character of Donald Trump are famously at odds with the values and teachings promoted by the Church, but another area of conflict has been less apparent despite its impact. For the Church, the Trump presidency is an apocalyptic catastrophe in the technical sense: at least a postponement and potentially a mortal blow to the eschaton we thought we were approaching. Read More
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Come Follow Me Currculum, Doctrine and Covenants, Latter-day Saint Thought, SS Lesson – Doctrine and Covenants
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We could argue that section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants has had more impact on Church members than any other section in the D&C. Prior to the vision described in the revelation, Church members, and Christianity in general, had one of two conceptions of the next life; either a dualistic heaven and hell, or the universalistic idea that everyone would be saved in heaven. “The Vision”, as it was called, changed the Latter-day Saint understanding of the next life, and in the process, of how we should act in this life. The impact even led to rendering the vision… Read More
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When I teach my occasional sociology class every once in a while race and sports get brought up. It’s one of those things that people tiptoe around and have their own opinions about but don’t really take the time to investigate or discuss. To grab the bull by the horns, there’s a popular perception that African Americans are just genetically more athletically gifted. When things like this come up I address the perspective as a sincere, good-faith argument instead of just dismissing the belief as racist, but I typically point out that, for example, if it was a matter of… Read More
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![[Mental Illness at Church] A Personal Story](https://timesandseasons.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/watercolor-illustration-young-girl-praying-sunlit-church-concept-faith-spiritual-reflection-peaceful-solitude-ash-353954823-1.webp)
I‘ve been going back and forth about how much to share about my background in what caused my mental illness and some of what it has been like. I wanted to skip this part because I’d rather talk in generalities, but stories matter, so here is a little bit of mine. As a kid I was severely bullied, to the extent that the school told my parents that our family had to move because the administrators were afraid of what would happen to me if I stayed there. There is so much shame that people who were bullied carry with… Read More
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I really appreciate the ways in which Rosalynde Welch approaches scriptures and interpretation of scriptures. I’ve mentioned this in my review of Seven Visions of Christ in the Doctrine and Covenants, but Rosalynde also shared some of her insights in a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history site, From the Desk. What follows here is a copost to the full interview. Read More
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In the next few weeks we pass through a series of commemorations and holidays that deal with freedom. We’ve already had Flag Day. Juneteenth followed five days later. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s martyrdom. In the U.S. Independence Day is just 8 days later. In France Bastille Day is on July 14th, and in Utah Pioneer Day is on July 24th. In just about six weeks the contested idea of freedom is presented to us six times, asking different questions each time. How have we participated? Most of the time we limit our participation to performative… Read More
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The 2023-2024 PRLS had the rare combination of questions about 1) current religion, 2) religion in which raised, and 3) different measures of flourishing. This allows us to see whether, for example, former Latter-day Saints (at least those raised LDS who no longer identify as such) are happier than current Latter-day Saints, or current Latter-day Saints are happier than never Latter-day Saints, etc. There are 3 flourishing measures: “Generally, how happy are you with your life these days?” [Very happy, pretty happy, not too happy] “Would you say your health in general is excellent, very good, good, fair or poor”… Read More
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BYU’s new book on Evolution and the Gospel of Jesus Christ may yet prove to be the most important contribution to literature for Church members out of the new Mormon Studies Books in 2025. If nothing else, the analytical tools and frameworks it introduces to members makes it worth reading. in a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk, Ben Spackman shared some of his insights, particularly about First Presidency statements on evolution. What follows here is a copost to the full interview. Read More
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Come Follow Me Currculum, Doctrine and Covenants, Latter-day Saint Thought, SS Lesson – Doctrine and Covenants
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Whether by teaching or by missionary work, proclaiming the gospel is a key part of LDS doctrine, practice and culture. And while this week’s Come Follow Me lesson leans toward missionary work, based on the historical events surrounding sections 71 to 75, the basic lessons found in these sections can apply to the many other ways that we communicate the gospel. Regardless of what sources we use to guide us (the lesson focuses on the spirit and on leaders), we end up communicating the parts of the gospel that we understand and have incorporated into our lives. So it’s wise… Read More
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My favorite big family memes It’s difficult to study large families in the US because most surveys have what is called “right-censored data,” where they cap it at, say 4 and above, so we can’t look specifically at, say, eight or above families. However, I found one dataset, the Cooperative Election Study, that does actually have single-child number of children under 18 values. So I did some quick numbers to see how common the proverbial big Catholic/Latter-day Saint/Orthodox Jewish/Evangelical family is. Of course, where exactly you put the “big family” line is always to some extent arbitrary. As longtime readers… Read More
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One of the big ticket items among 2025’s Mormon Studies books is John Turner’s Joseph Smith biography. It was officially released earlier this week, though I published my review earlier this month. In addition, however, John Turner recently shared some of his thoughts on the book in an interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk. What follows here is a copost to the full interview. Read More
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It’s hard to know how to start this series. It’s not going to be victorious. It’s not going to be about rising conqueror over our demons. It’s not going to be about the miracle of healing—at least not in the traditional sense. It’s just going to be one person’s perspective of what it’s like having ongoing—most likely lifelong—mental illness at church. As a warning, there will be references to suicide and suicidal ideation. I don’t want to pretty it up, so this will be without varnish, without cheap formulas; just raw honesty. While it will be based on my experience,… Read More
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Recent events have looked rather apocalyptic to me, both Israel’s wars and the US’s treatment of Latinos. Huge events seem to happen so quickly that I worry any attempt to blog about them will be old news by the time this post goes up. Trump has quite staunch support among conservative evangelicals, and I’ve seen lots of quotes, pictures, and art portraying Trump as some kind of divine tool to work for evangelicals’ agendas. Mike Huckbee’s recent text strikes me as particularly extreme. Read More