Always a hot topic among Mormons. Discuss.
The Wackiness of Mormon Teen Dating Rituals
Rebecca is discussing the wackiness of Mormon teen dating rituals. “Dating was a serious of creative ideas that ended revealing who it was that was asking me out,” she writes. “Is this stuff uniquely Utah?” Well, I can attest that these rituals extend at least to the quasi-Utah of Mesa, Arizona. I remember them well.
Best practices in reactivation
I recently discovered that the number of active elders in my Oakland, Calif., quorum comprises less than ten percent of the entire population of elders and prospective elders living in the ward boundaries. Even accounting for move outs whose records were never updated (and I believe that an effort was made to go through the list two years ago so it’s semi-up-to-date), there are a lot of inactive (actually, I believe “less active” is the preferred term at the moment) men living within our ward boundaries.
Opposed, if any?
The sustaining of the second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency in our ward was unanimous. The bishop, who asked the question for opposing votes, had just a quick glance over the audience, while gathering his papers to sit down. No opposing votes. Of course not. But again, I felt relieved.
Fast Offerings: Are Mormons Stingy?
People have been talking a lot about stinginess lately. With tithing settlement still fresh in my mind, I have been pondering the issue of Mormon generosity.
NEH Seminar on Joseph Smith
Last year in his address to the approximately ten thousand members of the American Academy of Religion, then President Robert Orsi encouraged scholars to expand their research into new areas, among which he explicitly mentioned Mormonism. Scholars interested in pursuing this challenge have a unique opportunity to do so this Summer. The National Endowment for the Humanities has partnered with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for LDS History to offer a six week seminar on Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormonism.
A Lyric on Document Review or Why We Blog
Why do we blog? What is it that makes us spend so much time informing an innocent unsuspecting public of our views on a myriad of random issues?
A (minor) defense of official LDS discourse
Correlation is a dirty word among some Mormons. Or at the very least, in my experience, it is a topic of complaint that often comes up on LDS-related listservs, blogs and Internet fora. The charge usually leveled is that correlation has stripped much of what is interesting, unique and important from official LDS discourse.
The Mormon Church is for Sale. On eBay.
I just noticed this: Go to Philocrites’ blog and look at the google ads on the sidebar. (The ads run according to some pre-set computer algorithms that advertise for things relating to the topics discussed.) This particular post discusses a Mormon baptism, and the ads included, on a recent viewing, links to “Mormon dating” . . . “Mormon beliefs Biblical?” . . . “Mormon dating” again . . . so far, so good — ads for the kinds of things one would expect the algorithm to come up with. And then we get to: “Mormon Church for Sale. Discount Mormon church! Check out the deals now! www.ebay.com”. Conspiracy theorists everywhere, please take note. The Mormon Church is for sale. On eBay. At a discount. Paypal accepted. Don’t let this auction slip away! Check Philocrites to see if it’s still in the sidebar!
Blogwatch 1/3/05
Announcements of new bloggernacle blogs are about as rare as birth announcements in a student ward. Or dating melodrama in a singles ward. Or semi-apostate ramblings in your ward’s geriatric section high priests group. Pick your metaphor. In any event, some recent new arrivals to the ‘nacle that I’ve noticed include: –Various Stages of Mormondom looks interesting.
To X or not to X . . .
Yesterday, a new policy for our ward was announced. Let’s call it policy X. It was made clear that X came from the stake president, directly from training by a member of the seventy. I think X is a bad idea.
John Leo, Sloppy Journalism, and Anti-Christmas (Mythical?) Anecdotes
In his most recent anti-PC rant, U.S. News columnist John Leo applies his characteristic sarcastic outrage to a subject that he loves to pontificate about — the problems of “PC” behavior. Christmas is being banned — or so Leo would have us believe. But Leo’s piece is sadly lacking in specific facts to substantiate that claim, as the most cursory examination of his piece makes clear.
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen and All the Rest
Please join me in sending off our crack team of guest bloggers, Shannon Keeley and Brian Gibson, with our collective thanks. Invariably funny and occasionally controversial, their posts were a delightful addition–and one of them even made it onto the T&S favorites sidebar! We especially thank them for blogging over a difficult holiday period and soldiering on through more than their fair share of Christmas travel woes. Back to work taking over the universes of reality television and educational literature, you two!
January Gym-Joiners
Every year about this time fitness clubs swell with new members. Armed with New Year’s resolutions, people sign expensive contracts and buy new athletic gear in sincere attempts to lose weight or gain muscle as they try to improve their physical appearance. I respect their efforts and try to take them seriously, happily sharing the cardio equipment, free weights and yoga balls that I usually have mostly to myself. Experience has taught me that by the end of the month most of these new members will be but infrequent guests here.
Happy New Year!
I was waiting for someone else to post the obligatory new year’s post, and to say something really clever.
Sunday School Lesson 1
Lesson 1: Doctrine and Covenants 1
Studying the Doctrine and Covenants
I would imagine that I know less about the Doctrine and Covenants than your average seminary student.
A Quick Introduction to Blogspeak
You know the feeling. You’re visiting a blog, you like the post, and you want to add something in the comments. You want to come across as hip and well-read, but also down-to-earth and folksy. What to do?
Who Wears the Pants in Your Chapel?
Since the first Sunday of 2005 is almost upon us, let’s take a good look at ourselves and consider our Sunday attire. More specifically, let’s look at who’s wearing pants in your chapel. If you hadn’t already noticed, it’s mostly men.
A Mormon Washington Post?
Among other reasons that I like living in Washington DC is the Washington Post. It is on occasion of course a partisan rag, but, hey, it is my partisan rag. It is certainly much better than the trash that they read in some city farther up the coast. The world might have been different, however, had the Post gone Mormon. Apparently it almost did.
“Liberals,” “Tolerance,” and Other Canards of the Right
Over at A Bird’s Eye View, I’ve been having a conversation in comments with John Fowles. In one comment, John castigates a student who made a remark that he viewed as derogatory towards Mormons. John writes: “If she is ‘liberal’ doesn’t that mean she is supposed to be ‘sensitive’? Or does that only mean she is sensitive to the favored social causes and minorities and intolerant towards others?” Ahh, where to begin?
Why Aren’t There Economists in Mormon Studies?
The patron saint of the New Mormon History – Leonard Arrington – started his academic life as an economist, but interestingly economists have been on the whole absent from Mormon studies. Given the presence of philosophers, sociologists, and – of course – gobs of historians, the lack of followers of the dismal science is striking.
Tsunami
Belgium, December 29, 2004. For days now I have been confronted with TV-images of bloated and rotting bodies littered along shores, of parents crying over the corpses of their children, of living children staring dumbfounded into a camera and holding up a note with their name and the question “Seen parents?” – while it is almost certain, after three days, they have become orphans. Thousands of orphans and they still cling to their note.
Picking Battles: Reflections on Parenting
As a father of two teenagers with three more children in the pipeline, I have received — and continue to receive — plenty of parenting advice. One bit of advice that I hear over and over is this: pick your battles. Standing in the middle of this experience, I haven’t yet decided whether this advice is merely self-evident encouragement, truly insightful parenting counsel, or complete hogwash. I am leaning toward the hogwash hypothesis.