- Stephen C on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “Some of that is from the fact that (I think) Dialogue had a special issue on the subject, plus Lefevor at Utah State is incredibly prolific, but yes, you’d think a majority of religionists were sexual/gender minorities.” May 5, 14:00
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “Articles on LGBT issues continue be overrepresented. Wonder how long this trend lasts.” May 5, 13:38
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “Not to sidetrack, and I know very little about the Journal of Mormon Polygamy but given how weird and dysfunctional academia is about these things (“Oh no, this person saw me with that person who’s friends with that person who is on the bad list for the top person in the field, I’m doomed!), it is kind of refreshing to have somebody who’s more like “I don’t believe in Bigfoot, but hells yeah I want to be on the editorial board of your Journal of Cryptozoology.”” May 5, 09:36
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “jpv, that’s the question, isn’t it? Even in the best of circumstances, the review and approval process for an academic journal is subjective and prone to the biases of the editors and reviewers, which muddies the picture and prevents a clear-cut answer. Officially, the goal they had was to create a credible academic publication, and that is the rhetoric they are still using to explain what they are doing as a publication. But given the prominence of JS polygamy deniers in setting up the journal (i.e., Michelle Stone as a founder) and in the publications it has put out so far, most academics I’ve heard from won’t touch it with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole. (Cheryl Bruno has lost most of her credibility in the scholarly community for taking part in the founding, for example, even though she is not a polygamy denier.) So, that alone creates biases in what is submitted to the journal and who is reviewing and approving pieces for the journal. It remains to be seen what will happen. The intention is to be “actually academic,” but there is a significant risk of it being relegated to a “truther outlet” based on how it is going so far.” May 5, 09:24
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “I was wondering if it was truther outlet or if they were actually academic and allowed them to publish given enough peer review and editing.” May 5, 08:32
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “The practical reality seems to be that the journal was created to give an academic forum for polygamy deniers to publish stuff, since the established journals don’t take them seriously (usually with good reason).” May 5, 06:33
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, April 2026: “I continue to wonder why the Journal of Mormon Polygamy exists. Maybe there’s a need for an outlet in addition to the Journal of Mormon History and other established journals, but if so, the situation is opaque to me. That being said, Michelle Stone’s article sounds very interesting. Is she suggesting that Helen Mar Kimball was not actually sealed to Joseph Smith, or at least not in 1843? It seems like she’s pointing in that direction without stating it directly. Or am I misinterpreting the abstract?” May 5, 04:10
- on What Did Church Lead You to Think About Yesterday, 5/3?: “Here’s some of how I found the Gospel in what happened in Church (5/3): In Sunday School the teacher claimed that the Israelites were trying to worship Jehovah by building the golden calf — so they were worshiping in the wrong way, in a way that distanced them from God. I thought this seemed like a way of ducking responsibility — trying to put a “priest” between them and God instead of connecting with Him directly. I actually understand that. Having a relationship with God can be scary. The responsibilities can feel like you are being set up to fail. And the consequences of failure are heavy. But I don’t think it helps to run away from responsibility. This distance also suggests that the Israelites were more interested in appearance — if you’re dealing with a priest or intermediary, you can just perform for the intermediary that you are righteous instead of actually being righteous. So, I think this means that they were performing their religion instead of practicing their religion. I think we all do this all the time. There might be a spectrum between performing and practicing religion—and we’re somewhere on that spectrum. I hope we are trying to be closer to the practicing end than on the performing end. In the fast and testimony meeting I attended, the congregation was small. I think we almost heard from everyone there. The situation was a wonderful and interesting balance between having almost everyone involved and the coercive social pressures to participate. Fortunately, thanks in no small part to the testimonies of several missionaries, I don’t think anyone felt overly pressured. ” May 3, 21:57
- on Latest AI Updates: “Mormon Trail,” a Graphic Novel of Mormon/Moroni, and 3 Nephi on Gold Plates.: “You’ve hit on why I’m much less nervous about AI taking my job than I would be if I was a game designer. For video games the proof is in the pudding. If I can vibe code a game that is indistinguishable from something hand-written then any errors will get caught in the testing stage, whereas with data science you can have very subtle errors that creep in that can remain uncaught if they’re not reviewed by somebody who knows what they’re doing. So I suspect computer game coders will need to look for new work in 5 or so years once you can vibe code an advanced first-person shooter like you can vibe code pretty much any Atari game at this point, but I have a really hard time ever seeing an investment bank rely on figures that were completely vibe-coded without having their quants at least check the math and coding.” Apr 28, 08:49
- on The Book of Mormon’s Anti-colonialism: “Jack, good points. I’d also add that 3 Ne 21 stresses the converted Gentiles joining with the remnant. V. 22 “if they [the Gentiles] will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance.” That is, the Book of Mormon stresses the land belongs to the remnant, but that converted Gentiles get to join with the remnant if they convert. ” Apr 28, 08:42
