- J Ellis on Breaking the Auto-Pilot: Brent Yorgason on Alternate Tunes for Familiar Hymns: “The 1985 Hymn book provides for using alternate tunes but it’s been ignored for 40 years. The Meter appendix shows which hymns can be sung to the same tunes. It makes matching easy. I agree that it would liven our singing.” Nov 6, 23:05
- on When the Church Takes a Political Position, Election Eve Edition: “All I’m doing is encouraging the Church to do more for the poor, they have the resources both financial and human. You’re right, as a lapsed member, I’m not entitled to a say in Church priorities. But as an apparent active member, neither do you. I would encourage you to at least consider how you (and your blog participants) might do more to help poor members and their neighbors in developing countries. I know I’m trying to.” Nov 6, 22:26
- on Breaking the Auto-Pilot: Brent Yorgason on Alternate Tunes for Familiar Hymns: “Shape notes were a style of notation used in the early United States to make it easier to learn music. They were taught through group lessons that were referred to as “singing schools”. A lot of the early American hymns are associated with them. I should probably edit that, though. Not every person learned the hymn tunes that way. I think it was more with the temples that the Church started singing schools and choirs, but they weren’t necessarily using shape notes. ” Nov 6, 21:06
- on When the Church Takes a Political Position, Election Eve Edition: “Roger, I’ve been at this for 20 years now. With enough repetition, eventually I remember details. Your international service is laudable, but not every volunteer understands that every organization has to set priorities and work within a budget. I assume you do. An organization can focus on finding a cure for malaria, or for rabies, but not both. Or if it has the budget and capacity for both, it still has to choose those two things instead of an unlimited number of other things. If it doesn’t choose what to focus on, it’s wasting its resources and accomplishing far less than it could. It’s true of budgets, and (to get back to the point of Stephen’s post) it’s true of political activity. You think the Church should change its priorities, and of course you do, because you think everything the Church does is a pointless, meaningless waste of time. That also means that you can only offer cheap criticism: cheap, in the sense that it costs you nothing. You’re evading the work of balancing priorities, or working out compromises with people who prioritize the Church’s missions differently, or supporting people who serve different parts of the organizational mission, or staying informed about what the Church is doing today, or supporting the Church in any way, really. You are (and have always been) invited to take a seat at the table, but it comes with a price that you’re not willing to pay.” Nov 6, 20:15
- on When the Church Takes a Political Position, Election Eve Edition: “I was raised LDS. Went on a 2 1/2 yr mission to France and Belgium. And got a BA for BYU during the Wilkinson administration. During my time in Europe, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing and we were asked to defend the Church’s discriminatory policies toward blacks. Blah, blah, blah. Over the last 20 years, I’ve done a lot of volunteer work in developing countries. I’ve seen a lot of International poverty around the world, some involving members. Yes, I’m now agnostic. But when I see how much good the Church could be doing, I do get frustrated and want to encourage a change in priorities. Jonathan G., I’m flattered that you remember somethings about me. Do you keep files on commenters? They say that personal attacks are a desperate form of dialogue.” Nov 6, 16:58
- on Cutting Edge Latter-day Saint Research, October 2026: “I don’t think the “journal” of Mormon Polygamy merits attention.” Nov 6, 12:51
- on Breaking the Auto-Pilot: Brent Yorgason on Alternate Tunes for Familiar Hymns: “Chad, what are “shape-note singing schools”?” Nov 6, 12:47
- on Breaking the Auto-Pilot: Brent Yorgason on Alternate Tunes for Familiar Hymns: “Sometimes I get so bored singing “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet” yet again that I’ll sing the words to “O Home Beloved” instead.” Nov 6, 08:32
- on When the Church Takes a Political Position, Election Eve Edition: “Mortimer, if you’ve overlooked it, God’s Army is pretty busy these days spreading the gospel and engaging in other good works. Lots of people would like to redirect their efforts to other causes, which is a separate problem. And I don’t think the zeal of the early Saints was primarily directed at setting inflation rate targets or defining the poverty line for a family of four. Ending hunger, poverty and sickness are important, but you should be able to name a few substantial things the Church does on a significant scale towards each of those goals. Our leaders are not extremely conservative – have you even been paying attention? – and I’ll take their steady mature leadership over the youthful dynamism that has ruined large swathes of American Christianity. Roger, you’ve mentioned several times that you’re an agnostic who has had no faith in the Church for 60 years, so maybe step back and let the believers figure this one out. It’s easy to tell people what to do when you don’t have to share in the burden of doing it.” Nov 5, 17:49
- on When the Church Takes a Political Position, Election Eve Edition: “Follow-up comment. I think the kind of ZEAL and FAITH I described above was part of what appealed to the early Saints. Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey captures something powerful about human nature, specifically that we long to be part of something bigger than ourselves, take on seemingly impossible challenges, and make a meaningful difference as the underdog in an epic story. Whether it’s the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars, or the disciples of Jesus in occupied Roman Territory, or the Hobbits entrusted with saving all of Middle Earth, we are hard-wired with an audacity to believe that if something matters, it’s worth taking on and in the process, anything is possible. The more we water that down, the less church matters and the more we get apathy and burn-out from the rank and file. People aren’t really looking for another reason to check-off items on the covenant path, listen to talks, sit in pews, stack folding chairs, or make toll-painted crafts. Belonging to this faith is supposed to be about bringing about Millennial peace and light, ending hunger, poverty, sickness and aligning heaven and earth. It’s so frustrating watching our extremely conservative, geriatric leadership’s selective responses to the issues of the day despite saying that the purpose of modern revelation is to specifically address current events and contexts. In their slow and carefully curated PR responses, they “falter in defending truth and right” and “shrink or shun the fight.” Rather than confront difficult issues, they seem intent on avoiding controversy and preserving their social capital. The disconnect is off-putting, to say the least. Our youth especially feel that dissonance, and I suspect it contributes to declining activity and retention. Members have no VOICE in setting priorities, which seem to be cherry-picked using opaque criteria (you’ve probably done as much as anyone to try to decipher them). Lets face the facts too . . . this stockpiling and selective vision to the problems of the day has been going on not just for a difficult rough patch here or there, but as the modus operandi for generations.” Nov 5, 15:39
