Review: Royal Skousen and Robin Scott Jensen, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers,...
Review: Royal Skousen and Robin Scott Jensen, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translations, Volume 3: Parts 1-2, Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: The Church...
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Joseph Smith’s Indictment for Adultery and Fornication
Joseph Smith’s Indictment for Adultery and Fornication: Some Answers but Many Questions On May 20, 1844, Nauvoo Stake President William Marks was subpoenaed and selected to serve on the grand jury of...
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Playing Defense
Despite warnings from other leaders that emotional sentimentalism “should never be leaned upon as a substitute for spirituality,” 1 Elder Holland used up a good couple of minutes of his April 2014...
View ArticleFor the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism...
by Mike Barker Ah, yes. Race. We’ve all heard the aphorism, “Two things you never want to discuss are religion and politics.” For many whites, we want to add a third thing, “Don’t talk about issues of...
View ArticleWandering in the Wilderness
It has now been 9 years since I first listened to the Mormon Stories podcast with Darius Gray and Margaret Young on blacks and the priesthood and temple ban. In it they put the priesthood ban into...
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Reflections on Discovering the “Lost Mormon Cave”
Introduction Earlier this month, my friend Greg Pavone and I lead an initiative to locate and excavate a cave located in Miner’s Hill, in Manchester New York. This project was the culmination of over a...
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Response to “Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women”
Any conversation that opens up space for honest discussion of women within Mormonism is good, and the church’s newest essay “Joseph Smith’s Teachings about Priesthood, Temple, and Women” brings the...
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WHAT OF WOMEN AND THE PRIESTHOOD?*
On Friday, October 23, 2015, the Mormon internet world blew up with the release of two new Gospel Topic Essays. I will be addressing one aspect of the essay entitled, Joseph Smith’s Teachings about...
View ArticleChurch Business
The purpose of a business is to generate a profit to be exchanged for commodities, which will sustain life and make it enjoyable. A secondary purpose might be to provide a product or service, which...
View ArticleWe’ve heard these arguments before…
On August 27, 1954 Elder Mark E. Peterson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles delivered an address to a gathering of church religion teachers entitled “Race Problems – As They Affect The Church.” He...
View Article85: Media and Minority Religions
“People that are different than us are weird aren’t they? I get it. Different cultures and experiences and what have you, it makes sense. But people from obscure religions are not just strange but...
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The International War on Mormonism
As anyone who hasn’t been living under an internet rock knows by now (and if you have been living under a rock, that’s fine too—given the state of things, I would envy you), Donald Trump has called for...
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Mormon Myths: The secret history of Bigfoot
I couldn’t think of a better starting point for this series than the meeting of two great pieces of Americana: Mormonism and Bigfoot. The two are similar in a lot of ways; both seem to have taken deep...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the LDS Young Women’s General Presidency
To Presidents Oscarson, McConkie, and Marriott of the General Young Women’s Presidency: Once a month, the Young Women join us at the beginning of Relief Society, as we all recite in unison the Young...
View ArticleFollow the Prophet (Redux)
Being a parent features many cringe-inducing experiences. For my wife and I, one of those cringe-worthy moments was when we were at the home of my non-LDS parents-in-law and my children spontaneously...
View ArticleMormon Myths: The secret history of UFOs (part 2)
This week provides one final look at the ever so interesting connection between Mormon theology and UFO myths and folklore. I highly recommend catching up with the last installment here before we take...
View ArticleShould Mormonism Embrace Post-Modern Conceptions of Religious Structure and...
If you haven’t read Diana Butler Bass, you should. Bass has a story that should resonate strongly with many in the Rational Faiths audience. She was raised in an active church-going Methodist family...
View ArticleBernie and Brigham: Two of a Kind
On Friday, March 18, 2016 I was up at This is the Place Heritage Park in the mountains above Salt Lake City, Utah attending the huge 14,000 person rally to hear Bernie Sanders speak. It was awesome,...
View ArticleWas Joseph Smith Ever Convicted of a Crime?
For decades historians, apologists, and anti-Mormons have been debating this very question: was Joseph Smith ever convicted of a crime? While there have been discussions on this topic since the...
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Losing My Vulnerability
Those who have followed my posts here might know that I have had the benefit of a long and slow faith crisis… spread out over 20 years, since the beginning of High School to my recent decision to stop...
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