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Mormon Inquiry

For your weekly Prop 8 fix, here are some unusually thoughtful recent posts from the LDS group blog Zelophedad’s Daughters. “The Prop 8 Debate and the Fiction of the Autonomous Self,” starting with this provocative sentence: “The questionable premise I see here is the notion that the choices of individuals in their private lives have…

I’ve been offline with some holiday travel the last few days. I spent a couple of hours camping in the “cell phone park and wait” lot waiting for a delayed flight to arrive at the Salt Lake airport. Really, how did people survive without cell phones? Then, driving back home, I filled up the tank…

At the Washington Post, an intriguing op-ed piece noting that per capita participation by citizens in our all-volunteer military varies widely by region and is concentrated in the red states. (You might find the SL Trib version easier to read.) The author argues this is a bad thing and suggests a form of the draft…

At The Lamanite, “Internet Mormons, Chapel Mormons, and Unity Amongst the Saints.” If you’re not familiar with the labels, the post is worth a read. You might also be interested in the classic 1967 essay by Richard D. Poll “What the Church Means to People Like Me,” which introduced the terms “Iron Rod Mormon” and…

A post at Mormanity raises the question of the role of statistics in managing the LDS Church. Statistics are ubiquitous in congregations, stakes, and the Church as a whole. I understand why local and senior LDS leaders rely on statistics, but rarely is the downside of this statistical focus discussed.

I recently ran across this transcript of remarks by Dinesh D’Souza, author of a variety of books, most recently What’s So Great About Christianity. While the New Atheists have become the darlings of the media, you have to dig around to find articulate responses. Here’s a paragraph near the end of D’Souza’s speech, summarizing his…

… and making a political donation: at the LA Times, “A life thrown into turmoil by $100 donation for Prop. 8.” The LA Times continues to write interesting reflections on the continuing saga of Prop 8. The journalist refers to activists and protesters who harrassed customers at the restaurant as “the mob.” Interesting term.

At FPR, “What is biblical criticism?” The post gives the following list of approaches: source criticism, form criticism, tradtion-historical criticism, redaction criticism, social-scientific criticism, canonical criticism, rhetorical criticism, structural criticism, narrative criticism, reader-response criticism, poststructuralist criticism, feminist criticism, and socioeconomic criticism. An impressive, even intimidating, list.

At the Daily Herald: “Business booming at Utah’s only LDS-based private high school.” I’m not familiar with this school so I won’t add much commentary. The LDS Church pretty much stays out of the school debate. It uses its financial resources to provide five-day-a-week religious instruction to high school students via the seminary program (either…

I’m open to suggestions or requests from readers who have questions or topics of interest related to Mormonism or current LDS events — just leave a comment. I plan to get to the promised posts on How Wide the Divide next week. I’ve been slowly building up the blogroll on the sidebar and just added…
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