Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Polygamy Challenge Dismissed by 10th Circuit

As reported in today's SL Trib, the 10th Circuit dismissed for lack of standing a challenge by three individuals (husband, first wife, and second-wife-to-be) who were denied a marriage license by the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office for the proposed second marriage. Sounds like a rejected script for a Big Love episode. For legal news junkies, here's a link to the court's opinion, which appears in the short post describing the case over at Religion Clause.

Missions and State Scholarships

The Deseret News reports on the status of a case by a returned LDS missionary (and a 4.0 student) who is being denied the balance of his state-sponsored scholarship. The West Virginia state scholarship board apparently denied his request for a leave of absence to devote the best two years of his life to spreading the Mormon gospel or, as it is described in the article, "spending two years helping to improve conditions for Hispanic workers in Western states." Now that he is back from his mission and re-enrolling, the student is raising a free exercise challenge to the state's action in refusing to grant the leave, effectively terminating his scholarship for going on an LDS mission.

A Long-Awaited Manual

Dallas at the newly upgraded TML has a short post on the new Teachings of Joseph Smith manual which will be used for instruction in LDS priesthood and Relief Society classes for the next two years, starting in January 2008. It is now on sale for $3 at LDS Distribution Centers. It features the newly upgraded portrait of Joseph Smith on the cover. If the Bushman biography was Rough Stone Rolling, the new manual might be called Buff Tones Beaming. An impressive sight.

August Rituals

If it's late September and you really should be back at school, you're not a BYU student, where that happens a month earlier, in late August. And the semester kicks off with an opening devotional assembly featuring an address by a General Authority. This year Elder Scott spoke on the theme "learning truth is best accomplished by using multiple senses" (quoting the Deseret News article reporting the talk). Examples of senses he gave: sight, hearing, and inner feelings that come through inspiration. Uh, I have a question.

LDS Historical Sites

A couple of months ago I heard a presentation on the general topic of historical sites that the Church owns and manages. I came with a pocketful of snarky questions but left with some appreciation for how tough the task is and (on the whole) how well the sites are set up and managed. I'll give a couple of paragraphs summarizing the talk, then a couple of paragraphs commenting on historical sites I have visited.

Sunstone Reverb

The two topics from the Sunstone Symposium that I posted on last week continue to bounce around the Bloggernacle — they obviously struck a chord with many people. Tom at 9M posted "My Inoculation," sharing his own experience and views on that topic. And M&M posted "Thoughts on the Bloggernacle Panel," suggesting that conservatives need a little more love from the B'nacle. Interesting summary. Guess I'd better go listen to it.

[Note: Having already hosted discussions on both these topics, I'm going to let readers who have additional comments go to the two linked posts at 9M and m&m for additional conversation.]

Net & Nacle

Time for a little feedback on the "Net & Nacle" sidebar/miniblog that I've been running for a month, or comments on the substance of any of the visible mini-posts. I like it because I can put up a mini-post in 5 minutes; because I can throw in some images to add some color to the page; because I don't have to deal with comments; and because I can mini-blog some topics that I don't generally post about in the main column. I've sort of been neglecting my Long Column of Books -- that's my next project, I guess.

New Look at Deseret News

The online site got a makeover. Here's the new home page -- in bluish tones rather than red, and every story has comments attached. Eerily blog-like. The LDS Newsline page now uses the same template and sidebars as the home page, just a different set of center columns. I'm wondering how the comment feature is going to work out -cough- On Faith -cough-. Here's a blurb explaining some of the goals of the new site. DN at least deserves kudos for trying to package LDS news for its online readers. I almost think the SL Trib hides its LDS stories.

The Devilish Details of Inoculation

Well, my earlier prospective discussion of the Sunstone session on the Bloggernacle went so well, I'll try one on "inoculation." That's shorthand for the idea that if active Mormons get a stronger dose of an "unsanitized" presentation of LDS history, they are less likely, when confronted with a presentation on Mountain Meadows or polygamy or peepstones/seerstones, to run from the building screaming "I've been duped! I feel so betrayed! I want a refund on my tithing!" Here's my position in one sentence: Inoculation looks good on paper, but the devil is in the details, little things like who, what, where, when, and how.

Friends in Strange Places

It is surely one of the more unexpected voices to go to bat for Joseph Smith: Harold Bloom in his 1992 book The American Religion, which gave serious (if unconventional) consideration to Joseph Smith's role as a religious figure and which famously described him as a "religious genius." As sort of a post-script, in the March 2007 issue of Sunstone there was a two-page essay by Bloom entitled "Perspectivism and Joseph Smith." I can't say I follow every remark in the essay, but I do appreciate his continued interest in Joseph Smith. Here are a few points Bloom makes in the essay.

Preaching for Un-God

At the Weekly Standard, there's a short article by Prof. Harvey Mansfield entitled Atheist Tracts: God, they're predictable. Given I mention Harris and Dawkins from time to time here on the blog, I thought some readers might be interested in a link to the Mansfield piece. Here are a couple of excerpts:

Spotlight on the Bloggernacle

The Sunstone Symposium starts Wednesday. The most interesting talks might be by Helen Whitney, the producer of the PBS series "The Mormons," including one session recounting her experience over several years putting the documentary together, and another showing footage on a section entitled "Faith and Doubt" that did not make the final cut and was not aired. Other interesting program items:

• "Inoculating the Saints: The Pros and Cons of Proactively Teaching Church Members About Difficult Issues," featuring BCC blogger Kevin Barney and frequent commenter Blake Ostler on the panel.
• "Staying in the Church After Becoming Disaffected," with John Dehlin of Mormon Stories (and Sunstone's new Executive Director) arguing for a "middle way" in Mormonism, a judicious mixture of faith and doubt.
• "How Effectively Does the Bloggernacle Represent Mormonism?", featuring Sunstone Blog's Matt Thurston (as a stand-in for ABEV's John Fowles, who couldn't make it) as moderator and a panel of four bloggers (two from T&S and one each from BCC and FMH). [Note: the audio of this session was subsequently (and generously) provided for free at this link by Sunstone.]
• There's a paper on reparations presented by Kaimi of T&S, and I saw pretty much every blogger from the Sunstone Blog on the program somewhere.

Let's talk about that Bloggernacle topic a bit.

Steeplechase Man

DN ran an article on the latest BYU runner to have a shot at the Olympics, a returned missionary named Josh McAdams. After two years in Thailand he was out of shape and out of contention. Now: "He is unbeaten by an American this year and ranks 12th in the world in the steeplechase." And he's running in 2008 (for a spot in the Olympics, not for a shot at the White House). I just love it when missionary-athletes make it back to competitive form and excel in their sports. They deserve it. They don't all make it, but they all deserve it.

Peterson on Rough Stone Rolling

It has been a long time since I've posted a link and discussed an online essay, so here goes: Daniel C. Peterson's "Reflections and Reactions to Rough Stone Rolling and Related Matters," the Editor's Introduction to the current issue of the FARMS Review. Peterson touches on several of the reviews of RSR and Bushman's disappointment at how unwilling many of them were to treat the book as a serious scholarly biography. Others who at least granted that much nevertheless often took the view that no believing Mormon could write a scholarly biography of Joseph Smith.

A Kinder and Gentler Sunstone?

The Sunstone Multi-Media Show rolls into Salt Lake City next week (starting Wednesday August 8), according to this informative preview in the SL Trib. The article highlights the role of "Mormon blogger and media expert John Dehlin," the new Sunstone Executive Director, in moving Sunstone in a new direction. Not being a subscriber, I can't say what the old direction was, but the article notes the magazine "hopes to expand its coverage of social issues such as depression, mental illness, addiction and body image." Seems like an upbeat topic or two wouldn't hurt either. No doubt the conference will receive wide coverage in the SLC media and on various blogs. Hint: be careful where you set up your laptops.

Myths for the Modern World

I just finished finished reading Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth (2005). Almost everyone loves myth from a distance, as a conceptual springboard or reference, as long as it doesn't get too close to one's own beliefs or worldview. This book helps put myth in a more useful perspective, which I'd like to explore. But rather than spend several paragraphs defining or explaining what myths are or are not, I'll just settle for a one-sentence definition [myths are stories about the world with cosmic significance, that talk about birth and death, love and pain, good and evil, earth and sky, origins and end times] and move on to the good stuff. I'll give one paragraph each to two particularly relevant points Armstrong makes in the book, then speculate a bit on whether and how Mormonism has shown itself capable of providing usable myths for the modern world.

Facebook Snooper

Facebook may be a social networking utility for most Millennials, but for BYU students, it is a calculated risk. Or so it would seem from this BYU NewsNet story: "Photo on Facebook Used as Evidence." It's not the guy climbing on the dormintory ledge that got my attention. It was the six coeds who were turned in to the Honor Code office for posting pictures of themselves "hanging out in their dorm rooms." Nothing bad or immoral in the photos, we're told, but they were allegedly "dressed immodestly." The female students were put on suspension, according to the article. Interestingly, the guy on the ledge got a $50 fine (obviously for doing something bad -- you don't get fined for doing something good) but is not reported to have received a suspension.

Deseret News Plans Online Site

They just posted plans to upgrade the LDS Newsline site. Sounds like it will be something like an LDS version of Beliefnet (but more newsy) or a mainstream media version of Meridian Magazine (but, uh, more newsy). The post includes an editor's name with a request for feedback, so feel free to offer your suggestions there. Or maybe he'll read the comments here.