Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Blogging and BYU

At BYU NewsNet: "Called to Blog: Fighting for the Church Online." Most of the story talks about the activities of the More Good Foundation with some references to its blog, which is a stand-alone operation with no links to or interaction with the rest of the LDS blogging community. Sort of a firewalled blog.

Reflections on the Musician Affair

The SL Trib ignited a noisy debate with its story published on Monday, Fallout from debate over gays leads musician to leave LDS Church." The story concerns a musician with the LDS Orchestra at Temple Square who, in June 2006, wrote a letter to the SL Trib voicing public support for Jeffrey Nielsen, a part-time philosophy instructor at BYU who had himself published a letter in the SL Trib in support of same-gender marriage only days earlier. As a result of the letter (reproduced in full in the Trib article), the musician was suspended from the orchestra, then spent 18 months in what can only be described as an informal disciplinary process with his local LDS leaders. He resigned his membership in the LDS Church in December 2007.

It's a messy story with no winners. For more background, read the linked SL Trib story, the publicly posted LDS response, a post at M&A, a post at Mormon Matters, and a detailed discussion at the FAIR Blog. I'm going to make short comments on the role of each player in this unfortunate affair.

The Bloggernacle Minute, 2-21-08

My Google Reader collected 261 posts from 64 LDS blogs over the last 9 days. Below are links to my favorites from this oversized batch of posts, taken from

Mormonism in the Media

If you've been at sea in a lifeboat (with no radio) for the last six months, here's an important piece of news: They're talking about us in the newspapers. This isn't lost on senior LDS leaders, as shown by Elders Ballard and Cook in a recent interview posted at the LDS Newsroom, "Church Will Work to Increase Understanding, Apostles Say." The key passage: "Elder Ballard said that much of the publicity the Church has received over the past few months has been fair and balanced, but there is still much misunderstanding to be cleared up."

Love on Campus

It's just not what it used to be, even at the BYU, as shown in a day-before-Valentine's-Day BYU NewsNet article, "The Evolution of Human Love."

The Bloggernacle Minute, 2-12-08

My Google Reader collected 139 posts from 63 LDS blogs over the last 5 days. Notable posts are highlighted below (with a few random comments added by me) from the following blogs: Adventures in Mormonism (AIM), Clean Cut, LDSSR, Mormon Wasp, 16SS, The Sunday Page, BCC, FMH, Mormon Matters, Mormon Mentality, and Segullah. If you like your highlights in audio form and have like 40 minutes to burn, check out the competition at the BCC Zeitcast. But if you're a purist with a day job and only 60 seconds to spare, read on. For full text of these posts, check out the highlights feed.

Mormonism is Hot

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Editors seem to be lapping up stories on Mormonism lately, the latest a New York Times profile of two LDS missionaries, "Missionaries Spread the News, but Don't Read It." To a reporter, you see, not reading the news is a mystery that requires further investigation and explanation. "As of 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, nearly 50 hours after news broke of Mr. Romney’s withdrawal, Mr. Langi and Mr. Kelley had still not heard of it, nor were they told." The article does emphasize how careful LDS missionaries are to avoid any sort of conversation on politics or candidates. Yes, they really are neutral. I suppose the fact that most missionaries have never even voted before makes it a little easier.

Huckabee, Looking Ahead

I try to avoid politics, but current events are just too compelling. It's like trying to not watch a train wreck. The latest mini-drama is the guy who didn't read the script, Mike Huckabee. Political pundits somehow assume he's supposed to fold up shop and go home now. Huckabee shows no intention of doing so, as shown in this AP story at WaPo: "Huckabee Pledges to Stay In Race." Maybe he deserves his shot. [Update: Huckabee just took the Kansas caucuses with 60% of the vote. No surprise, but still ...]

Romney, Looking Back

Mitt Romney at least gave two notable speeches, "Faith in America" and his withdrawal speech. That's two more notable speeches than any other candidate has produced thus far, and he'll undoubtedly get to make a prime-time speech at the convention as well. Romney's withdrawal seems to have spurred better commentary looking back than his candidacy did when live and kicking, for example "Romney, Mormons, and me" (Boston Globe), "Romney Bid Was a Crucible for Mormons" (AP), and several posts at Article VI (linking to the same articles I'm linking to and trying to find meaning for A6 without Romney in the race).

The most visible story is on today's front page of the Wall Street Journal, "Mormons Dismayed by Harsh Spotlight." It's just full of interesting observations and quotes. Here are a few of them, with my comments.

The Bloggernacle Minute, 2-7-08

127 posts dropped into my Google Reader in 3 days. Don't you people have anything else to do? When my reader queue hits triple digits, I run through it and pick about 10 posts to highlight and comment on. You can browse my list and be gone in 60 seconds. In this batch I will not select any Romney posts -- we're all a little burned out on that topic. Limit one post per blog. Featured on today's list: Clean Cut, Dwelling in Possibility, FPR, Joel Dehlin, LDS Science Review, Mormanity, The Sunday Page, BCC, Mormon Matters, and T&S.

Elder Uchtdorf in the News

From the DesNews, a link to this German newspaper story on Elder Uchtdorf's recent call into the LDS First Presidency. I'm sure you'll enjoy the short article, plus learn something about the challenging times he faced as a youth: "Brought up in a Lutheran setting, Uchtdorf was converted to the Mormons by a family friend. During his youth, he experienced the usual teasing and isolation although his beliefs helped him during his compulsory military service." This is really a fine moment for European Saints, who get no respect in their home countries but now have one of their own in the FP to be proud of.

And, of course, it won't hurt to have a pilot in the First Presidency ... since we might have a pilot in the White House come January 2009.

Curing Religious Illiteracy

Here's more from Stephen Prothero's Religious Literacy, with my thoughts on some applications to Mormonism at the end. After glowing about the good 'ole days of the religiously literate 18th century — "Colonists did not just believe in the Bible, they knew what it said" — Prothero tries to explain what went wrong. A move from head to heart, from didactic sermons to revivalism of the sort practiced in Joseph Smith's New York, was the big step. Methodists and Baptists led the emotional charge that displaced the stodgier Congregationalists and Anglicans, but newer sects such as the Mormons also appeared in this new pluralistic religious landscape.

The Bloggernacle Minute

I was offline for the weekend, so there were 131 posts in my Google Reader today (from 60 blogs, basically those listed on my sidebar). The better posts -- well, the ones I like, they may or may not be "better" -- make my Bloggernacle Highlights feed, an easy way for me (and you) to read them. The titles are posted in a list on the right sidebar, too. Below are the top ten posts, along with my short comments. You can read them and be gone in 60 seconds, or you can linger and follow the links. If I inexplicably left out your favorite post from the last 72 hours, you can bring balance back to the Force by posting a link in the comments.

Name That Celebrity

In the funeral coverage at LDS.org, there's a big photo of visiting guests and dignitaries. How many do your recognize? Row 1, seat 3 is Harry Reid. Row 2, seat 1 is Mitt Romney. Row 1, seat 1 is [former] Utah Governor Mike Leavitt. Those are the easy ones. Anyone else recognize other guests or dignitaries?

President Hinckley and Mormon Memory

In Religious Literacy, Stephen Prothero considers the decline of religious knowledge in America, much of which relates to the failure of institutions (family, school, church, university) to maintain a "chain of memory" that transmits religious knowledge from one generation to the next. President Hinckley helped Mormonism avoid this failure. Mormon memory is alive and well.