Dave's Mormon Inquiry

Mother Nature trumps politics

First Sen. McCain's announcement of Gov. Palin as the Republican VP nominee pushed Sen. Obama and the Democratic Convention off the front page. Now hurricane Gustav is pushing McCain and the Republican Convention off the front page and right out of town: "McCain orders convention curtailed for Gustav." I wonder, will the timing of Gustav and the controversial purported link between increased hurricane intensity and global warming push climate change higher up the list of campaign issues?

Brigham Young and the West, Part 3

[See Part 1 | Part 2] This is the third installment, drawing on material in Newell Bringhurst's Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier and covering events between the arrival in the Salt Lake Valley and the Civil War.

Hebrews and authorship

Mormon Insights posted "Was Paul the Author of Book of Hebrews?," taking issue with scholarly higher criticism. Scholars of the Bible generally conclude that, as one scholar is quoted in the post as saying, the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews "was not an epistle; it was not written by Paul; Paul was not an Apostle; and it was not addressed to the Hebrews.” The post argues at some length for the traditional view.

I take a different tangent — assuming the scholars are right and some other bright, articulate believer other than Paul wrote Hebrews, it shows that the canonical status and utility of a book is not dependent on the traditional account of authorship and origin. No one, after all, rips Hebrews out of their New Testment or reads it out of the canon, even if they accept the scholarly view. This suggests orthodox worries over attacks on traditional authorship attributions are exaggerated.

The New Mormon Apologetics

Or is it just the same as the old apologetics? Plenty of reflection on this question at the FAIR Conference this year, as reported in a collection of terribly useful summaries at Life on Gold Plates (quotes are from the summaries):

• "Online Apologetics" by Scott Gordon, FAIR President. He suggests that FAIR spun off its message boards because they focused on "controversial discussions" conducted in an "in your face" style. He ends with a quote from Elder Ballard noting that "there is no need to argue or contend with others regarding our beliefs. There is no need to become defensive or belligerent. ... We simply need to have a conversation."
• "What is FAIR and what isn't FAIR" by John Lynch notes that "FAIR does not debate" and that "FAIR would hope to bridge relationships even among different opinions."
• And "Humble Apologetics" by Dan Peterson, with similar comments and plenty of quips. My favorite: "The difference between apologists and historians is that the first attack the opponent and the latter want to take them to lunch." So I guess the new approach is that we should strive to be less like apologists and more like historians.

Message versus method in Mormonism

So I'm reading through Christian blogs this morning and came across "In Defense of Seeker Churches" at Parchment and Pen, defending the format of what is known as "Seeker churches," churches that aim their message and format at the unchurched. In criticizing the method or traditional churches, the author states the following:

A short history of the megachurch, and why there aren't any Mormon megachurches

At Mere Orthodoxy, "Why Didn't Jesus Start a Megachurch?" Megachurches are defined as a congregation with weekly attendance over 2000. They weren't seen before the 1950s, and didn't really come into their own until the 1980s. [Pictured at right: the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California, which seats 2900.] The linked post provides a very interesting summary, but the author seems to miss a basic point: megachurches can only flourish as part of an organizationally weak movement like post-denominational Evangelicalism. There are no Mormon megachurches and there never will be, because, in the efficiently managed LDS Church, when demographics or (strange thought this) the popularity of a bishop cause the size of an LDS congregation to swell, the local stake president will split the congregation into two congregations or make some other boundary adjustment for the local units.

Cyberspace a gay haven

There's a story on the AP wire (by Jennifer Dobner) that ran in my local newspaper with the headline "Cyberspace becomes a haven for gay Mormons." Each paper writes its own headline for a wire story, of course. Here are some of the other headlines for the story:

• "Pro-gay Mormons take fight to Internet" at The Orlando Sentinel.


• "Some Mormons balk at church's backing for a ban" at The Washington Times.


• "Mormon supporters of gay unions take to cyberspace" at the Miami Herald.


• "Web sites back gay unions," the rather low-key headline at the Deseret News.

Politics and Communion

And you thought Mitt Romney was the only candidate whose religion raised issues for voters? Apparently the choice of Sen. Joe Biden, Catholic communicant and abortion supporter, as the Democratic VP candidate is raising a different set of issues for Catholic voters that may prompt continued debate right up until election day. Here's the lead paragraph of a story from the Catholic News Agency:

The selection of Sen. Joseph Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate is drawing a chorus of disapproval from Catholic intellectual and pro-life leaders because of Biden’s longstanding support for abortion. Most recently, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has said that Biden should refrain from Communion.

Don't chase anyone out of the Church

At Life on Gold Plates, a summary of Michael Ash's FAIR Conference presentation on "Shaken Faith Syndrome." Seems like a nice set of suggestions for anyone whose faith is shaken, whether LDS or from some other denomination. But what I really liked was the quote from Joseph F. Smith reminding us that all are welcome in the LDS Church, not just the doctrinal purists:

What echoes lurk in Alma 41?

Take your listening ear over to "Alma 41 and the Wiccan Rede" at The Rains Came Down, which notes the similarity between the doctrine of restoration discussed in that chapter of the Book of Mormon ("for that which ye do send out shall return unto you again," 41:15) and the rule of three in Wicca. Lest ye jump to quickly to make some special connection here, note that the same likeness can be drawn to the Golden Rule. Surprising how, uh, mainstream Wicca has suddenly become.

Brigham Young and the West, Part 2

[See Part 1] This is the second installment hitting highlights in Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier. This post covers Brigham's relocation to Ohio shortly after joining the Mormon church in 1832 through the departure from Nauvoo and arrival in Winter Quarters in 1846.

Are denominations irrelevant?

From Mark D. Roberts:

Most American Christians aren’t especially limited by or even committed to their denominations. For the most part, denominations mean something to those who are greatly involved in them (clergy, denominational officials, etc.), but relatively little to their members. Any conversation of denominations and their future must take seriously the fact that denominational brand loyalty is dying. Some would say it’s already dead.

Well, Protestant brand loyalty is dying, which isn't quite the same thing as the more general claim Roberts is making. Believers are suddenly acting as if the organizational scheme that Protestants have pursued for almost 500 years doesn't matter? There must be books out there that take a harder look at this.

Another Romney for VP plug

Of course Hugh Hewitt has been plugging Romney all along, but now the discussion turns on the only campaign event that really involves the VP nominees: the VP candidate debate.

The pick of Biden calls for a very experienced debater as the only thing Slow Joe has going for him is the thousand or so primary season debates he has under his belt. Romney has the same sort of experience in the one setting where the veep nominees get the nation's undivided attention.

How many houses do you have?

Probably not as many as John McCain. Of course, that depends on the meaning of the term "John McCain," as pointed out at The Right Coast:

Senator McCain recently embarrassed himself by being unable to remember how many houses he had. Most of us cannot sympathize with somebody who answers this question with something like "uh, five?" since we consider ourselves lucky to have one and aren't likely to forget so manageable a unit. But this doesn't, strictly speaking, make McCain rich.

It is not McCain who is rich, but his wife, Cynthia, the heiress to a large Budweiser distributorship fortune.

Religion, Law and Legalism

At First Things, "Law and Unlaw," a fine short essay on the various permutations of law reflected in religious discourse. Ceremonial law, moral law, and civil law all come into play. Americans seem to have a natural aversion to anything that can be characterized as cermonial or ritual ... or maybe that's a Protestant attitude rather than a truly American one. Christians naturally want to reject what they label as ceremonial law in the Old Testament, yet continue to affirm a body of revealed moral law found therein. But this convenient distinction bewteen ceremonial and moral law gets difficult for Bible-based Christians as that is a "distinction ... not made in the Bible itself." Torah is neither civil, ceremonial, or moral, it is all three, and more.

The Abortion Plank

The latest headlines in the unending abortion debate come from the draft 2008 Democratic Party platform statement on abortion, which some think incorporates more pro-life language than in past years. Get Religion gives some fine background to the politics behind the language change, as well as a discussion of one earlier author's attempt to sketch out a moral and moderate abortion position, modelled on Lincoln's initial "principled yet pragmatic" position on slavery. This issue will get plenty of attention in the closing months of this election cycle.

Insider's view of Mormon chapels

As part of its continuing mission to explore new media worlds and combat misperceptions of Mormonism, the Newsroom posted "What You Will Find When You Step Inside a Mormon Chapel." It's obvious that what a first-time visitor sees is something quite different from what an active churchgoing Mormon sees. One visitor's reaction:

There were no crosses, no murals, no statues or icons of any kind as far as I could see. I had never been in a Christian church that didn't have that sort of thing. I found the simplicity very appealing.

Dutcher's long and winding road

In the LA Times, "Richard Dutcher leaves the Mormon church and a genre," reviewing where Dutcher has been and where's he's going, in filmmaking and everything else. The article refers to Dutcher as "the father of modern Latter-day Saint cinema," then notes that "after filming several other of the genre's touchstone works, Dutcher renounced Mormonism last year, citing a theological evolution he calls 'a very frustrating enlightenment.'"

Brigham Young and the West, Part 1

I recently finished Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier, by Newell G. Bringhurst. Published in 1986, it still reads well and does a nice job of integrating the story of Brigham Young and the early LDS Church into Western history. Denominational histories are too often written in a vacuum and Western history for too long ignored religion. This is an early and successful attempt to bring the two together by way of a fair and balanced treatment of Brigham Young's life. Joseph Smith remains a controversial figure for historians and many readers, but everyone loves Brigham.

You don't have to be perfect

Michelle at Blogger of Jared, in "Ideality vs. Reality":

As a trying-to-recover perfectionist, I will admit that it’s always been difficult for me to process the ideal when I know that my reality is often so far from the ideal. I have spent a good portion of my life feeling like I am never enough. ... I know I am not alone.

The post is an extended personal commentary on the recent General Conference talk "Women Who Know" by LDS Relief Society President Julie Beck.

The undeluded believer

LDS Science Review gathers links to responses to Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. In "A Mission to Convert" at the New York Review of Books, an evolutionary biologist writes, "The most disappointing feature of The God Delusion is Dawkins's failure to engage religious thought in any serious way." He further comments:

Dawkins when discussing religion is, in effect, a blunt instrument, one that has a hard time distinguishing Unitarians from abortion clinic bombers. What may be less obvious is that, on questions of God, Dawkins cannot abide much dissent, especially from fellow scientists (and especially from fellow evolutionary biologists).

Your daily dish of Mormon blogs

The Today in the Bloggernacle feature at Mormon Times now updates every weekday. It's always fun to see what pops up there. Note that the working definition of "Bloggernacle" used by Ms. Jensen is broader than you're probably used to. I just have to ask -- how many people read that feature and just what do they think of Mormon blogging?

MMM book opens old wounds

So says the latest article making the media rounds with commentary on the newly-released Massacre at Mountain Meadows. My copy is somewhere between Amazon's warehouse and my front doorstep, so I'll wait until I read it to add my own commentary.

LDS Chapel in London Firebombed?

A first-person report from an LDS blogger who was on the scene. In addition, he used the direct accusation technique made famous in A Few Good Men ("Did you order the code red!!??") to unmask the perp. Thankfully, the fire was contained quickly and no one was injured. From the comments, it sounds like this isn't the first time there's been some excitement there on Sunday morning. I'll link media stories if and when they come online.

A Different Kind of Debate at Saddleback

One that actually elicited unscripted answers from the candidates ... with no sniping. Kudos to Rick Warren for pulling this off. Early reactions:

• "How McCain Won Saddleback," at NRO: "McCain was the clear winner of the night."
• "First Thoughts," at WaPo: "Both candidates successfully navigated the occasionally treacherous waters of a detailed discussion about faith and values."
• From CNN's summary: "David Gergen, a senior political analyst for CNN, said he thought both candidates handled themselves well, but he was particularly impressed with McCain's performance."