My Final (?) Mormon Moment Thoughts

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] Over the past 20 months or so, I--like a lot of other Mormon academics and bloggers--have found myself being contacted by reporters, being invited to conferences,…

Same-Sex Marriage in the Courts (of Public Opinion, and Otherwise)

Yesterday, the British House of Commons voted 400 to 175 in support of a bill which will legalize same-sex marriages in Great Britain . I'm happy--for the outcome, yes (which I've changed my …

Glenn Beck Gives Utopia a Bad Name

[Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic ] So Glenn Beck has proposed his grandest scheme yet : the construction of separate planned community, literally built around (in terms of architecture and overa…

Home Teaching and the Miracle of Interruption

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] Yesterday, I and another member of our church went to talk and counsel with a family in our congregation. (In Mormon parlance, this is called "home teaching&…

Mocking Romney's Mormon Self-Sufficiency, and What That Misses

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] Amy Sullivan has an article on The New Republic's website this morning, calling Mitt Romney "insufferably cheap," and arguing that the "frugal…

Cleansing the Altar, and the Anvil Too

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] Some interrelated thoughts for today, which is Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that I kind of wish every year was one of my own. First of all, the text: Okay, so tha…

How Mitt Romney Deflated the Mormon Moment

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] Before we get too far into this week's Democratic National Convention, let me get off my chest something about last week's, something that I've allude…

"What Think Ye of Christ?"

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] Twice in the past week, I have been asked, in essence, this very question, though not exactly as it is recorded in Matthew 22:42. Once the question came from a st…

Prayer and the Sovereignty of God

[Cross-posted to By Common Consent ] This is a sermon (though we Mormons rarely call these things "sermons"; usually just "talks" instead) which I gave in our main church meeting …