John Hamer, a Community of Christ pastor and cartographer, recently went on John Dehlin’s podcast Mormon Stories and made the following observation: It’s not only that it’s academically impossible to justify arguing that the Book of Mormon is an ancient text, it’s actually an ongoing contribution to the injustice, the racism, imperialism, and genocide that … Read more
The ascendency of Russell M. Nelson to the presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on January 14, 2018 was met in some corners with fear and trembling. In a post at the popular blog By Common Consent that was eventually deleted, one blogger flatly declared that “President Nelson is particularly unfit … Read more
In the true spirit of the vapid, infantilizing, click-baity, intellectually-stifling Internet garbage of BuzzFeed, Zelph on the Shelf has a helpful list of “59 Positives to Leaving the LDS Church.” It’s a quality list as far as shallow, attention-seeking, desperate-to-be-cool Internet lists go. But I couldn’t help but notice that several more positives to leaving … Read more
In a recent post I showed that President Russell M. Nelson’s recent General Conference talk on the correct name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not outside of the mainstream of Latter-day Saint discourse on this point. This morning while doing research on another topic I came across Elder Orson Hyde‘s … Read more
Embedded in Jacob’s discourse on the scattering and restoration of Israel is this prophecy: But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon … Read more
During the 188th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson delivered an address to the membership of the Church in which he stressed the importance of “The Correct Name of the Church.” These remarks came amidst much discussion surrounding an announcement President Nelson had made two months … Read more
Last week I attended part of the 22nd International Book of Mormon Evidences Conference hosted by the FIRM Foundation. One of the presentations on Friday morning was delivered by James F. and L. Hannah Stoddard of the Joseph Smith Foundation. The title of the presentation was “Urim & Thummim or the Seer Stone & Hat?” … Read more
Review of Bruce A. Van Orden. We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps. Provo and Salt Lake City, UT. Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University and Deseret Book. 2018. 509pp. + index. $31.99. William Wines Phelps (1792–1872) is without a doubt one of the most colorful and fascinating figures in … Read more
[Crossposted from the Interpreter Blog] Review of Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days: The Standard of Truth: 1815–1846 (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2018). 586 pp., $5.75 print, $1.99 digital. Abstract: The new volume Saints: The Story of the Church of … Read more
The so-called Heartland model for the geography of the Book of Mormon is built on a foundation of fraud. Fraudulent artifacts, fraudulent science, fraudulent theology, and fraudulent history secured in place by racist ethno-nationalism are the four cornerstones of Heartlanderism. (By Heartlanderism I do not mean general belief in a North American setting for the … Read more
Samantha Shelley and Tanner Gilliland, the proprietors of the blog Zelph on the Shelf and the Team Rocket of ex-Mormonism, recently posted an article on Medium where they describe the “10 Signs You’re Probably In A Cult.” I read this post with considerable amusement, as I couldn’t help but notice that many, if not all, … Read more
Zelph on the Shelf is the name of a blog run by Samantha Shelley and Tanner Gilliland, two millennial ex-Mormons who are, sadly, afflicted with the handicap of thinking that Twitter hot takes and edgy memes are suitable substitutes for sound historical scholarship and critical thinking. Take, for instance, the “fun facts” which Zelph recently … Read more
[This post contains explicit language.] Last week saw the unfolding of what my friend Tarik LaCour has called Streetergate. To summarize the incident, on Thursday, May 17, 2018, just as LDS Church leaders were meeting with leaders from the NAACP, an ex-Mormon blogger named Jonathan Streeter created a website parodying the Church’s official newsroom and … Read more