Viewer Mail

Tue, 06 Jan 2004 06:08:13 GMT

My posts have been getting a bit lengthy of late. I'm going to try to gear down and just post a few interesting links while working on other projects for a few days. Here are short notes recognizing viewer mail I've received recently.

Benton requested that I post a link to Folk of the Fringe, a board targeted at "Fringe Mormons" (neither orthodox nor anti) who want to discuss Mormon social and doctrinal topics. Noting it here is the best I can do. I'm reserving scarce sidebar real estate for internal links to my own reviews and documents; links to websites featuring LDS documents and resources; and weblogs that would be of interest to most visitors. But if any viewers are board people, you might go and try Fringe for awhile.

Robyn pointed out that one of the sites on the sidebar under "LDS Resources" was run by an "anti-Mormon." Frankly, it's getting harder and harder for me to recognize an anti-Mormon anymore. They just seem more and more like regular people with different ideas about religion. In any case, I use "LDS Resources" for sites I find with particularly interesting Mormon materials, regardless of the religious politics of the site or its proprietor. For example, go visit All About Mormons or Tungate.com and I'm sure you'll find some very interesting topics and articles you haven't run across before. I try to keep this site away from either extreme (neither apologetic nor anti), instead offering primarily links to interesting news, books, and articles along with short commentary and reflection.

Zak (not his real name) traded emails with me. He was trying to "place" this weblog and its author on the Mormon spectrum. Turns out Zak has been pleasantly inactive for six months now, but has found that for a guy like him (30 and single) "people [tend] to be much more normal and accepting in general outside of the Church." On the other hand, being 30 and single he finds the church to be "a frustrating place that is a constant reminder of failure until you fit in better." Zak, only in the Mormon Church is there anything wrong with being 30 and single. I'm confident there are several million people out there who would give their right arm to be 30 and single. Chin up, Zak, you might have problems, but being 30 and single is not one of them. Hope life brightens up a bit for you. Try blowing a paycheck at Circuit City (while you're still single).

Kaimi over at Times and Seasons was kind enough to start a discussion thread there on my Christianity 99R post last week. Today, he started what became an even more interesting discussion on my long comments posted here yesterday on Mormon testimony and Moroni's promise. Those of you who find youselves disagreeing with some of what you read here would likely find the discussions especially rewarding. Times and Seasons is a fun place to share interesting ideas with a collection of bright and well read Mormons. On the other hand, those of you more in agreement with the gist of my remarks might enjoy Tim's interesting comments over at Tim's Freespace, a peppy Con Law weblog.

Viewer Mail: Liberal Mormons

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 07:10:54 GMT

A visitor emailed me with comments on my Liberal Christians post, sharing his experience in an LDS ward somewhere in Middle America. People whose politics or skin tone don't conform to the standard Mormon categories are sometimes made to feel less than fully welcome, it seems. Here is part of my response:

I don't quite understand why the Church continues to move to the right politically and theologically, but it is in some ways a recent development. Just a few years ago Utah elected a Democratic governor for two terms! (Scott Matheson, in the 70s and 80s). That would almost be unthinkable today. I don't really like the term "liberal Mormon" (a liberal Mormon is a conservative anything else), but I don't have a better one and everyone seems to know who the term refers to. I don't think there's any formal policy to drive liberal Mormons out of the Church, but increasingly some liberal Mormons seem to feel unwanted and unwelcome in the Church. I don't think it's intended, but I can see why some feel that way.

Dave's Mormon Inquiry Weblog: Viewer Mail

Viewer Mail

Viewer Mail: Liberal Mormons