I try to ignore celebrities, or the "celebrity" of celebrities . . . that is to say, I try to see through their status into their personalities. But I'm terribly sad this week. I've been a Michelle Shocked fan since the late 1980s and consider "Arkansas Traveler" and "Short Sharp Shocked" ...

Dear Bishops and Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, Look. I love a lot of the work you guys have done over the years. You’ve elected some amazing popes recently, from John XXIII to John Paul II. Your ecumenical and nonviolence work has been the equivalent of a quantum leap forward for ...

When I talk to “spiritual, but not religious” people (and in the Pacific Northwest where I live, there is a great many of such folks), I often am told that yes, they believe Jesus was a great teacher, but not really the divine Son of God. Naturally, as a practicing ...

There's no question that Mormonism was racist. Here's the argument: 1. The LDS Church denied the priesthood to blacks. 2. The priesthood is positively valuable (from the Mormon perspective). 3. The LDS Church denied something of value to a group of people based on their skin color. 4. To deny something of value ...

Mormons believe that each person must undergo certain religious rituals called ordinances (basically equivalent to Catholic sacraments) without which one cannot attain the highest degree of salvation (i.e., exaltation). Mormons also believe that the authority to perform these ordinances was lost due to the so-called Great Apostasy of the traditional ...

Originally posted at Annie's View. I was saddened and frankly surprised to read Bishop Sisk's letter on Facebook. The letter disappeared and reappeared shortly thereafter, along with the accompanying comments. It would appear that Bishop Sisk is bowing to public opinion and caving in and is no longer allowing OWS supporters ...

I am a Jew. I don’t mind receiving Christmas cards or being wished a “Merry Christmas” from friends, clerks, or even in junk mail trying to sell me something no sane person should ever buy. My wife and I even send Christmas cards, with messages of peace and joy, to our ...

Are Mormons Christian?  To contemporary Latter-day Saint (LDS) Mormons (the largest Mormon denomination) this question might seem silly.  After all, their church bears the name of Jesus Christ.  But there's a historical context behind this question that has to do with the history of Christianity and of Mormonism.  Once this context ...

Jon Huntsman is Mormon like Lady Gaga is Catholic. Okay, I exaggerate. Gaga was raised Catholic but her art exists in antagonistc tension with the Catholic Church. Jon Huntsman flouts the rules of Mormonism, but he doesn't antagonize the LDS Church. Still, Huntsman is barely more “Mormon” in the technical ...

The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was removed from office for defying the Constitution and a federal court order is now one of 14 major candidates running for the Republican nomination for the presidency. by Walter Brasch Alabama’s Court of the Judiciary unanimously had ordered Roy S. Moore removed ...