Mormonism is still racist

A Mormon priesthood ordinance 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. [from 1&2] The LDS Church denied something of value to a group of people based on their skin color. 4. To deny something of value to [...]

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic

Ritual and Red Tape: The Ethics of Baptisms for the Dead

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 (Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant) Christian [...]

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic

Mormon Inconsistency on the Christian Question

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 is understood, then the question [...]

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic

Jon Huntsman and the Jack Mormon Moment

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 sense than Butch Cassidy was. [...]

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic