I’m happy to introduce our latest guest blogger: Elisabeth Calvert Smith. Elisabeth is an attorney for the Massachusetts Department of Labor. (The astute reader may realize that T & S seems to be returning to its law roots, with attorneys now constituting the past two guests, three of the past four, and four of the past six). She graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Political Science, and earned her law degree from Boston University. She currently teaches legal research and writing part-time to first year law students at Boston University. She also loves (most weeks) her job of teaching the five- and six-year-olds in Primary. Elisabeth is married with cats, and loves chocolate donuts, movies, books, The New Yorker, running along the Charles River. Plus her husband and family (they rank behind the donuts, though). And finally, I would be remiss not to point out that Elisabeth is the author of the best spiritual securities law analogy I’ve ever seen. Welcome aboard, Elisabeth!
Year: 2005
Bloggernacle Party: Washington DC
I’m hosting a bloggernacle party this Friday night to coincide with the Joseph Smith conference at the Library of Congress. All bloggern are welcome.
Everybody Else is Doing It, so Why Can’t We?
Over at Volokh.com, there’s a fun little contest going on: Name the highest political figure of various minority groups. Thus, Eugene writes: Who are now the highest-ranked, and who have been the highest-ranked [minority groups listed] in U.S. government positions, federal or state, appointed or elected. For our purposes, though, let’s say that the rank of an office is generally inversely proportional to the number of people who hold that sort of office, so the President (1) beats U.S. Supreme Court Justices (9) who beat Cabinet officials (15) who beat Governors (50) who beat U.S. Senators (100) who beat state Supreme Court Justices (roughly 350, I think) who beat U.S. Representatives (435) and so on. On the other hand, I reserve the right to downgrade un-influential offices — there are fewer state Secretaries of State than state Supreme Court Justices, but I say the latter beat the former, and I’ll brook no argument on that. Eugene left Mormons off of his own contest (too easy), though some discussion of Mormons started anyway. I think it would be kind of fun to kick off our own Mormon-themed version of this contest, focusing both on church sects and other religious groups we’re often compared with.
Abortion, Conscientious Objectors, and Timing
There’s an interesting discussion over at M* about how an LDS health-care worker ought to handle a request by a patient for an abortion. The issues are similar to those that arise when discussing how to treat conscientious objectors in wartime.
Against King Benjamin
I am sorry to say that I think that King Benjamin’s great sermon has badly distorted the way that Latter-day Saints think about charity, the treatment of the poor, and the redistribution of wealth.
The Tumbaga Pla-ates La-ay Hi-i-dden
Deep in the mountainside . . . Okay, so the idea that the Golden Plates weren’t really made of gold, but rather out of a lighter alloy called tumbaga has now been kicking around for almost 40 years. To what effect, I wonder. Is this a theory which you accept, constant reader? A theory which you dispute? One that you cheerfully ignore? (One that you’ve never heard of, maybe?) And are Mormons in general subscribing to the tumbaga theory? Rejecting it? Have you ever heard the word “tumbaga” used during Sunday School? (How does one pronounce it, anyway?) Used during Sacrament meeting? And most importantly — Do you own any tumbaga kitsch jewelry? (Should you?)
12 (or so) Questions for Kathleen Flake
Back in November, we solicited questions for Kathleen Flake, author of the terrific book The Politics of American Religious Identity (2004). We are now pleased to present her responses. Thanks Professor Flake! 1. How have you negotiated the tension between focusing on Mormon studies versus the broader issues within your discipline? How have your faith and your interest in Mormon studies affected your career at Vanderbilt, if at all? My focus has not been on Mormonism as an end in itself. Rather, I have experimented with using Mormonism as a tool to understand the “broader issues.”
Updating the Expansion Theory
In 1987 I published the theory of the Book of Mormon as a Modern Expansion of an Ancient Source. I wrote the article as a bit of apologetics to show that assumptions made by both believers and critics lead to unwarranted conclusions.
“The First Thing We Do . . .”
There have been three new rules in the Church in the last year that have really angered and saddened me. Especially since, if I were in a position to do so, I would have made the same rules.
What is it with Mormons and Alternative Medicine?
Raise your hand if you’ve ever sneezed at church, only to have a church member suggest some sort of herbal remedy. Echinacea, goldenseal, St. John’s Wort, chapparal, clover honey, ginsing . . . you name it, and it’s been offered to me at some point by a church member. Along with suggestions for magnetic treatment, and intestine cleansing, and acupuncture. Have you ever had your LDS friend’s mother ask you, with a straight face, “How many bowel movements do you have each day?” I have. (I dodged the question; she told me that anything less than three was unhealthy). And there is the evil flouridation, of course. And all of the attendant conspiracy theories about how doctors already know the cure for cancer and AIDS and arthritis, but they’re shilling for the pharmeceutical companies, and so they won’t tell you their secrets. (But that’s okay — just hook up a battery to this radio device, and sit next to it every day for an hour, and you’ll be guaranteed to be cancer free). Why is it that Mormons are often believers in, shall we say, unorthodox medical practices? I mean, for crying out loud, we have a heart surgeon for an apostle! Isn’t it about time we came to terms with modern medicine?
Converting the Missionaries?
There has been a very interesting and vigorous discussion on Blake’s thread on “raising the bar” for missionary service. I’d like to pick up a theme from early in that thread that I think needs more attention: what sort of spiritual development should we be hoping missionary service will provoke in the missionary?
Religious Bigotry & Judicial Nominations
Cathy Young has a provocative editorial on the recent judicial confirmation kerfuffle. The quick primer: Democrats have been blocking President Bush’s judicial nominees at an unprecedented rate, and Republican Senators have begun to cry foul on grounds of religious bigotry.
Postpartum Depression
I had severe and prolonged postpartum depression with my first child, moderate PPD with the second, and none at all with the third. While I’m by no means an expert, I wanted to sketch out some things that I thought might be helpful to those experiencing PPD and those who are in a position to help them (husbands, visiting teachers, ward leaders, etc.).
Statistics on Missionaries and Baptisms
Blake’s post prompts me to share some information I culled while listening to conference last month. First up are the raw numbers of missionaries and converts.
The Order of Things
My discussion of belief and practice has in its background a larger discussion concerning what it means to be religious.
Belief and Practice
I have been carrying on an argument with Nate on one of his posts (## 5 and 7) and in his responses to one of Blake’s posts ( #23) –sort of.
Satellite Stake Conference
I spent most of my morning in a very enjoyable Stake Conference. Many of you were probably there, too. After all, it included 61 stakes and one district covering nine Midwestern states.
Laptops in the Chapel
I suppose it was inevitable. Today, during Stake Conference, I saw a member of our congregation taking notes on a laptop.
Did We Raise the Bar too Far?
The number of missionaries is down about 15,000 from its peak. The number of convert baptisms is down about 20% per missionary. Retention rates are also down. There are numbers of young men who would be willing to serve missions who are not allowed to because of sins that would not have barred them from missionary service previously. Is there a link here?
Sunday School Lesson 18
Lesson 18: Doctrine and Covenants 95, 109, 110
The Unfortunate Decline of Preaching
Mathew Cowley, Hugh B. Brown, J. Golden Kimball. What these men had in common (other than the fact that I think they were all Democrats) is that they were great preachers. Preaching, however, seems to be a lost art of sorts in the Church. Indeed, there is so little real preaching that I suspect that most of the time we don’t even recognize its absence.
Is There Any Mormon “Doctrine”?
I interact with evangelicals regarding LDS beliefs. Our way of approaching issues of “doctrine” drives them crazy because they feel like they are shooting at a moving target. It seems to me that they are shooting at no target at all. We approach the way of being in relation to God so differently that we are not really even talking to each other about doctrine. Let me explain.
The Other Story of Salvation
Church isn’t boring for me very often lately. It’s not because the speakers and teachers have dramatically improved since a few years ago when I was bored more often. Nor is it because I have suffered brain damage that leaves me very easily amused : ) Partly the kids in my primary class keep me hopping, but partly I’m looking for different things now than I used to look for.
Friday I’m in Love
It’s Friday morning, and the house is full of the feeling that something good is just around the corner. Nothing is, of course: I have no plans for tonight, tomorrow brings no particular respite from the daily round, the weekend provides no special bookmark in the text of my life, these days. Well, there is the adults-only session of Stake Conference on Saturday night, I guess. Still, though, Friday tastes good, like movies and loud music and books and beds and restaurants and release. Yeah, you could say I’m in love.
Is There Anywhere in the Church Where it is Safe to Discuss Doubts?
It seems to me that LDS are good at a lot of things. We are good at creating community. We are pretty good at supporting the family structure. We’re good at producing world-class choirs. However, we’re not so good at creating a place that is safe to discuss and work through doubts about the gospel.
Spanking
Yes, we’ve discussed it previously, last year. Still, it’s a topic that is sometimes on my mind, as I try to raise three kids with a minimal loss of sanity for everyone involved: To spank, or not to spank; and if to spank, how?
Fat Makes a Comeback
The CDC is airing its dirty laundry this week, as a new report comes out claiming that last year’s CDC report on obesity is basically hogwash. In the old numbers, obesity was this bomb descending on America that was going to wipe us out. It claimed that obesity caused 400,000 deaths/year, making it the number two cause of death. Thus, obesity wipes out the equivalent of Utah Valley every year.
Should I Hang Up My Philosopher’s Robe?
Sister Mendel is a Saint for sure. This fact must be grasped or nothing else I say makes sense. She came from Germany to the United States shortly after WW II with her newly converted husband. She has the remarkable ability to reveal to everyone that they are loved. She is a saint already celestial in character. Of this simple truth there is little doubt. Yet Sister Mendel couldn’t formulate a coherent doctrine on any issue if her life depended on it. She admits that she doesn’t understand doctrine very well and she even admits that she is just not bright regarding that kind of thing.
Movie Cleansing
The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 has made its way through Congress and is now heading toward the White House for George Bush’s signature.
The New Pope
There have been many responses to the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy, becoming Pope Benedict 16. Here are some of them (thanks to Arts and Letters Daily)