One Utah

By way of full disclosure:
I am a descendant of James Stephens Brown , Mormon pioneer and polygamist (not to be confused with his uncle, Captain James S. Brown of the Mormon Battalion, though both served in the Mormon Battalion). His life’s story was published by the Deseret News, as The Life of Pioneer after [...]

The debacle of the clash of civilizations in the Texas raids upon the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints continues past the point of severe justice. Whatever Samuel Huntington thinks, no one wins such wars.
Savagery exists now, played out with the goading of the news media, in 24/7 mode, driven to make news of the most lurid [...]

You are not the victims here.  I know this is difficult for you to grasp as you deal with the pain of being separated from your children and having your life turned upside down.  I cannot fathom the emotions you are feeling at this time, and most of you were probably child brides raped by [...]

The massive raid upon a polygamist compound in Texas is one of the major violations of human rights in this country. This atrocity, shocking in its initial sweep, hugely over-broad , of children and their parents, gets worse day by day. Now, the pitiful last means of parents to communicate with their [...]

I’ve added some text to expand on some ideas.  I’ve noted them.
The brouhaha in American Fork holds a morbid fascination for me. The American Fork PTSA invited a group to address their meeting and talk about the dangers of pornography. What they discovered they were going to get was a denunciation of glbt persons dressed [...]

One thing that has always fascinated me about the LDS Church is the concept of apostasy in the context of revivalist America.

After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church organization and priesthood ordinances. Because of this widespread apostasy, the Lord withdrew [...]

As published in the Tribune
I am impressed with the central message of the faith communities in our area in speaking out for compassion and reflective fairness on the issues of immigration and the rights of aliens in this country. Compassionate care for the “stranger amongst us” is central to biblical teachings of the prophets and [...]

I’m going way out on a limb, folks, but I know my kindly friends will catch me if I fall. Today is Human Rights Day, everywhere but in Deseret. Some years ago, in the Baptist chapel on 13th East, dedicated to Sam and Aline Skaggs, we met on Martin Luther King, Jr., day, [...]

I introduced my dear friend, Plasticman, in one of my recent descents into the Inferno. Plasticman lives in what once was the Hotel Utah. It now houses Plasticman and his many wives. Each office… as it may appear to the masses on the outside looking in…actually houses one wife. Plasicman has [...]

As I predicted here, LDS doctrine will come under close scrutiny by the national media.

h/t HuffPost

A sane, if highly flawed, discussion of Mitt Romney’s “Faith In America” speech on the McLaughlin Group was cold-cocked into the realm of crazy-faced anger by guest panelist Lawrence O’Donnell this morning, who started off by criticizing Romney, but soon [...]

I’ve read the Good Book, cover to cover, and I love it. I’ve always had a love affair with holy writ. But I don’t get it.
The Bible says, time after time after time, that we should honor the outcast, grant places of refuge for the refugee, in our hearts, our homes, [...]

In his lousy speech yesterday, Mitt Romney said of people like me, “It is as if they’re intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They’re wrong,”
He was talking about people who would exclude religion from public institutions and apparently, create their own religion.
Ignoring the stupidity of that statement for [...]