The Evolution of Belief: Reconciling Through Faith Crises ; The Evolution of Belief: A Skeptical Sojourn The faith I had as a child has changed through experience and education. I see these changes as the process of going into a crisis of faith and working my way through to the reconciliation. The result has been …
Month: January 2001
Whoring, Polygamy, or Just Friendship? Or, Can a Mormon Be a Buddhist?: How Might Latter-day Saints Think of the Other Religions
Whoring, Polygamy, or Just Friendship? Or, Can a Mormon Be a Buddhist?: How Might Latter-day Saints Think of the Other Religions Recent discussions of the plurality of religions have centered around three possible stances toward another’s religion. We can be exclusivists claiming that our tradition is the only true one and that all others are …
Why do Mormons Continue to Believe and Practice?
Why do Mormons Continue to Believe and Practice? From a strictly naturalistic view, the last fifty years have failed to bring much support for the supernatural claims of Joseph Smith. On the other hand, critics have been compiling evidence that contradicts those claims. Yet, Mormonism continues to thrive and expand, suggesting psychological reasons for the …
Violence in the Book of Mormon
Violence in the Book of Mormon Sandwiched between the Book of Mormon’s many faith-promoting stories are tales of beheading, kidnapping, torture, rape, murder for gain, patricide, and other acts of violence. This presentation will explore some of Mormonism’s violent tales and examine these stories in light of different theorists’ work on violence and how it …
The Spiritual Roots of the Democratic Party
The Spiritual Roots of the Democratic Party While politics is a complex, often contradictory subject, there are spiritual principles involved in the Republican and Democratic political parties. State Representative from Utah County and stake president Bill Wright has recently stated that one cannot be a Democrat and a good Mormon. Though I have great respect …
The Many Voices of Brigham Young
The Many Voices of Brigham Young Over the course of his long life, Brigham Young dictated many thousands of letters to statesmen and entrepreneurs, churchmen and soldiers, autograph seekers, fur trappers, widows, gamblers, Indians, and whiners. To some he was brotherly, gracious, pastoral and collegial; to others he could be sarcastic, bitter, paternalistic, or dismissive. …
What Really Happened (A new play by Eric Samuelsen)
What Really Happened (A new play by Eric Samuelsen) This will be a staged reading of Eric Samuelsen’s newest play, ‘What Really Happened.” A young couple moves to the big city. THE READING TAKES 1 HOUR AND 20 MINUTES. PLEASE PLAN AHEAD OF TIME TO EAT YOUR LUNCH IN THE SESSION ROOM. Eric R. Samuelson
Does an ‘Open Forum’ Mean an ‘Open Microphone’?: The Controversy at Sunstone West
Does an ‘Open Forum’ Mean an ‘Open Microphone’?: The Controversy at Sunstone West This April, a controversy erupted surrounding the program for the 2001 Sunstone West Symposium. The event involved the paper proposal, ‘The Hidden Nazi Mentality in the Proclamation on the Family,” by Cindy LeFevre, which was first accepted but then removed from the …
Confessions of a Mormon Boy: Eagle Scout, Missionary, Husband, Father, Homosexual . . . Human
Confessions of a Mormon Boy: Eagle Scout, Missionary, Husband, Father, Homosexual . . . Human In a reading of his one-person show currently in development, New York actor Steven Fales shares the story of his failed attempt to overcome his same-sex attractions, which ultimately resulted in his divorce and his excommunication from the Church. Told …
Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years among the Mormons, by Jan Shipps
Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years among the Mormons, by Jan Shipps For some time, Jan Shipps has been the preeminent non-Mormon interpreter of Mormonism. Her book, Sojourner in the Promised Land: Forty Years among the Mormons, is a compilation of her writings for the past thirty years, much of it a personal, intellectual …