By D. Jeff Burton D. Jeff Burton is the author of For Those Who Wonder and a former member of the Sunstone board of directors. This column shares the story of “Ryan,” a Church employee stationed in Guatemala. (Names, locations, and details have been changed to protect identities.) A few years ago, he found …
Category: Issue 189
An Inappropriate Friendship
By Stephen Carter Stephen Carter is the director of publications for Sunstone, host of the Sunstone Podcast, and author of Virginia Sorensen: Pioneering Mormon Author (Signature Books). It was the middle of April, and the beginning of the pandemic. My friend Anna and I were standing, six feet apart, in the middle of …
Earth Stewardship: Our Work for the Unborn
By Robert A. Rees Robert A. Rees is the director of Mormon Studies at the Graduate Theological Union. He is the author of A New Witness for the World (BCC Press, 2020) and editor of Why I Stay 2 (Signature Books, 2021). I According to Latter-day Saint theology, this earth was created by the …
Household Codes and “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”
By M. David Huston M. David Huston lives and works in the Washington, DC metro area. He is a husband and the father of four children. Although it remains outside the LDS Church’s canonized scripture, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (hereafter, “the Proclamation”) is framed authoritatively. It ascribes “divine design” to the …
Decorating Quarantine
By Grace Pool Grace Pool is a hand embroidery and digital media artist living in Salt Lake City. She is the events manager for Sunstone. Growing up, I did everything you’re supposed to do as a good Mormon. Sort of. I remember canning our own grape juice concentrate so we’d have fresh juice …
Reconciling Mormonism with Pluralism
By Ronn Smith Ronn Smith is a consulting engineer in Wyoming who taught college physics and engineering for fifteen years. He and his wife founded the Sheridan Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in 1983. As A Mormon youth enthralled with physics and philosophy, perhaps my post-mission departure from the LDS Church was inevitable. I wrestled with …
The LDS Proselytizing Mission as Hazing
By S. Richard Bellrock S. Richard Bellrock has been teaching and working in areas related to philosophy and psychology since 2000. Or, click here to download the audio file: The LDS Proselytizing Mission as Hazing Presumably, you have heard the notion that one of the primary purposes (if not the primary purpose) of the …
Why Korihor Needed a Good Physical Therapist: An Alternative Reading of Alma 30
By Wade Greenwood Or download the audio file here: Why Korihor Needed a Good Physical Therapist In April 2021, during a lengthy Twitter exchange about belief and membership in the LDS Church, an assistant professor at BYU with a high-profile social media presence posted a one-word rebuke to a BYU student who …
Linguini to Spare
By Megan Greenwood Or download the audio file here: Linguini to Spare I am really good in a crisis. Seriously. Really good. I’m actually kind of famous for it. Cancer diagnosis? I’m your gal. Divorce? I’ve got you. Lost your job? I’m here to help. Years ago, my mom and I were …
The Mormonator and Me: A Pandemic Face-off
By John Hatch John Hatch is an editor at Signature Books. His book “What Do You Mean, Murder?” Clue and the Making of a Cult Classic will be published in 2023. Or, download the audio here: The Mormonator and Me: A Pandemic Face-off One Sunday morning, about eight months into the pandemic, …