By Christy Crowe Hughes THE CONCEPT OF adoption is very old—it is part of our earliest Judeo-Christian myths (Moses for example). Although it is an essential social mechanism for taking care of vulnerable populations of children, adoption is fraught with deep shame and trauma that affects all three parties in the adoption “triangle”: the birth …
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Revising
By Dayna Patterson It’s at least 200 years overdue, what was needed in this place— a good earthquake. It slips from your mouth, hits, finally, in the clothing store, one seismic word— bisexual. We step outside. Mountains spin. The word, sin, chokes in my throat, acid bleak, I swallow back. …
Missionary Work in Kanata, Canada
By Dayna Patterson The porte-a-porte is not as cruel tonight. Snow falls soft on a row of pastel houses, where curves in the moulding, louvered shutters, and tidy lines of lights make them look like dollhouses. Bibles in bags slung over our shoulders, we follow the unshoveled path door to door to …
The Mormon Therapist: Neither a Sin nor a Transgression
By Natasha Helfer Parker I am 29 and have my endowments, but I also masturbate. I feel guilty about it. I’m trying to tell myself it’s OK. But is it? I am a single LDS woman, age 31, hoping to get endowed soon. The problem is, I have had issues with . . . …
Single in the Borderlands
By Kristine Haglund THE TOPIC OF being single and Mormon seems huge and difficult, probably because “single” is in no way a unitary category; my experience may not provide much that is useful to say about yours. The notion of being “in the borderlands” is similarly complex and daunting. So I thought I’d start by talking about …
Religion and the Whole Brain
By Russell Osmond It seems you can’t open a magazine or log on to your Facebook account without stumbling across yet another article about the flight from religion—those of the Millennial generation flying the fastest. Many theories have been advanced about why religion seems to be losing its relevance and allure. I have a theory …
A Fond Farewell
EVERY SUMMER, MARY Ellen Robertson would start pushing the Salt Lake Symposium boulder up the mountain one more time, gathering volunteers and Sunstone staff together in the office for a week of intense nose-to-the-grindstone, pizza-fueled, caffeine-soaked program creation. First, there were the words. So. Many. Words. Gather a hundred Sunstone sessions together and you will find …
Staying in the Church and Making it Work
By D. Jeff Burton IN APRIL OF 2014, I participated in a Sunstone-sponsored conference called “Navigating the Borderlands.”1 My assigned topic was “Staying in the Church and Making it Work.” I covered ten principles and action items that I (and others) have found useful. In this column and the next, I will provide and expand upon …
Finding Christ at St. Paul the Apostle Church
By Robert A. Rees “To be in a holy place where love is found, where all are named and where hearts are freed to change the world.” —Motto of St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Hollywood, California ONE SUNDAY, MY friend David Ballantine invited me to attend church with him. I have known David since …
Rachel, Not Comforted
By Dana Haight Cattani “But on the whole his life ran its course as he believed life should do: easily, pleasantly, and decorously.” —The Death of Ivan Ilych, Leo Tolstoy1 From beneath her fashionable blonde wig, Darla introduced herself to my gynecologic cancer support group. A first-timer, she listed a few descriptors—grandmother, business owner, widow …