Bored in Vernal tagged me as a Thinking Blogger. This is quite an honor, coming from her! It’s also a meme, so my duty is to name five other blogs that make me think.

In order to avoid being too incestuous or repetitive, I decided not list any of the bloggers who are part of this immediate community. Many of you, including Miko, BiV, Johnny, Jeff, Elise, Elaine, Jonathan, Tammy and others are continually challenging me and making me think, but you all know about each others’ blogs, and I hope you’re visiting each other often. Also, picking a few of you to the exclusion of others is like trying to name which child or sibling I love more than the others. That said, here are a few of the bloggers who make me think (from outside of the MoF circle).

1. Abstract Nonsense

Alon Levy of Abstract Nonsense is The Blogger who Made Me Think. He would often take a tired, beaten to death issue and breath new insight into it. He wrote on a range of social and religious topics from a liberal perspective, but in a way that challenged intellectual laziness in liberals. Unfortunately, he withdrew from the blogging world last month, so this is a posthumous award of sorts. Even though he’s stopped writing new material, his archives are worth exploring. In his farewell post, he also lists smart bloggers who cover the same topics.

2. Quaker Blogs

What is it with my favorite bloggers going defunct on me? Zach’s Seed Lifting Up explores the radical form of Quakerism that I find most appealing. I’m filling the void with the feed off of quakerquaker.org, which is kind of a “best of the Quaker web” aggregator. The diversity that I’m discovering within Quakerism provokes many deep thoughts.

3. Mormon Blogs
Although I’ve all but abandoned the Mormon blogging world, I continue to follow a few friends’ blogs, the Christianity posts on Dave’s Mormon Inquiry, and several feminist bloggers. I’m cheating by sneaking multiples in, but I read almost everything by certain bloggers at Exponent II and Zelophehad’s Daughters (where all the bloggers are grad students!). I’m also a big fan of fMhLisa’s at feminist Mormon housewives.

4. William Shunn

keeps a blog, but what really makes me think is the content of his podcast. He is a Hugo and Nebula nominated Science Fiction writer but the content of his podcast is dominated by his Mormon missionary memoirs. The story opens with his arrest for suspected terrorist activities in Canada. His podcast, which he updates regularly, should be required listening for anyone who is struggling within institutional religion–you will find a humorous, honest, and eloquent companion in Bill Shunn. You may also learn a thing or two about single-malt scotches.

5. GetReligion

covers journalists covering religion. It makes me think deeply about prejudices that we have in society for and against religion(s), and teaches me to think critically about how religion is presented to me through the press. Hopefully this all translates into better blogging about religion on my part.