Over the past couple of years, I’ve gradually withdrawn from my engagement in the Mormon blogging world (affectionately referred to as the ‘Bloggernacle’), but I’m going to take one last little dive back into it. Apparently my excommunication experience has been nominated in the write-in category for the Niblet awards, and it’s doing all right: [...]

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I hope you’ll indulge me for a moment of self-reflection. It’s been an eventful past three months. On 09/09/09, I was excommunicated, and I still haven’t had a chance to reflect properly on the event and its impact, partly because at the time it (unexpectedly to me) became more of a struggle for Jana than [...]

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Over the past few years, I’ve started to see myself more and more as a creative being. I think the seeds for this were planted when a) I submitted my first short story to a contest and won, and b) I received kudos from graphic designers for the first incarnation of this blog. So I’ve [...]

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In spite of my various attempts to clarify my motives, people continue to ask why I have chosen to be so noisy and public as I exited the LDS Church. Most of these questions (and the occasional accusation that I’m insincere, or an attention whore) come from people who seem to be deeply connected to [...]

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Picture taken by @taojunky This post is mainly a recounting of my experience of being excommunicated. Mine was probably a strange situation, since I may be one of a handful of apostates who welcomed excommunication, who also chose to attend their disciplinary council. I may follow this post with some analysis in a day or [...]

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I just wanted to direct your attention to Jana’s experience of the disciplinary council. She’s a tough woman, but I acknowledge that this has been difficult for her, so I hope you’ll treat her with civility and compassion. I’ll try to fill some of the gaps in her recounting (when I was brought into the [...]

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Just got home. The event was full to the brim and spilling down the sides with courtesy. Surprisingly, it felt good to greet a few old friends (I’ve known some of the men for nearly 20 years). It will take me some time to process this, but I feel pretty damn fine at the moment. [...]

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The most common question aimed at me in the past day is why I’m bothering to go to this council at all. This query has come from the devout, from former mormons, from irreligious friends. It certainly would be easier on me, on Jana, on the men in that high council room if I didn’t [...]

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Jana and I had a great anniversary weekend. Thank you, everyone, for your well-wishes. We had dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant, fit in a Saturday afternoon beer and cheese tasting (serendipitously running into @clankyrobot and friends), lost a couple of hours in what may be the OC’s last great used bookseller (The Bookman in [...]

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I have mixed feelings about the discussion that’s taking place at my maybe I’m being ex’d post, and I wanted to work out my unease out loud. Though I’m capable of it, I don’t like rational argument when discussing my personal religious experience. I’m not competitive. I don’t really have anything to prove. I prefer [...]

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