I spent about 2-3 hours over the past couple of days writing a point by point rebuttal to LDS apostle Dallin Oaks’ recent talk in which he compares recent violence and harassment against Prop 8 supporters to the violence and intimidation tactics of opponents of the Civil Rights Movement. For the past hour I’ve been [...]

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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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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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b&w lighthouse by john curley, shared under a creative commons license. I loved to sing as a Mormon. I sucked, but I didn’t suck so bad that I couldn’t do a public performance on occasion. I particularly loved singing in small, 4-man choirs. I was usually the baritone. One of my favorite hymns to sing [...]

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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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The video doesn’t starts with the security guards and the gay couple getting acquainted. There’s only so much you can get out of a video like this, but to my eye it seems to confirm Aune and Jones’ version of the incident. The couple is not a threat; they remain seated until the takedown; they [...]

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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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Several of you have directed my attention to what I believe may be the post that offended LDS muckety-mucks enough to invite me to a disciplinary council. It’s a video blog entry in which I show and comment on a brief excerpt of HBO’s Big Love depiction of the temple veil ceremony, I read from [...]

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When the local Mormon Stake President came to the door, I was half-hoping it was Carolyn, wanting to share a glass of Layer Cake Shiraz (that she had recommended) while our wives were at paddling practice. The kids were wrapping up dinner and Isaac and I were sitting on the couches enjoying warm conversation and [...]

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