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  • Election 2024
    • Even if Voters ‘Get What They Asked For’ it’s More Likely to Cause a Fascist Death Spiral Than a Lesson Learned
      Even if Voters ‘Get What They Asked For’ it’s More Likely to Cause a Fascist Death Spiral Than a Lesson Learned
    • Loyalty and Chaos Play a Role in Trump’s Nominations, But This Schoolyard Tactic May Provide a Better Explanation
      Loyalty and Chaos Play a Role in Trump’s Nominations, But This Schoolyard Tactic May Provide a Better Explanation
    • Progressive Christian Election Response ‘Give us Barabbas’ May Be Well-Meaning — But Functions as Anti-Jewish Dogwhistle
      Progressive Christian Election Response ‘Give us Barabbas’ May Be Well-Meaning — But Functions as Anti-Jewish Dogwhistle
  • Racial Justice
    • Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
      Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
    • No image
      With no Viable Alternative on Ballot, Anti-immigrant Movement Claims Victory and Releases Wish Lists
    • New Doc Claiming Columbus was Jewish May Have Some Accuracy Issues — But There’s a Far Bigger Issue We Need to Reckon With
      New Doc Claiming Columbus was Jewish May Have Some Accuracy Issues — But There’s a Far Bigger Issue We Need to Reckon With
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • With Election Takeaways Like ‘Too Transgender’ or ‘the US is Shifting Right,’ Dems are Determined to Learn the Wrong Lesson
      With Election Takeaways Like ‘Too Transgender’ or ‘the US is Shifting Right,’ Dems are Determined to Learn the Wrong Lesson
    • Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC
      Packed with Threats of Political Violence, Media Largely Ignore the NAR’s ‘Million Women’ Rally in DC
    • New Doc Strives for Christian Unity—But What if Unity is the Problem?
      New Doc Strives for Christian Unity—But What if Unity is the Problem?
  • Christian Nationalism
    • Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
      Phoning It In: ‘Heathen’ Isn’t a Neutral Religious Description — It’s Also a Significant Force in the Creation of Race in the US
    • Trump’s Fervent Christian Zionists Poised to Lead the Military — And US-Israel Relations
      Trump’s Fervent Christian Zionists Poised to Lead the Military — And US-Israel Relations
    • Meet Pete Hegseth, the Man Who Will Lead the Entire US Military — A Man Deemed an ‘Extremist’ by the US Military
      Meet Pete Hegseth, the Man Who Will Lead the Entire US Military — A Man Deemed an ‘Extremist’ by the US Military
  • Taxonomy Report

Benjamin E. Park

Benjamin E. Park teaches American history at Sam Houston State University. He is the author of the award-winning Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier. His next book, American Zion: A New History of Mormonism, will be released in January.

Image of Mitt Romney at a podium looking down with blurred sign in background that reads "Conservatives"
Archive, Books, Christian Nationalism, OMFG, Politics/LawOctober 26, 2023

Mitt Romney, the Public Face of Mormonism, Reckons with His Alienation From a Radicalized GOP and His Role in Enabling it

By Benjamin E. Park

Riding high from his tenure as the moderate governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney was anxious…

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Archive, Culture, OMFGApril 25, 2022

FX’s ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ Adaptation Rejects Reductive Elements of Krakauer’s Book, But Confirms That ‘Mormonism Breeds Dangerous Men’

By Benjamin E. Park

I was a twenty-year-old missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in…

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(A)theologies, Archive, CultureMarch 5, 2021

‘Murder Among the Mormons’ Episode 3 Recap: What is Genuine?

By Benjamin E. Park

  Spoiler: this recap covers the investigative developments found throughout the three episodes of Murder…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Culture, OMFGMarch 4, 2021

‘Murder Among the Mormons’ Ep 2 Recap: A Family Man With a Wild Side

By Benjamin E. Park

  Spoiler: this recap covers some of the crucial investigative developments featured in the second…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Culture, OMFGMarch 3, 2021

‘Murder Among the Mormons’ Ep 1 Recap: A Trio of Bombs Launches SLC into a Panic

By Benjamin E. Park

  Below is a recap of the first episode of Murder Among the Mormons, a…

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(A)theologies, Archive, Culture, Racial JusticeMarch 1, 2021

‘Murder Among the Mormons,’ Latest True Crime Doc From Netflix, Highlights Issues of Faith, Skepticism, and Authenticity

By Benjamin E. Park

Note on spoilers, etc: This essay covers the broad outlines of the Mark Hofmann forgery…

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(A)theologies, Archive, OMFG, Sex/Gender/JusticeMay 14, 2020

How an 1843 Revelation on Polygamy Poses a Serious Challenge to Modern Mormonism

By Benjamin E. Park

This week, new legislation goes into effect in Utah that decriminalizes polygamy among consenting adults….

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Archive, Culture, Politics/Law, Remapping American ChristianitiesJanuary 20, 2017

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Will Usher In the Trump Era

By Benjamin E. Park

Their decision to participate in Trump’s inauguration epitomizes the Church’s priority of fitting within their surrounding culture, even at the expense of contrasting and competing values.

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(A)theologies, Archive, Beyond Belief: Election 2016, Politics/Law, Remapping American ChristianitiesMarch 25, 2016

Why Utah Felt the Bern: Mormonism’s Forgotten Progressive Past

By Benjamin E. Park

This week, Utah and Idaho delivered Bernie’s largest margin of victories in the Democratic primaries…

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