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TLC Premieres Polygamy Reality Show Sister Wives

By Joanna Brooks

…since I was a wee girl. True: the mainstream LDS Church has not officially sanctioned polygamy since 1890 or so, but even among mainstream Mormons, the question of polygamy in the afterlife remains theologically wide open, and to this day Mormon men may be “sealed” for eternity to more than one wife in an LDS temple. As a writer, I’ve also been invited into the homes of polygamist families from two of the seven or eight major distinct fundamentali…

Did We Drink the Kool-Aid in “Suicide Cult” Disappearance?

By Julie Ingersoll

…poorly understood religious groups. Wessinger compared the stories of two Texas religious communities: Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) at the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch in El Dorado that was raided by authorities who took the community’s children into custody, and the Branch Davidians in Waco whose community was also raided, leading to a lengthy standoff and ultimately the death of 76 people—including more than 20 children. She wrote a…

From Here to Eternity: Of Mormons and Celestial Marriage

By Holly Welker

…rch previously practice plural marriage (polygamy)?” Heather Olson Beal of Texas provides this answer in her profile: “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s something that I used to really struggle to understand, but have decided not to worry about because it has no impact on the way I experience Mormonism in my life.” Mormons frequently decide “not to worry about” many aspects of their doctrine, but homosexuality is currently one topic where ignoring the…

Queer Religion and Community at HRC Summer Institute

By Rebecca T. Alpert

…in Nashville. Nor was learning from guest presenters like Emilie Townes, Susan Thistlethwaite, or Bishop Gene Robinson. Nor were the conversations about the pros and cons of marriage equality, or the importance of doing public theology or the lessons shared by those among us who identify as transgender. It wasn’t even the hevre (rendered loosely, sense of community) that developed, or the plans some of us made for building on and disseminating the…

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Still Sound

By Lauri Lebo

…ed an inflammatory New Scientist cover article (“Darwin was Wrong”) to the Texas School Board during one of its 2009 meetings. Those who attack evolution will be heartened by these articles and believe that a challenge to evolution has finally been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Newton adds: The reality is, of course, quite different. These reporters really should have 1) talked to the authors, 2) read the Biology Letters paper, and 3) fami…

Conservatives Panic as Gay Marriage Looms

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…avid Barton, a religious right activist who served as vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party from 1998 to 2006, in an appearance on American Family Radio told his conservative comrades to let the gays win this one: Well, I’m telling you, that’s what’s being argued by a lot of folks now… Knowing what Kennedy has already done in two similar cases to this and knowing that he’s the deciding vote, the odds are 999 out of 1000 that they’ll uphold t…

Whatever Happens with ‘Roe’ It’ll Be The Consequence of Six Conservative Justices’ Belief in Authoritarian Lies

By John Stoehr

…outlaw abortion is because of their genuinely held religious belief in the sanctity of life. Given that most people most of the time have other things to do than pay attention to politics, it stands to reason most people most of the time believe what the press corps says anti-abortionists believe. And if they believe in the sanctity of life, outlawing abortion can’t be all bad. I think things would be quite different if most people most of the tim…

Inside the American Family Association

By Sarah Posner

…tians will be second-class citizens at best.’” The most powerful person in Texas and a contender to be the most powerful person in the world is hosting a Christians-only prayer rally with an organization that believes Christians are at serious risk of becoming “second-class citizens.” What’s important to remember, though, is that while religious right elites are lining up to endorse Perry’s prayer rally, and Wildmon was feted at last year’s Values…

What’s Missing From Popular Discussions of Today’s Christian Nationalism?

By Katherine Stewart

…da. “You got to put on the full armor of God,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, alluding to a passage from Ephesians that’s often used to invoke a “spiritual war” against the devil. “You got to take a stand, take a stand against the Left’s schemes.” The end-of-the-world vision at the heart of the new Republican orthodoxy may help explain a further observation: The people who attend these kinds of religious nationalist gatherings—the activist ba…

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

By Benjamin E. Park

…districts that were used to double-digit numbers were overwhelmed with thousands of participants, and the vast majority were adamant Sanders supporters. The night was unprecedented in the modern Mormon world. https://twitter.com/sltrib/status/710953531021221888 Close observers expected the “Mormon Vote” to go Sanders’s way—the latest polling had him up eight points, Sanders held huge rallies in both states, and Hillary Clinton didn’t even hold any…