“It's Not About The Sex” My Ass
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Mormons Make Magic for Mitt

9/29/2012

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With GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney slipping in some polls, sundry Mormons have turned to magic spells to get God to intervene on Romney’s behalf.

Of course, to avoid sounding primitive, modern believers (not just Mormons) have rebranded “spells” with the more acceptable-sounding “religious practices.”

But a rose is a rose. The Mormons’ spell of choice for helping out Romney, reported in the Salt Lake Tribune by Peggy Fletcher Stack, is fasting combined with prayer. Mormons teach that backing up prayer with fasting—for them, skipping two meals—makes God more likely to hear and act. 

The concept of self-denial to obtain divine approbation is not unique to Mormons. Consider Lenten pledges, self-flagellation and other religiously motivated forms of self-denial or torture. At these, however, the irony lost on them, Mormons tend to scoff.

Mormons who fast for Mitt are acting on their own. The Mormon Church has a policy against endorsing political candidates. The church learned the hard way in its early years that endorsing candidates wasn’t smart. For one thing, Mormon voting blocs added to the angst their presence invoked in their neighbors, which angst their neighbors oft expressed by driving them out of the state. For another, Mormon founder Joseph Smith was more than once duped by smooth talking candidates who, once elected, betrayed him. Funny how God could be troubled to tell Smith not to drink booze or coffee (Smith continued drinking them anyway), but not to warn him about forked-tongued politicians.

Anyway. If in the next few weeks you happen to note your Mormon friends staring longingly at your dining table, you’ll know why.
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How exactly do the facts create the wrong impression?

9/28/2012

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We weren’t so naive as to have thought that our book “It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass wouldn’t raise a hackle or two. Indeed, some mainstream Mormons have objected to our allusions to Mormon history, doctrine and practices. 

Giving offense is not and never has been our goal. The allusions are there to provide context, in the which we strove for accuracy. We made clear that extant polygamist cults are not part of the mainstream Mormon Church, ensured that historical anecdotes were well-documented (we even verified them with Mormon-friendly sources), portrayed doctrines and practices accurately, and grounded our observations—even the snarky ones—in logic and reason.

Notwithstanding, some cry foul. Here are the complaints we hear most often, along with our replies:

Complaint: “You shouldn’t talk about that because it’s sacred to us.” 
We reply: If “sacred to us” meant “shouldn’t be discussed by anyone,” the Catholic Church would have jailed Galileo for challenging its sacred notion of an earth-centric system. Oh, wait, they did. You probably know that Galileo turned out to be right and the scared doctrine turned out to be wrong. So we have no sympathy for requests not to discuss what someone may hold sacred.

Complaint: “You have gone too far.” 
We reply: Can someone please tell us what that means?

Complaint: “Mormon practices out of context give newcomers the wrong impression about us.” 
We reply: If it’s true that we distinguish splinter groups from the mainstream church, accurately report history, doctrine and practices, and base our observations on logic and reason … it seems to us that the only impression a reader can get is the right one.
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You must give the Mormons this much

9/14/2012

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You must give the Mormons this much: They didn’t riot or kill anyone when the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” opened.

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Interesting letters on “the Lord’s Law of Health”

9/8/2012

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Two well-informed, interesting letters to The Salt Lake Tribune regarding the “Word of Wisdom,” the so-called Mormon health code: 
• Brian Ritter examines how the Mormon health code stands up as a health code (click here).
• Justin Taylor looks at the Mormon anti-caffeine meme and its implications (click here).
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Nice review on Kindle bookstore

9/7/2012

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Thanks to Jacque, who wrote: “I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am not a Mormon, but have many family members who are. The author showed with humor and insight how how this "religion" tears apart families and drives it's members insane with the always present dictate to be "perfect". Even further, the patriarcal dictates brought down onto polygamist families are even more "crazy-making". The book was easy to read, informative, and every enjoyable.” Click here to read Jacque’s review on the Kindle bookstore page.

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*“It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass* — now on NOOK!

9/6/2012

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Great news for Nook fans! Click the image at left to open the Nook page for “It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass on BarnesandNoble.com.

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Someone at Cafe Mom likes us

9/6/2012

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Nice write-up on the book at Cafe Mom. Click here to follow the thread.

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Sun Myung Moon: another day, another charlatan

9/3/2012

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Hats available at participating Burger Kings
Unification Church (“the Moonies”) founder Sun Myung Moon (we refuse to precede his name with “the Reverend”) died yesterday. Like Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr., Moon claimed divine revelation as a teenager and performed controversial marriages (albeit monogamous ones, as far as we know). The church he founded has also amassed sizable business holdings. Sound familiar? 
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 Apple iPad Fans, the wait is over—*“It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass* is now in the Apple ibookstore!

9/1/2012

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Order from iTunes by clicking the image below or by clicking here now
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