Well, apparently the Teacher Improvement Coordinator and Teacher Improvement Meeting are no more.
The Church’s Tax-Exempt Status, 1860s style
The Church today jealously guards its tax exempt status, and I suspect that there is a group of lawyers whose sole job it is to sit around worrying about the ways in which the IRS might assess taxes against the Church. It turns out that the feds have tried to tax Church properties and income in the past.
Mr. Potter
Are you bothered that Old Man Potter doesn’t get his just desserts in _It’s A Wonderful Life_?
Never look at the trombones
I largely agree with Kaimi’s thoughts on how the Church is usually content to let teachings and statements of earlier authorities fade into obsolescence through silence, rather than through any kind of formal pronouncement. But I think that the opposite, that the silent treatment is intended as an informal repudiation, might not be true in all cases. I don’t think that any general authority will provide a clear answer on nineteenth-century polygamy any time soon, but I don’t think their silence will provide any guidance, either.
Sunday School Lesson #47
The Ninth Amendment Argument for Monogamy
The ninth amendment to the constitution is one of those wonderfully vague constitutional provisions that delights arm-chair theorists and annoys judges who might actually have to figure out what it means. It reads: The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. It turns out that this provision was an unlikely character in some of the earliest legal battles over polygamy.
Primary Lesson #46 Supplement
Linda’s blessing
It was the first time in years a baby would be blessed in this tiny Belgian branch. The missionaries had explained how it worked and the handbook provided some scanty instructions.
Sunday School Lesson 46
Lesson 46: Daniel 2
Blogging Reflections
As I end my two weeks of guest blogging, I would like to take a look back.
Relief Society
In my intro bio to T&S I said, “In truth a substantial part of my heart is in Relief Society—not for what it is now but for what I feel it can and must yet become.â€
Primary Lesson #43 Supplement
What the Smith Boys Said This Year
For previous installments, see here and here. Simon turned eight, Nathan turned five, and Truman turned two this year.
Sunday School Lesson #45
Lesson 45: Daniel 1, 3, and 6; Esther 3-5, 7-8
Sunday School Lesson #44
Christmas Traditions
Our family has two fun holiday traditions worth spreading.
Angels
I have lived long enough and had such a variety of experiences that I hardly think I can be called naïve on the subject of prayer.
Gohar Yeghiayan Davidian: A Latter-day Saint in Syria
For half a millennium, ending with World War I, the Ottoman Empire dominated eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and the Middle East.
Quadrupling Fast Offerings
About a year or so ago our stake made a move to improve fast offering receipts. The bishop supported this and urged everyone to donate to fast offerings and, in addition to the general admonition, he reinstituted Aaronic priesthood collection of fast offerings after church.
Wave theory
Family trees are familiar and similarly dissatisfying models in historical linguistics and in the history of religion.
Sacred???? Santa
We could hardly we accused of being “Bah, humbug.†We have a holiday season filled with light, music, food, family, gifts and most important love. Also, as far as I can tell, we consistently pass the “grandkid test.†We are just not very traditional in our approach.
In which our heroine is forced to confront her own hypocrisy
So if a friend said to me, “What do you think about that Mormon prophet who got arrested for polygamy?”
Santa
For several years running I submitted some version of the following editorial to the Deseret News. Last year they finally published it. You may well guess it was controversial, as of course I knew it would be. I will have more to say on the subject of Santa, but first I want your initial reaction to this piece.
Santa-god and the Second Naivete
I spent all of September and a good part of October finishing an essay on community for a journal on the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, and it nearly killed me.