Mormon LARPing

Youth pioneer treks are a regular activity for Mormons. I never thought that there was anything strange about them until I recently went on one and saw how other people were gawking at us. It was at that point that I realized that to the rest of the world, a pioneer trek must look a lot like LARPing.

Science, Mormonism, and the “God of the Gaps”

In the nineteenth century, the publication of two books, Charles Lydell’s Principles of Geology and Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, rocked the religious foundations of western civilization. It marked the beginning of the profound — though sometimes manufactured — conflict between science and religion. However, as Terryl Givens points in People of Paradox, the young Mormon church, accused though it sometimes is of fundamentalism, was not threatened by these new scientific discoveries.

Minor Miracles

The scriptures are full of major miracles. The Red Sea parting for the Israelites, an angel appearing to Alma the Younger, Christ raising Lazarus from the dead. These were big events in which life and death — physical or spiritual — hung in the balance. But these are rare. Most of us don’t experience them for ourselves. What most of us get to experience is what I call minor miracles.

The Book of Mormon’s Ancient Origins

I remember very distinctly learning in school that the Native Americans immigrated to the Western Hemisphere via the Bering Strait land bridge. How is that possible, I wondered, when the Book of Mormon says that they came here on Nephi’s ship? That and many other apparent contradictions between the Book of Mormon and Mesoamerican history have been resolved in my mind since I read John Sorenson’s magnum opus, Mormon’s Codex.

Not Your Sunday School Noah

Anyone who knows Darren Aronofsky knows that he makes some very strange movies and that he is an atheist. So it’s pretty surprising that he would make a movie about a well-known Bible story like Noah’s Ark. But what was more surprising to me was how enjoyable his movie, Noah, was to watch. Understandably, many evangelicals and other religious people are upset with Aronofsky’s interpretation of this story, but I wanted to take this opportunity to explain why I liked it and what religious people can actually take away from it. WARNING: I will dabble in spoiler territory.