NOM

P.S. To you COB lurkers who are thinking that the Church owns the school and BYU should be able to discriminate if it wants to, I’d point out that the reason universities care so much about accreditation is that accreditation is required to get federal financial aid dollars - dollars from taxes that...

Faculty and students at BYU have precious little protection from the religious zealots who run the place. Those protections are about to get a lot smaller. This. Even now there is no/limited religious freedom protections at BYU. If you choose to be mormon one day or even baptist, you are good to go...

Here’s an update from my source at the negotiated rulemaking discussion today, with an interesting note about the rep from BYU: lots of swipes at accreditors, who Ed doesn't want to be able deny accreditation to any organization based on religious principles. The burden is now switched to accreditor...

What kind of a crazy religion creates sorrow in a marriage because one partner isn’t wearing the right underwear? I grew up in one truly messed up religion.

I don't see another thread on this, did I miss it? https://fox13now.com/2019/02/20/former-vice-squad-cop-arrested-in-valentines-day-prostitution-sting-in-lehi/ So the Church's statement convenient leaves out that this creep was "called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands": "The behavi...

”We have repeatedly stated the church denounces any conversion or reparative therapy that subjects individuals to abusive practices, not only in Utah but around the world," Stephens told ABC4 News. "We appreciate the willingness of the sponsors to work with us to make sure that counseling that is i...

2. Book of Mormon authors say they will meet readers at the last judgement. At least two different prophetic authors of the Book of Mormon claim that they will meet readers at the bar of God on the day of judgement. Nephi, at the end of his record, proclaims in 2 Nephi 33:10–11, “And now, my belove...

I’m pretty sure those posts scare the Church more than anything. I don’t think they’re too worried about posts about historical or doctrinal problems with the Church, most members couldn’t give two craps about them. They don’t stay for historical or doctrinal reasons. But seeing posts of people who ...

I don't think it was about long distance costs to a large extent. I was told when I went it was to help me focus on my mission. I really don't think it was primarily a cost savings measure - I think it was about keeping the minds of missionaries where they were at and not back at home. And I think i...

Doesn't matter what changes they make - they can't make the Church what it claims to be. Making a fraudulent, oppressive Church incrementally less oppressive doesn't change in the slightest its fraudulence. Short answer: nothing. The Church is a fraud - making it nicer shouldn't make me want to stay...

Wait - is there a scandal about to break that involves missionaries not being able to call home?

Yet another "we did this messed up stuff for years but it's OK we don't do that anymore" revelation. Is it a good thing that they no longer isolate young people from their families while they are missionaries? Yes. Is it still messed up that they did that in the first place? Absolutely. Does that un...

She is absolutely wrong about the depression going away if you go back to Church. To be fair, she is just repeating the empty, useless promises the Church has fed her all of her life, but she couldn’t be more wrong. I’d also recommend marriage counseling if you can talk her into it, but would echo t...

Yeah, INXS prophesied of this back in 1987:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... NVxoBSh7oc

Interesting choice of title for this thread - is it from Elder Anderson's Conference talk from several years back ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/04/beware-of-the-evil-behind-the-smiling-eyes?lang=eng )? At the time I thought it was a profound insight, and I still do, although it has s...

The catalyst thread got me thinking, and this is just a friendly reminder, unlike many religions the Church makes truth claims that can be tested. You can have a scientific mindset with the Church you can’t have with some other major religions - thanks to the relative newness of the Church compared ...

I’m not so sure it is a coincidence - they may have slapped something together fast knowing the news was going to break. Part of me says that people who make mistakes should be given second chances - but do I want to extend that to someone who molested a child, and caused that person severe lifelong...

Sounds like they will no longer be required to teach evolution in order to be accredited to teach science. Yikes for the whole country. Accrediting insitutions for biological sciences (and many others) will fight this tooth and nail, as they should. You can't be any kind of biologist without studyi...

The Trump Administration is currently proposing some fairly extensive rule changes that will have a major impact on higher education. Among these changes are new additional protections for religious institutions from accreditation requirements that conflict with their religious mission, such that an...

Now, I'm not stupid to think that this strategy might actually succeed in the short run, but I can tell you, that my immediate circle knows more of the problems of church history, church culture and the practices of the modern corporate church than they ever had before. And it leads to conversation...