DiaBLOGue

A Letter to the Editor: Joe Spencer responds to Taylor Petrey

To the editor:
Let me begin by outlining what does and does not motivate me in writing a response to Taylor Petrey’s carefully executed, unmistakably informed, rightly concerned, and entirely productive essay, “Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon theology.”

Merry Christmas!

In this issue, Armand Mauss looks back over the decades since his book The Angel and the Beehive was published, with its seminal theory of LDS assimilation and retrenchment, while Fred Gedicks looks forward to project what kinds of assimilation might be possible for Mormonism over the next several decades. Carmon Hardy looks back at the long history of polygamy and its shadow, while Taylor Petrey takes first steps towards a post-heterosexual Mormon theology.

Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology

The issue of homosexual relationships is among the most public struggles facing religious groups in America today. The issue is not as simple as gay people versus religious groups, as rhetoric on either side often suggests, but it has become increasingly apparent that there is significant overlap of people that identify both as homosexual and religious. Mormon writing on homosexuality often has had a pastoral character, aimed either at easing the transition for those seeking to leave the church or smoothing the way for those who desire to remain with in it.

Walking into the Heart of the Questions: An Interview with Grant McMurray

Note: Gregory A. Prince, a member of Dialogue’s board of editors, conducted this interview with W. Grant McMurray, who served as president of Community of Christ (1996–2004), on February 22, 2010, at the Prince home in Potomac, Maryland. Both the historic name of the Church (the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1860–2001) and the current name (Community of Christ, 2001–present) are used according to the period under discussion in this interview.

The Economist on Mormons

The Economist dances into the current discussion on religions and politics by declaring that “Mormons are Christian.” Author E.G. states