Dialogue 51.3 (Fall 2018): 131–153
This essay provides an outline for how to have a more robust intrafaith dialogue about race among members of the LDS church. Using principles from Martin Luther King, Jr. about dialogue on race, Whitaker argues for the need for greater dialogue to overcome the past.
Dialogue 32.1 (Spring 1999): 119–135
Norman discusses instances where the racist teachings that justified the priesthood restrictions before 1978 continue to be taught.
Dialogue 54.3 (Fall 2021): 1–40
The debate about Joseph Smith’s translations have primarily assumed that the translation was commensurable and focuses upon theories of authorial involvement of Joseph Smith.
Dialogue 23.4 (Winter 1990): 47–82
In this essay, I will analyze recent Church discourse against a pattern of constricting employment options for women and will discuss the implications of that pattern.
From my youth I was blessed with a God-shaped hole in my identity. I knew I came from somewhere, that my ancestors were whole and bore a cultural armor that it was my right to…
Dialogue 40.3 (Fall 2007): 50–60
These articles were about legal arguments. The case against argued that marriage was already tenuous and allowing same-sex marriage would doom it, suggesting that people would become homosexuals if same-sex marriage were an option.
Dialogue 2.2 (Summer 1967): 5–7
In this important historical letter, Stewart Udall reflects on the need for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to reconsider its historical stance on race, particularly its practice of denying full fellowship to Black individuals. Udall argues that this practice, rooted in the belief in a divine curse on Black people, contradicts the principles of equality and brotherhood that the Church should embody. He concludes asserting that the time has come for the Church to abandon its racial restrictions and embrace full fellowship with Black individuals. He argues that recognizing the worth of all people, irrespective of race, is essential for the Church to fulfill its spiritual and moral ideals and to contribute positively to society’s progress toward greater human brotherhood.
Dialogue 9.3 (1974): 21–37
Duane Jeffrey is to be thanked for his article, “Seers, Savants and Evolution: The Uncomfortable Interface.” It is an excellent summary of the history of thought on evolution in the Church. To illustrate its power, it made us very carefully reconsider our own anti-evolution bias and again perceive evolution as a possibility.
Dialogue 51.3 (Fall 2018): 29–44
Smith considers “why would any self-aware Black person find Mormonism the least bit appealing given its ignoble history of racial exclusion and marginalization?”
Dialogue 27.2 (Summer 1994): 15–40
It would seem that Mormons who have believed for over a hundred years in the real existence of the Goddess, the Mother in Heaven, should be far ahead of other Christians in developing a theology of God the Mother. However, our belief in her as a real person puts us at a disadvantage. If the Goddess is merely a symbol of deity, as the male God is also a symbol, then certainly God can be pictured as either male or female with equal validity.