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Merging Religious and Secular News(papers)

The Church News is moving. It has just announced that stories from the Church News will be posted on DeseretNews.com, that LDSChurchNews.com will redirect to the DN site, and that eventually the...

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“Celestial Kingdom Jurisdiction” and Tax Protesters

In 1999, Jimmie Duane Ross got $840,000 from his former employer, the result of an arbitration hearing. I don’t know what Ross did with that money; I do know, however, one thing he didn’t do: pay his...

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Noah and Alma

Sorry, no, not that Alma; his son. As Grant Hardy has pointed out, Mormon likes to tell stories that parallel each other. Often, those parallels seem meant to starkly contrast good and evil; the...

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Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas, or Why I Might Be Okay With the 3-Hour Block

Last night, my wife and I went to hear the final performance in this season’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chicago residency. Pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel performed all five of...

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The Book of Mormon: My Testimony

So in Priesthood today, I offhandedly remarked that I believe that Nephi made a mistake in killing Laban. And boy-oh did that ignite some pushback.[fn1] And I realized that I ought to explain how that...

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Some Tax Benefits Are Just for Churches

(I originally wanted to call this “Pastoral Housing, Take 2″[fn1] but, it turns out, pastoral housing is only one small aspect of the case.) Last week, a federal court in Kentucky issued a decision in...

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Defining Doctrine

In Church, and in Church-related discussions, I often hear people differentiate Church policies from doctrine. Policies, they say, can (and not infrequently do) change; doctrine, on the other hand,...

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Work We Must

In the comments to Russell’s missionary post, there seems to be a strong consensus potential missionaries need to learn to work hard. And I agree; missionary work demands hard work. A corollary,...

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In Which I Unpack a Finance-Based Atonement Parable (or Mammas Don’t Let Your...

Understanding the Atonement is tough.[fn1] To try to understand it, theologians have come up with theories to describe the whys and hows of the Atonement, and stories to illustrate how the Atonement...

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Church Finances, 1947-Style

In April 1959, the Church published its last financial report. The last here is important, though, because, for almost half a century leading up to that report, the Church presented a relatively...

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Fornication Pantaloons (updated)

Can we all agree that this is an abominable Gentile fashion? Because Brigham Young certainly can. For the last year or so, the last page of The Atlantic  has been a column called “The Big Question,”...

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Germany’s Church Tax

A couple days ago, the Wall Street Journal highlighted (subscription required[fn1]) the accelerating loss of members certain churches in Germany are facing. The popular press is placing the blame at...

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An Economic Explanation for BYU-I’s Dress Standards(?)

Ashton Kutcher couldn’t walk around BYU-I like that. As Steve highlighted earlier today,[fn1] the BYU-Idaho dress and grooming standards are arbitrary and relatively absurd. I mean, seriously, as a...

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Days of Conference Past: Homeowners’ Edition

In every April General Conference, we hear the Statistical Report for the prior year. Roughly speaking, the Statistical Report tells us the number of church units, the number of members and baptisms,...

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Attacking the Family

Church leaders remind us, on a not-infrequent basis, that the family is under attack, and that we, as members, have a duty to defend marriage and family.[fn1] As faithful members, I believe that we...

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From the Mailbag: Mission Presidents and Taxes

Okay, not actually a mailbag. But a couple months ago, somebody asked a question on my tax blog: LDS mission presidents’ compensation/tax advice? Sam, are you aware of the tax advice in the mission...

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Visualizing Conference, October 2014

What stood out for you at the most recent General Conference? Methodology (1) I copied the text for each talk from each of the six sessions of the October 2014 General Conference (including the...

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Pastors’ Housing, Take 2

Last week, almost a year after a district court in Wisconsin declared the parsonage exemption unconstitutional, the Seventh Circuit has reversed her decision. And thus ends a (brief) chapter in the...

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BYU, Religious Freedom (or its Lack), and Beards

Photo by Adam Jones. By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the New York Times’s article on BYU and beards at least dozens of times in your Facebook feed. Clearly, BYU’s anti-beard rule is stupid. It just is....

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Religious Exemptions, BYU, and Beards

Photo by Adam Jones. https://www.flickr.com/photos/adam_jones/12714671305/ About two months ago, BYU admitted in the New York Times that, although it had a medical and a theatrical exception to its...

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