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Volume 33, No. 3

Fall 2000

The Fall 2000 Issue presents a critical examination of the discourse surrounding marriage and discrimination, along with reflections on the intersection of philosophy and theology within Mormon thought. D. Michael Quinn discusses the backdrop to the national "Defense of Marriage" campaign, highlighting civil discrimination faced by marginalized groups that are often feared or despised. In response, Armand L. Mauss offers a counterpoint to Quinn's arguments, engaging in a dialogue about the implications of the campaign and its impact on the perception of marriage within the Mormon community. L. Rex Sears explores the relationship between philosophical Christian apology and "rational" Mormon theology, discussing how these frameworks can intersect and inform one another. Clay L. Chandler examines the nuances of truth in his essay, considering the complexities of understanding what constitutes "the truth" and how subjective experiences shape beliefs.

  • Topics
  • prophets, family, Christ

Contents

Articles/Essays

Prelude to the National “”Defense of Marriage”” Campaign: Civil Discrimination Against Feared or Despised Minorities



America is currently in the midst of state-by-state political activism and judicial appeals to prevent the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated one example of the related effort to roll back laws protecting homosexuals from civil discrimination, but this campaign moves forward on various fronts in every state of the Union. Its organizers will certainly extend this political activism into all states currently lacking a “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) which both prohibits same-sex marriage and refuses to recognize such unions legally performed in other states or countries. In view of the pace for this state by-state political activism during the 1990s, the Defense of Marriage campaign will probably continue throughout the United States for at least another decade.



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Philosophical Christian Apology Meets “Rational” Mormon Theology



As Joseph Smith matured in his prophetic calling, he came to regard what he saw as the rational appeal of his developing theology as one of its chief virtues. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, this attitude continued to animate authoritative interpretations and defenses of Mormon doctrine offered by leading Mormon churchmen and intellectuals.



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The Truth, the Partial Truth, Something Like the Truth, So Help Me God



In October of 1993 Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and Steve Benson, editorial cartoonist for the Arizona Republic and eldest grandson of former LDS president Ezra Taft Benson, had an argument in a public place. Their dispute centered on the role played by Apostle Boyd K. Packer in the September excommunication of Paul James Toscano. According to both men, this had been a subject of discussion between them during two “confidential” meetings.



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Interview

Personal Voices

“In a Dark Time the Eye Begins to See”: Personal Reflections on Homosexuality among the Mormons at the Beginning of a New Millennium



Dialogue 33.3 (Fall 2000): 137–151

Rees’s Fall 2000 artice is titled “”In a Dark Time the Eye Begins to See”: Personal Reflections on Homosexuality among the Mormons at the Beginning of a New Millennium.” A straight man and local LDS leader, Rees shares his own experience counseling with LGBTQ members and their struggles, from “gay bashing” violence, most famously the murder of Matthew Shephard, to prejudice and more. Rees talks about his own changed perspective on this issue that started when he was a singles ward bishop in LA in the 1980s and shares what he had learned along the way. Rees calls for a number of steps and changes as a body of the church to improve these conditions.



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My Early College Years



My mother and I moved to Mesa during my senior year of high school so that she could finish her teaching certificate at Arizona State University. I didn’t like Mesa or the high school, and…



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Poetry

In Riverdale



We returned to our beginnings 
            in August, with its crayola green 
            trees and grass, blue sky, 
and yellow light so certainly imposed 



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Parched



Measured teaspoons of salt. 
Sifted flour, dustbowl flour. 
It gulps and swallows water. 
I feel it splinter off my hands, 



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Indian Summer



If, when September rolls over in the gutter, 
picks himself up and stumbles off 
in search of a restroom, coffee and eggs, 
you pull back the drapes and slide open the window,
he will disregard the screen and make himself your guest. 



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Reviews

The Idea of a University | Sterling M. McMurrin and L. Jackson Newell, Matters of Conscience: Conversations with Sterling M. McMurrin on Philosophy, Education, and Religion, and Bryan Waterman and Brian Kagel, The Lord’s University: Freedom and Authority at BYU



Each of these books provides a thoughtful, intimate account of the uneasy co-existence of scholarly life and Mormon orthodoxies. Read together, the long journey of a prominent heretic and the recent conflicts over academic freedom…



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