The CoJCoL-dS just released a new essay — this time on women’s roles and Mother in Heaven (u redd it first here) — and everyone is talking about it! As usual, not everyone is thrilled by it:

I need a mother. I donâ€™t need the notion of a mother, or even the appreciation for a mother. I need a mother that comes with me in the middle of the night to take care of a child. I need a mother who nurtures my intellect and challenges me to do more. I need a mother who believes in social justice and rages with me when I donâ€™t know where else to go. I need a mother who validates my wildness and urges my ideas to take root. I need a mother in heaven, not merely an appreciation at the idea of one.

Unfortunately, it looks Utah has a thriving sexism industry. Junkthis recounted his personal experiences with the other side of the same coin.

Maybe Feminism is difficult — even the Mormon feminists can’t always get it right:

But because the personal is political, I will confess to feeling a bit appropriated by the book. The results of my history, the image of the quilt made by the pants I encouraged women to wear, is being sold for profit, while my name remains absent from the history I helped create. If the adage â€œfor most of history, anonymous was a womanâ€ is true, then Mormon Feminism: Essential History, like the Mormon Church before, has given me a new name. I donâ€™t think I like it.

Brian Whitney wrote an essay subtitled Maybe We Should Stop Saying That Weâ€™ve Been Lied to by the Church — which might make sense except that the church leaders did lie, and still refuse to own up to it, plus:

I donâ€™t think itâ€™s enough to say that a sincere love for the church and a desire to protect it is incompatible with deceptive intent â€” to put it more bluntly, oneâ€™s intention to protect the church absolutely could be oneâ€™s deceptive intention.

On a positive note, Dallin Oaks actually got religious freedom right when discussing the Kim Davis affair:

[Those in public office] remain free to draw upon their personal beliefs and motivations and advocate their positions in the public square. But when acting as public officials they are not free to apply personal convictions â€” religious or other â€” in place of the defined responsibilities of their public officesâ€¦ A county clerkâ€™s recent invoking of religious reasons to justify refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples violates this principle.â€

This has been a great week for podcasts! My Book of Mormon has moved on to the D&C, there’s a new LDS-interest podcast for those who speak German, the Mormon Expositor gave some great analysis of the recent missionary health controversy, and a KJZZ interview with the editor of an upcoming book on The Book of Mormon (the musical).

In Mormon-country, religion and profit merge in interesting ways (satire warning). And it appears that the University of Utah may be having coaches teach religion classes to players. Of course, it could be worse.

Indie Mormon wrote an analogy about whether music can be true, and Mormon Hurt shared a different analogy in the form of a poem.

Knotty recounted a passive-aggressive interfaith incident, and Donna Banta experienced one that was perhaps even more bizarre:

One of my Mormon “friends” spied me from somewhere inside the restaurant, chased me out to my car, and then breathlessly confronted me with: “I can accept that you no longer go to church. But I never thought you’d drink COFFEE!”

This week’s Godless Doctrine lesson is on the facts and fictions about persecution. In theology, figuring out what the spirit is trying to tell you is tricky. Think you know how? Take this quiz and find out!

In life journeys, Gay Mormon Southpaw’s social life has taken a hit since leaving Mormonism, Ren is setting incremental goals, and Joseph Bloom recounted adopting three Russian babies.

John D. Pav gave some fantastic insights about navigating a loved one’s faith crisis, and Nick Galieti shared some thoughts on the subject as well.

I’d like to close with an announcement: I’m planning to attend Sunstone Europe — see the preliminary announcement here — and I hope some of you are thinking of attending as well. Despite what it says on the program, I would like to do a panel on Mormon Literature. If you are interested in participating in such a panel, please email me: chanson dot exmormon at gmail dot com.

Happy reading!