Category Archives: Personal Commentaries

Where the Bodies are Buried.

The Ugly Underbelly of “Peacemaking” is a narrative about how prominent Latter-day Saints have used their authority and stature to compromise, or accommodate, on gay rights and same-sex marriage. This narrative is true.

Part 1 dived into the evolution of Dallin H. Oaks (i.e., President Oaks) from a contender for religious freedom to accepting trade-offs through compromise and accommodation for gay rights and same-sex marriage – specifically through his rigorous defense of the 2015 “Utah Compromise” and the 2022 federal legislation, the Respect of Marriage Act. This new view of these rights has grown to a full-throated campaign from President Oaks. He has named this campaign to compromise on and accommodate gay rights and same-sex marriage, “Fairness for All.” The concept of his campaign is simple: Rights of religious freedom should not be a zero-sum game – they must be shared with gay rights and same-sex marriage. read more

The Constitution has nothing to do with compromise. It has everything to do with order.

The United States Constitution created endless opportunities for interpretations and legal opinions. But what is not open for debate is the history of America immediately preceding the Constitution and culminating first in the Declaration of Independence. That history is clear.

The establishment of the United States and the crafting of its founding documents was about creating a familiar order and nothing else. A new America required a familiar order of government – built upon many of the ideas of the old order the colonists left behind. read more

Something happened to Dallin H. Oaks between October 8, 2013 and April 16, 2014. On October 8, 2013, then-Elder Oaks attended a Sutherland Institute dinner and presentation at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. In attendance was another apostle and dozens of Utah A-listers all gathered to hear a presentation about how Utah could avoid gay rights and same-sex marriage.

The gist of the presentation was that, in Utah, religious freedom beats gay rights every time and that gay rights diminish religious freedom every time. Elder Oaks was exuberant over the presentation and stayed after the event for another 45 minutes sharing his excitement. read more

Disgruntled with the only world he knew, the unhappy young man hiked to the crest of a nearby mountain, turned one last time to gaze upon the lives he was determined to abandon, and resolved, then and there, to never look back.

Frustrated and tired, he’d had enough. The unknown wilderness surely had much more hope and change to offer him than the stifling, stagnant, backward community he was leaving behind.

Hours became miles and the unhappy young man grew weary.  He paused by a large tree just long enough to relax and fall asleep. read more

June 26^th, 2025 marks the 10^th anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling of the United States Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage as constitutional under the 14^th Amendment. Perhaps many Utahns remember that the headwaters of the Obergefell decision first bubbled in Utah as Kitchen v. Herbert when, on December 20, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby struck down the state’s one-man-one-woman marriage law.

But very few people understand the leading role that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played in the Obergefell ruling – making U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion a very easy task. Most Utahns might be led to believe that the LDS church is a dark enemy of same-sex marriage. That narrative is partial and now strains credulity. read more

Never. Ever. If asked to defend a Trump presidency no less than 100 days ago, that would have been my answer. My answer is different today. Not because my opinion of the man has changed. I unaffiliated with the Utah GOP in 2016 over its support of then-candidate Trump. I have been a Never-Trumper since then. I have not voted for Donald Trump. And, yet, today I will defend democratic processes, differences of opinions, and the Trump administration. If that means I am defending the man, so be it, though I don’t think it does. read more

A vainglorious faction inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is urgently pushing for a new “civic theology.” More idolatry than theology, this push would have church members move beyond a historic reverence for the inspired U.S. Constitution, more than a governmental framework for a free society, to a new enlightened view of the Constitution as a playbook of virtues focused on the meaning of citizenship.

Make no mistake, this peculiar view of the Constitution as a blueprint for citizen-peacemaker begins and ends with an irrational and partisan worship of political compromise. This elite faction of LDS insiders is upselling the Constitution as a compromise to cover a series of political sins. read more

Am I a part of the new “pro-Putin right”? Evidently, opposing U.S. involvement and intervention over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and being a social conservative supportive of the “natural family” and long an opponent of civil rights based upon the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” places me in the category of the pro-Putin right in America.

Such is the conclusion of journalist Eric Levitz writing for Vox online in a recent article titled, “The twisted appeal of Trump’s humiliation of Zelenskyy,” subtitled “Why some conservatives took pride in a national disgrace.” read more

In his wisdom and sincerity, Governor Spencer Cox has worked hard to set a political tone of understanding, listening, cooperation, and collaboration. Cox has managed to move a tone to a mantra to gospel to a point where everyone in Utah politics these days seems to be singing from the same hymn book. But not everyone. Unfortunately, some people are faking it. Some political players are lip-syncing their parts.

Apropos, we can trace the music and lyrics within that book back to 2015 a much-lauded-lauded “Utah Compromise” that brought together the state legislature, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and LGBTQ+ advocates Equality Utah. They had so much fun in 2015, they are at it again. Each partner still lip-syncing the same tune. read more

I know I am behind the curve on discovering The Chosen. One of our daughters gave us the DVD for Season 1 two Christmases ago but we never dug out a video player to watch it. Thank you for the thoughtful gift, sweetheart. And sorry for ignoring your love. But I just found it on Prime and we have been binge-watching it for the past week.

If you don’t know the show, it’s about the life and ministry of Jesus — but unlike any other I have ever seen. It feels real, human. Somehow, I can relate to it. And I am not sure how I relate to it. I just feel it. It moves me in the right way — I feel better for having watched it. It almost feels tangibly good, like going to church and partaking in the sacrament (no sacrilege intended). read more