Today my family attended a Bat Mitzvah service in a reconstructionist congregation. Before the service began, the rabbi explained that the prayers in the service were amended from the traditional ones to be gender inclusive. Also, when a prayer offered a blessing on the Jewish people, a clause was added to extend the […]

My spouse and I married 15 years ago in the temple–a ceremony that reinforced differing gender roles for men and women. However, my marriage has been fairly egalitarian from the beginning. For example, my husband (John) and I both wore engagement rings–simple gold bands on the appropriate finger. When we married we […]

Just spied this article about two more women who were ordained as Catholic priests. They are being threatened with excommunication for their heretical activities.
My question:
Does anyone know of any groups/movements within Mormonism that’ve tried ordaining women to the priesthood? If there are such groups and there was any public demonstration of such (as […]

In August I attended the Sunstone Symposium. In September I attended the Exponent II Retreat. Both were amazing experiences in their own way. At Sunstone I mingled with old friends, enjoyed intellectual panel discussions, and met people from the Bloggernacle. At the ExII Retreat I stayed up (too) late enjoying the […]

The greatest gift my mother gave me as a child was the nurturing of my natural curiosity. I feel a twinge of sadness when I see busy mothers respond to a child’s question of “why” with a quick “just because” or something equally as trite. Even as a child who probably used the word “why” […]

A rather random comment from my not-Mormon brother-in-law was a catalyst in changing my feelings about raising my children in the church. He said something to the effect of: “I would never allow my daughter to participate in an organization or an institution that discriminated against her because she’s a girl.” What […]

Mormons have a abundant ritual life. Some observers of Mormonism say that it lacks a ritual richness outside of the temple (especially when compared to traditions like Catholicism or Islam), but I think that it does. In addition to the sacrament, there is the ritualistic recitation of testimonies on Sunday, closing each affirmation […]

A friend of mine asked me if I could post the following question on my personal blog, but I decided that the question was interesting enough to pose to the SunstoneBlog community:
For men: How has the example of a Father of Heaven helped and guided you in (or to prepare for) your earthly role as […]

During my 5+ years of participation in Sunstone, I’ve noticed that the magazine, the Symposium (and the blog) tend to be dominated by men.  I’ve wondered why this is the case, because women are more marginalized by LDS institutions and I would think that they would be the most eager to participate in an alternate […]

Two weeks ago I skipped Sunday School (again) and slipped into Primary, as I much prefer to sit in the back of the primary room and watch my four-year-old son participate. The sharing time lesson that day was on Scripture Heroes. It consisted of pictures of different individuals placed face down on a table, while […]