tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11150820610260937302011-12-16T10:44:47.981-08:00              Another Mormon lawyerDCLnoreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-44328842082828871202010-02-09T22:35:00.000-08:002010-03-06T20:14:13.300-08:00

There was only one thing on the wall in the priesthood room of our suburban California chapel. A large poster proclaimed "The Purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood" in bold black letters, with a bullet point for each Purpose to succinctly impress the minds of our young men.I was still a visitor during my first opening exercises in the new ward when the priesthood brethren arose in unison to recite

DCLnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-75441485929042448732010-01-09T21:18:00.000-08:002010-03-06T20:11:57.113-08:00

I know that within church any sort of ascetics should generally remain firmly grounded within the normal routines of work and family life - but there is a case to made that we do allow for a voluntarily cloistered lifestyle.The Los Angeles temple patrons' apartments seems to be converted from a 50s era cinderblock motel - but with new carpet, a piano in every room and gospel art kit pictures on

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-25231113273342661822009-10-28T22:10:00.000-07:002009-10-28T22:18:15.722-07:00

1. Nate Oman's post on Christian ethics rings true.2. Falling Leaves on BCC was a really fun read.3. J. Nelson Seawright's latest Sunday School lesson takedown has an especially entertaining comment section. I'm with JNS all the way - some of these lessons need to be called out for bizarre filler material that is completely untethered from the point of the underlying scripture assignment.

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-25395385723484325502008-12-13T20:23:00.001-08:002008-12-13T20:48:58.375-08:00

It's amazing that I have put myself through reading so many blog posts and like on the whole Prop 8 issue. It's even more amazing how disappointingly polarizing and absolutist most of the articles and comments really are.One thing that strikes me throughout is how much like George W. Bush some of the gay activists really are in their absolutism. In the sad case of Margie Christoffersen, for

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-49870073193598991782008-12-07T21:02:00.001-08:002008-12-07T21:12:45.548-08:00

As a wannabe biblical scholar (I must of missed another one of my callings in life), I really enjoy posts on biblical criticism. I especially want to point out these two from FPR, another one on the Documentary Hypothesis, and this part of a series on biblical criticism in general.And then there is Kevin Barney's series on the Magi. Awesome!And I read Advent Day 1 and the spirited comments that

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-59813926504208813232008-12-07T20:37:00.001-08:002008-12-07T21:00:51.888-08:00

Nobody showed up to teach gospel doctrine. Everyone chatted among themselves for a few minutes and then a priesthood leader stood up to ask if anyone was prepared to teach. A good brother raised his hand and said he would do it on the fly - everyone was relieved.He quickly made clear that he would teach a prepared lesson on Alma 32 even though the text for the week was somewhere in Mormon.

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-85210523987595873942008-11-18T21:34:00.000-08:002008-11-18T21:46:34.348-08:00

What a mess. I just wanted to point out Nate Oman's post over at T&S, which gets it about right in my book. I said a few similar things much more crudely a few posts down.

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-80011936901512715832008-10-30T23:33:00.000-07:002008-10-30T23:52:35.385-07:00

Great posts from the past week:Conversion Happens at the Darndest Times. Tracy M at BCC. I love narratives where the mundane course of life is suddenly interrupted by the ethereal. Almost had me in tears in the middle of my law office. Had to stop reading.Proposition 8. Jonathan Green at T&S. One of the more insightful Prop 8 posts out there.PBR #9. Steve Evans at BCC. One of the funniest

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-34760286413084068742008-10-30T16:31:00.000-07:002008-10-30T16:34:09.030-07:00

Quite simply, the judges got it wrong.In exercising all sorts of legal jujitsu to conclude that there is a fundamental, constitutional right to homosexual marriage, the majority's 127 page opinion can be summarized as follows:Existing constitutional right to marriage + Social acceptance of homosexual relationships = Constitutional right to homosexual marriage.The problem with this is that new

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-36866978005857612282008-10-28T20:34:00.001-07:002008-11-05T21:20:50.445-08:00

Bryce Hammond's post here:Wealth Redistributionis off-target enough that I wanted to link it and add a few comments here. Since I think he shut down comments on his blog, feel free to continue the conversation here.A few points-1. Obama's now famous 2001 interview clearly shows that, as a constitutional law professor, he is critiquing the civil rights movement for relying too much on litigation

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-25891748507348224932008-10-10T13:58:00.000-07:002008-10-22T21:25:02.318-07:00

Although the Church's recent Prop 8 broadcast had a positive tone and effectively leveraged the Church's religious arguments for Prop 8, there was still something unsettling about the whole thing. In making purely theological arguments on one hand, and only the most dubious civil arguments on the other, the Church didn't make any attempt to explain how or why our private, religious morals should

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-51679283135154411652008-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:002008-11-02T22:44:41.127-08:00

What follows below is a rather boring post about the significance of a corporation being in a suspended status. Rather than research the group behind Protectmarriage.com any further, though, I will simply provide a link to Justin McLachlan's blog, which features excellent reporting on the subject.---------------------------------As a lawyer who frequently deals with charitable organizations, I

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-80169399688094332542008-07-16T13:44:00.000-07:002008-07-18T15:20:38.118-07:00

I recently attended a funeral at an Episcopalian Church. During the homily, the priest said something like the following:"We don't know where Bob is now, since that is a mystery to us. We can only have faith that he will enter into the Lord's rest and have repose with all of the saints."The candid way in which uncertainty about the afterlife was admitted was somehow refreshing. I can't imagine

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-75066048928811346392008-07-13T15:55:00.000-07:002008-07-13T15:59:53.689-07:00

I am expecting specific plans to come out sometime soon on how our ward/stake is going to implement formal support for the marriage proposal. So far, I've only heard that Elder Ballard is spearheading the effort and that California Stake Presidents are involved in conference calls.My opinion on this whole matter lines up very well with Seth's here.Kaimi (another Calfornia lawyer) has a good

DCLnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-60350797379653891352008-07-06T15:31:00.001-07:002008-07-08T10:08:28.763-07:00

I only caught the last 15 minutes of Gospel Doctrine today, but still made it in time for a couple of interesting discussions. For the record, interesting discussions are the exception rather than the rule in my ward. The text seemed to be Alma 13 or thereabouts.First, the teacher suddenly asked whether we were supposed to "question" our leaders. I don't think this query was well-framed, but

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-69123677865351397972008-06-29T15:22:00.000-07:002008-06-29T15:32:23.514-07:00

In liturgical traditions, the Rite of Peace or Sign of Peace is performed just before the Eucharist (I have only experienced the Catholic and Episcopalian versions, so don't know how far this reaches into non-liturgical churches). The ostensible purpose is to bring a spirit of fellowship into the meeting before that fellowship is perfected in the Eucharist. In both of the versions I have

DCLnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-83468219627880520332008-06-24T15:37:00.000-07:002008-06-30T22:07:12.300-07:00

In a few days I, as a member of the church in California, will be officially asked to actively support a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.My feelings on this subject are complex. I think there are good arguments on both sides. On balance, though, I think that my idea of good public policy on this issue lines up with my private

DCLnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115082061026093730.post-34267695801748020772008-06-02T12:31:00.000-07:002008-07-14T22:18:55.544-07:00

Bishop Noda lowered his voice as the dishes were cleared one evening in his modest home - he had something important to tell us."Have you both been to the great shrine of Izumo?"Indeed, we both had. He was referring to Izumo Taisha located in the next town over, reputedly the oldest extant Shinto shrine in Japan and the chief tourist attraction in this forgotten corner of the country. I had

DCLnoreply@blogger.com0