A century-and-a-quarter ago, Utah’s Mormon culture yielded to a quest for statehood, culminating in 1896. Once formally admitted to the Union however, the dominant religion returned to its “dance” with the secularism it had chosen to adopt. This “truth dichotomy” continues into the present. To out-of-state visitors, Utah’s culture warfare may appear as a “dust-up” […]
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If you’re a believer and not a knower, your lack of knowing ought to be acknowledged publicly, whenever you place your beliefs on public display. Do you know which you are? Knower or believer? It varies of course, with the proposition encountered. Is your favored proposition, one with a basis in verifiable knowledge? Or instead, […]
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It seemed as though I was living through a scene from Pleasantville, although the film wouldn’t be produced for another thirty years. The Governor’s Chief of Staff was clear. If they don’t come up to participate in the political process at the Utah capitol, then we’ll go down to meet them at Mormon Church headquarters. […]
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What’s the link between Utah and capitalismincrisis.org? I’ll explain. Consider a sign posted on the Boston Common, put there to dissuade messy picnickers five decades ago. Don’t Litter or We’ll Send You to Utah, it threatened humorously. It’s an illustration of why for some, Utah was and perhaps still is, a four-letter word. (Some consider […]
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Was I a stupid kid or what? Sometimes I wonder. I think of myself then as a responsible kid who usually did the right thing. But I remember being conflicted by the usual adolescent urges when I was 16. An attractive Payson High School coed yelled “Don’t Look!” as she burst into the only available […]
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Show me where you grew up, she implored. So I did. Together, Renae and I packed our SUV and headed West in the dead of Winter, away from Colorado’s Front Range, toward Ogden, one day’s drive. We sped along I-80, passing forlorn little towns with forlorn names like Green River and Rock Springs. As the […]
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