Blog Shopping

I loved this assignment, because it gave me new ideas about where to go with my writing. I did a fair amount of searching and commenting before finding my two favorite examples of projects I would be interested in replicating or expanding on.


1. http://www.normons.com/dont-think-god-is-mormon/


One of my favorite sites that I found is called "Normons." It is a blog dedicated to answering tough questions about Mormonism and opening up the discourse between members of different faiths. I first heard about the blog from a friend who wrote for it, but I never had the chance to visit it before now. I read an article that I found very insightful called "I Don't Think God is Mormon." The crowning statement of the document reads as follows: "I don’t think God is a Mormon; I think God is truth." I love that sentiment, and I have always felt that this approach to Mormonism is the best way to encourage the involvement of people outside of our faith. When religious discussions becomes a dispute over names and titles and track records, the conversation always turns for the worst. But when the focus is maintained on individuals seeking truth in different formats, I have found that the experience is mutually beneficial. I emailed the group of contributors and asked if the piece I am working on could be featured on the site. We'll see if anything comes from that, but at a minimum, I am grateful for the example of writers finding a way to reach out to a broad audience and make a positive impact on the world.


2. http://blog.fairmormon.org/category/gender-issues/


The Fair Mormon Blog was also interesting for me. This is a site that is dedicated to addressing difficult issues with multiple, largely unaffiliated Mormon writers. I read a few posts about gender issues and was especially intrigued by the posts about youth suicide rates in the church compared to outside. Overall, this site was very engaging, but felt less personal and more current events based. Good to see that approaches can be different.

I read a couple other blogs, but these two stood out most to me as examples of how to reach out.