Featured Articles

How Much I Feel

As an overly romantic kid, I spent a good portion of my youth wearing bulbous headphones, analyzing the lyrical content of pop music. I once passed an entire family vacation listening to “Bennie and the Jets,” trying desperately to both memorize the lyrics and comprehend their meaning. The weird and the wonderful. Religious leaders were […]

How To Interview Mitt Romney About Sexism

Ask: Could a woman ever be appointed to lead your religion? Should they? Mitt Romney is sexist. He adheres to a philosophy, Mormonism, which denies women equal rights. Mormon women are not allowed to hold leadership positions within the church and forbidden ordination into the priesthood. Similarly, before 1978, the Mormon church did not allow […]

Post-Atheist: Moving Beyond Belief

Summary Asking whether one believes in God is a nonsensical, and ultimately, meaningless question. One would not ask “Do you believe in King?” God, like King, is a title, a political office. What matters is not belief in the existence of a being who claims the title, but rather, agreement with the political philosophy of […]

The Violence of Lines

“When people began living in settled agricultural communities, social reality shifted deeply and irrevocably. Suddenly it became crucially important to know where your field ended and your neighbor’s began. — Christopher Ryan, Ph.D. and Cacilda Jethá, M.D. in Sex At Dawn” Whosoever Looketh On A Woman As we closed our eyes for the congregational prayer, […]

Science As A Human Right: Data-driven Governance

Summary To match the ideals outlined in the U.S. Constitution, we must define and measure our values. We have already defined our values. We do not yet measure outcomes. Science is the only tool capable of abstracting human experience over populations, allowing us to know whether we are achieving our goals. By choosing not to […]

Paul Spencer Denman, Helen Folasade Adu, Andrew Hale, Stuart Matthewman

My Life With Sade

Diamond Life: Heaven Help Him, When He Falls click arrow to play…listen to each song as you read each section October 1984 | 2:30 am | Provo, Utah Lying across a sturdy sofa, empty lobby of a dormitory, Brigham Young University. Eyes smudged with eyeliner, highlighted hair tousled, bleached white 501s. I’d been at The Star […]

On Satchels and Sexuality

I’m leaning against a bar, swirling Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks and reading Somerset Maugham’s “Of Human Bondage” when a woman approaches with a scowl and purpose. “Empty that bag and prove to me that you need to carry everything in it” she demands, handbag slung defiantly over her shoulder, arms crossed. “You should […]

How To Interview Mitt Romney About Racism

Summary Ask: Was the Mormon Church wrong to deny priesthood to black members before 1978? The official policy of the LDS Church is that the racist practice was commanded by God, and not a result of racism among its leadership. The Church has never apologized for the practice nor specifically repudiated racist teachings by LDS […]

David Frum and the Failure of Conservatism

Summary David Frum reversed his position on gay marriage. Conservatives would have you believe that the case for or against it requires a review of evidence. In framing his reversal this way, he’s misrepresenting his previous position, and glossing over the deeper question: is conservatism capable of producing coherent policies in a nation whose foundational […]

Why I Choose To Be Progressive

Summary My theory of Progressivism holds that knowledge improves over time, allowing us to better understand ourselves and our environment. Knowledge is advanced by individuals through both free and systemic inquiry. I encourage change through the application of better knowledge, resulting in a more perfect union. My theory of Conservatism, by contrast, places value on […]