From the official description:

Usually seen riding their bicycles and preaching door to door, these steamy young men explode with sexuality on each calendar page.

Behind the eye-candy, this calendar has a deeper story -- one that can reshape perceptions, heighten awareness, and perhaps encourage and inspire a broadened acceptance of human and religious diversity.

For more on the controversy sparked by this supposedly "novel" calendar, check out the latest from AVN and read the comments thread. Buy the calendar at Mormons Exposed.

Posted by jat at 08:37 AM | Permalink

Looking for the ideal way to commemorate Mitt Romney's speech on freedom of religion and his Latter Day faith? How about this First Amendment Lager t-shirt from Wasatch and Squatters Beers, a Salt Lake City brewers cooperative whose other labels include Polygamy Porter, Evolution Amber Ale and of course, Brigham's Brew!

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Posted by jat at 11:38 AM | Permalink

The polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints has received a fair bit of attention in recent years, not least of all from the law, but this article provides insight into the link between sectarian identity and style:

Until recently, the community, although different by many people's standards, lived, worked and worshiped together as a whole. The FLDS church, which claims polygamy as one of its tenets, is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which denounced polygamy in 1890.

Yet changes in church leadership brought about changes in the community and many, reportedly judged unworthy in the eyes of Jeffs, were told to leave.

In a sense those - especially the young people - who either choose or are told to leave, are caught between two worlds and struggle when forced to adapt to life outside of Hildale and Colorado City.

Born and raised in Hildale, Lacey's parents separated when she was 7. Her mother left the community and lived in St. George and Salt Lake City.

Lacey shuttled back and forth through the invisible barrier that separates the rest of the world from the two cities that straddle the Utah and Arizona borders.

She had trouble fitting in when she was in Hildale because she wore pants, bangs, jewelry - all frowned upon by the FLDS community - and shunned the traditional braided hairdos that most of the women in the twin cities of Hildale and Colorado City wear. . . .

Red was a color not worn by members of the FLDS religion and some symbols were frowned upon.

Clothing with any type of writing or logos was forbidden and Kevin said even as time went on, the long-sleeved shirts the men and boys wore turned more to solid color, button-down shirts, eliminating polo pullovers and stripes. . . .

And just in case the community seems completely alien, here's a small reminder that its members are indeed all too human:

Kevin said one of the reasons he left was because he was afraid of getting "assigned" a wife.

"My first fear was I would get married to an ugly girl," Kevin said.

Posted by jat at 08:33 AM | Permalink

This week saw the beginning of the new HBO series Big Love, a soap opera serial drama portraying the lives of a Mormon polygamist family. 

The message of the show is pretty simple:  if you think marriage is tedious, well, being married to 3 people is three times as tedious.  Whether this is truly transgressive TV we'll leave for others to decide.  Personally, we're sticking with Passions.   

But that isn't to say that Big Love is completely without interest.  Whatever its success in crossing the line, for a program ostensibly about a Christian faith the show has a distinct lack of actual crosses used as decorations in worship, the home or personal adornment. 

This is not an oversight.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints actively discourages using the cross as a spiritual symbol.  According to LDS leaders, the Church focuses on the resurrection of Jesus, not the means of his excruciating death.  As one popular explanation goes, we don't honor JFK by wearing rifle jewelry.

So what kind of symbols do we find on LDS bling?  Take a close look on the watch on the left & you'll see one that is well nigh ubiquitious:  the Angel Moroni, the divine messenger who revealed the long-hidden Book of Mormon to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The makers of this watch tout it as the ideal gift for young LDS men, though chances are the recipient won't be using it to keep track of dates with multiple wives.  Under pressure from the U.S. government, the Church officially stopped the practice of plural marriage way back in 1890. 

Which is probably a good thing.  After all, if Big Love is to be believed, the demands of plural marriage make it pretty much impossible for anyone but Moroni to stand tall and blow his horn.

Posted by jat at 02:14 AM | Permalink