LDS Faith Journeys Forums General Discussion Washington Post article about StayLDS.com

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  • #107815
    Brian Johnston
    Participant

    The Washington Post did a story about the world of doubting Mormons, our site, and interviewed me and several of the participants here. Here’s a link to the story:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/mormons-struggling-with-doubt-turn-to-online-support-groups/2012/05/24/gJQASImHnU_story.html

    #153948
    mercyngrace
    Participant

    I just read the article via John Dehlin’s FB page. You are such a rock star, Brian :)

    ::holds up lighter and sways to background music::

    #153949
    SilentDawning
    Participant

    Cool Brian! Dons Cheerleader Outfit and does cartwheels. Interesting that CWald, Candelight and Doug were also referenced. It was like reading the local newspaper for me.

    #153950
    doug
    Participant

    Well, that’s just great … I get quoted in the WP website and I can’t tell anyone about it. Just my luck.

    Good job, Brian and Ray. I’m curious to know if the number of visitors to the site is/was affected.

    And what in the heck is Terryl Givens talking about?

    Quote:

    Terryl Givens, a religion professor at the University of Richmond, a Mormon, said online questioners overstate the danger of raising their views

    Maybe I don’t understand the context, or perhaps he was misquoted, but who is he to make such an assertion?

    #153951
    Old-Timer
    Keymaster

    Reasonable article; horrible comment thread. It’s the comment threads that nearly depress me.

    I enjoyed my discussion with the writer, but I didn’t expect to get quoted much – since we talked for about 45 minutes and I knew it would be a relatively short article. I recorded a brief summary of our conversation. It’s on my personal blog, if anyone is interested:

    “Interviewed by a Writer for the Washington Post” (http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com/2012/05/interviewed-by-writer-for-washington.html)

    #153952
    Fatherof4husbandof1
    Participant

    Its been a while but I saw and read the article, made me think of old times as I read your comments. I don’t use a pseudonym anymore my name is Shane Toone if anyone cares you can fb friend me. Much has changed in my life and mormon journey over the past year and a half. I just want to thank you all for your good advice (mostly good) and for being there for others that need help as they pass through perhaps the most difficult time of their life!

    #153953
    bridget_night
    Participant

    It was so neat to read about you Brian and the others from our group. It always feels good when you can come out of the closet and be yourself.

    #153954
    Brian Johnston
    Participant

    Old-Timer wrote:

    Reasonable article; horrible comment thread. It’s the comment threads that nearly depress me.

    Newspaper article comments are the bottom dregs of the internet. It doesn’t even have to be about Mormonism. It’s usually because there is zero screening and almost no moderation done at all in those comment streams.

    #153955
    Minyan Man
    Participant

    Interesting article & interview Brian.

    Do you ever get feed back from Church leadership that they look at this site?

    If yes, what are their comments?

    Mike from Milton.

    #153956
    cwald
    Participant

    Shane Toone!

    Are you $hi***** me?

    Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

    #153957
    Brian Johnston
    Participant

    You guys know each other Cwald?

    #153958
    Fatherof4husbandof1
    Participant

    Of course I know all the lgm’s at star command! Just this forum Brian, there are several here to whom I owe my padawan training!

    #153959
    Old-Timer
    Keymaster

    Oh, and I think it’s funny that of all the stuff I said, much of which was my own words and analogies I’ve created over the course of my life, the only thing that made the article was something I got from Hawkgrrrl. :shh: :P

    #153960
    wayfarer
    Participant

    Really fantastic – puts a face on a community that usually gets the hand in the face by the True Believers.

    I am interested in traffic stats here as a result of this article.

    #153961
    Brian Johnston
    Participant

    Mike wrote:

    Do you ever get feed back from Church leadership that they look at this site?

    If yes, what are their comments?

    My SP investigated me last summer based on a call from SLC HQ. We had a nice conversation. I was quite open and upfront about my situation and my motivations. What can they say? We’re trying to help people that nobody else in church seems to be able to reach out to very good. Sure, we might not toe the standard story line here. He didn’t seem to really want to go into that. He also seemed sensitive to the needs of members in his stake with those kinds of faith problems. In the end, he said he would call them back and tell them didn’t have a problem with me. I haven’t heard anything since.

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