10 years ago a group of Mormon bloggers founded The Millennial Star, a Mormon blog dedicated to building up and sustaining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is surprising to many that we are still around.

A few thoughts:

–Finding a name for a new blog is always an adventure. I can now reveal that one of the names that was considered is “Laban’s Neck.”
–Most of the early founders of the blog no longer write here, but those of us who remain love them and welcome them.
–The blog went through some tough times in its second year, but I am happy to report that readership is higher than ever and that 2014 was a banner year for The Millenial Star. We are at record levels in terms of readership, number of posts and number of comments.

All is all, it is likely we will continue to be around for a while longer. Happy 2015 everyone!

As I sat around contemplating what I might do in 2015, it occurred to me that I hadn’t actually spoken of all the various women who are alleged to have married Joseph Smith in the depth that might be desired.

Those who do not know these women are content to portray them as individuals of questionable morality and intelligence.

The truth is very different from this cartoonish portrayal.

In the mean time, let me recap the premise of my 2014 Faithful Joseph series, namely that it appears likely that Joseph Smith had sexual relations with few, if indeed any, of his plural wives. His outreach to “marry” women was apparently frequently prompted by a desire to teach them true doctrines regarding marriage, given the prevalence of scheming men teaching that women should enjoy sexuality (with the schemers) independent of legal marriage in so-called spiritual wifery, and that Joseph had taught this was acceptable. Continue reading →

This is a guest post by Tom Stringham.

This post is written for what I assume is a small audience. It will be most meaningful to members of the church who, for one thing, are fans of the Harry Potter series of books and, for the other, still feel a little uneasy about Joseph Smith and polygamy after an eventful November. I won’t be able to contribute any more historical insight than has already been given, but I hope to reframe a story that is still mostly unknown to us by considering a fictional story we may know much better.

Specifically, I want to make a comparison (at the risk of coming across a little irreverent) between Joseph Smith and Albus Dumbledore. The reader, then, can put him/herself in the place of Harry Potter, the earnest and good-hearted boy who at one point found himself feeling disillusioned about a man he loved and admired.

One of the most poignant moments in the Harry Potter series is in The Deathly Hallows, when Harry is suddenly confronted with disturbing facts about his headmaster’s past. A journalist in the magical world has published a book called The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, claiming to expose an unseen side of Dumbledore: “Stripping away the popular image of serene, silver-bearded wisdom, [the author] reveals the disturbed childhood, the lawless youth, the lifelong feuds and the guilty secrets Dumbledore carried to his grave.”
Continue reading →

Drought and lack of clean water kills 50 million people per year. This is by far more than the number of individuals killed by all other forms of “natural disaster.”

While we can’t ship our water directly to those in need, we can ship goods that would require water affected locations don’t have. We can also create demand for products that use less water, making it possible for individuals to make economic decisions that allow them to use water more wisely.

The power of the consumer “vote” is unquestioned. Every bite you eat and drop you drink shapes the world your brothers and sisters are forced to live in.

In celebration of an awesome batch of soy milk, I would love to share some options for drinking that are both water-wise and suited for food storage. Continue reading →