It’s helpful that NEPHI’S COURAGE: Story of a Bad Mormon by Rory McFarlan opens with a Trigger Warning since treatment of the main character by his beloved church organization runs the gamut from subtle and not-so-subtle manipulation to unjust/illegal job termination and involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. That said, this is nevertheless mostly a quite gentle story offering much pertinent information about how the Mormon faith operates and why Nephi continues to be honest, loyal and true to his faith in it…even in the face of such ill treatment. It’s admirable that though church officials undertake disciplinary action through a “court of love” in an attempt to strip Nephi’s church privileges away via disfellowshipment or excommunication, Nephi becomes more and more clear that what matters is not the opinions or actions of church Presidents or Bishops, but rather his own relationship with God, and with himself as a perfect child of God. After all, the Creator who made everything also made LGBTQ people, and God doesn’t make mistakes.

What’s wonderful about this novel (in an often infuriating way) is that Nephi Willard is an exemplary Mormon. Unlike many other Mormons in good standing who bend or break rules occasionally, Nephi religiously does not drink alcohol or coffee, watch porn, or curse. Most importantly–even though he has always been same-sex attracted (which according to church doctrine is NOT a sin unless the attraction is acted upon)–he completely adheres to the no-physical-intimacy-outside-of-marriage rule, and has never been sexual with anyone, male or female. Yet important fellow Mormons find him (and LGBTQ people in general) distasteful, disgraceful and immoral.

With homosexuals achieving the right to marry in society, history might eventually prove that this aspect of doctrine has perhaps been just another instance of human policy masquerading as inspired, eternal law, just as: the former directive prohibiting men of African descent from the Priesthood, forbidding Black church members from marrying in the temple–a doctrine considered immutable until 1978, the definition of marriage as being between “one man and one or more women” (until the polygamy manifesto came along to alter that previously unassailable ‘fact’). There’s only one flaw in this fascinatingly detailed glimpse into the system of worship that Nephi Willard believes in, which is inadequate character development throughout. Nephi has friends and allies, but the emotional content between them is generally more summarized than actively, effectively shown.

Readers may come away having more feelings about the ins-and-outs of Mormonism than about the characters themselves in Rory McFarlan’s NEPHI’S COURAGE, but it’s still a worthy tale of faith, friendship, being true to one’s self, and the miracle of falling in love.

~C.S. Holmes for IndieReader