"To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them."  (St. Thomas Aquinas)   Posted from Newport Beach, California    … [Read more...]

  I received an email a few days ago warning me against eating "halal" meat -- that is, meat from animals that have been slaughtered in Islamically approved ways (i.e., the Islamic equivalent of kosher laws). It saddens me enormously to receive such emails, which increase paranoia, hostility, and mistrust against Muslims on the basis of half-truths, distortions, and outright falsehoods. I began to think that I would have to sit down and compose a … [Read more...]

  According to the 11 October 2014 issue of The Economist, France supplies the largest -- it's not clear whether it's the largest Western European, or the largest overall -- contingent of foreign recruits for the so-called "Islamic State." Surprisingly, nearly twenty percent of them are female.  In some cases, entire families have gone. Twenty percent of them are converts to Islam. Of the 130 families who have contacted authorities for … [Read more...]

  Today's reading, the (again very short) book of Omni, briefly mentions a number of extraordinarily important historical items. We learn for the first time, for example, about Zarahemla and its people, the Mulekites.  Mosiah becomes the king of a unified Nephite/Mulekite state.  And we hear of the Jaredites, and of their last king, Coriantumr. I choose, however, to concentrate on something that I find amusing. Jarom, on whom I c … [Read more...]

  I'm reliably informed that we Mormons hate and fear science.  So, watching this, I have to ask myself, "What on earth were we thinking?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=072lMQyTXbA  Posted from Newport Beach, California    … [Read more...]

   Charlie Rangel gives voice to the same  slanderous suspicion with which I've dealt recently here on this blog: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/392116/charlie-rangel-doubles-down-gop-racism-accusations-baffling-wolf-blitzer-brendan  Posted from Newport Beach, California    … [Read more...]

  A cool BYU dinosaur discovery in eastern Utah: http://news.byu.edu/archive14-sep-rhinorex.aspx  Posted from Newport Beach, California    … [Read more...]

  An article by a former neighbor on one of the more contentious issues in early Mormon history: http://lds.net/blog/faith/defending-the-faith/mormon-history/mormon-polygamy-joseph-smiths-teenage-bride/#.VFqA00vwIdv  Posted from Newport Beach, California    … [Read more...]