My wife and I just said goodbye to about twenty friends who spent part of the evening with us.   How in the world did the mean-spirited, small-minded, vicious Daniel Peterson get twenty people to come to his house, you ask?  (The adjectives come from a commenter on this blog, and he stands proudly by them.)   That's easy.  We offered them food.   And we promised good discussion of a very good book:  Socrates in the City, edited by Eric … [Read more...]

    Today was one of the rare times during the past decade or  more -- there've been a few, but not many -- that I've been in my home ward's adult Sunday School class  without teaching it.  So I was able to hear my fellow Gospel Doctrine teacher, for a change.  He's a talented teacher -- a former mission president, and near retirement from teaching at the LDS Institute of Religion adjacent to Utah Valley University.   He showed a short (thirteen minute) LDS … [Read more...]

    I'm guessing that more than a few who don't live along the Wasatch Front and/or aren't hyper-focused on and tightly connected with all of the latest developments in Mormondom may be unaware of the Church's new statement on this topic:   https://www.lds.org/topics/becoming-like-god?lang=eng&query=becoming+god#2   I try to be of service, and to ensure that this blog is, at least occasionally, useful.     … [Read more...]

      A column for the Deseret News from back in 2010:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700031862/Church-established-Bible-not-vice-versa.html     … [Read more...]

    Some of you, I'll wager, will find this interesting:   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/us/a-growing-role-for-mormon-women.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0   P.S.  Please note the MAN who, in the photograph, is standing IN FRONT of the women.  That is SIGNIFICANT.  And, in fact, maybe I chose it for that very reason.     … [Read more...]

    Kevin Taylor, from whom I'm borrowing this link, asks an intriguing question: "Imagine if someone were to say that how a woman dresses has an impact on the type of men she attracts. Now imagine that that someone is not Elder Callister, but a female fashion writer. Would 'therapist' bloggers still be foaming rabidly at the mouth?"   In the light of my previous thread, consider the following … [Read more...]

    If you haven't heard about this, it's a must read.  Truly unbelievable.   http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/code-chaos_783576.html?page=1   I heard one commentator say that learning this code would be somewhat more difficult than studying Mandarin Chinese.  I have no idea whether that estimate is true.  But think of the wonders mastery of this "language" will offer!  Forget about gaining entry to a vast literature and a rich and foreign … [Read more...]

    Unfortunately, the volume is rather low in this recording, and I haven't found any versions of Professor Turley's testimony that don't suffer from the same problem:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjDMO1Np6ik   But he's worth listening to on this matter, or at least worth reading.   When even this well-known liberal-leaning law professor, who expressly says that he agrees with the substance of President Obama's positions on most issues, … [Read more...]

    Perhaps the federal government should arrange all American marriages?   http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/372038/yes-assortative-mating-helps-explain-higher-inequality-patrick-brennan   Such a policy could be put into effect by executive order.     … [Read more...]

      A Deseret News column from 2010:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700028148/Christianity-growing-in-China.html     … [Read more...]