John Gee continues with his series of interesting posts on literacy, written sources, and the historical sense in ancient Israel: "Estimating the Size of the Israelite Library" "Assessing Historical Authenticity of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible" "A Biblical Scholar Surveys the Scholarly Scene" He's implicitly critiquing some recent statements that have suggested that the historical value of the Old Testament … [Read more...]

  http://www.adn.com/article/20150124/attending-church-phone-rural-alaska   … [Read more...]

  A report on an interesting study analyzing how much members of six groups -- Catholics, mainline Protestants, Jews, Evangelicals, adherents of eastern religions (which I hope the study itself identifies more precisely), and people with no religious affiliation -- support the scientific exploration of space: http://www.space.com/27896-religion-influence-space-exploration.html The results are thought-provoking and, in one particular case, … [Read more...]

  You may have missed this, especially if you live outside of Utah, but it's rather important: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865620495/LDS-statement-could-move-Utah-nondiscrimination-religious-freedom-debate-forward.html http://www.sltrib.com/home/2106982-155/in-major-move-mormon-apostles-call I confess that to having reservations about anti-discrimination legislation in general -- not because I favor bigotry and not because I … [Read more...]

  Formerly the United States ambassador to Kuwait, Matthew Tueller is currently our representative to Yemen, where the government has just fallen, a Shi‘i insurgency has taken over the capital, and "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" (AQAP; تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب‎) is extremely active (having recently sponsored the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris). He's a Latter-day Saint, and a graduate of BYU -- as are Deborah Jones (also a former ambassador to Kuwait, … [Read more...]

  "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) … [Read more...]

  Here's an effort to explain the case of John Dehlin to a Jewish audience: http://www.jewishjournal.com/jews_and_mormons/item/john_dehlin_a_mormon_jew_for_jesus   … [Read more...]

  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/us/politics/romneys-consideration-of-candidacy-is-closely-tied-to-his-faith-allies-say.html?_r=0   … [Read more...]