“It seems to me people tend to forget that we are to love our enemies, not to satisfy some standard of righteousness but because God their Father loves them.” Marilynne Robinson, Gilead   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    A wonderful how-to video that will teach you how you can demonstrate your superior moral sensitivity to even the most stupidly inferior people around you and silence views that differ from your own:     It fits perfectly with my post from the other day,   “My eagerness to be indignant demonstrates my virtue”   as well as with this item:   “Campus-Wide E-mail Tells White Girls to Stop Wearing Hoop Earrings Because It’s Cultural Appropriation”   Posted from... Read more

    I’ve always been struck by the verses in Moses 7 in which a personified planet Earth speaks:   48 And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may... Read more

    It’s perhaps time to remind some of those who read my remarks here of an organization led by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, with whom I’ve shared the podium a couple of times — the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.  Have a look around their website.   “Believers! Conduct yourselves with justice, and bear true witness before God; even if it be against yourselves, your parents, or your kin.” يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِالْقِسْطِ شُهَدَاءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰ... Read more

    A helpful compendium at the FairMormon website:   http://en.fairmormonevidence.org/Main_Page   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    An event in Provo scheduled for 24 March:   http://wheatley.byu.edu/events/individual.cfm?id=262   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    A good thought for the age of the internet and social media:   “It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility, is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire.” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    A nice little essay on 1 Nephi 8:   Mormon joy, Lehi’s dream, and the love of God   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    Today being Friday, the Interpreter Foundation has once again published a new article in its flagship publication, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   Seers and Stones: The Translation of the Book of Mormon as Divine Visions of an Old-Time Seer   Posted from Richmond, Virginia     Read more

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/an-evangelical-pastor-on-reaching-the-religiously-unaffiliated_us_58bd8c8be4b05cf0f4021625   We live in an increasingly disconnected and secular world, and we need to improve our methods of dealing with it and of sharing the Gospel in it.   I’ve long thought that there might be much for Latter-day Saints to learn from Timothy Keller’s success in New York City.  I’ve read one of his books and a few other things that he’s written, and hope to read more.  I hope that a few others are looking, too.... Read more