The historian John Hamer wrote a post at By Common Consent about the early Latter-day Saint Apostle Thomas B. Marsh back on July 1, 2009 . The post is titled "The Milk & Strippings Story, Thomas B. Marsh, and Brigham Young." Today’s Sunday School lesson focused, in part, on the Thomas B. Marsh cream fable (I like Hamer’s use of "fable"). Here is a selection from John’s BCC post: Thomas B. Marsh and his wife Elizabeth were baptized on September... Read more
Rawls wrote in "On My Religion" that one of the texts on religions which has most struck him is the Colloquium of the Seven by Jean Bodin. Rawls noted that three features of Bodin’s thought stood out and impressed him about Bodin: First, Bodin was committed to toleration as a life-long Catholic. Rawls differentiates this from Spinoza who "came to toleration after rejecting or changing his religious faith" (Rawls 2010, 266). Toleration was instead for Bodin "an aspect and consequence... Read more
I shared this video during the first lecture of American Heritage of Spring term 2010 at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The large lecture section applauded this video…not sure why my lectures didn’t receive to same response. Oh, well. 🙂 Happy Independence Day! Read more
Of course, not. While I cringe at the heavy doses of American exceptionalism (often in the most cheesy forms) within American religious culture, maybe there is something valuable in viewing American and Christianity as being intertwined. However, it is often not intertwined in a positive sense, like a manifest destiny, but a destructive one. Of course, “Manifest Destiny” itself was corrupt and destructive. This mixture of American and Christian identities is something that was can trace back to the Mayflower.... Read more
If anything…because of the French accent. This is the kind of person we want to keep out! I am just furious about these people taking jobs from real Americans. I might not be able to enjoy my hot dogs and fireworks on July 4th because of this. "Like" Approaching Justice on Facebook Read more
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, I have had doubts about the way in which the lens of nationalism informs my view of the world. While many turned to the flag and the chapel in the aftermath of those attacks, both seemed superficial to me. The loss that day was not an American loss but a loss of humanity. Those lives had value not as Americans (of course, many were not Americans), but as human beings. That many rallied... Read more
….am wearing my Netherlands World Baseball Classic cap. My mother, Carla Henrichsen, is a native of the Netherlands. She has been a proud American citizen for sometime now. Since it was her birthday yesterday…I better not emphasize how long she has been an American. Happy Birthday Mom! My mom mentioned on Monday that her father, my grandfather, Abraham Meijer would have turned 100 on that day (July 1). Opa has been gone for over a decade, but I sometimes feel... Read more
…but what if you live in Vegas? Ah, the many great philosophical questions we will ponder while living in Sin City! Here is my family checking out our soon-to-be home from the top of the Stratosphere: "Like" Approaching Justice on Facebook Read more
We more than doubled our pageviews at Approaching Justice from May to June. Thanks for reading! Some of the posts that got the most traffic during June are the following: Homosexuality is Not a Sin Are Mormons Protestants? No Liberals Here! (Adventures in Parenting) Find all of the Approaching Justice posts from June 2013 here. Go see what you missed! I am excited for July. We are moving to Las Vegas this month. Also, I am looking forward to am... Read more
George Takei of both Star Trek and Facebook fame has penned a beautiful and insightful essay in the Washington post about the “ick factor” and how we our society has treated homosexuals. Here is a taste: Whenever one group discriminates against another — keeping its members out of a club, a public facility or an institution — it often boils down to a visceral, negative response to something unfamiliar. I call this the “ick.” Indeed, the “ick” is often at... Read more
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