Men and Women and Girls and Boys, etc.

Thursday is our day at the website of the Interpreter Foundation for posting reprints of book chapters.  Today is Thursday, so we’ve posted the reprint of a book chapter.  Please note that today isn’t Friday.  But Friday is the day on which we publish new articles in the Interpreter Foundation’s journal.  I spell this out here as clearly as I can, so as not to confuse and upset one of our readers, who has previously imagined that, by posting chapter reprints on Thursday, we were deceptively trying to pretend that they were actually new articles that had been posted on Friday.  (Or something like that.)  I think that we were able to sort his confusion out for him, but you never know when the malady might flare up again.  Anyway, here is today’s chapter reprint:  Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: “Women, Eve, and the Mosaic Covenant: A Latter-day Saint Theological Reading,” written by Shon D. Hopkin:

Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article originally appeared in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, edited by Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin. For more information, go to https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/seek-ye-words-of-wisdom/.

“According to Luke Timothy Johnson, “Biblical scholars in the future will probably find the examination of the world that the New Testament creates more fruitful than the study of the world that created the New Testament.” Some biblical scholars have begun to turn their attention from the world that lies behind the text (the historical context) and the world that lies within the text (close readings and rhetorical criticism) to the world in front of the text. Stated differently, how do current readers approach the text and continue to gain meaning from it?”

For those who may still be wondering, here’s an article that may help — from, of all places, the magazine Skeptic:  “Is Sex Binary? Eight Arguments and a Leading Nonbinary Theory Examined”

“The ‘war on boys’ led to a ‘masculinity crisis’ — what’s new in the effort to help America’s struggling young men? Wes Moore, Spencer Cox and Gavin Newsom are among governors seeking solutions to a problem that has been talked about for decades”  This is, of course, an important issue in its own right.  As an aside, though, I note that they’re now beginning to talk about “apprenticeships,” which were also a consideration in the lead-up to Utah’s 1852 Service Act, about which I’ve recently spoken and written.

I saw a great deal of remarkably nasty rejoicing in the recent death of the Evangelical Protestant child psychologist Dr. James Dobson.  I freely admit that the sheer quantity and intensity of the vituperation caught me by surprise.  (I commented on the hateful and dehumanizing rhetoric that celebrated his passing here and here and here.)  It turns out, though, that there are other viewpoints on the man and his legacy.  Here’s one of them:  “James Dobson was right all along about the family — Modern social science backs up Dobson’s prophetic views about marriage.”  And here is a loving Facebook tribute from his son.

And, whether or not you can access it in National Review, this is a worthwhile read:  “Should We Have Allied with Hitler? ‘Just asking questions’ makes its dumbest query yet.”

And here’s some very discouraging news:  “There’s no room for Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore, despite MAGA push: Even back in 1936, lead sculptor Gutzon Borglum said the “stone limitations” of the site meant a fifth person couldn’t be added.”  We’ll either need to identify (or to build) a new mountain for the project or — and this may be more practical — to eliminate Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, or Lincoln (or, perhaps, to eliminate all of them) in order to create usable space.

You heard it here first!  “Amanda Grace Warns: Mormon Scandal, Marco Rubio and Divine Intervention”

Even after the torrential rain that my area received last night, we’re still far behind for 2025:  “Drought continues to plague Utah, officials stress conservation: Reservoir levels are dipping and one irrigation company in northern Utah has cut its secondary water allotments to users by half”  I’m trying to be a bit more careful, personally.  If everybody in Utah were to save on average just a gallon of water daily — which I suspect to be quite possible (e.g., by turning water off while brushing teeth, rinsing glasses a little more quickly, taking slightly shorter showers [and maybe turning the water off while soaping up], and a thousand other little measures) — that would result in savings of millions of gallons per day, and in saving a vast amount of water in a year.

Theists and theism have always had a particular hatred for women and girls, and that hatred is clearly on display in this item from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™:  “Giving Machine Donations Educate and Empower Girls in Nepal: Donated menstrual kits and classes are helping end ‘period poverty’ in Nepal”

Sadly, though, the malign attentions of religious believers aren’t confined to girls and women.  They’re universal.  Here are some chilling additional examples from the Hitchens File:  “By the numbers: Serving those in need: See how members of the Church served others around the world in 2024”

Occasionally, theists don’t even attempt to hide from other people what they’re up to.  Here, for instance, is another Hitchens File document:  “American Red Cross Leaders Tour Church Humanitarian Sites.”  Sometimes, it’s difficult to decide whether religionists should be condemned for their cunning sneakiness or for their brazen boastfulness.  (A related but distinct dilemma is deciding whether we’ve heard too little about what they’re doing or whether we’ve heard too much.)  In the end, though, it doesn’t really matter.  The bottom line is that they should be condemned.