Forget the presidential race, the threat of radical Islamist terrorism, global warming, and other such trivia.  This, so far as I can tell, is one of the biggest topics of conversation along the Wasatch Front today:   http://www.underdogdynasty.com/2015/12/13/9890320/should-niumatalolo-stay-at-navy-or-jump-to-byu     Read more

    A transcript and video of Michael R. Otterson’s candid presentation at the FairMormon conference in August 2015:   http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/fair-conferences/2015-fairmormon-conference/on-the-record     Read more

    I have a sad confession to make:  I’ve heard and sung the carol Silent Night so very many times over the course of my ridiculously many decades of mortal life that its impact on me has, I regret to say, been blunted a bit.   But BYU produced a very nice film about the genesis of the carol two or three years ago.  Here’s an article about an award that it won in 2013, from a Catholic organization:   http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/56488933-180/silent-catholic-gabriel-human.html.csp  ... Read more

    Matthew 27:11-14 Mark 15:2-5 Luke 23:2-5 John 18:29-38 Compare Matthew 26:53; Luke 23:9-10, 13-14; John 19:8-15   Why did Jesus make no defense?  Why did he say so little before Pilate?   Because he would go to his death without resistance.  He would no more defend himself verbally than he had defended himself physically, even though, as he pointed out at his arrest, he could have called upon legions of angels to protect him.   “To this end... Read more

    Are you feeling too solemn?   Studio C provides the most recent entry for the “Social” component of the Church’s 2015 campaign, “A Savior is Born”:   https://www.mormon.org/christmas/studio-c     Read more

    I thank K. G. Budge for bringing the image above to my notice.   Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan was an American soldier, born in New Jersey, who died fighting for his country in Iraq.   He was twenty years old.   He was a Muslim.   Read about him here.   And he’s not the only Muslim soldier in the American military.     On another, related, topic:   Below are links discussing two admirable Latter-day Saint responses... Read more

    “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson     Read more

    John Gee’s always-interesting blog alerted me to an interesting article that, as a bonus, compliments BYU for — and this will make some groan in indignant disbelief — its diversity:   http://nypost.com/2015/12/10/how-to-find-a-college-where-the-facultys-not-all-lefties/     Read more

    With all the recent discussion of religion and violence, this important documentary may prove helpful:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk   Thanks to Robert Boylan for reminding me of it.     Read more

    Matthew 27:3-10   According to the gospel of John, Judas hanged himself out of remorse after his betrayal of Jesus.  (The “field of blood” mentioned is still visible — its traditional site, anyway — from the grounds of the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.)   Nevertheless, Judas is generally viewed by Latter-day Saints — and not without good reason (see, for example, John 17:12) — as the very model of an unredeemable “son... Read more