There are people out there working very hard to save us Mormons from ourselves and, by redefining our faith to accord more fully with current secular-progressive ideology, to try to make Mormonism less of a force for evil, hatred, exclusion, sheer obsolescence, and cruel harm.   Like the Buddha, who found enlightenment but nevertheless graciously chose to remain in this rather dismal life in order to help others attain enlightenment too, some of them have chosen to remain members of the Church.  As the Latin credo... Read more

    I object when people call Islam evil because of ISIS, or blame Muslims generally for the appalling crimes of the so-called “Islamic State.”   But I’m very nearly as uncomfortable when other people claim that Islam has nothing whatever to do with ISIS or similar specimens of contemporary terrorism.   The reality is much more complex than either extreme is willing to allow.   Here’s a good article by a Muslim that addresses the latter claim:   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/18/does-isis-really-have-nothing-to-do-with-islam-islamic-apologetics-carry-serious-risks/  ... Read more

    This week’s assault on reason and common sense has now appeared in the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865641899/For-good-and-evil-among-all-nations.html   Posted from Marbella, Spain     Read more

    I intended to post this one quite some time ago.  My apologies.   Perhaps you missed it, though:   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/books/earliest-known-draft-of-king-james-bible-is-found-scholar-says.html?WT.mc_id=2015-OCTOBER-FB-MC4-AUD_DEV-1001-1031&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVREMARK&_r=2   Unfortunately, I cannot now recall who brought it to my attention.  Again, I apologize for that.   Posted from Istanbul, Turkey     Read more

    History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. Edward Gibbon   Posted from Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey (which offers plenty of material)      Read more

    My friend and BYU colleague Ralph Hancock brought this item to my notice a few days back:   http://www.ndcatholic.com/welcome   I hope and pray that such an effort never becomes necessary at Brigham Young University.  To ensure that it doesn’t, though, will require more vigilance on the part of administration, faculty, and trustees than I once imagined it would.   However, as the saying goes, those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.  ... Read more

    Christmas shopping and Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations, yes.   But we’re also drawing near the end of the year, when many people consider whether and where to make tax-exempt charitable donations.   There are lots and lots of worthy causes.   My wife and I have a few favorites, including the Liahona Children’s Foundation and Operation Underground Railroad.   But I hope that a few out there will also remember the Interpreter Foundation.   The Interpreter Foundation continues... Read more

    I think this article has a point, though I don’t think that the case is quite as clear as the author tries to make it:   http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2015/11/16/4352803.htm   ISIS and other such groups have, for example, claimed explicitly Islamic legitimation for what they do far more consistently and intensely than the Buddhist nationalists in Myanmar have clothed themselves in Buddhist doctrine.   I think they’re wrong, and that they’re abusing and defaming their own claimed religious faith, but... Read more

    Incidentally, please note the Christian gesture of prayer in the image (from a sixth-century Egyptian ivory box) accompanying the article to which I linked here.   What does it have in common with the third-century image above?   Posted from Istanbul, Turkey Read more

    I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.  (Edward Gibbon, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)   Posted from Istanbul (formerly Constantinople or “New Rome”), in Turkey     Read more