The Islamic State is now being hammered by both Iran and Russia, as the realities of power in the Middle East shift dramatically:   http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/10/03/russian-warplanes-strike-central-and-northern-syria-in-new-raids/?intcmp=hplnws   Posted from New York City   Read more

    Opposition to the Smith family, well beyond opposition to Joseph Smith himself, began early, as friends turned against them. Lucy Mack Smith, with her two sons Hyrum and Samuel, had joined the Presbyterian Church. Some time later, during the printing of the Book of Mormon, a delegation came from their church, intending to persuade them to disavow the book. The spokesman for the group first addressed the mother. But he received no satisfaction from her. “Deacon Beckwith,” Lucy said,... Read more

    This is a really stimulating (and brief) article.  It’s not often that one sees criticism of the very idea of such things as the Nobel Prize.  But the author’s case is intriguing and worthy of consideration, though I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for such exalted awards to be abolished:   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/opinion/the-folly-of-big-science-awards.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&_r=1   And I think its argument works equally well against the fetishization (that I’ve observed in some quarters) of membership in the elite National Academy of Sciences... Read more

    It’s likely that one or more new apostles will be announced this weekend (probably today) at the October general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   A look at one ancient method used to fill an apostolic vacancy seemed appropriate, in that light, for this weekend’s Hamblin/Peterson column in the Deseret News:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865638130/The-casting-of-lots-in-ancient-Israel.html   Posted from New York City     Read more

    “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C. S. Lewis   Posted from New York... Read more

    I wouldn’t be surprised if someone were called to the apostleship from Latin America or even Africa.  It’s certainly possible.   But the fact remains that the folks quoted in this Associated Press article are just as clueless on the matter as virtually everybody else is.  Their comments represent nothing more than the purest speculation:   http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/mormon-leaders-expected-named-church-conference-34203707   We’ll soon know, though.   Posted from New York City     Read more

    Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture continues to die, just as its critics have long predicted that it would.  Today, for example, it published not just one weekly article, but two articles.  Here’s a link to the second of them:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/how-lovely-is-your-dwelling-placea-review-of-danel-w-bachmana-temple-studies-bibliography/   Posted from New York City     Read more

    I realize that there might be several members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I don’t personally know, but . . .  well, I’ve seen and heard absolutely nothing to suggest the existence of the supposed trend reported here by the British newspaper The Guardian:   http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/01/women-lgbt-mormons-community-of-christ   And the numbers reported by the author, from which this alleged trend has been extrapolated, seem to me an awfully weak thread on which to base... Read more

    Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture posted two articles today.  (I’ve been busy, and am a bit late in announcing this.)  Here’s one of them:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-temple-a-multi-faceted-center-and-its-problems/   Posted from New York City     Read more

    My wife and I were privileged yesterday to share our brief flight from Rochester to Newark with John D. Foy (90), of Rochester, New York, and Peter B. DuPré (92), of Fairport, New York.  (I have their permission to use their names and their photograph.)   Mr. Foy served in the combat infantry in General Patton’s Third Army, to which my father also belonged, and Mr. DuPré was a medic in the European theater, although I didn’t catch... Read more