http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/us/boy-scouts-gay-leaders-feat/index.html   It might still be possible for the Church to continue its longstanding relationship with the Boy Scouts of America, given that the BSA still claims to “respect the right of religious chartered organizations to continue to choose adult leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own.”   But please note the demand for absolute and total submission issued by the spokesman for one prominent homosexual rights group:   “[I]ncluding an exemption for troops sponsored by religious... Read more

    A bit of history.   I appreciated the little 2:28 minutes video clip that’s embedded in the article:   http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/politics/september-11-2001-photos-reactions/index.html     Read more

    Luke 14:34-35 Compare 5:13; Mark 9:49-50   If we become bland, wholly conformed to the society and culture around us, in complete sync with surrounding social trends and current fashions, there’s no reason for us to exist and no reason to call us the Church.     Read more

    This is, potentially, a really, really big deal:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-re-evaluating-scouting-program     Read more

    I received a note a few days ago from my friend Dr. Ugo Perego, in Rome.  I’m sharing a portion of it here:   I would like to make you aware of a couple of things pertaining to a project I have been involved since 1999.    As many of you already know, when I was working for Sorenson (1999-2012), I began to work on different side projects involving Joseph Smith’s alleged children born from polygamous unions. Presentations... Read more

    “What can you do to promote world peace?  Go home and love your family.”  (Mother Teresa)     Read more

    The argument that Professor Forsdyke is developing, if it pans out, has potentially explosive implications for the “mind-body” problem and, in religious terms, for the notion of a “spirit” independent of the brain or the body:   http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13752-015-0219-x   Intriguing.  I want to watch this fairly closely.  I’m confident that he won’t go unchallenged.   In fact, he’s already been briefly challenged here.   If he’s wrong, my dualistic convictions aren’t affected one way or the other.  If... Read more

    Any mainstream, believing Latter-day Saint is likely to feel at least some ambivalence about what may be coming over the horizon in addition to same-sex “marriage”:   http://dailysignal.com/2015/07/24/how-the-media-is-promoting-polyamory-the-new-marriage-equality/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRohu63LZKXonjHpfsX56e4sXaGwlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ATMNiMK%2BTFAwTG5toziV8R7jHKM1t0sEQWBHm   One thing, though, is absolutely clear:  There’s a whole lot more historical precedent, worldwide and in all eras, for polygamy — or, more precisely, for polygyny — than there is for gay “marriage.”   On what non-arbitrary and principled basis can our overlords fail to endorse it when they’re... Read more

      http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/192442/researchers-ancient-scroll-discovered-in-israeli-contains-verses-from-leviticus?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=post&utm_content=RESEARCHERS%3A+ANCIENT+SCROLL+DISCOVERED+IN+ISRAEL+CONTAINS+VERSES+FROM+LEVITICUS&utm_campaign=july2015   Thanks to Jabra Ghneim for calling my attention to this item.     Read more

      Some interesting this way comes, from Brant Gardner:   http://gregkofford.com/blogs/news/35937733-preview-em-traditions-of-the-fathers-the-book-of-mormon-as-history-em     Read more