The prominent Austrian-American sociologist of religion Peter Berger once commented that, if India is the most religious country in the world, and if Sweden is the least religious, then America is a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes.   And certainly, if our media elite are included among our “rulers,” that seems to be true.  Consider this little local case, for example:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865630911/Good-Morning-America-is-tone-deaf-in-covering-Utah-tragedy.html     Read more

    Luke 10:16 Compare Matthew 10:40; John 13:20   There could scarcely be a stronger or more comprehensive statement of what Latter-day Saints call “priesthood authority” (or, more specifically, “apostolic authority”) than this verse.     Read more

    “What’s just has been debated for centuries, but let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well, then, tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you — and why?” Walter Williams     Read more

    This is really big stuff, and really difficult to grasp:   https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/cosmic-inflation-s-five-great-predictions-bf9a560376c7     Read more

    Luke 10:13-15 Compare Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:12   I don’t know whether it should count as a fulfillment of these prophetic verses or not, but the fact is that Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum are mere archaeological ruins today.   In fact, the very location of Bethsaida is still disputed in some quarters.     Read more

    Some of you may find this interesting:   http://ldsliving.com/story/79225-competitor-on-so-you-think-you-can-dance-talks-about-lds-mission?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email   I wish him well.     Read more

    If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.  (Napoleon Hill)     Read more

    This is very sad.  My wife and I were there — on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee — leading a tour group just slightly more than a month ago:   http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/arson-guts-israeli-church-jesus-fed-5000-150618094349491.html   Jabra Ghneim has kindly brought my attention to a brief YouTube video entitled (in Arabic) “What the church at Tabgha in the Galilee was like before the brazen settler attack on it”:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17hMkNCsTxY#t=63   Brother Ghneim tells me — I haven’t yet been... Read more

    Friday.  A new article from Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture.  It’s all too predictable:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/questioning-the-divine-plan/     Read more

    The other day, I linked to a Huffington Post blog item about women in Mormonism, by Mette Ivie Harrison.  I said that I had reservations about it, but that it was thought provoking.   Here, I offer a link to another piece by Dr. Harrison:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/is-white-supremacy-inhere_b_7614052.html   I have considerably more reservations about this one.   For example:   1.  I don’t think it’s fair, just, or appropriate to invoke the specter of generalized “white racism” in... Read more