*** I admire what “Hypatia” has to say in this recently published article — which means, of course, that I agree with it: “No Comparison Between Latter-day Saint Race and Sex Teachings: It’s become popular to assert that sexual orientation is, and ought to be, analogous to race for Latter-day Saints. That insistence overlooks what prophets actually say.” *** Here are a trio of damning items from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons... Read more
*** First, though, this brief excerpt from an interview with Y’r obd’t servant went up today in LDS Living: “Why the Three Witnesses left the Church, why two came back, and how, despite never coming back, David Whitmer stood by his testimony even at his gravesite” *** This article, by my longtime friend, department colleague, and former missionary companion Stephen D. Ricks, was just published a few minutes ago in Interpreter: A Journal of... Read more
*** Curiously, this is from Illinois News Live: “A new movie about the witnesses of the Book of Mormon premiere in eastern Idaho” *** And here’s something that some of you will find interesting: “Thinking with Ryan Burge: Concerning young Latter-day Saints, third parties and life post-Trump” (Please note that I’m not posting about politics. I don’t do politics here any more. I’ve heard that the country recently changed presidents, but I can’t... Read more
*** I published this column in the Deseret News very nearly seven years ago. It was all that I could do. She was born seven years ago today: Some are displeased with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over socio-political disputes, gender concerns, and other perceived grievances. While I seldom if ever share their specific issues, I don’t discount them. I know they can hurt. However, compared with ultimate questions of life and... Read more
*** I’m happy to see such events as the one shown in the image above, for Mesa, Arizona, on Monday. Here’s some news for those in Southern California. Our superb distributor, Brandon Purdie, has been able to book what I’m told is one of the most prominent and prestigious art-house theater chains in the greater Los Angeles area for Witnesses. It’s the Newhall Laemmle theater in Santa Clarita/Valencia. Lincoln Hoppe, who plays Martin Harris in the... Read more
*** Have you seen Witnesses yet? Are you going to watch it tonight? Tomorrow night? *** Two new articles — in this case, two book reviews — were published today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Brian C. Hales, “Seeking a Global Context for the First Vision” Review of Richard E. Bennett, 1820: Dawning of the Restoration (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University / Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2020).... Read more
*** As you can see from the illustration above, the Interpreter Foundation’s film Witnesses ranked at Number Six on Box Office Mojo for Tuesday, 8 June 2021. Of course, in the interest of full disclosure it has to be frankly admitted that the box office receipts for Witnesses come in at slightly less than a third of those for Raya and the Last Dragon, which is ranked just above it at Number Five. But they’re very nearly... Read more
*** Although it was never a sure thing, it now seems that Witnesses will be available in all of the theaters this coming weekend where it was available on its opening weekend. In fact, we have added three new theaters to our list (in Moses Lake, Washington; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Tooele, Utah). So, if you checked witnessesfilm.com earlier and didn’t find a showing near you, you might want to try again. Maybe things have improved for... Read more
*** First, go out and see Witnesses if you haven’t already. And if you have already seen it, go see it again. Preferably with extended family, neighbors, and friends in tow. *** Until 2020, so far as I can recall, there has been only one full calendar year in which I didn’t spend at least some time in my native California. That was the middle year of my missionary service in Switzerland. (If one has... Read more
*** First, though: This article, by Professor S. Kent Brown, was just published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “Jesus’ First Visit to the Temple” Abstract: In this rich and detailed description, S. Kent Brown paints an evocative, historically contextualized account of Jesus Christ’s first visit to the Jerusalem Temple since his infancy, when at age twelve he traveled with his family to attend Passover. [Editor’s Note: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this... Read more
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