Here are a couple of additional passages that I’ve extracted for my notes from Ronald E. Romig, Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer (Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2014). Ron Romig is a historian and archivist who is affiliated with the Community of Christ (formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and who retired in 2017 as director of that church’s Kirtland Temple Historic Site: [T]he . . . account... Read more
I share a provocative passage that I’ve extracted for my notes from Graham E. Fuller, A World Without Islam (New York, Boston, and London: Little, Brown and Company, 2010), 117-118: In a time of increasing domestic turmoil and foreign intervention, a group of fundamentalists seized power in a small city and established their own religious community, renaming the city in accordance with the sacred texts. A fanatic authoritarian religious leader backed by numerous followers placed himself at... Read more
I offer a few more items from Paul McFate, 52 Good Reasons to Go to Church, Besides the Obvious Ones (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 2004) — a little book or booklet that I commend to you (though it may be hard to find). Every single one of them is board-certified as appropriate for inclusion in your Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File: Fewer Children Impacted by Divorce (page 51) — Many studies — e.g. an article (unidentified... Read more
Notes from Pim van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 119-121: Oxygen deficiency is accompanied by an increase of carbon dioxide, and this increase has been suggested as a possible cause for near-death experiences. Patients breathing in unusual quantities of carbon dioxide have been known to experience a sense of separation from the body, and there have been occasional reports of a bright light, a tunnel, a sense of peace, and/or... Read more
A neighbor, good friend, and valued Interpreter Foundation volunteer sent me the extremely interesting post below. With his generous permission, I share it here: A Native American Perspective on Juneteenth by Tom Pittman Given that North America had about 388,000 African slaves, and at least 2.5 million Native American slaves, the abolition of slavery in the United States of America is an important matter in Native American history. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database kept... Read more
A very slight little essay (by me) has appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: “A Note in Favor of Rereading Great Works, Including the Scriptures” Abstract: When I was young, I learned an important lesson that has stayed with me through my life. This lesson has led me, on many occasions, to reread great works by great authors. The scriptures are no exceptions, and rereading them can be beneficial to any reader. ... Read more
I have an anonymous critic — I call him my Malevolent Stalker — who has been publicly faulting my character, my appearance, my literary tastes, my religious views, my travels, my scholarship, my friends, and indeed all my works almost every single day for the past fifteen years or so. Yesterday, he accused me of holding non-Latter-day Saints, non-Latter-day Saint religious faiths, and non-Latter-day Saint beliefs in disrespect and contempt, effectively of being a religious bigot. Although... Read more
From Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo: BYU Studies, 2018), 317-319: In 1841, rumor spread through the national press in the United States and even in England that Martin Harris had been murdered — shot through the head — somewhere in the vicinity of Nauvoo. (It seems to have been implied that this resulted from his having supposedly lectured against Joseph Smith and the Restored Church.) Alvah... Read more
Continuing with a subject that I raised yesterday, here are some notes based on Pim van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 114-116. Dr. van Lommel is a Dutch cardiologist. This is what he said. This is what Pim van Lommel said: Some have sought to account for the “tunnel” that is reported in many (though by no means all) NDE accounts as the result of oxygen deficiency in the (visual) cerebral... Read more
My latest column for the Deseret News has appeared: “Finding the roots of religion in Saudi Arabia” *** Continuing with the theme that I opened up yesterday (“Islam and the West[s]”), I share yet another passage from Olivier Roy, Secularism Confronts Islam, translated by George Holoch (New York City: Columbia University Press 2007) that I marked for my notes: In other words, when we question Islam’s capacity to become “Westernized,” we are referring to two... Read more
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