I wrote this column for the Provo Daily Herald in October 1998: “A single death is a tragedy,” said Josef Stalin. “A million deaths is a statistic.” But a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, gives the lie to the Soviet dictator. A million deaths is a million tragedies. And the losses continue. Given the intellectual leadership of the Jews in Europe and, now, in the United States, we must ask ourselves what great art... Read more
I published this column in late April of 2001 in the Provo Daily Herald: On 2 May 1985, a remarkable debate took place at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Virginia. It pitted a relatively little known evangelical Protestant professor named Gary R. Habermas against Antony G. N. Flew, a prominent British philosopher and an outspoken atheist. The debate focused on the question of “The Historicity of the Resurrection: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” The text... Read more
I published the little item below in the Provo Daily Herald way back in 2007: Years ago, while a graduate student in Egypt, I was introduced by a friend to a chemistry professor at the University of Cairo. After a pleasant conversation, the professor asked what an American was doing in Egypt, studying Arabic and Islam. “Are you a Muslim?” he inquired. When he was told no, he asked, “Why not?” Such a question is, of course,... Read more
Here are a trio of passages that I’ve extracted from Huston Smith, Beyond the Post-Modern Mind, updated and revised (Wheaton, Illinois; Madras, India; and London, England: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1989): Relativism sets out to reduce every kind of absoluteness to a relativity while making an illogical exception for its own case. In effect, it declares it to be true that there is no such thing as truth; that it is absolutely true that only the relatively... Read more
Bill Hamblin and I published the column below back in the early 2000s. To which particular “terrorist atrocity” was it referring? I can no longer recall. But since, alas, there are constantly new terrorist atrocities, it scarcely matters. What is the Islamist Movement? Following last week’s terrorist atrocity, many people have been wondering about Islamic fundamentalists, or, as they are more commonly (and less misleadingly) called today, Islamists. What is the Islamist movement? During the lifetime of... Read more
Quite a number of years ago, my late friend Bill Hamblin and I published the article below in the Provo Daily Herald. The first-person voice is Bill’s: The Transformative Power of Religion Although this column generally focuses on the history and importance of world religions, we occasionally examine aspects of our own LDS faith. Two months ago one of the authors had the opportunity to visit Mexico. While visiting the ancient Zapotec site of Monte Alban, I... Read more
I’ve been asked by a reader to substantiate my lack of admiration for the 2007 bestseller god is Not Great, by the late Christopher Hitchens. It’s been years since I’ve paid any attention to that unfortunate offense against the world’s forests, but here are a couple of abbreviated specimens of my take on it: The first comes from the 2007 FairMormon conference, where I spoke on the subject: “God and Mr. Hitchens” (video) “God and Mr.... Read more
We’re just back from a performance of the Jeff Hamilton Trio in the Concert Hall of the Noorda at Utah Valley University (Jeff Hamilton on drums, Tamir Hendelman on piano, and Jon Hamar — whose appearance curiously reminded me, just a bit, of the young Clayton Christensen — on bass). Of late, our neighborhood has been improving in remarkable ways: The Noorda is even closer to us — considerably so — than are BYU’s theaters and concert venues. The... Read more
“UV Light On Airplanes Could Prevent Spread Of Coronavirus And Other Infectious Diseases” “An ancient galaxy grew massive — then oddly stopped making stars: Something abruptly tossed star-making gas from this galaxy or stopped it from falling in” *** The pizza company Little Caesars has been running an amusing commercial based on the common expressions that “x is the best thing since sliced bread”: “Little Caesars Super Bowl Commercial 2020 Rainn Wilson Best Thing Since... Read more
Every once in a while, I think it appropriate to remind Latter-day Saints and others of this very important and quie remarkable document from the First Presidency — which is to say, from the presiding authorities — of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a statement that has been of great significance to me in my teaching and other work regarding Islam: Statement of the First Presidency Regarding God’s Love for All Mankind... Read more
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