There’s much in the work of the late astronomer, astrophysicist, and science writer Carl Sagan (1934-1996) with which I disagree.  Not so much with regard to the science but with regard to his overall worldview.   Here, though, are some quotations from him that I like very much:   “How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, ‘This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said,... Read more

    We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the incredibly beautiful Butchart Gardens.   Walking through and around them, and sailing just off of them, I found myself thinking of two rather distinct things.   First, I thought of the hymn “Adam-ondi-Ahman,” written by William W. Phelps and included in the first Latter-day Saint hymnbook in 1835.  But I thought of it very specifically in my favorite recording of it, which I have at home on vinyl but cannot... Read more

    Here’s another little mini-essay that I wrote and published back in 2002:   Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that human beings can grow and progress spiritually until, through the mercy and grace of Christ, they can inherit and possess all that the Father has—they can become gods. This is taught in revelations given to modern prophets (see D&C 76:58; 132:19—20), as well as in sermons delivered by Joseph Smith.9 A couplet written by... Read more

    The latest iteration of the bi-weekly Hamblin/Peterson column in the Deseret News has now appeared:   “Was Adolf Hitler religious?”   ***   An interesting story from the official Church news site:   “Elder Gerard Addresses NAACP National Convention: Collaboration between the Church and NAACP expands”   How many would have predicted that story back in, say, 1977?  Or, even, two or three years ago?   ***   Here’s a nice little piece from the peerless Jeff Lindsay:  ... Read more

    This is another entry that has been inspired by my reading of James Hannam, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution (Washington DC: Henry Regnery, 2011).   Hannam is talking about the three introductory academic subjects that a student at the medieval University of Oxford would have studied: grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric.  Together, because of their number, they were known as the trivium.  “This is the origin,” Hannam points out, “of the... Read more

    Many people have heard the word fatwa.  Most famously, particularly for people in the West above a certain age, the word will ring a bell in connection with the case of the Anglo-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie.  In 1988, Rushdie wrote a novel titled  The Satanic Verses that provoked a major international controversy because of its disrespectful, even insulting, references to Muhammad, the founder of Islam.  Huge Muslim protests occurred in several countries.  Salman Rushdie received multiple death threats in response to his... Read more

    Before FreedomFest 2019 draws too near, I want to post my final comment about the just-concluded FreedomFest 2018.   My participation in FreedomFest 2018 commenced with a private Wednesday night dinner with roughly twenty invited guests, including such folks as as John Mackey, Michael Shermer, Mark Skousen, Daniele Struppa, Deirdre McCloskey, Grover Norquist, Steve Forbes, Lisa Sparks, Larry Elder, Doug Casey, Ross Douthat, and George Will.  It ended with a gala closing dinner on Saturday night,emceed by Fox New’s Kennedy, during which,... Read more

    Two new review articles appeared today (Friday) in Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture:   “The Case of the Missing Commentary”   “Much More than a Plural Marriage Revelation”   Moreover, the 1 July 2018 version of the Interpreter Radio Show is up and ready for free listening on the website of the Interpreter Foundation.  On that particular evening, Martin Tanner, Stephen Smoot, and Hales Swift discussed such topics as Book of Mormon geography and . . . immigration... Read more

    We went whale watching for several hours today.  We saw only one humpback whale, but we saw (and spent much more time with) two or three groups of orcas or killer whales.  And, at the end, we cruised over by Race Rocks, where, because of the high tidal current, an exceptional variety of marine life can be found, including mammals, sea birds, fish, various invertebrates, marine algae, and sea grass.  There, we watched California and northern (or Steller) sea... Read more

    Something that I wrote and published back in 1998:   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always accepted Jesus of Nazareth as testified of in the Bible: the divine Redeemer and Son of God who atoned for the sins of all mankind and ensured our universal resurrection. The church has never ceased to affirm that there is no other name given whereby man can be saved (see Acts 4:12). Another book that the church reveres... Read more