Some thoughts on scientism from the late Austin L. Hughes (1949-2015), who was Carolina Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina:   “The temptation to overreach . . . seems increasingly indulged today in discussions about science. Both in the work of professional philosophers and in popular writings by natural scientists, it is frequently claimed that natural science does or soon will constitute the entire domain of truth. And this attitude is becoming more widespread among... Read more

    Washington Monthly:  “Steve Bannon Disparages Mormon Missionary Work”   If I were Orrin Hatch, I would be running for the hills at the very thought of an endorsement from the repulsive Steve Bannon.   Personally, I hope that Mr. Bannon never desecrates the soil of Utah.   “E.J. Dionne: Bannon plays to evangelical anti-Mormon sentiment by bashing Mitt Romney”   “Back of the Bus, Book of Mormon Boy!”   And I suspect that Senator Hatch agrees:   “Hatch Denounces Bannon... Read more

    In today’s Deseret News, the latest iteration of my weekly “Defending the Faith” column:   “2 competing visions of ‘restoration'”   ***   It’s Day Seven of the Church’s “Light the World” campaign:   “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”   ***   As you may have noticed, I’ve been devoting considerable attention, over the past month or two, to attempting to raise funds for the Interpreter Foundation.  We need money to continue our efforts and,... Read more

    I’m having a difficult time getting ahead of this campaign.  But here, somewhat late, is the video for Day Six of the “Light the World” initiative that’s being sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:   https://www.mormon.org/christmas/25-ways-25-days/day-6   ***     I expect that this will probably offend a few people out there.  (Virtually everything that I do offends certain people out there, redundantly proving yet again that I’m a hateful bigot, and so forth.)... Read more

    Some quotations from the late great historian of science Father Stanley Jaki:   … investing science with a prophetic and messianic role has not been the doing of science. Exact science, or rather its best cultivators, have never claimed that role. Exact physical science came into its own when during the seventeenth century it eliminated from its ken questions about existence, meaning, purpose, and the like. No wonder that sensitive physicists instinctively reject appeals from shortsighted humanists to... Read more

    The Babylonian Talmud became, by a considerable distance, the more important of the two works, partly because Palestinian Jewry was steadily on the wane while the Jews of Babylon were rela­tively well organized and prosperous. “It became,” as Israeli histo­rian Shmuel Safrai observes, the basic—and in many places almost the exclusive—asset of Jew­ish tradition, the foundation of all Jewish thought and aspira­tions and the guide for the daily life of the Jew. . . .  In almost every... Read more

    Continuing with a manuscript of mine:   There still existed a large Jewish colony in Mesopotamia, in the area to which the Jews had been carried off during the so-called “Babylonian captivity.” As already mentioned, the captives had pros­pered there, and most of them had chosen to remain in comfortable exile even when the road to return was entirely open. They enjoyed a flourishing intellectual life and maintained relatively close con­tact with their fellow-believers in and around Palestine.... Read more

    I think that this is a very important little essay:   “Is Ideology Becoming America’s Official Religion?”   Let me apply it to the senatorial candidacy of Judge Roy Moore in Alabama:   Two prominent Latter-day Saints have recently indicated their views on Judge Moore:   “Romney on Moore: ‘No majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity'”   “GOP Sen. Jeff Flake writes check to Democrat opposing Roy Moore”   Governor Romney’s comment drew intense fire from... Read more

    I admire the legal profession.  I nearly decided to go to law school myself, and, even now, I occasionally experience wistful regrets that I didn’t.  The study of the law seems to me, at its best, a remarkable kind of training in logic, reasoning, the sifting of evidence, and precise expression.  And the practice of the law can occasionally even be noble.   Of course, I probably would have made relatively little money at it.  I would have... Read more