I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t offer his own personal take on how, or whether, faith and science can be reconciled.  Still, this is a short but interesting read for anybody who (like me) cares about the relationship between science and religion:   Faith and the cosmos: An astrophysicist fields the big questions   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    “I didn’t knowingly meet a conservative until, to my shame, I was 60 years old and sat down and said, ‘Wow, I don’t understand what this guy’s talking about, but he has a great civility about him. Perhaps I better investigate this thing.'” David Mamet, American playwright   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    More and more, vocal opponents of religious belief argue that faith-based communities do little if any good and, in fact, actually harm society.  They have a long, long way to go to make their case, but they’re winning some converts nonetheless:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865684591/Do-churches-have-a-positive-impact-on-America.html   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    Amusing, but also perhaps significant:   https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/08/my-shamanic-healing   “When a man stops believing in God,” G. K. Chesterton is often supposed to have said, “he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything.”   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    Today’s abomination in the Deseret News represents an attempt to publicize two important upcoming events:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865684731/Festival-conference-to-offer-insights-on-chiasmus-LDS-scholarship.html   If you’re in town and able, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  Quite the contrary.  (I know a few things about the chiasmus gathering, for example, that I don’t feel at liberty to share publicly.)   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    This is exciting stuff, for those of us who get excited about such stuff:   https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/07/12/first-nasa-juno-missions-close-ups-of-the-great-red-spot-are-here/#38048b7339be   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    For what it’s worth, I’m saddened by the number of young people who’re sporting tattoos these days.  They generally look pretty bad from a distance — like bruises or discolored blotches — and, while they’re perhaps fun (and maybe even, sometimes, cute up close) for a short while, I don’t like the fact that they’re essentially permanent.  You can change your outfit, but you can’t change your tats.  What once seemed attractive or funny may lose its charm after, say,... Read more

    A forty-minute podcast with Ben Spackman, accessible through the website of the Interpreter Foundation:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/lds-perspectives-podcast-genre-in-the-bible-with-ben-spackman/   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more

    “Once there was a man rowing a boat down a river.  Someone on the shore warned him, ‘Stop rowing so gaily down the swift current; there are rapids ahead and a dangerous whirlpool, and there are crocodiles and demons lying in wait in rocky caverns.  You will perish if you continue.’ “In this allegory, ‘the swift current’ is a life of lust; ‘rowing gaily’ is giving rein to one’s passion; ‘rapids ahead’ means the ensuing suffering and pain;... Read more

    This is a somewhat atypical conversion story.   It’s not (as some of you might at first assume) a story about conversion to the Church (of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) — i.e., to Mormonism — but, if you’ll read it through, you’ll find that there is, after all, an indirect Mormon connection:   http://religionandpolitics.org/2017/07/11/why-i-went-back-to-church/   Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii     Read more