“Nervous about your Muslim neighbors? Then invite them over for dinner”   I love this idea, and I hope that it spreads.  And not only for Mormons and Muslims:   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865683507/Nervous-about-your-Muslim-neighbors-Then-invite-them-over-for-dinner.html   I think that it could work between Democrats and Republicans — Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the House, used to have a drink together in the evening from time to time — between liberals and conservatives, perhaps even between gay activists... Read more

    Another front in the ongoing war of religion against science, and another example of how religion poisons everything:   “What Mormon Family Trees Tell Us About Cancer”   Posted from Venice, Italy     Read more

    By now, you’re probably aware of the latest opportunity for progressive outrage against Mormonism and its hateful fascist leaders:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/40377884/no-part-of-me-is-a-mistake—12-year-old-us-girl-comes-out-in-mormon-church   I have to admit that the event seems a mere stunt to me.  First off, anybody even minimally conversant with fast and testimony meetings, and with sacrament services more generally, fully understands that they’re not appropriate venues for denouncing Church doctrine or endorsing Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton (or, for that matter, Mitt Romney), nor for soliciting... Read more

    E ‘n la sua volontade è nostra pace “And his will is our peace.” Dante, Purgatorio, Canto III, line 85 “Our hearts are restless,” wrote St. Augustine, addressing God in the opening lines of his autobiographical Confessions, “until they rest in Thee.” Posted from the Adriatic Sea     Read more

      I’ve fallen behind on my online journaling.  (I know, I know.  Millions are lamenting it.  I’ve heard their cries.)   Today is a sea day — which I frankly like.  I love being out on the ocean.  Viking genes, maybe.  The only thing that marred the day for our group was my two-hour morning lecture on “Peter, Paul, and the Popes,” in which I tried to explain something of the history of Christianity, in broad outlines, from the... Read more

    It’s Friday.  Therefore, there’s a new article in Interpreter:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-amlicites-and-amalekites-are-they-the-same-people/   Posted from the Adriatic Sea     Read more

    I have to admit that I’m very sympathetic to complaints about English spelling and, therefore, to calls for spelling reform.   I’m always amazed at the difficulties it can pose to non-native speakers.   I mean, really:  enough, bough (take a bow, hunt with a bow), through, cough, thought (caught? rot?)   I’ve previously mentioned Bernard Shaw’s thought experiment about a foreign speaker of English who suddenly can’t recall how to spell the word fish.  So he takes the... Read more

    Admit it.  You’ve worried about this question most of your life.  You’ve lain awake nights pondering how to answer it.  It’s caused divisions in your family and cost you friendships, as those around you have chosen sides on a contentious issue.   Finally, though, science speaks:   http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2017/06/23/do_giraffes_get_struck_by_lightning_more_than_other_animals.html   Posted from the Adriatic Sea     Read more

    See some of his work here:   https://byuphoto.exposure.co/2017-upaa-awards   Posted from the Adriatic Sea     Read more

    A nice summary — from a rather different angle than my column provided yesterday — by the invaluable Jeff Lindsay:   http://mormanity.blogspot.com.es/2017/06/another-surprise-in-dictated-language.html   Posted from the Ionian Sea     Read more