“The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”   Posted from London, England     Read more

    Late in 2015, I published a Deseret News column about the distinguished philosopher Alvin Plantinga.   “Perhaps the world’s most important living Christian philosopher”   I was pleased to note his recent reception of a very prestigious award, which he abundantly deserves:   “Philosopher who argued for God wins Templeton Prize”   Posted from London, England     Read more

    From the Catholic Herald in the UK:   http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/april-28th-2017/rod-dreher-why-christians-need-to-embrace-the-benedict-option/   I’ve been thinking about the “Benedict Option” a lot over the past few months, as will appear (for example) in a forthcoming Deseret News column.   Here’s a critique of the concept:   “The ‘Benedict Option’ is not enough”   Here’s another critique:   “Dynamic Christianity vs. the Benedict Option”   I myself am not fully onboard with Rod Dreher and his “Benedict Option,” but I think it... Read more

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/04/28/if-it-doesnt-stem-its-decline-mainline-protestantism-has-just-23-easters-left/?utm_term=.5c4550017c83   Posted from London, England     Read more

    https://cruxnow.com/pope-francis-in-egypt/2017/04/30/popes-trip-egypt-may-one-big-deal-moments/   Let us hope that Muslims and Christians of good will are finally going to be coming together in the Middle East to denounce and combat the violent extremists who have, unfairly, made Islam offensive to millions of decent people.   Posted from London, England     Read more

    For some reason, it was only last year that my wife and I finally saw Hadrian’s Wall.  We drove along much of its length, walked along the top of parts of it, dropped in at several other points, looked at the ruins of an ancient Mithraeum constructed for the Roman soldiers of the period, examined one of the forts occupied by a Roman garrison, and so forth.  Fascinating.   I’m an unabashed Anglophile.  The different layers of history... Read more

    Here’s a website of which you may be unaware.  It prominently features the work of my longtime friend and former FARMS colleague John Tvedtnes, whom I first met at the Hotel Vienna in Jerusalem, in January of 1978.     Read more

      “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” Mark Twain     Read more

    The fifth installment of a seven-part series of short articles on international religious liberty, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:   http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/between-global-and-local     Read more

    This will please some, and disappoint others:   http://www.npr.org/2017/04/28/525895389/why-religion-is-more-durable-than-we-thought-in-modern-society     Read more