One of the courses I’m teaching this term focuses primarily on Islamic literature and architecture, so I’m very comfortable with the thesis of this article.  I don’t do as much of the comparative Western/Islamic approach as he would like, but I do some, and I would be entirely happy (in a different class) to do more:   http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2017/01/12/whats_missing_in_the_teaching_of_islam_110097.html     Read more

    When I was very young, the days immediately after Christmas — heck, the hours after Christmas morning! — were sad and depressing to me.  From roughly Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Eve I was so excited about, and so focused on, the coming of Christmas that it was a real let-down once the anticipation was over.  I didn’t even like to listen to Christmas music any more.   And now, having moved from southern California to Utah, I have... Read more

    Intergalactic theft on the scale, almost, of the leaders of the LDS Church!   http://www.seeker.com/milky-way-galaxy-stolen-stars-astronomy-dwarf-sagittarius-2189058764.html     Read more

    I’m taking a brief break now from the scandal of lavish General Authority stipends.   Instead, I’m posting a link to an article about a subject that, admittedly, pales into insignificance compared with that epochal horror.  And it scarcely compares with the previous crisis:  the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s decision to sing at the upcoming presidential election.   Please pardon my frivolity.  I just thought we needed something less heavy, more whimsical:   https://cruxnow.com/cns/2017/01/08/will-u-s-policy-affect-middle-easts-christians-2017/     Read more

    Wayne Dequer kindly called my attention to a Bloomberg piece that might help to put the reputed $120K annual stipend for members of the First Presidency, etc., into context:   “Board Director Pay Hits Record $251,000 for 250 Hours”     Read more

      Several people have shared these two quotations with me, and I appreciate their doing so.  I reproduce them here in the hope that they’ll be more widely noticed:   President Gordon B. Hinckley addressed the topic of General Authority stipends during October 1985 General Conference, in remarks titled “Questions and Answers.” Although he provided no specific numbers, he said that   “…the living allowances given the General Authorities, which are very modest in comparison with executive compensation in industry and... Read more

    The scandal du jour that’s agitating the embittered ex-Mormon hive (and that’s, perhaps, concerning some wavering Latter-day Saints, and even possibly a few very faithful ones) is the revelation that members of the First Presidency and other General Authorities receive a living stipend that puts them roughly on the level of the average American college professor (of “full” professorial rank).   Color me underwhelmed.   I like this response from Steve Smoot, who’s currently studying Egyptology at the University... Read more

    In ancient Rome, victorious generals were given a “triumph” or parade when they returned from battle.  (You can watch a Hollywood recreation of one in the classic 1959 film Ben-Hur.)  They would display the spoils they had looted and show off some of the more prominent captives they had seized (e.g., the captured Syrian queen Zenobia; Cleopatra committed suicide rather than be led in triumph by Augustus Caesar).  However, as a defense against the haughtiness and sense of grandeur that... Read more

    For any faithful Latter-day Saint, the statement below should provide a foundation for forming judgments about Muhammad, Islam, and Muslims in general:   STATEMENT OF THE FIRST PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS REGARDING GOD’S LOVE FOR ALL MANKIND February 15, 1978 Based upon ancient and modern revelation, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gladly teaches and declares the Christian doctrine that all men and women are brothers and sisters, not only by... Read more

    What follows is an excerpt from William Evenson, “Evolution,” in Daniel Ludlow, et al., eds., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan, 1991). It’s important to note, however, that, although Professor Evenson is identified as the author, President Gordon B. Hinckley was closely involved with the writing of this particular article and approved every word of it.  He was also the source for the 1931 First Presidency letter that the article cites:   The position of the Church on the origin of man... Read more