“If we are seeking to serve the God of truth then we should really welcome truth from whatever source it comes. We shouldn’t fear the truth. Some of it will be from science, obviously, but by no means all of it. It will sometimes by perplexing, how this bit of truth relates to that bit of truth; we know that within science itself often enough and we find it outside of science as well. The crucial thing is... Read more

    The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, or FARMS — which eventually became the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship — was once at the cutting edge of work like this (including the charred papyrus clumps from Herculaneum [near Pompeii], destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in AD 79):   http://bigstory.ap.org/article/60785bb2031a478cb71ce9278782c320/scanning-software-deciphers-ancient-biblical-scroll?nc=1474568569450   And, on the Dead Sea Scrolls, we worked very closely with Professor Emanuel Tov (note the proper spelling) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.   Good times.... Read more

    From a New York Post writer who has often been a rather harsh critic of Mitt Romney:   http://nypost.com/2012/09/22/romney-the-giver/   (Thanks to Anne Palmieri from bringing this to my attention.)   And don’t miss what the author has to say about the significance of Governor Romney’s religious faith, and about the difference in charitable giving between secularists and believers.   Not to worry, though!  Come January, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be president of these United States.... Read more

    I’m very disappointed by Senator Ted Cruz’s decision to endorse Mr. Donald J. Trump for the presidency of the United States of America:   “Cruz: Yeah, I’ll Vote for Trump”   “Awkward . . . “   Leaving aside all of the many, many political and other problems with Mr. Trump, I can tell you this:  I would never endorse a man who had publicly mocked the appearance of my wife and repeatedly accused my father of complicity... Read more

    Many an atheist is a believer without knowing it just as many a believer is an atheist without knowing it. You can sincerely believe there is no God and live as though there is. You can sincerely believe there is a God and live as though there isn’t. Frederick Buechner     Read more

    Wishing you, as always, a very happy Friday, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture offers you some interesting reading for the weekend:   http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/assessing-the-joseph-smith-papyri-an-introduction-to-the-historiography-of-their-acquisitions-translations-and-interpretations/   This is the 218th consecutive week (out of the 219.5 weeks of its existence) that the Interpreter Foundation has provided at least one article, at no charge, to readers of its flagship journal.   I express my gratitude to all of the authors, editors, donors, proofreaders, source checkers, and others who have made this... Read more

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/4386439-155/new-mormon-church-owned-skyscraper-brings-high   The howls of outrage have already commenced, many of them (if not most of them) coming from people who don’t contribute to the Church.   This is a misuse of tithing money, they say.  (Actually, it probably doesn’t involve tithing money at all.)   The more rhetorically powerful objection, though, is this:  The money should have been given to the poor!  Jesus wouldn’t have invested in a high-rise (or in a shopping mall)!  Think of the good... Read more

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/muslim-black-women_us_57dc212ae4b0d5920b5b2a58   Okay.  First of all, this article was published before the attacks in Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey last weekend, and it was presumably written several days earlier than that.   So, yes, the author’s opening complaint about anti-Muslim violence rings a bit off key at the moment, but it wouldn’t have done so quite as obviously when she wrote those lines.   And, yes, even I sometimes think that elements in the American Muslim community spend too much... Read more

    This is an interesting interview with someone who’s been on both sides of the fence.     Read more

    “I never meet a ragged boy in the street without feeling that I may owe him a salute, for I know not what possibilities may be buttoned up under his coat.”  James A. Garfield   Read more