A potentially quite worthwhile development at Patheos, the host of my blog:   John Dehlin, a psychologist and a very visible former Latter-day Saint, and Patrick Mason, who holds the Howard W. Hunter Chair in Mormon Studies at California’s Claremont Graduate University, have launched an ongoing “dialogue” here on Patheos:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mormoninout/   It could prove interesting, and it’s possible that I’ll occasionally comment on it here — always viciously, dishonestly, and unfairly, of course.   I wish the... Read more

    I find this pretty amazing:   http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2016/09/19/pigeons-can-distinguish-real-words-from-gibberish/#.V-KpxGW0zdm   But there’s a lot of pretty stunning material coming out about the surprising intelligence of birds.  For example:   “Crows Understand Analogies”   “Crows Have Human-Like Intelligence, Author Says”   “Crows are as intelligent as CHILDREN: Study reveals birds are as clever as a seven-year-old human”   And this slightly long but fascinating piece (which, unfortunately, contains two absolutely unnecessary f-bombs):   “6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Way Smarter Than... Read more

    I was pleased to see this new tribute to our friend Steve Webb:   http://www.ldsliving.com/Catholic-Professor-The-Book-of-Mormon-Is-a-Miraculous-Text/s/81553?utm_source=ldsliving&utm_medium=email   I wrote a column about his thinking here and reflected at greater length on his views here, and I paid my own brief, shocked, and inadequate tribute to him here.  (My Interpreter Foundation colleague and friend Jeffrey Mark Bradshaw published an interesting account about Steve in an article on another topic that was published not too long ago.)     My wife and... Read more

    CNN Politics:  “Clinton supporters look to drive wedge between Utah Mormons, Trump”   EconoTimes:  “Could Clinton Win Utah?”   In other news:   NPR:  “With Donald Trump’s Birther Spin, He’s Crossed A Line”   Quartz:  “‘He’s a racist and a liar’: Seth Meyers thoroughly dismantles Donald Trump and the ‘birther’ conspiracy”   The Washington Post:  “Donald Trump’s birther event is the greatest trick he’s ever pulled”   The New York Times:  “Trump Drops False ‘Birther’ Theory, but Floats... Read more

    “We have only to see a few letters of the alphabet spelling our name in the sand to recognize at once the work of an intelligent agent.  How much more likely, then is the existence of an intelligent Creator behind human DNA, the colossal biological database that contains no fewer than 3.5 billion ‘letters’ — the longest ‘word’ yet discovered?” John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University     Read more

    A valuable and important distinction between free and unfree societies:   http://www.weeklystandard.com/citizens-or-subjects/article/2004322   And, of course, among the volunteers in Louisiana were many thousands of Latter-day Saints, who went willingly, of their own volition.     Read more

    This is wonderful news!   http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/440208/child-killing-center-soon-netherlands   If you’re so minded, while you’re contemplating this glorious development you can listen to Händel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”:       Read more

    Somebody alerted me to this a few days ago on Facebook (I think).  To my embarrassment, I can’t recall who it was.  These aren’t exactly the best Hillary and Bill lookalikes that I’ve ever seen, but the music’s not bad:     Just think:   She’s our only realistic hope of denying the White House to Donald Trump.   And Donald Trump is our only realistic hope of denying the White House to her and her husband.  ... Read more

    The invaluable Book of Mormon Central has published an interesting article on a subject that has puzzled many (and caused some to guffaw at yet another of Joe Smith’s stupidities):   https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/how-was-there-a-night-without-darkness         Read more

    I’m caught between two extremes.   I strongly disagree with people who want to denounce Islam as wholly evil, to bar all Muslim immigration and even perhaps to deport all Muslims, who cannot admit to a single saving grace in the religion or the culture or grant to Muslims a single historical achievement.  (The relatively large representation of such people among Trumpists was one of the many things that caused me to decide, already last year, that I... Read more